Chances of MIT

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

Hi! so I was thinking about applying early next year at MIT for Comp Sci, but I wanted some more opinions on what my chances are.

Currently a Junior

SAT 1570 (800 Math, 770 English/Writing)
ACT 36 (All subsections were 36)

GPA: 3.89/4.00 unweighted
4.86/5.33 weighted

Other stuff:
By the time I graduate, I would have taken every single math AP and high honors class my school offers (aka 8 years of math).

My school only allows you to take APs in your Junior and Senior year

Extracurriculars:
Boy Scouts:
6 years, I am an Eagle Scout with a couple hundred service hours probably

Track and Field:
2 years on the JV team, I wasn’t very good, but I was still participated

Science Olympiad:
2 years - my school has 2 teams, a freshman team and Sophomore/Junior/Senior team. I was on the Freshman team, but it wasn’t very good. This year I was on our school’s varsity team which got first at state. Nationals in this week, but I think we are going to get a top 20 finish.

Summer Internship:
This summer I will be working at an S&P 500 company and be creating a conversation AI. This will give me industry experience and teach me more about AI.

Chinese National Honors Society:
I would have taken 4 years of Chinese by the time I graduate.

Quaker State Best in Class Challenge:
5th place nationally, but I probably won’t include this

Math Team:
2 years - my performance wasn’t too great but I still participated in it

Coding:
I have been coding for 9 years, have 4 apps on the App Store, and know about 5 programming languages well

Senior Course Load:
AP Econ, AP stats, Multivariable/Linear Algebra, AP Physics C, Great Books (not AP, but honors), Drawing and Painting

Let me know what my chances are! Also if I should maybe apply to Stanford EA instead of MIT.

Thank you!

2

To me your stats look excellent, and typical of perhaps the top 80% of the students who apply to MIT and Stanford. Obviously of the students in this top 80%, the vast majority don’t get accepted to either.

If you want to go to MIT or Stanford then it is worth applying, but definitely have other options and spend more time looking at schools for which getting in is actually likely. Also, if you have any financial restrictions at all then run the NPCs.

The acceptance rate at MIT, while low, is a bit higher than the acceptance rate at Stanford. Also, if I am understanding this correctly (you probably should double-check this), you can apply EA to MIT and to other schools as well, but if you apply EA to Stanford then you can’t apply EA anywhere else. As such, I think that MIT might be a better bet with regard to applying EA.

3

Thanks for the advice! Fortunately I do not have any financial restrictions. By top 80% did you (hopefully) mean top 20%?