<p>I've just passed my high school from a reputed board in India and could only manage an aggregate score of 80% in 12th grade and a mere 70% in 11th grade.</p>
<p>However, I have scored a 2300 in my SAT-I and I'am currently preparing for the SAT-II tests. What chances do I have of being deemed academically competent in the pool of international MIT applicants if I manage to score a "perfect 1600" in my SAT-II tests?</p>
<p>High school grades matter a LOT. High test scores and a low GPA (which you have, sounds like around 2.2 to 2.5) indicates that you’re smart enough, but didn’t put in a lot of effort in school, which definitely doesn’t look good. Also, as an international applicant, you will definitely be up against students with perfect GPAs, top SAT scores, and International Olympiad medals for a very small number of spots.</p>
<p>Will you be “deemed academically competent”? Perhaps. Will you be admitted? I hate to be a downer, but I don’t think it’s very possible.</p>
<p>I’m sure MIT would deem you academically competent already. However, consider how competitive India’s international applicants to MIT are. First off, if you don’t have an international olympiad title you are at a severe disadvantage. Very few get in to MIT for undergrad (from India) without doing an international olympiad. </p>
<p>Now consider all the other people you’re up against for what is likely less than 3 open spots (afaik not many non-olympiad spots go to India). I bet a lot of them have high SAT’s, some even higher than yours. A lot of them have higher grades than you. I’m not going to say that you can’t get in, and I’m sure you’re academically competent, but MIT’s international pool is so competitive that I wouldn’t count on getting in.</p>
<p>(Also, SAT II tests are deceptive in their scoring. An 800 in Math II doesn’t mean very much, especially when more than 10% of people who take it get that score)</p>
<p>It depends on which board results MIT considers. Some schools will just look at standard X and XII; others will consider other exams and/or school marks.</p>
<p>Also, assuming you are speaking of your exam results, the translation does NOT work on a 100 point scale used in the US. 70% is not a C/D, when translating the grades from the Indian education system to that of a US. Depending upon the exam, 60% + may be considered equivalent to an A (4.0). </p>
<p>See this ink for an example of how some exams translate to a US scale: [WENR</a>, October 2011: Feature - Converting Secondary Grades from India](<a href=“Home - WENR”>Home - WENR) - scroll towards the bottom to the section marked grading scale. I would surmise that, at MIT, you might be competitive if you were in the A range for your exams, though this is just ONE factor in admissions.</p>
<p>P.S. I am an ex-international admission officer. I have reviewed MANY Indian applicants, though not for MIT, so I can’t speak definitively to their benchmarks.</p>
<p>Thank you, asherry25. I had no idea Indian education used such a different grading system. In that case, what I said about a low GPA does not apply. My apologies.</p>
<p>As huehuehue said, though, international admissions is still EXTREMELY competitive, so I wish you luck, but I don’t think I can give you an accurate idea of how good your chance is :)</p>
<p>MIT evaluates everything in context. It is much less important that you have a grade/score misalignment then WHY you have a grade/score misalignment. High scores with low grades (and the OP’s grades are not low) could indicate a lack of engagement with school, and depending on context that might or might not be a bad thing.</p>
<p>For example, last year I interviewed a young woman who told me that her grades were much different from her scores (as an interviewer, I don’t see these things), but she had been hospitalised for an extensive period of time with malaria, and had missed a huge amount of school. We talked about what it was like to be a student who could not go to school and what the school did to help her. I do not think that the misalignment hurt her particularly.</p>
<p>A few years back (probably 8 or so ago), I interviewed a young woman from Burma who was traveling in my region at the time that she applied. She indicated that most of the schooling she went through was by rote memorisation, and she was bored in school. She also talked about the research project that she was pursuing at a local university, and what she had learned from it. I again do not think that the misalignment hurt her.</p>
<p>Your mileage will vary.</p>
<p>They are wholly unimportant</p>
<p>After a quick “good act score, check” “good gpa, check” the two numbers are thrown out</p>
<p>MIT looks for students who demonstrate academic acuity in a particular subject area such as linear programming</p>
<p><a href=“Also,%20SAT%20II%20tests%20are%20deceptive%20in%20their%20scoring.%20An%20800%20in%20Math%20II%20doesn’t%20mean%20very%20much,%20especially%20when%20more%20than%2010%%20of%20people%20who%20take%20it%20get%20that%20score”>quote</a>
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<p>The people who take it are the best math students. About 10% of high school students take the test, so an 800 will put you in the top 1%. That means quite a lot, I would think.</p>
<p>Grades are just part of the equation. Did you take the hardest classes your school offers? What did you do with all your intelligence (other than study)? MIT wants kids that are Smart AND Curious. They want kids that show they can take the information and do something with it. Doesn’t have to be honors and competitions. But, there has to be something.</p>
<p>Opera Dad - after reading posts on thread I felt very unenthusiastic about applying to MIT as an international student.
