Hi, I’m a high school junior, and I was wondering what my chances are to getting into Mit or Stanford.
Grades: (letter grade for each semester)
Freshman
Honors English A A
Honors algebra 2 A A
Honors physics A
Honors chemistry A-
Honors American history A A
Phy Ed A A
Intro to business A
Computer applications B+
Sophomore
Ap us history A A 5
Ap Chemistry A- A- 3
Honors precalculus A A-
Honors English A A
Health A
Spanish A A
Principles of engineering A A
Junior
Ap Lang and Composition A
Ap calculus AB A
Ap human geo A
Ap biology A
Spanish 2 A
Web design B+
Senior (planned)
Ap gov
Ap stats
Ap physics
Ap economics
Communications (required)
Humanities
Spanish 3
Tests: sat 2
Us history 800
Math 2 800
Sat: 2250 on practice test, will take prep sessions
Act: 34 on practice test, will take prep sessions
Extracurricular
Math league and quiz Bowl every year. Couple of accolades, co- captain
Speech sophomore year
Attended best speech institute in the country
Attended engineering camp at Stanford. Continuing Ed unit
Founded a student to student help group focusing on math and science and targeting immigrant households
Plan to attend engineering/climate change week to two wek seminar at major university
Plan to work on research project with local engineering professor
Upper- middle class Pakistani-Boanian public high school student in suburban Minnesota
Started high school at age 12, will graduate at 16
You might have the numbers (planned), but you are not a standout. What is your unweighted GPA?
As it stands, your chances are low at both Stanford, for lack of depth and MIT for lack of math excellence.
And, your ECs are threadbare.
Music?
Sports?
Student leadership?
Community Service?
Attending a speech institute is not impressive.
Attending engineering camp is not impressive.
Planning to attend something is not impressive.
Are you a leader? Are you developing leadership skills?
What did your “student to student” group achieve?
I have an idea why I had to note all these areas of improvement. Can you tell me what it is?
Your course rigor is good for a 15 year old, not for a student applying to the likes of MIT, Stanford, or HarveyMudd.
Minnesota has PSEO. Instead of a senior year in high school, plan to take Calculus 1 over the summer, Calc 2 over the Fall, and Calc 3 over the Spring; same thing with foreign language: take Spanish 2 over the summer or Concordia Language Village Spanish; (note that 2 years of HS language = 1 semester at the college level, then Level 3 may be equiavelent to College2, and Level 4 to college 3, but depending on the college’s level it may actually be level 2= HS 3+4 and college3= level5/AP); take Physics at the college, too; and keep HS just for economics, humanities, and communications. If you can take 5 classes PSEO it’s even better.
Focus on the club you founded (its results/impact will matter a lot) and the research project you’ll be involved in.
As a current MIT student, your grades/stats look fine, but international admissions is very competitive. Many intl. students I know here participated in IMO, IOI, or some other major competition. That said, it doesn’t hurt to apply.
@Tsirpas You have a good chance at Stanford. But have you ever considered UC Berkeley or UCLA. You would definitely get into those. No problem. Also Cal Poly (I’m from California) you will have a good shot at all the UC’s and CSU’s if you are interested
You have as good a chance as almost anyone at getting into these schools. You certainly qualify as a contender at all of them with your great grades, predictive sat/act scores, etc. Just keep in mind that at a certain point admittance to these selective schools becomes a lottery of the possible admits. Don’t get upset if you don’t get in to them, but your chances look good. As you are now you have a fair chance, but if you add some more diverse ECs your chances will be better, although showing a lot of interest in your major (engineering?) is also a good idea. While your age will be considered, it won’t be that significant to colleges. Good Luck!
@tsirpas - Here’s the reality – You are a STRONG candidate for admission to Stanford. GPA, strength of classes and standardized test scores remain the most important things for admission. Could your ECs be a little stronger? Sure. LOTS of HS students in that boat though. Your SAT Subject Matter tests are excellent (perfect even!). Your SAT and ACT practice tests show promise…do as well as that minimum on the real thing. Keep the pedal to the metal regarding strong classes and high grades. Don’t really want any more Bs. Also, know that Stanford is a reach for ANYONE. If you had a 2400 on the SAT and 800s on two Subject Matter Tests and a 4.0 unweighted with lots of AP classes and even some decent ECs, Stanford would STILL be a reach. Your essay should focus on what you can bring to the Stanford community, your great desire to attend there, and anything of great interest about you as a person.
I commented only on Stanford simply because MIT has a much more laser-focused type of student they want (doesn’t mean it’s any more selective, just that you as a student have to be stellar in specific areas), and I don’t know enough about you to know if MIT is a reality or not.
Your practice ACT puts you at the 75% range for Stanford, and your practice SAT somewhere around the 50% range. So, students with your stats DO get accepted to Stanford. It’s just that nothing is guaranteed there.
Take BC Calculus or you’ll have almost no chance at all. ECs don’t show depth but stats are good. THe age thing might hurt you becuase not many 15 year olds get into Stanford/MIT unless they won olympic medals or cured cancer or something.
If i were hoping to get into MIT, I’d take more math than AP Stats senior year. My D is interested in law and she’s taking both Calc BC and Stats senior year. The very top STEM students take dual-enrollment multi-variable Calc
@Tsirpas , even if you did qualify, you wouldn’t know if you got NMS yet. You’re obviously either lying or don’t understand what the letters mean. At most you’re a NMF currently.