<p>Would anyone know if there are any differences in the application if I applied as a junior? Also, if I applied and was rejected, would it affect my chances of getting in if I applied again as a senior? Thanks!</p>
<p>you would have to write an extra essay explaining why you are applying early- if i recall, the wording has something to do with not having a high school diploma. not sure about whether or not it would affect your chances.</p>
<p>To get in as a junior, you have to make a convincing case that you have exhausted your local academic resources. Besides this, you probably have to be a higher quality candidate to get in as a junior. I wouldn’t bother applying as a junior if there are major science AP’s (e.g., physics, chem, bio) that you won’t have finished by the end of the year or if you haven’t finished your school’s math sequence, for instance.</p>
<p>It won’t hurt your senior year chances to have gotten rejected junior year.</p>
<p>What do you mean by “the wording?”</p>
<p>@collegealum
Well I want to go into CS, and I’ll have exhausted all of the CS classes at my school, although I won’t have exhausted math/science courses. Would that be a convincing enough case?</p>
<p>^^ I’m not an absolute authority on this, but I’d guess that it probably is not a strong enough case.</p>
<p>Obviously, MIT’s philosophy is that even a programmer needs to take chem, physics, math through multi-variable calc, and bio as these are core requirements to graduate from MIT, so if you haven’t taken the most advanced version of these classes yet by the end of junior year, you probably should stay another year.</p>
<p>To address a follow-up question that some might have, it’s ok if you haven’t taken all of your school’s math and science classes. Not everyone will be in an advanced enough track to be able to take all of the AP’s.</p>
<p>by ‘the wording’ i mean how the question is phrased. there is definitely a question about graduating early. i can’t access it on my account to copy/paste it here but it is along the lines of ‘If you will not have a high school diploma when you enter MIT explain why’ more or less.</p>
<p>collegealum- I’ll have taken the most advanced bio and chem classes. I’ll also have taken h.physics, but not AP physics. I’ll also have taken Calc BC (but my school offers one more year of calc… calc III) so would you still say that’s not convincing enough of a case? I guess at my school I <em>could</em> stay another year, but Calc III is usually retaught in a completely different way in college (or so I’ve heard) so it seems that learning it in high school won’t do much. And staying another year just for AP Physics doesn’t seem worth it, either. Those are just my thoughts, but I’m also very inexperienced with college matters, so please don’t hesitate to tell me if you think my case isn’t convincing.</p>
<p>peab2011- Thanks! I’ll definitely keep that in mind in case I want to apply.</p>
<p><em>ONE MORE QUESTION FOR EVERYONE</em></p>
<p>Say I apply to more than one school including MIT my junior year and am rejected at MIT but accepted at another school. I’d much rather prefer to go to MIT, so would I be allowed to defer acceptance at that school to give myself a second chance my senior year to apply to MIT?</p>
<p>No, I still don’t think it’s convincing. MITChris, an admissions committee member, could say more definitively. However, it isn’t always appropriate for admissions committee members to explain how things work lest people try to game the system. Pretty much what they’ll say is something like you need to have exhausted all of your schools resources.</p>
<p>Regardless, calc-based physics and regular physics are very different. </p>
<p>To answer your second question, I’m about 99% sure you can’t defer matriculation to another school and then try for something better senior year.</p>
<p>@ op: isn’t there a question of the application asking if you are graduating early and then explain if you are? If so there. Otherwise it would be under not graduating. Also it would help if you talk to your counselor and have them explain the sittuation in the counselor statement to further verify your claims. My EC said that he never graduated hs, he got accepted to MIT after his sophomore year, so it happens, it is just extremely hard to do.</p>
<p>There was a thread prior which might interest some…</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/1063917-does-mit-look-positively-early-submissions.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/1063917-does-mit-look-positively-early-submissions.html</a></p>
<p>Thanks everyone!! This has really helped me a lot. After talking to many on CC and calling admissions, I’ve decided not to apply early. Thanks for all the advice :)</p>
<p>I know this is a lot later, but just in case anyone cares-
Actually, I’ve changed my mind. I got a lot better grades this term that will allow me to skip courses so I will have maxed out a few of the departments at my school and would basically have no courses left (except for gym and such) my senior year. I will be applying as a junior… wish me luck! I’ll also be applying to many other schools including my states school so that I have safeties because I really don’t think my senior year will be worth it.
Thanks for all the help guys.</p>
<p>Good luck, Sesame! I hope the doors open for you.
