Applying a Year Early

Colleges & Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>So, I am kind of fed up with high school. I live in rural Wichita Falls, TX, my high school just fails to challenge me. I use most of my time in school to teach myself and my free time goes toward studying for the math olympiads, helping in one of the organizations I'm in, or being a teenager and hanging out with friends. I am incredibly envious of my friends who were exposed to the AMCs at a young age, whereas my exposure was in 9th grade, and I am also envious of the kids who goto schools who can provide higher level classes. My school provides a halfway IB program, in which I am now self studying IB HL Maths, IB HL Physics and IB Further Maths. I am lucky to have teachers for my other 3 subjects, IB SL French, IB HL English, and IB HL History. (Yes, I have 4 HLs in my diploma, and I am crazy enough to pick up Further Maths without having an HL class offered at my school in maths)</p>

<p>So, my story:
Basically, I got lucky that my school takes the AMC tests and scored a 120 on the 10th grade test my freshman year. This was just enough to qualify for the AIME and made me think I was some sort of math genius and inspired me to attend AwesomeMath (AMSP). At AMSP, I was quickly humbled, but more importantly, I was excited and motivated about learning new kinds of math. The next year, this last one- my sophomore year, I worked really hard studying on my own for the AIME. I ended up scoring an 8 and qualifying for the USAJMO, which made me the first USA(J)MO qualifier in about a 50 mile radius from where I had lived. It's quite depressing that no one else has worked on olympiad math from my area over all of these years. Now, I am at this point of the story, where I've exhausted most of the challenging math and physics in my high school and have nothing that really interests me in school. I don't want to go through two years of not being able to do productive things in school, so I thought it might be a good idea to try applying to MIT early.
The question is, will I be competitive at all?</p>

<p>The numbers:
SAT: expecting about a 2150: 800 Math/680Writing/670CR
SAT II: 800 Math level II, 650+ Physics
AMC10:120
AIME:8
GPA (unweighted): 4.0
Class rank: 1/160ish
Key Club President (Jr.)
Class President (Fr. So. Jr.)
French Club President (So.) Event Coordinator (Jr.)
Computer Science Team Captain (Fr. So. Jr.)
Student Council Parliamentarian (Jr.) Member (So.)
AwesomeMath Attendee, 2 summers, 4 camps
Taken College Computer Science and College Statistics, received A's at Midwestern State University (Fr.)
Class Load:
IB Math HL
IB Physics HL
IB English HL
IB History HL
IB Further Maths SL
IB French SL
IB Theory of Knowledge</p>

<p>So, would it be worthwhile for me to apply this year? Will MIT consider the few resources I have?</p>

2

<p>If you don’t get in this year, you can always apply again next year. Just don’t get distracted from your schoolwork.</p>

3

<p>MIT, Caltech, and/or CMS accepted son and a friend as juniors, especially because both were taking courses at local college, having exhausted classes at HS. Had son stayed for senior year, he would only have taken English at HS. Write a supplemental letter as why you feel mature enough for college</p>

4

<p>With much study you may make USAMO or MOP. Why rush to college early? Then you can’t take the fun high school math contests!</p>

5

<p>@lidusha and @WLsilver are correct.</p>

6

<p>Haha, I don’t really have much school work to work on, most of my extra time this year has been spent on reading physics and chemistry texts.
Competing for MOP would be fun, but I also would really like to do research throughout my school year and learn new things, something that is very difficult to do in town.
How many words should my supplement be?</p>

7

<p>@shrig94
Write as much as you need to explain anything.
But do keep in mind that it’s a “supplemental”. So don’t write a full essay</p>

8

<p>Alright, I will do so. How much is too much?
It seems like I’m writing nearly 1,000 words and that touches on the scope of my rather messy situation.</p>

9

<p>Okay, one question:
Is it worthwhile for me to include that if I am excepted, MIT will be the first university with a USAJMO qualifier, or does that sound stupid?</p>