Do I have any shot at all?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>It couldnt hurt to ask...</p>

<p>I went to an extremely rigorous high school and was averaging about a 3.0 in the toughest courses offered through my junior year. I was bad about doing homework and such so I'm now at a postgraduate school (still my senior year) taking college chemistry, calculus, and composition along with a few other classes currently getting a 3.8-4.0 (Top 5%). I am also showing much better work habits. This year I began doing community service multiple times a week. I've been working at JHU (Hopkins) for about 6 years. The first 2 were spent unpaid doing repair, network setup, and website construction in the microscope facility. The second 2 years were spent building computers for a neonatal addiction research lab. I currently am working at the cystic fibrosis lab managing and repairing their network while my main job is statistical work in gene analysis. I've done presentations for the phisiology department and, assuming a grant gets through, will be setting up co-ordination for all the aspects of gene analysis. I hope to be using RT-PCR this summer to search for the CFTR gene in mitochondria. I will be taking the SAT II in december. My current scores in prep class hover around 2300 to 2350. By the end of this school year I hope to have a patent for a subsonic projectile. By the end of summer '07 I hope to have completed construction of a formula style race car. I am also starting a small trailer business for dingy sailboats. All that being said, I am an extremely strong writer and will have many strong recomendations from math, english, and chemistry teacher(s).
I want to double major in chem/physics or do Eng Chem.
AA Ethnicity, live in Baltimore
Mom is an aclaimed researcher (Dr. Estelle Gauda) and on the board of graduate admissions at JHU.</p>

<p>So just how much of a hinderance will a ~3.25 GPA be?</p>

<p>2 Time Varsity Baseball Semi-Finalist
1 Time MVP Baseball Winner
2 Time JV Soccer Chamipion
2 Time FSAA (Friends School Athletic Award) Winner
Multiple Top 3 Sailing Awards
Sailing on an incredibly competitive international circut</p>

<p>Thanks,
Chris</p>

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<p>A ~3.25 GPA is no hindrance at all if you can demonstrate passion for learning, dedication, work ethic, and creativity through your life experiences. That's the good news. The bad news is that there are thousands of other applicants just like you, and they won't all get into MIT. But regardless of where you end up going to college, you will be successful and happy if you just 'have it in you' (and have some luck) ... people at MIT aren't successful and happy just because they got into MIT; they would have been successful and happy no matter what school they went to, because they would still be the same person more-or-less.</p>

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<p>Well, I would <em>definitely</em> say you're not at much of a disadvantage compared to other students who apply. So definitely apply. Just remembering that being on par with everyone else still means it's difficult to get accepted.</p>

<p>All in all, your GPA is not what defines you as a person and will not be what "keeps you out of"* MIT. If everything else about you is great for this place, you're on equal footing.</p>

<p>*I say this simply because there is a significant number of applicants who are great for this place who get rejected every year. With a limited number of slots, there's only so many people MIT can take.</p>

<p>Timur</p>

4

<p>Update - looks like Ill be top 2% in my current class with a 3.9 or 4.0
Any weight?</p>

5

<p>Then you're definitely competitive.</p>