How bad will a low GPA + 2120 SAT score hurt admissions chances?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<p>So far I'm a Junior going to a public high school. It's not the greatest school ever, however, its IB program is doing exceptionally well (where I'm in). So far, I've taken the SAT two times. My most recent scores were all my best: 800 M/700 CR/620 W. That part doesn't worry me TOO much, but I might need to retake senior year for better writing. I'm planning on taking SAT II Tests in Chemistry and Math II in June, after AP exams are finished.</p>

<p>As far as classes are concerned, that's where I'm really worried. I've taken the hardest courses I have available. I started in Algebra II Freshman year, then took both AP Stat and Precalc. Next year, I choce to take Chemistry as my IB science, but this leaves me without a physics course so far. Sophomore year every IB student took the AP US government exam as well, and I was one the only student taking Stat that year to also take ASL 1 as an elective. This year, I'm taking AP tests in AP Calc A/B (Our school requires A/B before moving to B/C), Psychology, UPUSH, and Lang. I'm also taking the IB Psych SL exam and Spanish SL exam this year. The problem so far is that my GPA is awful and doesn't reflect my actual ability at all. I believe it's in the mid to low 3 area right now unweighted, which I find terribly unrepresentative of my competence in these classes, as I have absolutely no problem with tests and regularly ace them. For example, in a Mu Alpha Theta practice we had for about 30 minutes before school one day, our teacher showed us a condensed version of the AB cirriculum and after that, I have never had to pay the slightest amount of attention in the class and have gotten 100s on every quiz/test so far. I've felt apathy like this in all my classes, even the non-math ones which I'm not as good at, and sadly, the lack of challenge I'm facing is ironically making it impossible to do well. I absolutely can't stand having to do hours of homework a day on things I already understand.</p>

<p>My AP Tests so far are better. In Freshman year, I scored a 3 in AP Euro; however, our teacher was so incompetent that he didn't even create the proper syllabus, and so none of the entire class of '12 students technically took an AP class, which is fitting since all the teacher did was show videos of him in random countries. By the end of the class, I knew more about our teacher's experience at the Beatles tour in England than I did about WWII. the other AP tests weren't bad at all. I easily got 5's in both Stat and Gov.</p>

<p>However, with IB diploma comes good ECs, because of the CAS requirement. I'm currently in Mu Alpha Theta and our school's Marching/Concert band starting this year (never played an instrument before then, but I've always wanted to, but being new, I wouldn't dare send a sample of my awful playing for a music portfolio), and am going to be joining STAND next year, and possibly a robotics club, but I don't have prior experience in that. I plan on doing math tutoring to fill most of my service hours needed for IB, and took place in our schoool's IB beach cleanup freshman and sophomore year.</p>

<p>So, overall, as far as testing/GPA goes so far, as a junior:</p>

<p>SAT: 800M/700CR/620W
AP: Euro (3), Gov(5), Stat(5)
GPA: Mid to low 3's. :(</p>

<p>The worst part is that this semester isn't going to turn out better, especially in Spanish due to a discrepancy with our school's late policy with an essay as well as the fact that our teacher has been gone for about a month now from back problems, RIGHT when we were about to start our Orals for our Spanish IAs.</p>

<p>Is there any way to get accepted to MIT, or any good college for the matter, with that GPA? What will I need to do to make myself stand out enough to even get considered?</p>

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<p>yay Mu Alpha Theta :D. Are you in FL? And sorry, I don’t have a good answer for this but I’m sure Mollie and Chris are on their way to advise you.</p>

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<p>Actually, I am. If you’re from Buchholz, I’m ridiculously jealous. I’ve only ever managed to top one of their scores once.</p>

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<p>If you are acing your tests, I wonder why you have a B+ average. I’ve heard IB kills you with homework, so perhaps that is it? </p>

<p>One thing I can tell you is that the superscore in itself is not very useful. The writing score is not really respected by the MIT admission office. They are not sure it is indicative of anything. So your M+V superscore is 1500/1600 with math being higher, so that’s basically perfect. </p>

<p>MIT is not big on scores in and of itself. It’s what they tell you. So they would look at the specific classes and how you did in them as opposed to the actual average.</p>

<p>For other elite schools the GPA will be a problem. I’d say most top schools are looking for people that will succeed in business, and GPA is a function of giving what the customer (the teacher in your case) what they want. They want people who can work the system well. MIT is different in philosophy in this respect. Most elite schools don’t care how smart they are; they would like to check off the “smart” box by having their candidates clear GPA/ranking/SATscore threshholds and then worry about other things.</p>

