<p>Freshman year was one without ambition. I went through a terrible stage of depression/feeling sorry for myself/other stupid stuff , and my grades reflected that. I ended up with mostly A's, 2 or 3 B's, and a C. Same thing the beginning of Sophomore year. These were a direct result of my failure to just toughen up and not procrastinate homework. However, my attitude since then has most definitely gone for the better. This year (Junior), I have developed almost an "unhealthy" love for science, mostly regarding physics. I now have high ambitions and have kept steady A's so far this year and plan on doing so for the rest of the year in the most rigorous courses (Im the only Junior at my school taking 4 weighted classes). From sophomore and freshman year combined, my accumulative GPA (unweighted) was a 3.5 in the most rigorous courses offered at my small, hick, school.
My main concern is on the importance of those two years and how they will affect my application to MIT. Although I didn't do particularly well those years, I did take the highest classes offered. So, without further adieu, my question-
Do a few B's and 2 C's in freshman and sophomore years completely hinder my chances at being admitted into MIT?</p>
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<p>No, not at all, especially if you came out of that learning something. Heck, you can probably even write about it in the “significant challenge” essay – plus, if you did that, it would give an explanation for the grades as well.</p>
<p>No but you better have some really good ec’s to make up for it, especially if you want to show how you’ve changed. MIT is really selective, and a low gpa will hurt any applicant</p>
<p>Thanks WiseGuy. And to hpyscm, I am involved in many ec’s, including drum major for the school band and I intend on sending in music also</p>
<p>If it makes you feel better, I’m applying with a 3.59 and have honestly convinced myself that I’ve got just a little bit more than a snowball’s shot in hell. I’m good at what I want to do (CS), have pretty cool ECs (nothing drop-dead, internationally renowned competitions, though), and have a genuine curiosity to learn. I have test scores to show that my GPA doesn’t tell the whole story and other activities to show that I work hard when engaged.</p>
<p>Does my (or your) GPA help? Not compared to the other brilliant kids applying. Know that the admission rate for people in our pool is less than 3%, but also know that there’s a lot of correlation there… maybe with slackers, who knows?</p>
<p>Give it your best.</p>
<p>I think the problem here is not the GPA, it’s the Cs. Plenty of people get in with Bs; Cs are a different story. What classes were your Cs in? Were they math or science classes, or were they gym?</p>
<p>MIT is very good at bringing depression, low self-esteem, and emotional instability to the surface; if you have any hint of it you’ll be forced to face it head on. It’s extremely important to be a healthy, happy person here, and to be able to achieve that state even in the absence of external motivators like good grades and being smarter than other people, because once you get into MIT those things are almost definitely going to disappear. It will also be much, much more difficult to cram after procrastinating. The attitude you had freshman and sophomore year of high school mirrors that of some MIT students I know who are really, really unhappy here, and failing. I would worry less about whether or not you can get into MIT and more about whether or not you can thrive at MIT. (If you get in, that means the admissions officers think that you can.)</p>
<p>I’m not saying you shouldn’t apply. I’m saying that you should be honest with yourself, and do what’s best for you. Dig deep, deep into your heart: if the feelings you had freshman and sophomore year of high school repeated themselves, but this time with a much greater intensity and with a much larger workload on your shoulders, how would you handle it? Has your approach to handling it changed, do you think, compared to freshman and sophomore year? If I were an admissions officer, this is what I would be wondering.</p>
<p>^Well, I hope that test scores help remove doubt regarding capability. I mean I’ve received a C in math for odd reasons, but my math teacher is writing a recommendation (one she says is the best she has written), got a 36 in math and a 5 in calc even when I was quite young (15… tho that must be average for MIT!)</p>
<p>I guess only time will tell.</p>
<p>Test scores don’t really make up for bad grades though, keep that in mind. An a in calc and a 34 math act is better than a c and a 36 in math</p>
<p>Yes I understand that. I know that GPA is more important than test scores, as it well should be. I just hope it removes doubts of competence in math, easily my strongest subject save computer science.</p>