Bio:
-Dual Citizen: Romanian-American
-Class: Upper-Middle (Unlikely to need significant financial aid)
-Race: White (My grandfather is a gypsy, so I guess that makes me mixed, but I look white, so that’s what I’ve always put)
-Gender: Female
-State: IL
School:
-Type: Very large public (1000 per grade)
-Graduates: Send ~50 students to Ivy’s and Top 20 Schools (Sent three to MIT last year)
-AP’s Offered: Just about all of them, but only Juniors and Seniors can take them (General Max AP’s taken is 6)
Academic Profile:
-Unweighted GPA: 3.5-3.6
-Weighted GPA: 4.7-4.8
-AP’s: 7 AP’s, Scored only 4s and 5s so far
-ACT: 36
-SAT: 1540 (790 math, 750 english)
-Rank: Top 10% ( I don’t know exact percentile though)
***Took most rigorous course possible.
EC (In terms of importance/commitment):
-Team Captain of Volleyball team for 3 years (Am trying to be recruited for D3: Have already started talking to MIT)
-Head of German Wheel Club (It’s a Circus Act–Would highly recommend googling)
-All Saints Choir
-Metropolitan Community Project (Service Club)
-Project Mexico (Service Program)
Other Notables:
-Published author on medium.com
-Took college courses on genetics online on Coursera
-Enrolled at Duke University sophomore summer for a genetics class
-Will be TAing Theatre next year at my school
Honors:
-Honor Roll
-AP Scholar with Distinction
-Something with the 36 ACT score
Work:
-Interning in a Lab at NW, currently doing cancer research (Unpaid)
-Assistant Coach for 12 year old at volleyball in my senior year (Paid)
Your chances look pretty fair. Your test scores are awesome, absolutely amazing- but your UW GPA is low for MIT.
I think you’ll be fighting a little bit of an uphill battle with your ECs. It’s really, really good if you’re talking to the MIT coach about possible recruitment. If you can get an in with that, it’ll majorly help you out. That being said, your ECs are a little on the weak side. You’re going to be competing with people who have won competitions at the international level in the sciences.
Try to push your volleyball involvement as an asset. Demonstrate to the adcom that having a life, participating in sports and not being involved in every science competition on the planet is a good thing (it is!)
Best of luck- I think your essays and recs will matter a lot.
Thank you for the reply! It’s interesting that you say that my extracurriculars are weak, since I’ve generally heard the opposite, and when I was talking with some people who attend MIT, they pointed to the German Wheel thing that I do (I’ve performed in shows and parades with my club), and they’ve stated that it’s very unique and they haven’t met anyone else that does at, let alone to the level I do it.
Do you think that not having participated in Science Olympiad and not having won high awards is going to significantly hurt me? What aspect of my EC’s do you think are causing them to be weak? How would you recommend that I play this off?
I agree that your unweighted GPA is low for MIT. Also note that your math SAT, at 790, is probably lower than the median math SAT at MIT (although obviously not by much).
I would say “high reach”. You have a chance but I would think significantly less than 50/50.
lol, the average SAT Math at MIT is a 780 out of 800. I have a 790 out of 800. I think I’m okay there.
Yes, my unweighted is low. My freshman year was pretty bad, and in the first semester of my junior year I got a concussion and that really hurt my grade (I was out for almost a month). My college counselor is writing about that in his rec. I finished my last semester with straight A’s, and look to apply RA so I can get another good semester in.
Does this extra knowledge make you think I’m a bit better than a “high reach”? Maybe just a regular reach,
I remember reading that a long time ago…I guess I just got super stressed and gave into the madness…
Thanks for putting me back on track. I think I’ll take a break from the Chance Me type post, and go back to pursuing my passion (Volleyball!!!) for a little while.
