Chances of Getting Into MIT- From a 2019-2020 Sophomore

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

Hi, this my first thread of this type, so any criticism or advice is welcome! I am a Sophomore at an EXTREMELY small rural school and would like for this to be kept in mind when reading my stats. Any recommendations for programs to join or ways to improve my chances, or really even just to give me something to do are greatly appreciated. Thank you!

GPA:
Unweighted- 4.0
Weighted- 4.17

APs:
Freshman-
-APHG 5
-APES 5

Sophomore (Current)-
-APCSA
-AP Micro

Rank:
1/17 (I warned y’all I went to a small school)

EC’s:
Freshman-
-Student Council Treasurer
-Freshman Class President
-4-H Reporter
-FFA Ag Issues Area Qualifier (FFA’s version of Regionals)
-FFA Homesite State Qualifier
-Band
-Selected for Jazz Band (big deal at my school)
-UIL Science 2nd at District, 6th at Regionals (UIL is a Texas Academic Competition)
-Beta Club
-Varsity Track
-Varsity Golf
-JV Basketball Starter
-Summer Job

Sophomore- (So far)
-Student Council Treasurer (Again I know, boring of me)
-FFA Treasurer (This one wasn’t even my choice!)
-Sophomore Class President
-Beta Club (Elections have not started yet; I am running for an officer position)
-Summer Job

That’s all of the EC’s I have so far. At the bottom, I will include a section containing plans and predictions such as future officer positions, APs, and other activities I will partake in. This is purely an attempt at seeing how my application holds up so far. My school has 1 first-year counselor for Pre-K-12 and has never had a student attend an out of state school, so this is the only way for me to really figure out how my application is looking and to find other opportunities for me.

I plan on majoring in Engineering, so any Stem EC’s that can be done online, can be started in a small school, or are summer programs are more than helpful if y’all can think of any. Thank you all very much!

Future Plans/Predictions

APs/DE:
-Junior Year-
APBio, AP Phys 1, AP Stats, Dual USH
-Senior Year-
AP Calc BC, AP Chem, Both AP Phys Cs, AP Chem, Dual Gov, Dual English, Maybe Dual Psych

UIL:
-Trying out for Number Sense and Mathematics
-Should (hopefully!) qualify for state in Science as everybody who outranked me at Regionals were seniors and the next 7 below as well.

Sports:
Continuing all previous sports

Officer Positions:
-Hopeful for a Beta Club Position
-StuCo- Next Year VP, Senior Year, President if VP is won, if not then VP
-FFA- Due to FFA Officer Ranking Process, I am set to be President next year and also possibly my senior year

I also have been looking at internships at local engineering companies and am interested in summer research programs, so hopefully one of those will make it onto my application by the time I’m a senior.

2

It’s way too early to give you any odds on MIT.

However, your profile jumped out at me as being from a rural student with a strong interest in science. Aspirnaut, a summer program at Vanderbilt, would seem to be tailor made for you, and for sure will help you not only with college admissions down the road, but also with figuring out what you want to do.

Take a look if you are not aware of this program: https://www.aspirnaut.org/what-we-do-2/summer-research-internship-for-rural-high-school-students/

3

Dont ser wights on any tippy top til you know more about what matters to them. From the way you wrote this out, I wonder if you’ve read the MIT admissions blogs.

You need math-sci activities, if ypu plan stem at a premier stem uni.

4

Some specific advice on course sequencing:

Don’t take AP Stats in junior year. If you are ready for BC Calc then, take it. If you are not, figure out how to get ready for it!

Senior year as envisioned is too tough. You shouldn’t do both AP Physics C courses in addition to AP Chem. AP Chem is usually a lot of work. Some people say AP Physics C is difficult, but this is very much dependent on the student’s aptitude for the subject. Nevertheless, even kids I know who breezed through AP Physics C in 9th or 10th grade and got 5s on both parts have complained about AP Chem.

Good luck!

5

Remember that during your senior year you will be putting a lot of effort into applying to universities. This will add up to the equivalent of another AP class. You might want to adjust your course load accordingly.

Assuming that you continue to do as well as you have done up to now, I think that your chances at MIT are not all that far away from the overall acceptance rate. Your stats are great and you have done very well. MIT acceptance is tough for the very top students, and impossible for everyone else.

Please keep in mind that there are a lot of very good universities. A very wide range of universities will give you opportunities to excel. I think that you should very seriously consider applying to MIT, but also spend quite a bit of time focusing on safety and match schools. It looks to me as if you are likely to be very successful in the long run regardless of which university you attend.

6

Don’t set your sights on one school-- now or ever (until accepted). Develop a list of what matters to you academically and socially and financially-- then find schools (reach, match, safety) that fit your priorities. If you can visit a range of schools in Junior year, or even now, that could be very informative for your planning and thought process. It’s disheartening that you will have trouble finding STEM ECs to participate in, while my girls have little but STEM offered on our region and they are not interested! Residential Pre-College programs could be a great thing, but look for quality content and instructors (there’s a lot of rich kid summer camps out there calling themselves Pre-College.) Any decent one will offer financial aid if needed (not sure how much though). My D21 did one this summer (not STEM) but it was huge for her self-reflection on what type of learning and social environment works for her, and impacted our college list/search significantly. Best of luck!

7

JMHO, but early in soph year, with only grades from freshman courses, is FAR too soon to suggest someone has a good chance. And more matters, which OP has yet to uncover and build. Miles to go.

8

It’s way too soon for you to worry about that stuff. Go do teenager things! :slight_smile:

9

@dropbox77177 Thanks for recommending Aspirnaut program; that looks awesome, and I will definitely be giving that some thought for this summer!

As for my senior year, yeah, I know. I think I am going to drop Dual Psych from my plan, but don’t worry about AP Chem and the Physics Cs being too much of a course load for me. The AP Chem teacher has been tutoring me in it since 8th grade for my UIL Science Team and will continue to throughout high school.

For Stats my junior year, I plan on taking that course as a filler math course to show that I am interested in math and just for fun. I won’t have the prerequisites for Calc my junior year as at my school, Algebra I is only meant for freshman, not 7th and 8th graders. I am actually having to double up on math courses which are against the rules at my school and will be the first senior at my school to have ever taken Calc.

Thank you all for y’alls advice and recommendations. It means the world to me.

10

@Sumu230 - I’m happy to be of help. Wisconsin ESP is another summer program that might be of interest. It tends to have more of a focus on minorities, but also looks for rural students who might not have ready access to STEM opportunities in their regular schools:

https://www.engr.wisc.edu/academics/student-services/diversity-programs/engineering-summer-program/