<p>So hey. Im in 8th grade currently. Ive applied for Johns Hopkins CTY, and am taking SAT in Dec. Thats what Ive started doing to prepare for MIT. If I'm accepted in to the CTY, I can take a bunch of summer courses at JHU. </p>
<p>I reallllyyy want to major in Physics at MIT. (Richard Feynman and Albert Einstein, among others are my inspirations). I'm fairly new to this game, so I was wondering if i could get some great tips on how to BEST prepare for MIT. </p>
<p>btw: Im in adv everything, fairly good grades but am going to bring them up to high A's soon.(promise!)</p>
<p>Basically,,,want to receive INCREDIBLE advice, along with the do's and don'ts when it comes to working up towards MIT.
--Thanks all!!</p>
<p>u sound like my mom. hhaaha. however, if there’s anything i know about the college admissions process, it’s that you have to enter the ring early. </p>
<p>So maybe i fibbed a little tiny bit. Im not THAT new to the game, ive acquired some info over time. </p>
<p>but seriously. Im seriously serious about going to MIT. Please, i know im very young, but i also have a bad habit of planning everything. (It makes me feel in control, if u know what i mean;))</p>
<p>You are in 8th grade. Go outside and have fun. If you’re honestly consciously starting to prepare for college now, you’re doing it wrong.</p>
<p>MIT also isn’t for everyone. If you’re genuinely doing average in your classes and you have to struggle to make As, it is very possibly not for you. Physics at MIT isn’t a joke - you have to not only be good at math and science, but you need to have the sort of inherent creativity and passion for discovery that no one can teach you.</p>
<p>So, honestly, if you think that we can tell you a step-by-step formula to get into MIT, you really know less about college admissions than you think you do.</p>
<p>8th grade is also by no means the last year that you get to enjoy yourself. Come back when you’re a senior in high school and filling out your applications. Until then, get good grades, do things you love, and ask yourself if you really and truly think that MIT is the right place for you.</p>
<p>You SO need to read What High Schools Don’t Tell You by Elizabeth Wisner Gross. It’s full of ways to stand out from the pack when looking at top notch schools. Math is a great way to get regional and national recognition. If your school doesn’t already offer it, talk to them about offering the AMC exam. Also Mandelbrot. Summer programs exist for science, but there are some well known summer math programs too. These are outlined in the book, but usa/canada mathcamp and Ross are the 2 programs my daughter did. MIT has its own summer programs, Women in Technology, RSI (which is a bear to get into). </p>
<p>Art of Problem Solving has prep for AMC and AIME.</p>
<p>Basically you should focus on ways to gain knowledge and recognition outside of your school. </p>
<p>My daughter’s applied EA to MIT this year… hopefully we’ll have good news in December.</p>
<p>how am i doing it wrong?? If that’s what you think, you need to read the book What High Schools don’t Tell You (And Other Parents Don’t Want You To Know), buddy. It has everything in there!!!</p>
<p>I heard Ms. Gross speak twice - her books are really helpful. You pretty much have all the info you need there - her kids are fine examples of what steps you can take – and enjoy on the way – towards your MIT dream. My daughter declared the 8 weeks at Ross to be the best of her life. Thanks for the good wishes.</p>
<p>mom22girls: ur welcome. sometimes i wonder though, a lot of people are probably following her advice. By the time i get to college (2014) it may be so overused that it will be even harder to get accepted to MIT. hmmm…</p>
<p>I’m a sophomore majoring in EECS. And my opinion is that books like that prey on the fears of students that they won’t be able to get into college, and if you need a book to tell you how to be creative and interesting, you’re a terrible fit for MIT.</p>
<p>Maybe not… I’ve heard it said that this year is the last of a population bubble and that numbers of kids applying to colleges will start to go down slightly after this one. Add to that the post earlier today that MIT is considering adding 300 more to their student population next year, and you’ll probably have a better shot at it!</p>
<p>k4r3n2: ur like one of the only ones who does get it. my family has never gotten it at all. i have such a strong feeling inside when thinking about all the endless possibilities and opportunities in the field of physics. </p>
<p>I realize there is no ONE formula to get in. But there are some general things that help. I see why u thought i was doing it all wrong. </p>
<p>Thanks, and i hope that passion for discovery u have takes u to a level of a definite discovery in the field of science.</p>
<p>k4r3n2, the book I’m talking about helped us because my d’s school has no experience with someone who really enjoys math/science and wants more outside of the regular classroom experience. Her school barely can find enough kids to field a math team. No one told us about the AMC or math camps, so the book was a great resource for us. Through it my daughter found others who shared her passion for math, cs, and science in general.</p>
<p>I’m not familiar with the book, and so I cannot respond directly, but what K4r3n2 says clearly struck a chord. I interview a wide number of kids who have been running on a treadmill since they were very young aimed at getting into the “right” school. They take the “right” courses, they participate in the “right” activities (and can talk earnestly about their love of community service), they get the right grades and do well on their SATs (heck, those 20 hours/week of tutoring out of class for 5 years really did help). The only thing is, they don’t really know who they are. </p>
<p>At the interview I often ask the student what they do to blow off steam and have fun. I am eternally amazed at how many students really struggle with this question. And it is not a throwaway question. MIT is a place where if you do not have a method of blowing off steam, you are probably in trouble. And there’s no right answers here; it doesn’t even matter what method you use (within reason). But I meet multiple students each year who do not know what the “right” answer to this question is, and who then struggle to answer it at all. Or alternatively provide answers of the form “I volunteer at the local handicapped home for fun”. If you are going to say something like that to me, be aware that we will be discussing this for a LOOOONNNGG time - the one advantage of the interview is the ability to dive deep if the interviewer thinks it necessary.</p>
<p>I would say that overwhelmingly, these kids, the ones who have been running on the treadmill so long that they have forgotten to have any fun, do not get in. Even with the right grades, the right scores, the right activities, they fail to get in. Most of these robot children go elsewhere.</p>
<p>Now obviously, I have never met any of the posters on this thread, but what K4r3n2’s says is broadly correct. Simply have fun in High School. Do what brings you joy. If you are one of the students who match well with MIT, then the chances are high that what brings you joy is widely shared, or at least understood, on campus and in the admissions office. And of all of those very bright people who have no joy, well I do not want to spend much time with them, and neither in my experience do the admissions officers.</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s been pointed to before, but I highly recommend this two minute clip (with animation by Parker and Stone) [YouTube</a> - Music and Life - Alan Watts](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERbvKrH-GC4]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERbvKrH-GC4). The number of kids I meet who didn’t realise that high school was to be “played” is actually tragic.</p>
<p>Thank you so much. You have really pointed me in a different path, now. This path is mine alone to walk on, because it’s what’s best for me, not what’s best for MIT. I see now, that before I was spiraling downward. Now I have nowhere to go but up, thanks to your words.</p>
It’s been a long fall semester so far.</p>