Chance me for MIT + Ivies / early graduation?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Before I post anything, I’d like to say that I’m a sophomore. I’m thinking about graduating early, but I’m not sure that I want to unless I’m fairly sure that I can actually get into a school that I want to. So if any of you could offer advice/suggestions on whether or not I should wait, that would actually be more helpful than the chances themselves (which are pretty limited, considering the schools that I’m aiming for).

Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Indian
Unweighted GPA: 4.0+
Rank: definitely top 3, but depending on whether I graduate early or not, it could be 1 or 2
SAT: (7th grade scores; haven’t taken it since) M: 800, W: 640, CR: 660
ACT: haven’t taken
SAT II: Math 2 800, Biology 720 (likely won’t submit), plan to take Lit in June
School type: Large public

8th grade
took AP Calc AB and AP Lit exams, 5s on both

9th grade
AP World History (4)
AP Calc BC (5)
AP Biology (5)
AP Language and Comp (5)
Spanish 3 Honors

summer: attended intro to public speaking and debate camp, started Data Science track on Coursera from JHU

10th grade
AP Physics 1 and 2
AP Stats
AP Computer Science
AP Literature (class only since I already took the exam)
AP Macroeconomics

summer: planning to attend 4-week Japanese immersion program and work on NLP courses from Coursera as well as the Data Science track. Applied to SPARC but doubt admittance.

Plan for 11th grade
AP Physics C (both exams)
Linear Algebra / Multivariable Calculus / both
Some form of college English since I’ve run out at school
AP Psych
AP US History
might take AP Japanese exam

Extracurriculars: secretary of debate club, trivia bowl team, math team, Science Bowl team, editor for newspaper club, Mu Alpha Theta (math honors society), Spanish honors society, started a NACLO club to raise awareness about the exam and computational linguistics, weekly tutoring, classical violin (7 years), orchestra
I also started a non-profit for tutoring girls in math and I plan to run a free week-long summer camp for middle school girls in my district in August.

Work experience: none yet
Volunteer Work: ~ 12 hours in educational workshops
Awards: 2 year AIME qualifier, NACLO Semifinalist, 2 year All-State Orchestra qualifier, youngest AP Scholar with Distinction in history of state

I’m not sure exactly what I want to major in, but it’ll probably be somewhere in the general range of applied math/computer science/engineering. I currently find natural language processing fascinating; unfortunately, my programming skills are not quite up to par to advance. I plan to improve on that this summer.

If anybody has advice, I’d really appreciate it!

2

The more you accomplish in high school, the better are your chances for top colleges. Thus, there is a likely advantage in staying all four years. As well, you give yourself an added year of intellectual development, which often translates to high scores, better grades, etc.

However, in your case, the second effect may be less noticeable because you appear to already be achieving at a high level.

I do wonder, though, how admissions committees look at high school students who are younger than most. My sense is that they bring an added sense of caution, even suspicion, the applicant who arrives on their doorstep a year or two early. Having an 18 year-old show up in late August, or someone about to turn 18, is different from someone who is only 16 or 17. There are greater liability issues, and there are more questions regarding maturity.

No one can guarantee you’ll get into the schools you want, whether you finish early or stay for four years, but you’re probably increasing your chances of top schools if you stay.

3

Thank you for your feedback! Also, I probably should have added that I would be turning 18 in either the fall of my senior year / fall of my freshman year in college if I graduate early (I’m quite old for my grade), so age isn’t really a problem for me and it shouldn’t be for the colleges.
My concern is that I will be spending a lot of money on college classes before even going to college (I’ve pretty much exhausted the classes I can take at my school by next year), so I’m considering the net benefit of giving early graduation a shot. I do agree that I could achieve a lot more by staying an extra year, though!

4

Alright, let’s get this show on the road.

First up, MIT. MIT is a great school. It is a technical institute. MIT can literally fill their school with people with your stats, but they aren’t worried about that. MIT looks for passion and an affinity. MIT houses the best minds in business & engineering. Most people that apply to MIT have done way, way more than just “start the Data Science track on Coursera from JHU”. They actually put what they learn to their mouth and make it happen. That’s what MIT looks for. MIT is damn straight smart enough to know that GPA is not a good measure to admit people. If you’re looking for academic based admission - look to Caltech. Yet, Caltech is still incredibly hard to get into. Many HS’ers are doing research there over the summer. Back to MIT… there are people who attend there and they were high school dropouts. I think that’s enough for that now.

Now, Harvard. Why do you want Harvard? Because it sounds cool, looks fancy, is prestigious, or has a lot of opportunities? They’ll easily pick that out and those people get rejected for the most part. Harvard is in fact an amazing school. Those who attend to the faculty, all great, bright people. Harvard is looking to build the ideal, whole rounded class; not student. People on the whole spectrum get in. To those who are unique with a strong passion yet have 3.0 GPA’s and low SAT scores - No they didn’t pay their way in, Harvard has billions in endowment, they are need-blind. I’ll wrap this up with words from the Dean of Harvard - He says that people with 4.0’s at strong institutions could’ve been challenged more but chose not to. I’ll let you figure out what means.

