<p>What would a paranoid and ambitious applicant necessitate in order to be guaranteed admission into MIT? By "guaranteed", I mean around a 90% or higher chance of admission, a percentile in which the given applicant would be fairly confident of getting in. </p>
<p>Full score on the SAT reasoning?
Full score on the AMC/AIME?
Decent scores on the USA(M/B/C/etc.)O's?
Publication of 3+ research papers?
Founder of a number of science/math clubs?</p>
<p>What else is feasible and necessary for guaranteed admission?</p>
<p>Full score on the SAT reasoning: definitely not. In fact, scores past a certain range (about 700) stop mattering much
Full score on the AMC/AIME: Not a guarantee, but if you can accomplish this, you probably have many other things (math contests/research/classes/whatever) going well for you. So correlation, but not direct cause.
Decent scores on the olympiads: MITChris mentioned applicants labeled as “starry,” and these would fall into the category. The acceptance rate for that group was about 50%.
Publication of 3+ research papers: Good stuff, but I don’t think 90%+.
Founder of clubs: Probably not, but it would help.</p>
<p>My advice for you would be to cure all major diseases on the planet and win a few awards at the international level. Then, it just comes down to your essays and perhaps interview :)</p>
<p>And I guess this is what everyone else will be saying: Nothing will guarantee you admission. Just do your best in what you love, apply, try to show them who you are, and hope!</p>
<p>On this forum I’ve known a guy who scored 1900 on the SAT, but he was admitted, because He was in the National math team and physics, and He had a IMO bronze medal.</p>
<p>My son is a top student at a midwestern school and what amazes me is that we have NEVER even heard about the programs you have listed above. Maybe this puts kids in our area at a disadvantage, but hopefully they have other qualifications that balance it out. I don’t know how the admissions people sort through all of this, but it has to be a difficult job. I think it is interesting that kids coming from different academic experiences can potentially end up at MIT forming a diverse yet cohesive class.</p>
<p>There’s definitely no one factor that can guarantee an applicant’s acceptance to MIT. But, most accepted applicants </p>
<ul>
<li><p>took a good number of challenging courses which do not have to be the hardest, did well in them (again, do not have to be straight A’s. a few B’s is fine)</p></li>
<li><p>took either ACTs/SATs and two SAT IIs (one math,one science). you don’t need to get perfect score either. for MIT admissions, scoring 700/30 on each subscores of SAT/ACT and upwards is sufficient but again, people with higher scores can get rejected while people with lower can also get accepted.</p></li>
<li><p>showed interest in science and technology in conjunction with the liberal arts and a passion in what they do (EC’s and stuff). This could be achieved through having long-term membership in a club, using the essays to show (not tell) about how you’re so in this topic and such…</p></li>
</ul>
<p>IMO and iPho could be the keys to get into MIT. Unfortunately on this forum, I’ve known a person who won IMO and National physics Olympiad and got rejected; but this is MIT. The main factor to get in is the MATCH, there is a page on MIT website.</p>
<p>You must have also great scores and EC’s, if you have just a IMO bronze medal you don’t have a great shot. I’m speaking as an International student; american admission policy is really different and easier.</p>
<p>^ Do the actual policies differ? I was under the impression that internationals had a harder time with admissions simply because there are fewer slots.</p>
<p>PiperXP is exactly right. What MIT is looking for in international admissions is exactly the same as what they are looking for in American admissions. There is no separate criteria or separate definition of an “international match”, whatever that might be. That being said Edoardo is also broadly correct, the competition for the limited number of international slots available results in MIT accepting roughly 3% of the total, which means that the international admits tend to be amazingly good. Every year I meet brilliant, talented, spectacular international candidates who will not get in.</p>
<p>I think part of the intent of this thread is what “do your best” means. I would like to think that while there is no 100% certain formula, that signs of someone exceptionally committed to math/sci education and/or the school’s values could be somewhat clearly described. Even if not all these people would gain admission, they may spend their time thinking about valuable pursuits.</p>
<p>Yes, I understand that. You still didn’t answer my question. Read Mikalye’s answer. I am not doubting that there is more competition among internationals due to fewer available slots, but there is no different criteria/policy to judge them.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, MIT’s not a school you can buy yourself into ;)</p>
<p>You wouldn’t need to give the 10 million to admissions office just the development office. They would pass the appropriate message to admissions. Money makes the world go round…</p>