<p>Anyone here intimidated by the astounding stats of the CCers here and the prospect of applying to MIT and but applied anyway and got in?
Share stories or elaborate!</p>
<p>Everyone ought to be surprised they got in.</p>
<p>I wasn't particularly intimidated when I applied, but I wasn't particularly savvy and didn't realize what the competition was actually like. I didn't expect to get in, though, and had no idea that decisions would be coming in mid-March -- my mom and my brother showed up at dress rehearsal for the spring musical with my acceptance letter, and I was ticked off that they had shown up because I was in the middle of rehearsal and I thought they were showing up too early with dinner. :)</p>
<p>My experience was similar to Mollie's. It was just one of those "hey I already have the essays and recommendations for other schools, why not apply?" schools. I thought decisions were coming out on April 1st like a lot of schools, but a friend who was absolutely obsessed with MIT told me the day before mid-March that decisions were coming out the next day. I forgot about it for a few hours on the day of decisions, then remembered two hours after they were posted.</p>
<p>I wasn't a CCer when I was applying, but I was in a chat that was set up by an applicant, and their stats really intimidated me. I was certain that I'd be rejected (or at least punted to regular admissions) that I was floored when I got in.</p>
<p>I didn't CC start reading/posting CC until after I got in, if I had I would have been a lot more concerned.</p>
<p>I was! Everyone that I knew from my high school who got in before me had way more impressive stats and awards. Many who have better stats than me didn't get in. I am pretty much the least qualified person (relatively) from my high school to ever get in. It was definitely a surprise.</p>
<p>After the first round of tests, so far so good.</p>
<p>Psh, no one goes to MIT from where I'm from. Honestly, I thought I had a chance, but it was more along the lines of "hopefully I'll get deferred and then maybe please hopefully get accepted regular."</p>
<p>Getting in early never even crossed my mind. So when I got in early, it was like Christmas 10 days early.</p>
<p>== ducktape</p>
<p>No one got in where I'm from, either =).</p>
<p>I had never heard of CC when I applied, and wasn't terribly intimidated, but I certainly didn't expect to get in, and was shocked when I did. It was my first regular action college decision too, which was nice.</p>
<p>Kind of off topic but it goes along with everyone talking about intimidation and visiting CC. I heard that MIT is the best technical schol around and being a great student I though that it would be the place for me. I visited and loved it and I thought I had as good a shot as anyone. Then over a month ago I found CC and saw the stats of all these people applying to MIT. That's when I seriously started doubting myself. I mean there's people all over here complaining they got a 2100 on the SAT and otehrs asking if tehy should retake a 720+. They also have all these crazy EC's like sciense and math olympiads that I've never heard of before. Before I came here, I though I was a top notch student getting good grades, doing varsity lax, and boy scouts but now I feel stupid. I want to know if this is because that's how it really is with almost all applicants at least scoring 2250 on top of 10 ECs or am I getting carried away because only the very top applicants bother to come here? Are you guys people that are suprised you got in because you didn't score 800 on the math? Do you think you would have been better oor worse off if you saw CC before being accepted?</p>
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Are you guys people that are suprised you got in because you didn't score 800 on the math?
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<p>No, I actually <em>got</em> 800 on the math, both SAT I and SAT II. Useful for demonstrating that my relatively low math grades (mostly Bs) and my low AP Calc BC score (that's what happens when the teacher doesn't finish the material - I did fine on the AB subsection) weren't the sum total of my math ability.</p>
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Do you think you would have been better oor worse off if you saw CC before being accepted?
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<p>Oh, worse in general, but no worse about MIT, because I expected to be rejected anyway, so it wouldn't have given me any impressions that I didn't have to begin with.</p>
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...am I getting carried away because only the very top applicants bother to come here?
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<p>Yeah, more or less. Look, this site (the site in general, not just or primarily the MIT board) caters to a certain population, a population that's obsessed with top colleges. They tend to come from privileged school districts as a group, with parents who care a lot, and to know how to "play the game" - even if they're not going out of their way to do it, they come from schools where a motivated student will probably end up doing it unintentionally. And there are plenty of people at MIT who come from that background, but there are also plenty of people who don't. I knew people who were the kids of factory assembly-line workers in blue-collar towns, people from poor inner-city backgrounds, people from ranches and farms (including one real-life cowboy). I knew one person (from a crappy school and district, on top of everything else, with no physics or calculus offered) who got her acceptance letter while living in a neighbor's basement, a refugee from her physically abusive father. She certainly wasn't racking up Olympiads during her high school career - she was busy trying to survive intact - but she managed to sufficiently impress Admissions and get in.</p>
<p>When I applied to MIT, CC (along with the rest of the web) didn't exist. :) Information, especially the highly detailed information posted here about curving, grading, etc. was difficult to come by. If something like CC had existed, I think I would have been more influenced by what people were saying about actual classes and majors, rather than SATs, ECs, etc.</p>
<p>I don't think that anyone in the history of my school has ever gone to MIT, I could be wrong though. Hopefully I'll be the one to break that though ;)</p>
<p>When I was a young and innocent high schooler, I posted my first and only chance thread, and was told by most everyone that I wouldn't make it into MIT. I ignored them and applied anyways.</p>
<p>And of course, I was in total shock when I got in. I had already told UT I was attending, so I had to annul my registration, haha.</p>
<p>It turns out my principal was wrong and people from my school have gone to MIT in the past. I had my interview last night and I asked the EC I had if anyone he had interviewed in the past from my school had been accepted to MIT, and he said a couple of students had. Sooo....I have no idea then why my principal would tell me that no one had been accepted in the past 20 years...haha.</p>
<p>Nothing's 100% guarenteed anymore, but I think you can still consider MIT a match if you are a star at a magnet school which has a track record of sending a bunch of people to MIT each year or if you have one of a few major national math/science distinctions (Intel, MOSP.)</p>
<p>It's something to consider if you have the option to go to a magnet school in your area.</p>
<p>So, in other words, if you are one of, like, ten people in the country each year. :)</p>
<p>^
Principals like to exaggerate to boost morale.</p>
<p>LOl, there's more than 10 people that fit that description.</p>
<p>Anyway, if you go to a place like Thomas Jefferson, IMSA, or TAMS, and you are in the top 5% there (in terms of class performance, recs, and academic distinctions,) you will get into MIT. Probably 10-15 people got in every year. Or at least that's the way it used to be. The screening process to get in and do well at these academies is such that the admissions committees know that the students from these places will do very well at MIT.</p>
<p>Plus, MOSP alone has like 100 people per year, not to mention the other olympiads or research competitions.</p>
<p>If you have won an IMO or IPO or the olympics or solved the crises in wall street you might have a shot, if you don't then don't bother applying. Only around 300 are qualified each year, if you don't think your in that range don't ever consider applying.
sarcasm</p>