<p>Woohoo! Thread necromancy!</p>
<p>So, Femion, james posted the following in the Harvard subforum:</p>
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My SATs are so low because *all I do is play video games, ski. swim, * and am not very fond of reading.
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</p>
<p>Would that change your opinion on matters? </p>
<p>I've already posted my thoughts in the Harvard version of this thread.</p>
<p>"Not very fond of reading" is not a characteristic found in anyone who truly succeeds at a good college (or later on with a good career). While I'm sure that many high school and college students may prefer working with math, computers, scientific research, etc. to an English Lit class (and I am certainly one of them), the hard fact is that working in the real world (including in a college environment) requires a person to be able to communicate effectively, which means having reading and writing skills.</p>
<p>The OP is either very gifted academically, or goes to one of the educationally-poorest high schools in the nation. However, there's obviously a gap between academic skill and maturity. While the SATs are certainly not always a perfect indicator of anything, scores that low create a sharp contrast with an apparently excellent school record. Yes, the SATs do require you to study to the test; maturity is bucking up and doing it.</p>
<p>While "not very fond of reading" is probably a detriment for most would be college students, my college roommate's boyfriend graduated from Harvard summa cum laude in Economics and went on to med school. He never, ever read for pleasure. From stories about his childhood (and how he almost flunked 3rd grade) it was pretty clear to me that he was probably a brilliant undiagnosed dyslexic who eventually learned to compensate. He was certainly more than capable of reading the material for all his courses, but he really didn't enjoy it. He's a successful doctor today, and I assume he'd still prefer to watch TV than read a book.</p>
<p>haha this OP also had posted complaining about getting a C in AP Calc</p>
<p>Sry dude but maybe u shood study for some tests, cuz apparently u arent doin all that hot in ur best subject...</p>
<p>On undiagnosed dislexia... I have a cousin who was brilliant in Mathematics and did OK in other areas. Her SATs were unusual for a native speaker (550 Verbal, 800 Math) and while in college she had to take Latin and it was diagnosed that she had dislexia (her Junior year in college). She had apparently memorized all the words and therefore had a great verbal memory and gravitated to math because it was much easier (and used her verbal memory for math too). She had gone to a top high school and was upset no one had figured it out sooner because she really liked reading, but had found it hard. Apparently this is much more common then people realize.</p>
<p>The moral to this story is that if your verbal SAT is more then 200 points lower then your math (some would say 150 points), there may be an issue, and instead obsessively studying for your SATs and memorizing things to fix it, you might want to look deeper.</p>
<p>Sally Shaywitz M.D.'s book Overcoming</a> Dyslexia has a lot of tips about what to do about dyslexia.</p>
<p>I would first of all like to apologize to the OP
I read over my post and it was a little too harsh
But I stand by what I said, MIT is a school literally for the best of the best...
I read on one of their powerpoint presentations that most of the people who are rejected end up going to Harvard, Stanford, but mostly Caltech (the school handpicked by NASA for all its engineers)
That's why I am saying that unless you are a certified genius, and there is a test for that, you really don't have much of a chance. Just work hard and apply senior year.</p>
<p>^ But there are also people who get in who aren't geniuses. Like, for realz not geniuses. I'd say to go ahead and apply, and if you don't get in, oh well - apply the next year. But I'd definitely repeat the advice not leave high school totally; admissions gets 100000000% harder if you have to apply as a transfer student....</p>
<p>oh no, I totally agree with you, if MIT only admitted geniuses they would only have like 20-30 people. But also, if you are going to apply as a tenth grader or junior or whatever, you really have to seperate yourself from the pack. Jamesgig does not sound like someone who screams, you have to have me cuz im gonna go quick and thats why I advised him to stay in school and push himself with ecs. Do u agree dally, other posters?</p>
<p>Sure. You may not have to be a genius to get into MIT. (Heck, I'm not a genius and I got in. I'm even graduating high school early.) but I'd assume that you need to have a decent work ethic to survive it. Someone like jamesgig who claims to do nothing but play video games, ski, and swim probably wouldn't fare well. Admissions officers want to admit capable students who "fit".</p>
<p>Well, you know, I say stuff like that all the time - "all I do is theater" or "all I do is play Twilight Princess," but of course I do study. Plus, it's not like he's saying "all I do is sit around and watch TV." I mean, maybe he hardcore swims. Maybe he's on his swim team and he's really passionate about it and he'd write a really awesome essay on it.</p>
<p>But I'm kind of nitpicking here. I do agree with what you said - people admitted to MIT are capable students who are masochists at heart. ;)</p>
<p>i have not been on this forum for a while, and saw that my question was being discussed with very different perspectives. I recently retook the SAT and scored a 800 in math, 700 in verbal and 700 in writing. </p>
<p>The high school that I attend is one of the better high schools in the area, and offers the most diverse course selection. I have earned well over 100% in all of my science classes and have the highest grade in my English and history classes. The only current problem is between myself and my math teacher, which has resulted in a 75%. I have answered 99% of the questions he has given me correctly and have finished the calc II curriculum and have started multivariable calc. The only reason my grade is so low is that I do not pay attention in his class as I work on my independent studies and he wants very specific notation and procedure for each problem, which I am unable to produce. I feel as though my education is far more important than satisfying a math teacher who knows less calc than I do (he has told me that with anything above chapter 7 to see someone else as he does not know how to do it). </p>
<p>I will have exhausted the science, math, and social studies departments after next year. I have decided to stay for my junior year so that I can do this, and try to ease into a college workload by taking several classes at penn state in addition to my classes at high school and independent studies. Staying for my senior year would only give me AP English, which seems like a waste of a year.</p>
<p>I am scheduled to take the SAT II math and physics toward the end of the year.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the different perspectives.</p>
<p>jamesgig, I know how annoying it can be to compromise on actual learning for the sake of placating someone else, but honestly? Completely ignoring this math teacher's whims isn't a great idea. It isn't just about the one Calculus grade, because that's not going to kill you; it's about the fact that you're going to have to deal with a lot of crotchety, unpleasant, detail-obsessed, or generally unsavoury characters for the rest of your life, and attempting to keep them happy is as much a form of learning as understanding Riemann integration is. Yeah, it burns to follow some sort of unnecessary procedure just because this guy wants you to, especially if you don't especially respect him, but college isn't going to be a sort of altar of unbridled learning, either.</p>