<p>I'm a female sophomore from a small Catholic school in the Northeast (a couple hours away from Boston) who's been looking at a couple different schools and trying to find out what her chances are of getting in. Some facts about me are:
-4.0 UW GPA, 4.8 W GPA
-All possible honors, taking AP Spanish even though I'm a sophomore
-Judging from my practice SATs, I have around a 700 CR, 690 M, and 780 W (keep in mind, however, that I'm only a sophomore and haven't studied all that's on the math portion)
-Only sophomore on the debate team (chances are that I'll be captain senior year)
-Only sophomore on the newspaper, won local writing award (I should be editor next year and I have plans for taking it to the next level)
-Founded the Young Politician's Club
-Run my own blog
-Planning on taking AP physics, both English AP classes, US history, European history, calculus, not sure about chemistry (if not I will take honors), and I'd like to independently study government
-Worked at local library for a paid job since Freshman year, volunteered there since this year
Although admissions is 10% and I'm from the Northeast, would a girl interested in studying management undergrad with my qualifications have a good chance?</p>
<p>No way to say – even an admissions officer couldn’t tell you what your chances would be:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/939227-reminder-no-one-not-even-me-can-give-you-accurate-chance-mit.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/939227-reminder-no-one-not-even-me-can-give-you-accurate-chance-mit.html</a></p>
<p>You should look at the “Match” to MIT:
[The</a> Match Between You And MIT | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/match]The”>What we look for | MIT Admissions)</p>
<p>How is this atypical? The only way this could be more typical is if you had qualified for AIME 
Read the links WiseGuy posted, you probably have as good a chance as most applicants. Study for the SATs and you have a good shot.</p>
<p>First of all, you’re a sophomore, don’t worry about this too much now.
Secondly, you seem to be on the right track. Admissions is a crapshoot, but if you show your passions in your application and highlight what makes you special and genuine, you have a great chance. If you’re concerned about your SATs, I got in early action with very high CR and W sections and a 740 in math (only got above 700 because I took it 3 times).
Take the classes you are interested in, that will help you do better in them as well! However, if your school’s honors chem class isn’t that great, I would suggest taking AP chem senior year for the sake of being more prepared for college (I took honors and AP chem, but at my school they were both a joke, so I am seriously struggling in 3.091 (solid state chemistry) right now. It probably also doesn’t help that I hate chemistry…)</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t get why this is atypical for a prospective, either.</p>
<p>Think less about standardized tests (because your scores are fine, and, really, you can’t beat the hordes of AP obsessed CC’ers out there in terms of AP count). Same goes for GPA. Cut the APs you don’t really care about, because you already have plenty.</p>
<p>Be ambitious about your clubs! Each of those things (debate, newspaper, your blog) can be incredible, and it all depends on how much passion you put into it. That’s how you become exceptional. Pouring your energy into maintaining a 4.0 is not.</p>
<p>@napalm2013 and piperXP: I’m atypical because I’m not really into the sciences and math, as MIT’s really known for (at least to my understanding)</p>
<p>Update: My PSAT scores are M 770, CR 730, and W 720. Will it be tough for me to get in even though I don’t really prove any real love for math through my ECs? I decided to self-study statistics instead of government this year, and I’ll probably take the AP test in that and macroeconomics next year. Also, will it help me a lot to apply early?</p>
<p>You don’t need to love math, but you should keep in mind that MIT requires for all undergraduates two semesters of calculus including single and multi-variable, along with two semesters of physics, and a semester each of bio and chem.</p>
<p>In addition to what shravas mentioned, MIT requires two more electives in science/technology, and a lab course. You’re not going to be at an advantage for not being into sciences. Remember, MIT admits people to the school overall, not for a particular major. You don’t choose a major until the end of freshman year - typically, when you’ve completed most of the science requirement.</p>
<p>Questions for you: Why do you want to go to MIT? Why do you think it’ll be a good fit for you? </p>
<p>Are those PSAT or SAT scores? To my knowledge, PSAT scores are two-digit numbers. MIT doesn’t look at your PSAT scores, but if you get scores like that on your SAT, your test scores will be fine. (Keep in mind that 80% of applicants will have decent test scores.)</p>
<p>I don’t think you’ll have an advantage either way with early or regular. Being from the Northeast won’t hurt you, either.</p>
