Do I (black female) have a chance at Stanford and MIT?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>So, I'm a black female from a single-parent, low-income family. If all goes well, I'll be the first in my family to graduate from college (my parents went but did not finish). I'm currently waiting on my May SAT scores (I'm a junior by the way) but so far I have: </p>

<p>GPA (unweighted): 3.9</p>

<p>ACT (no writing): 32 (I'm taking it again on June 10 with writing)</p>

<p>APs:
AP US History-5
AP European History- waiting on scores/maybe a 4
AP Lang and Comp- waiting on scores/maybe a 4</p>

<p>Next year I'm taking: AP Physics C, AP Lit and Comp, AP French, and AP Calc BC</p>

<p>ECs:
Debate Team
President of National Honor Society
Academic Decathlon
Varsity Cross Country Running
Jazz Band
Poetry SLAM team</p>

<p>ECs/Community Stuff:
Work as a Juice Bar Employee at a raw food/vegan restaurant 14 hours a week
Tutoring (in different subjects for neighborhood kids) once a week
Two-year volunteer for local politicians' political campaigns</p>

<p>Summer Events:
'06-Will be attending MITES (Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science) at MIT in June
'05-Meh...
'04- National Louis University Summer Program for Gifted Students </p>

<p>Awards:
Varsity letter for cross country
Academic Decathlon State Qualifier
Debate City Qualifier three years in a row
Wellesley 2006 Book Award Winner
Ranked in the top ten best speakers in Chicago Debate League (can't remember specific rank)
Jazz Band is pretty well known throughout city/asked to play for mayor, etc. </p>

<p>Awards are hard to do because I don't keep track of them. There might be more, I don't know. But, based on what I have here do you guys (and girls) think I have a pretty good chance of getting into Stanford EA?</p>

<p>ALSO: I've heard that Stanford places a ton of emphasis on essays. I'm thinking about writing mine on how being vegan has changed my life (corny, I guess) and about the lack of women in science and math. Are those too liberal/common?</p>

2

<p>err, unless the topic deals specifically or asks about a problem in society I wouldn't write about the lack of women in math and science, if you are a woman that is. it would probably seem as if you were not so subtly promoting yourself</p>

<p>but thats just my opinion, which doesn't count for much anywhere</p>

3

<p>From the MITES website: "Of 1,570 MITES alumni who have taken part in the program over the past 30 years, 495 (32 percent) have matriculated to MIT."</p>

<p>Keep in mind that 32% matriculated, so more were accepted and chose to attend elsewhere. Work hard and do well at MITES this summer and you have an excellent chance at acceptance to MIT next year.</p>

4

<p>Being a double minority (Black + female) + your resume above = your chance for MIT is very very high! Good luck</p>

5

<p>Be as liberal as you want in your Stanford essays. Write about whatever matters the most to you. There's a thread on the essays of ppl accepted this year; they're VERY liberal/quirky/etc. </p>

<p>I agree with MIT2010: Minority (black) + low-income/first-generation college student + MITES/good stats = you have a very good chance at Stanford, MIT, or anywhere else you want to apply. A very good chance.</p>

6

<p>u have a good shot</p>

7

<p>i agree...everything looks good! what are you planning to study? something like engineering would give you an even bigger boost at MIT.</p>

8

<p>I'd say MIT is definitely a match for you.</p>

9

<p>Jackson17, MIT doesn't admit by major -- the major you write down on your application has no bearing on your chances of admission.</p>

10

<p>well, i'm a black male.</p>

<p>between you and me, everything's pretty similar.</p>

<p>'cept I own you in math:) (College Applied Calculus 2+ multivarious next year)</p>

<p>you look OK.chill.</p>

<p>See you in the applicant pool:D.</p>

11

<p>wait.</p>

<p>you own my gpa. (3.8W):(</p>

12

<p>You have a great shot at both. MIT uses a formula to convert ACT scores to SAT scores, so it is important that you still scored high on the math section of the ACT (preferably 34+ for MIT). Other than that, everything is solid. I think if you can manage a 34+ on the ACT you will be a lock, but at the moment you have great odds - which isn't so bad! :)</p>

13

<p>Doesn't choosing a major have an impact? If they want more engineering females so bad, you'd think they choose one instead of another humanities major.</p>

14

<p>Nope, it doesn't have an impact at all -- the admissions office's statistics show that many people change their minds once they get to MIT, and they don't want to penalize or reward anyone for something that could change so quickly.</p>

<p>Of course, most MIT admits are strong in math and the sciences -- everybody has to take a math and science-heavy core curriculum, so that tends to discourage purely humanities-oriented students from applying in the first place. (Today was graduation, and only 37 students out of 1000 graduated with only a single major in the humanities... so I don't think there's a problem with admitting "another humanities major". :))</p>