For the other Ivies, you look good, but you really don’t know how competition may look like.

But I encourage you to find colleges that you will find yourself happy at - not a college that is just known for its prestige.

G’luck.

5

Here’s my 2 cents:

You have solid ECs, community service, test scores (assuming you take SAT again), rigor, and grades.

BUT… you are missing a hook or outstanding achievement (national level award, prestigious summer program, etc).

It will be really risky for you to graduate early and the chances of getting into those top schools are slim, however, if you aimed to rack up some achievements in your junior year and apply your senior year, your chances would look much much better.

Best of luck.

6

@StanfordSwag: Thank you for your feedback. I do agree with everything you said about MIT and Harvard, and I am looking for better ways to apply my knowledge in more useful ways. Currently, I have come up absolutely blank, which is one of the reasons graduating early doesn’t really seem prospective. I do want to find a way to “put what I’ve learned to my mouth”, though, since I do have a good deal of knowledge.

@tooty44 : That’s what I think as well. Unfortunately, I’m not sure my chances at getting a national level award or being accepted into one of the prestigious summer camps are particularly high, but we’ll have to see. Thank you!

7

Try turning it around and looking at it from a different angle.

So far, everything you have talked about is box ticking: getting awards and into prestigious summer camps; starting a non-profit; academic teams and honor societies; high level music. I’m not saying that you don’t enjoy them, just that there is nothing about them that says anything in particular about who you are.

The best line in your whole intro is " I currently find natural language processing fascinating"- because that has a hint of somebody who actually cares about something. Last summer looks underwhelming from this distance, and this summer doesn’t look much better. What about using it to do something that you actually care about? you mention bringing your programming skills up, so that you can do more in natural language processing, which is a good start- but could you take it further? What would you do with it if that was the only thing you were going to do?

MIT, the Ivies, etc. all have a lot of applicants who color inside the lines really well - the really ‘good girls’ who are doing everything that they have been told to do. In my experience most of the ones who get offers are the ones who have a genuine interest in something and actively pursue it. Rather than trying to be who you think that they want you to be, figure out and pursue something that you want to do/be. Your test scores and grades are as good as anybody could ask for, so you have the room to work on something that gets you excited.

8

MIT + Ivies are reaches for EVERYONE.
Plus, colleges recommend AGAINST early graduation.

9

@collegemom3717: Thank you for your advice! I do plan to use this summer to learn Python and continue working on the data science track, and hopefully I’ll be able to add some things to that as well. My problem so far has been that I haven’t found anything that I’m passionate enough about to pursue, but hopefully trying some new things will help me with that. That’s another reason I don’t want to graduate early…I haven’t found what I like to do yet!
@paul2752: I do agree with that. However, I’m not sure how they’ll feel about me coming in already having taken numerous college courses…my counselor said that could be money that they’re losing.

10

It depends on colleges whether the universities will accept the credit. Top of top schools tend to be very picky on accepting AP credits but I do not know whether Ivy leagues will be strict about college transfer credits as well. It shows your diligence and academic commitment, and it may not have a large role in your application, but who knows? Only admission officers will know.
You may want to find out on your own if the schools to which you are applying to accept college credits.

Also, the reason that colleges don’t like early graduation is that the students who graduated early may not be mature enough to experience college. I don’t know about you, but it is highly un-recommended. In fact, there is a silent rule that kids who are or under 16 not be accepted to colleges unless they are genius or…somthing

11

Let me give you my 2 cents:

MIT is a great school especially for Computer Science, however, right now, it is not number one. Nor is Stanford.

You might be exposed to this later on, but I’m in the MLH which means Major League Hacking. It’s the league for programing. Ranks are determined by which school builds the best products - they are judged by industry professionals - and you can easily get recruited by them.

So if you’re interested in Computer Science, take a look at UIUC, it is currently number one in the MLH. MIT is very high up in the ranking but not top 3. Surprisingly enough, RIT is actually ahead of MIT… Another great school is UMich Ann Arbor.

Best of luck and if you have any questions on the MLH or Computer Science, don’t hesitate to send me a message.

12

You are way to young to say you will graduate early, or even predict your class ranks for that matter. Also, get ready for high school when classes actually get hard, and strength of curriculum matters A LOT! I would not expect to get in, only because you are this paranoid this early on.

13

I see no reason for you to graduate early. Plenty of students are as advanced or more advanced than you in math/science. It does seem odd to take calc bc freshman year and then digress to ap stats…

Your extracurriculars are decent, but probably only average for an MIT applicant. Take the year to do something significant; do something that will qualify as a hook.

You seem concerned more with taking as many ap classes as possible as quickly as possible rather than to grow and learn. Take your time, and learn things the right way. If you’re interested in majoring in math or computer science, spend some time learning the related skills. At MIT, you’ll find comp sci majors that learned code before algebra, and math majors that start taking graduate classes by their senior year.

14

Early graduation will likely limit the colleges you get into. You are very smart but not a savant, accordingly leaving high school early will probably greatly damage your chances at top schools

15

@sugliac OP is a sophomore in high school…