<p>It's a bit early, but next year, I plan on applying early to either Harvard or MIT. </p>
<p>Here's my argument for MIT:
Math/science for me clearly surpasses my humanities in terms of grades, test scores, general ability, etc.
I will have taken AP Chemistry and Physics C (as well as BC Calc) by then with AP scores and SAT II scores.
I have accomplishments (academic) for math (competitions, etc.).
I could also apply to safeties</p>
<p>Here's my argument for Harvard:
My humanities are not bad. I started slow but have shown impressive improvement throughout high school.
I have an accomplishment (National Latin Exam) that is not math; shows well-rounded-ness I guess.
Many students from my school who shouldn't get in get accepted; my graduating class isn't exactly the brightest either.
Harvard accepts anywhere from 20%-30% of applicants from my school for no good reason.
My brother went there and did fairly well. He graduated "cum maxima laude" or something of that sort.
My parents both worked there.
I feel like Harvard would notice that I excel at math and science and not take the humanities thing as seriously (I still get A's in them, and I always have; I'm not awful)</p>
<p>Thanks! I know I should try to focus on school right now, but I was just curious. I wouldn't mind either school, for both schools are great in physics/math (what I plan on majoring in).</p>
<p>You should apply early to the one that you’d prefer to attend. Fine-tuning your strategy beyond that point could take up hours and hours of your time, but it isn’t likely to bear much fruit.</p>
<p>Oh I did not realize that the question was where to apply early. I would apply early to MIT so that you can apply to other non-binding schools that you are interested in that have honors, scholarship, and priority deadlines from November to December. Then apply to Harvard RD if you do not get into MIT. What do you want to major in?</p>
<p>Absolutely! I will regardless of whether or not I get into my EA school. I’ll also be applying to Stanford and Columbia RD (plus many other schools if I don’t get in such as NYU, JHU, Cornell, Northwestern, etc.).</p>
<p>@Sikorsky</p>
<p>I really have no overall preference as to which I would like to attend, for both schools are local for me and both schools present things that catch my attention (campus, dorms, quality of education, etc.). I also won’t be deliberating too long on this. ;)</p>
<p>@Imagineer
It’s all good! We all make that mistake more than enough times!
I see your point. I probably will end up EA’ing to MIT because of that reason. I’d also apply to Cal Tech and maybe one more school. To answer your question, I plan on majoring in mathematics. MIT’s math department is just absolutely stellar, but Harvard’s is excellent as well. That Math 55 course also REALLY catches my eye, even though I probably won’t even end up taking it if I do get into Harvard. </p>
<p>Thank you all so much! Every piece of knowledge/advice really helps so much!</p>
<p>Wow, i wonder what school you go to where 20-30% of the applicants from your school get in…is it like a private feeder school? I mean MIT EA is really not much of a boost, still only like an 11% acceptance rate this year. Harvard’s SCEA was like 18% but given that your school is a feeder school, you’d probably do fine the RD round. I think in the end it won’t matter enough for you to have a debate. And I really don’t get this worry about not having achievements in the humanities. Most people (esp. asians lol) are like you. Do the coursework to do well in humanities, but have the awards and dedication in math or science. They’re really not looking for nor will they ever find someone who has major achievement in every subject area by any stretch.</p>
<p>But man I envy the acceptances from your school considering how even you note that people who shouldn’t get in, get in. It irritated me that us public schoolers work our butts off and do amazing things only to get rejected from a top school when a person who has a relatively weaker app can walk in b/c of the expensive school he or she goes to. Sorry, this is not a personal attack at all, just a rant. I take back everything if my assumption about what type of school you go to is wrong or you have an explanation. lol, sorry for getting way off track.</p>
<p>Haha, it’s not much of a worry, it’s just something I’d like to show non-engineering schools to prove that I’m not “good enough” in the humanities (I’ve heard of a lot of discrepancies around humanities GPAs that all colleges consider). I would still love to show off my math (and science) aptitude though, because that’s my strongest subject/what I plan on majoring in! That does make perfectly logical sense though. I don’t anybody who has a major achievement in more than 2 academic fields, let alone all of them!</p>
<p>:) It’s perfectly fine. We all rant, whether we make sense or not. To answer your question, no, my school is a not a private feeder school. We’re a run in the mill public school just like your school! Thing is, Harvard does not have to pay city taxes, so to give back I guess, they accept a strangely high number of applicants, naturally leading to the acceptance of many underqualified students (don’t quote me on that; that’s just what I’ve heard from many sources). Harvard also doesn’t look that closely at test scores/GPA (even the CB report shows that), unlike other top tier schools. Almost all schools use those two stats as cutoffs, not as stats for comparison. MIT does a great blog on this (I can’t seem to find it now); the score ranges that colleges report show trends. The people that prove themselves as students with academic potential tend to have high scores, but they are not accepted BECAUSE of their scores. Sorry for getting off track as well. Haha.</p>
<p>Sorry about my wrong assumption then. I am fully aware of the fact that past a certain point SAT doesn’t mean anything and I think I even know the MIT blog you’re referring to. It’s just that I know about too many cases in which a clearly less-qualified private school applicant is chosen over a very well-qualified public school applicant (ECs and all). Sorry again and excuse my “rant.”</p>
<p>Not going in detail, but if you’re looking at mathematics, my recommendation would be to apply to MIT, CalTech, and UChicago EA, and then do Harvard RD.</p>
