<p>Hey all,
I'm a junior now, and its time for Early Descision Acceptance/Deferral Results and I see all of these people getting into the Colleges of their Dreams (or mine!). I know its a long ways away but I was wondering:
I'm aspiring to become an aerospace engineer and I would love it if I could go to MIT to fulfill my dream :)</p>
<p>I was wondering what my chances are if I have
-Approx 3.7 unweighted GPA (total 4 aps so far; planning to take 4 more next year)
- haven't taken a non-honors or non-ap course since freshman year
-2 sports team and Robotics team, and co-refounder of a club at my school?
Thank you all for helping me :)</p>
<p>I haven't taken the SAT yet by the way but I was just wondering what my chances were based on my grades because I think I can conquer the SAT</p>
<p>GPA is a tad low and so are AP courses. Even if you get a 2300+ it will still be a reach without any competitions/awards under your belt.</p>
<p>Thanks for your quick response!
I didn’t know that 4 AP’s by Junior year was a small amount. Also I am part of the Intel Research Program and I was invited(and accepted) by Google to parttake in a Computer Science program with them if that helps?
Would it?</p>
<p>MIT '10 here.</p>
<p>Yes. It would help. Your GPA is not anywhere near low enough that you would be struck out, but you’ll need to play up your EC’s, especially those that pertain to potential areas of study you’re interested in. As for how many AP’s you’ve taken, it largely depends on how you compare to the rest of your school. If your school doesn’t offer than many AP’s/has a strict “standard track” students have to follow, it wouldn’t be surprising that you have 4 instead of a gazillion in some other school.</p>
<p>Also, I should add that my BF is an Aerospace nut and graduated from Cornell AEP, and that there are also plenty of public schools that have excellent programs. My point is that you don’t HAVE to go to MIT, and there might be other schools that are a better fit for you regardless of their “prestige”. It’s best to keep your options open at this point.</p>
<p>Hey thanks for replying</p>
<p>What would be considered a “stand out E.C”?
I’ve been on Robotics since 6th grade, I got invited twice by Google to parttake in a Comp Sci program, and I’m creating a particle interaction simulator using Java in my class</p>
<p>Would this along with a good SAT II and SAT score show I have interest in physics?</p>
<p>As for options, I realize that I have to keep options, I’m not expecting to get into MIT
Cornell, UMich, RPI are some of my other options as well.</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>thanks for the response</p>
<p>The EC’s that you listed are all fine. Are they the best of the bunch? No, but they’re good enough. A lot of times it’s the luck of the draw. Also what you’re actually capable of achieving in high school is often confined by the opportunities in your locality/school and whether your parents are friends with any big shot professors willing to babysit a 16-yr-old for a summer.</p>
<p>What’s important now is probably how you describe what you have done, and how much of it is on your own time. Doing something in class is not as impressive as doing something out of class. What kind of robotics projects have you been involved in? Why was your specific contribution important? What have you build by your own lonesome? What did you do at the Google CS program? You need to show that you did these things because you cared and not too boost how it looks to a college (the irony is not lost on anybody).</p>
<p>High SAT II’s and SAT’s are more like checklists and probably don’t show anything than what subjects at which you’ve mastered the test-taking demon. A useless skill, and colleges know that. A higher SAT score probably means you’ll be sorted in to the higher-priority-pile but all that means is they’ll be a little more careful combing through your application than someone else’s. Realistically, you want to shoot for 2300+ and 780+ for the subjects (since people actually get to choose the subjects, they don’t have an excuse to do badly on them) to put yourself in the top pile, but it’s not the end of the world to not end up in the top pile.</p>
<p>I would take a look around at the kids in your high school/district. Specifically the other kids who want to go to MIT and older kids who had gotten into MIT. Compare yourself to them. They’re better measuring sticks for you than someone from a totally different part of the country applying 7 years ago.</p>