Chances to get into MIT

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

Hello, fellow Students worrying about colleges,

I am currently a sophomore, and my two years of high school have been a long and difficult one, so I apologize in advance, I have wanted to go to MIT since I was 9, and as soon as I got into high school I piled on extracurriculars, volunteer work and AP classes in 9th grade, which ended up with me in the hospital for a month during the first semester for health reasons, and again in the second semester, and my grades fell to the A to even 2 Band then from then on I wanted to focus on improving my passions, and doing things that I enjoy, But I was curious at what people think my chances are, I don’t want to focus on perfect grades (even though this year I have a full GPA), but doing things I enjoy to do and doing extra curriculars, but I dont have a serious hook as of yet. Anyways, here is my full resume for my 2 years of high school:

GPA: 3.9 (most likely end with a 3.95 or 4) I have a few Bs mostly because of my health incident and moving to a different country at the beginning of the school year

PSAT: roughly 1500 (I plan on taking the SAT next year)

Extracurriculars:

Vice President of Computer science Club (1 Year)
Co-President of chess club (1 Year)
Earned Texas State ACT Academic Award
member of Debate Club, Participated in an international (5 countries) competition, got third (1 year)
Member of Golf Team that went to state (1 year)
Tae Kwon Do (2 years)

(A lot of the clubs I also had was only for a few months so I am not adding it here)
But the most ECS I have are in the world of academics, where because I am a self-proclaimed autodidact I have really delved deep in the world of physics, computer science and science because I enjoy learning:

Complete 3 MIT Level courses on Quantum Physics
Member of Physics and Cosmology group at Rice University Created 2 iOS Apps on the App store
Finished AP Calculus on my own, Yet to take the Exam
Participant in 4 math competitions
Currently Programming an app for My School
Completed Stanford Course about advanced undergraduate AI Programming online
Audited Pre Calculus and thermodynamics at a community college Audited Astronomy course at Rice University
Programmed 2 IOS apps in the app store for free, with thousands of downloads
Constantly reading textbooks at an undergraduate rate (just finished a Textbook on Undergraduate Physics written by a professor at MIT)
Taking Multi-Variable Calculus, and Theoretical Physics at Harvard summer school this summer
in Computer science, I am fluent in over 16 languages, including Java, Swift, Objective C, C++, C sharp, Ruby
on Rails, Python, Prolog, Lisp, PHP, BASIC, Kotlin, Pascal, Javascript, HTML 5, CSS
(technically those are scripting languages, However, I am fluent in them)”,
Over 8 Years in the field started programming at age 8
WWDC Scholarship participant (Did not attend due to financial reasons)
Participant in IBM coveted Quantum Computer program.
created an Analytics software for a million dollar company on a weeks internship
was on a popular radio show for my computer science expertise
constantly auditing college classes online, and when I was in Houston would sit in classes for fun

Volunteer work:
the main volunteer work I did was at a non Profit, where I worked as the head of the programming division for 2 years
Tutored students for the ACT
was Member of Boy Scouts (half a year, due to health issues)
taught students, and kids how to code and create apps (2 months)

(note: I plan on applying for EA, but I dont know if that gives me an advantage)

Conclusion:
Those are all of the credentials I can think of at the moment, but I am sure I have more, and I will add more when I think of them. My GPA is really low, again mostly because of being in the hospital, and moving, which I don’t know if MIT will be too happy about, and I don’t have perfect grades, because I don’t constantly study, and instead do the things that I love to do instead which is Physics, Computer Science, and Mathematics, But I have always wanted to go to MIT, not becuase of the name value or setting up my future, but becuase it is a place of tinkering, discovery, and a place where people change the world. What do you think my chances are?

2

Also To add: I was also in Vex Robotics in 9th grade, and my team and I went to Worlds ( the international competition for VEX robotics)

3

You have the exact, same, small percentage as everyone else. You are a good student and a lot of schools would love to have you. IMHO you would do yourself a real benefit by looking at other great stem schools too. Take virtual tours. Read some blogs. Gtech Chicago Berkeley vetch RPI wpi Rochester UCSD scores of state flagships and the like. This is the tip of the iceberg. There are really excellent science programs at small liberal arts schools too.

Not to tell you to lose your dream. But make the dream bigger and more about the endpoint than the school.

4

Second “privatebanker’s” suggestion. There are actually many schools out their that could meet your needs if you fit comfortably into their environment. You might add Rice, CMU, and perhaps even Reed and Olin to your list.

Because you thrive on self-directed study you may want to look into programs which offer you strong faculty mentoring opportunities and the flexibility to take a more active role in designing you program.

5

Agree with the others. Your academics thus far suggest you will be a viable candidate. However, with an acceptance rate of under 8% MIT must be considered to be a reach for any unhooked applicant. There simply are not enough spots for all of the well qualified applicants.

It is great to put in some reach applications, but it is at least as important (if not more important) to find match and safety schools that appear affordable (you will have to run a net price calculator for each school you consider) and that you would be excited to attend. There are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life. Expand your horizons.