Chances at Princeton, MIT

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I‘m a sophomore at a pretty small public high school in SC. It’s a decent school, but it has sent very few kids to the Ivies. My goal is to study physics (or maybe engineering) at Princeton or MIT, although I’m okay with going to a public school, like Georgia Tech or UMich. I’ve also looked a lot into the physics programs at Rice, Caltech, and Cornell. The most obvious state school is Clemson.

My unweighted GPA is 4.0, and weighted is around 5.2. I plan to take AP Euro, APUSH, AP Chemistry, AP Statistics, AP Calculus, AP English Lit, and possibly AP Spanish by the time I graduate. The only other AP courses my school offers are Biology, Psychology, and English Language. I’m on pace to be valedictorian by senior year, and I will have taken calculus, Honors Physics, and four years of engineering courses, which should help me at my major.

I don’t play school sports, but I’m very active at VEX robotics (although our team is new, underfunded, and mostly unsuccessful), and I‘m the high-scorer for our school’s quiz bowl team. I’m also involved with NHS, and do some volunteer work with my church youth group. (I’d say extracurriculars are probably my weakest point.)

Assume for the moment that I do well on the SAT/ACT, I’m a National Merit Scholarship semi-finalist or finalist, and I graduate as valedictorian. Be honest: what do you think of my chances of getting into my dream schools, and how can I maximize them in my remaining years of high school?

2

“I don’t play school sports”

That is truly unfortunate because being an athlete is the largest admissions boost you can get at many of the Ivy League schools, followed closely by legacy, director’s list and URM. If you haven’t yet, have a look at the thread discussing Harvard’s admission of athletes in the “Parents” forum. It’s an eye opener just how much of a boost is granted to athletes and how few admissions spots are available once those students with hooks are admitted. Especially if you have weak ECs, admission to an Ivy as an unhooked average excellent applicant is going to be a very, very long shot.

MIT does not have the same focus on athletics but will want your ECs to show what they’re looking for.

3

Get a 1500+ on the SAT with two 700s+ on SAT subject tests or a 34+ on the ACT. Keep your GPA high and be in at least the top 10% of your class with a difficult curriculum. Build your ECs around your interest in engineering or physics. Join all relevant clubs in your school and try to become a leader in each. If there aren’t too many relevant clubs, start them. Enter in high school engineering and science competitions such as the Science Olympiad. You need to distinguish yourself by showing your passion and your skill in a particular subject matter or two for these colleges