<p>@PiperXP: They’re PSAT scores, my guidance counselor told them to me with the zero tagged on to the end so I’ve just been saying them that way. I’m great at math and good enough at science- I mean, I get A’s relatively easy in both subjects, I just don’t really want to spend a whole lot of time learning about them for fun. I want to go to MIT because I feel like it is probably THE best school for students who want to go into technology startups- it’s got a wealth of resources (both materials and people) as well as one of the best undergraduate business courses in the country. Stanford’s similar in these respects, but I don’t think it has the same science focus at MIT does. Also, if I were to go into a tech startup the Northeast may be a better place to start (Silicon Valley’s really known for it but the taxes are crazy high there and property’s super expensive). MIT also is located in Boston, which provides me with tons of opportunities to make contacts with students at other colleges (as well as use their resources- to my knowledge, MIT students can take classes at Harvard if they wish, and vice versa). I like the innovative culture at MIT as well.</p>
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<p>You are also at a small Catholic school in the northeast. Consider that MIT might be much harder. (I went to a small Catholic school in Los Angeles, got easy A’s, even got 5’s on AP Calc and AP Bio - the only science APs my school offered. It nowhere near prepared me for MIT. You may not be in that scenario, but consider the possibility that you are. I would look through psets on OpenCourseWare and see how well you could handle it.)</p>
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<p>You seem to have no interest in science. Why do you want to go into a tech startup?</p>
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<p>Then move out here after graduation? This doesn’t seem to be a reason to attend MIT so much as a reason to live in Boston after. There’s a lot of cross-pollination with Silicon Valley and MIT. I don’t think you’ll fail to make connections.</p>
<p>Have you considered just outright going to Harvard? Your personality seems to fit better with my mental model of a Harvard student than an MIT student, and you explicitly mention the opportunity to take classes at Harvard as a plus for you. You’d still be in Cambridge, which means you’re about as close to all of the Boston-area tech startups, and you have a much less science-heavy courseload if you are significantly more interested in majoring in Business.</p>
<p>HASS major here, but I don’t think every student who wants to go to MIT has to be really into science, and I hardly think that wanting to take a class at Harvard means that you fit better there than here. I think wanting to take math and science GIRs is pretty much enough (though I am a little head scratchy on the explanation for OP’s interest in tech startups).</p>
<p>My Dad has a startup tech company and he wasn’t the best science/math guy ever. He manages the company and designed the product while his programmer is the one who writes all of the code. That’s what I want to do.</p>
<p>I really liked my science class last year when I was being taught by an extremely overqualified teacher (Princeton undergrad, Columbia PhD) because it was challenging yet at the same time I felt like I was actually learning something. I’d assume that GIRs would probably be relatively similar to that experience.</p>
<p>I agree that you sound like a better fit for Harvard. I’ll again encourage you to look through all the GIRs on OpenCourseWare to see if that’s really work you want to do.</p>
<p>Millancad: The issue I’m having understanding this is that despite what shannoqr says, it entirely sounds like she doesn’t want to actually /learn/ science. She’s from “a small catholic school”. Despite what she thinks of her admittedly overqualfied teacher, a teacher being overqualified doesn’t mean their material will be genuinely difficult, especially if they try to tailor it to not be so. Unless multiple people in her class last year failed it, if she considers any freshman-level class in a small catholic school “challenging”… I genuinely worry for her in regards to GIRs. A business-minded person that wants to be the CFO of a tech startup belongs at Harvard for undergrad. There’s absolutely no point I can see for her desire to want to take the GIRs.</p>
<p>I’ll agree with the others that you’re not atypical. I’ll disagree that you should focus on Harvard or some other school if you really want to go to MIT. I knew a number of students at MIT who majored in management and didn’t have a particular interest in learning science. Some of them went onto technology/science related careers and some went into other areas. I also wouldn’t worry about the GIRs being too tough. If you actually get into MIT, they should be OK for you.</p>
<p>That said, these are all extremely selective schools, so you shouldn’t exclude Harvard or Stanford since they will also get you where you want to go. You should also start trying to find less selective schools that you’ll love in case you don’t get into these highly selective schools.</p>
<p>Well I really didn’t like the feel at Harvard… and I’m definitely not excluding Stanford, I simply think that MIT is better for what I want to do. And no need to knock science at the small catholic school- a good number of the AP chemistry class gets a 5 on the test annually. And the freshman biology course was challenging- I was first in my class, but I knew a number of reasonably intelligent kids struggling to get C’s. And I have checked out the biology GIRs on courseware, and they don’t seem overwhelming. I’m good at science and I like learning from good teachers about it, and I know if I want to go into tech I should know SOME information about it- I just don’t want to become a scientist or engineer.</p>