<p>I highly doubt MIT considers an 800 and 710 the same, maybe a 750 and 800… However I doubt it gives you that much of an advantage.</p>
<p>But I agree that a 34 vs 35 vs 36 won’t keep you out of anything. If you have good grades (which you do) anything above at a 33 or above won’t really matter and you can get in to any top 10 school even with 30s, 31s and 32s without being a URM, Legacy, etc.</p>
<p>Also really get involved in two or three extra curricular, if you manage to get a major award in something and you are involved in a few others it will REALLY help you a lot. Right now ECs are the only thing holding you back. MIT and other top 10s have tons of applicants with 2200+ and 33+ test scores and 4.0s, you need to have really strong ECs in order to distinguish yourself. When I say strong I mean at least state or national recognition in at least one, or a varsity sport/class president.</p>
<p>That being said you are fine for U of I engineering since you are instate. I had 10+ friends get in with much lower stats. I think you have a great shot at MIT/Stanford/other top 10s, but if you are going to major in engineering, its hard to beat U of I, and there is not much point in paying a ton more money to go out of state or private. Especially in EE and Computer, they are top 3 nationally.</p>