:-)</p>
<p>My son also skipped senior year of HS. In his graduate class, there is a student who began grad school at age 16. I thik you will find many younger students at the tech schools.</p>
<p>I applied to college as a junior in high school, had a successful run at it, and matriculated at (obviously) MIT that Fall without a HS diploma or GED. Here are my two cents:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Do your research and see what each particular school’s attitude and/or philosophy is toward admitting young students, specifically if you do not plan to graduate from HS.</p></li>
<li><p><em>State schools</em> care a lot more about whether you will have met particular curriculum requirements upon matriculation than do private schools. For example, I would not have been considered at U Michigan (I called them to ask) because I was missing half a credit of economics, or some such nonsense. I don’t recall the <em>particular</em> coursework they wanted, but that was the gist. I was accepted at Georgia Tech under the condition that I earn a summer school credit in a foreign language. None of the private universities cared about the particulars of my curriculum. They were more interested in its overall quality and depth. I took a <em>lot</em> of courses in high school, but was still missing a couple of things since I focussed far more on advancing in my school’s core areas of curriculum than on (what I considered at the time) peripheral requirements.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t apply as a junior because you think it’s impressive; do it because you truly believe, and can justify, that it is the best thing you can do for your intellectual and social development. If you don’t have a good enough reason for attempting this potentially risky maneuver, you risk (a) not being taken seriously by admissions departments or (b) stunting your growth in one way or another by prematurely entering a college environment. Sure, there are 16 year old grad students out there…and, unless they are SO brilliant as to overcome it, their social skills are often a risk to the realization of their potential once they hit the <em>real world</em>. It was hard for me to find my discipline at MIT. I eventually did, but I made a few follies of youth along the way. All college students must find that balance, but I dare argue it is more difficult when you’re essentially a kid when you first walk in the door.</p></li>
<li><p>Your senior year of high school is awesome (as I understand it). Surely, so is your freshman year of college. Why not have both? The reason I left my high school was because it was a sub-par public school in a state with terrible education. I had already taken nearly all of my school’s APs and also accumulated a fair number of credits at the local university. The next year, my school’s plan was to keep me technically enrolled but to send me to the local university for almost all of my courses. That was an unacceptable scenario. If they were going to send me to college, I was just going to <em>actually go to college.</em> I was well prepared for MIT by sweat and blood alone if nothing else, but getting in so young didn’t mean that I was head-and-shoulders above my classmates there. Many of them simply went to better high schools than I did: schools that could accommodate their needs. If my high school were like some of the schools I learned about through my MIT classmates, I probably would have stayed through 4 years as they did.</p></li>
<li><p>All the above said…I’m glad I went to MIT when I did. It was exactly what I needed, even if it took a bit of getting used to. I wouldn’t change it.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>P.S. After grad school, I got a teaching certificate and went back to try to right some of the wrongs of my own education, and to repay the mentors who helped see me through. I eventually found a student like myself…a sophomore with a ton of energy and a sharp mind, but insufficient opportunities for growth. He and I worked on ever more advanced math and physics every day for two years, and became very close. He got into his dream school and was able to skip 3 semesters of math. Feeling that my debt was repaid, I respectfully bowed from teaching to pursue other opportunities (and so that I could repay my <em>real</em> debt 
). Anyway, the above story is mostly to show how deeply my high school experience affected me…and to show, at least through indication, how seriously I needed to go to college when I did. I think another year of high school would have hurt more than helped.</p>
<p>MITMathAlum-
Thanks!! That was really insightful. Could you tell me more about what schools you applied to (I’m trying to figure this out but I’m not quite sure where to start)? Also, if you don’t mind me asking, what do you think got you into MIT? Any competitions or other extracurriculars, or maybe your essays?
I understand your point of view from a maturity perspective. Personally, I think I’m socially and intellectually mature enough, and I’ve talked to my parents about it and they think it’s a great idea too. It’s just that my senior year schedule would be mostly college classes plus HS history and English (I will not have maxed out those departments). I could technically take an independent study class, too, but why waste another year in high school independently studying something that I could simply independently study by myself without being in school? I just feel like I have very limited options left, and I think it’d be more worth it to go straight to college.
Thanks so much for your post!! I was beginning to think there were not many MIT junior admits, plus it was very helpful. :)</p>
<p>Rather than starting a new thread, I thought I’d tag onto this one since it’s been really helpful in getting a lot of questions answered about this. My son is also a sophomore and also considering doing the same next year (applying as a junior) since he’ll honestly have exhausted our school’s curriculum (unless he wants to take things like metal shop, etc.). He’s had 7 AP’s so far (including Calc BC, Physics and Chemistry already) and will have the rest next year. If he does stay through senior year, all he would take at the HS his senior year would be band (and he’s been in the HS band since 7th grade anyway) just because he loves it. He’d go to a local college for everything else. </p>
<p>However, one difference I see between him and others considering doing this is that I know if we asked, they’d be willing to graduate him a year early. Since he’s been taking classes at the HS since 6th grade, he has more than enough credits to graduate even by the end of this year and would easily fulfill all the requirements by the end of his junior year. </p>
<p>How would that affect things? Would he then be considered a “senior”, since he’d have a diploma when he graduated? But…if he didn’t get in, he’d probably just stay the senior year and hope that the extra college credits and more in his application would get him in the next year. Is this somehow “trying to have his cake and eat it too”? Would they not allow him to apply twice if the first year he says he WILL have a diploma if he enters then in 2012? Even if he ends up not having it if he doesn’t enter then? I’m not sure I’m explaining this well! </p>
<p>Thanks for any help or suggestions!</p>
<p>
And that right there is why MIT will entertain applicants at any age, even the odd “Dougie Howser”. MIT wants to consider applications at the point in which students have exhausted their school’s curriculum (which is for most students after they have completed their Senior year in high school). That being said, MIT does not really act in loco parentis for its students, certainly not as much as some other schools do, and so they are looking to ensure that the students have the emotional maturity to prosper on campus as well as the academic chops. Basically, a young student is considered absolutely no differently than any other student on campus, and as such, the admissions criteria are exactly the same. </p>
<p>I had to prepare for such an interview this past year, and I can assure you that as an EC, in order to ensure that a young candidate was just the same as any other, I did actually ask different questions, because I was not able to make some of the same assumptions of a 13-year old student that I could make of an 18-year old student.</p>
<p>Given that, I am afraid that I do not understand the posted question. marciemi notes that "if he didn’t get in, he’d probably just stay the senior year and hope that the extra college credits and more in his application would get him in the next year. " Huh? You really think that metal shop, shorthand and automotive repair will make all of the difference to a competitive college? Either the student has exhausted his school curriculum, in which case, by all means graduate early and apply to universities. Or, alternatively, the student has not, there are still classes to take at high school that will be of benefit to a college application, in which case the question has answered itself.</p>