<p>Almost no school will like the “lazy genius” candidate, and that is the first thing someone thinks of if someone has high scores but a modest GPA. For MIT, they might give you a pass if they think you are talented but chose to invest your time in a way to enrich your own growth but which hurt your GPA. An MIT student blogger who used to post on here got practically straight B’s but took so many AP’s that she was featured in the newspaper (and she got whatever distinction for having a truckload of 5’s on the AP tests). For most schools, that would be admissions suicide, but she obviously got into MIT. </p>

<p>One important thing is not to have your essays sound apologetic.</p>

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<p>Another thing: schools don’t really consider AP test scores in admissions unless you want to volunteer your scores. They may also help in your recs if you tell teachers how you did on the AP test. Basically, the test scores can’t hurt you.</p>

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<p>I am not Buchholz.</p>

<p>And, I actually now have some advice. As far as SAT goes, writing scores can be easily brought up. The first time I took SAT I got a 610. The 2nd time I took it, a semester later, I got a 730. You need to practice with a book, preferably the College Board one. DO practice test after practice test. Also, most of the mistakes on the writing section are subject-verb agreement in number. So, it’ll say something equivalent to "They is . . . " or “He are . . . .” Beyond practice, good English and Foreign Language classes (you’d be surprised at how learning another language’s grammar helps you learn your own) are the best route. The latter having already failed, the former can make a big difference.</p>

<p>As for GPA, there are ways to boost it. Fluff classes at a community college are one way to go; however, many college admissions offices will see through this (but, unless you take classes that are obviously fluff, like college algebra, then you can chalk it up to academic interest). And, stop blowing off your classes, no matter how pointless they seem. You probably have an entire grading period left to save this semester, don’t give up.</p>

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<p>Thanks so much for all the advice so far! I’m actaully incredibly relieved that I’d have a chance here. However, I’m not expecting much from other top schools because of the GPA reliance.</p>

<p>Most of the grades are coming from homework. It’s partly due to laziness, and also partly due to me not being able to justify spending so much time on something that isn’t helping me at all. I’m also relieved to hear that The CR and M scores are what MIT actually cares about, although I might retake the SAT anyways for other colleges that take it more seriously.</p>

<p>In general, I should really focus on the interview and the essays most then, right? I know MIT is looking to find your voice come through in your essay, but to what extent should that apply? Like, when the question asks what you do for fun, should I go with whatever I find most fun, even if it’s something like minecraft, or should I say that I like making games and animations in flash even if I do, but not to the same extent?</p>

<p>Also, to anyone that’s applied already, what’s the interview like?</p>

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<p>Actually, I’ve heard this about the IB program before. I don’t know too much about IB. What exactly do they ask you to do?</p>

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<p>If you can row crew or can fence, your chances increase substantially. One of the hidden pieces of MIT admissions is that they actually have a fondness for athletes, as they like to win stuff in sports! True!</p>

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<p>It wasn’t true when I went there. It’s debatable if it’s true today. The rowing team, which is our only division 1 team and therefore the one MIT would be the most serious about recruiting, had like 50 guys go out for it my freshman year and only one of those guys had rowed before.</p>

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<p>Well, things may have changed since you were there. The only MIT admit our school had this year (among many worthwhile candidates) was a rower, and not top 10%, nothing special science-wise. Not URM or anything, just a rowing guy. Nice kid. Happy that MIT took a nice kid.</p>

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I can attest to the lazy genius thing. I saw my recommendations, they hailed me as being one of the smartest kids to attend the school. My GPA didn’t show it - but then I was required to take a bunch of subjects <em>cough</em>History<em>cough</em> that I never cared about, which brought my GPA (and rank) down substantially. I still had above a 3.75, but my rank wasn’t so good, and despite my really high math/science grades (96+) I was rejected. (I think the lazy genius thing is detrimental. I don’t like it, because most people tend to find first year of college as a huge stimulus in studying, and this holds particularly true for me, especially seeing as I’d be studying things I generally love, rather than boring subjects.)
I have to disagree with ‘MIT might make an exception’ though, they sure didn’t for me. That B guy must’ve been a rare exception, because his AP scores proved that he could get As if he worked for it. My ECAs and essays were nothing if not passionate and character-defining.</p>

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<p>academically (tangibles-wise) speaking, many better than you will NOT get in and many worse than you WILL. that’s admissions game. do your best and let wahtever happens, happen.</p>