I am from the UK and my GCSE grades (tests taken in grade 9 and 10, in US terms). I got a few As, a few distinctions, 3 Bs and 1 C. However this result turned out to be the fourth best result in my year group. The results from my year were quite poor to be honest.
I hope that this doesn’t hinder my application.
I haven’t got any ACT/SAT II results because I will take them in Nov/Oct. Also, I haven’t won any Olympiads (international or national). It seems pretty hopeless I know. </p>
<p>I want to major in Chemistry, and there is only one thing that makes me think that I may have a tiny spec of hope. It’s my curiousity. I am so interested in Chemistry it is unbelievable! Whenever I enter my kitchen/backyard at home I go into my element. I love to experiment and use my scientific knowledge to deduce why certain things happen. It is such an incredible experience. i love it. The fact that MIT likes these kind of people interested me to the University. </p>
<p>I am still going to apply and I do realise that the chance of me getting in is thin.</p>
<p>IMpossible to get in and stay in unless you are brilliant. Not a place you can fake your way through. Which is why many choose to apply to Princeton Harvard Yale instead. There are no easy engineering courses at MIT.</p>
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<p>blue5uit:
It’s inaccurate claims like this that high schoolers will read and get discouraged from ever applying. Please be more careful with the information you post.</p>
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<p>If you don’t apply, your chances go to 0%.</p>
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<p>That can be overcome.</p>
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<p>That is the spark that MIT is looking for. What have you done with that energy? It doesn’t necessarily have to be competitions. Maybe you can find a Chem professor at a local college and volunteer to help with research. Maybe there is a local farming office where you can help people identify soil problems.</p>
<p>Take your passion and run with it. That is what MIT is looking for.</p>
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<p>This is false in so many ways…</p>
<p>I doubt people can fake their way through HYP either. Let’s keep it respectful here…</p>
<p>Let it be in a country ,they do O levels and A Levels (not an asian country). Consider this scenario : A student,from a poor country, himself, financially poor, with poor school grades(Ungraded! Not A or Bs BUT Ds and Us) Who is excellently underachieving, at school because he cannot adapt to the school, and has other limitations which has forced him to stay there, but getting very ‘‘good’’ O level results (with only As and Bs, As outweighing Bs!). But still, during school he fails continuously with E and Us) Being international from a non english speaking country, and he got 2300+ in SAT1 and 2400 in SAT2s. He hardly has any ECs, because in the environment he lives , there is hardly any, he does manages his time on account for his own activity. He has not yet got his A level result, but will by February 2014 (suppose he is applying for fall 2014, he doesn’t bother much about school, however he does intend to get stellar A level board result compared to his normal school transcript (A huge discrepancy, which is very apparent with this kind of student, as he can fall down and go as high). (So this would go into the mid year report). He has done extraordinary(but academic) things outside the classroom, and some of his teacher believe he’s is underachieving. His teachers believe he is VERY brilliant and inventive in mathematics(which is his inteded major, but transcript shows Es. He was never given the opportunity to participate(Its evident since he doesnt do well), in anything, and the country does not participate in Olympiads, it just does not . Only supporting evidence: O level result, (very supportive)recommendations,great SAT scores, and A level results not yet available but will through (MYR). Given that the international pool is very competitive, and considering the abysmal high school failure of such a student through his school marks, but not board marks(to be updated through MYR) !. However everything else is OK such as essays etc. Will these very bad grades heavily penalize this student, even if he is considered in his right context. Imagine D’s and U’s but the rest are fine? How would they VIEW him? And what if he appears to be the good match for the institute?</p>