<p>Nightmarerec0n, I think you might stand a fair shot. If you look at the admissions profiles at MIT, they reject perfect 4.0's all the time in favor of those with lower gpa's and test scores.</p>
<p>MIT (along with most other top universities) actually tries to create a "class" that is diverse and well achieving. Just because you have perfect grades, test scores, and took a ton of ap classes doesn't guarantee you admission, just like non-perfect gpa's, test scores, and a lack of ap classes won't necessarily deny you admission.</p>
<p>I will say that MIT does not like to see D's on a report card. With that, if you take all the hard classes you are talking about and get a's in all of them, they will see that and take note of it. You might want to put something in your essay about how you realize your first 2 years of high school were not exactly ideal, but then you really put your nose to the grind and got good grades.</p>
<p>The fact that you taught yourself C++ and Java is going to help your admissions profile. You should take honors english in addition to everything else. If you suck that bad at writing, take the class and make yourself better at it. The admissions essays are brutal and if you still aren't good at writing by the time they come around, give yourself time for 5 or 6 revisions by an english teacher, parent, friend who is good at writing, etc.</p>
<p>I don't know how your school works, but if you could take AP bio your junior year, your life will be far more sane for senior year. My school didn't let us take AP's freshman year, but then I took AP Bio sophomore year, AP Physics (B and C) and AP US History Junior year, and AP Calc, AP Chem, and AP Gov (US and Comparative) my senior year. Having the better science background helped me immensely in AP chem (my teacher was horrible) and I actually learned Calculus in AP Physics so once I got into Calculus I didn't actually learn anything for the first semester or so. (then I got senioritis really bad second semester and didn't do homework for 3 months, but managed high A's on every test and wound up with an A in the class)</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, do you go to a private or public school, and what region of the us are you in?</p>
<p>Now for outside of class stuff...
Pick an extracurricular that you absolutely love and become extremely good at it. If its music, the focus on that. If its track or some other sport, focus on that. If there is something that you love to do and aren't good at it, continue to do it. A suprisingly large portion of the MIT process is based on seeing that you do what you love doing.</p>
<p>That extracurricular could also be one of your computer science interests. For example, if you can make a useful application that people use or get a part time job at a company doing cs stuff, that will reflect very well on your application. If you could make a program or application AND brand it AND polish it AND start up your own company with it, (along with good test scores and maintaining grades and something that at least resembles a social life) I would be surprised if you didn't get in.</p>
<p>Then for application stuff...
Apply Early Action for MIT. It gives you an extra chance at getting in and demonstrates that you are highly interested. As I said earlier, get your essays done really early and have lots of people read through and give you advice on how to make them better.</p>
<p>I would also suggest turning in your application a week or so ahead of the deadline. (Early Action deadline is around Nov. 1 I think.) I do not honestly know if they can see what time you submit your application, but if they can, someone who gets it done well before the deadline would probably look better than someone who was throwing everything together the day before its due.</p>
<p>Also, you should get an interview with an someone in the MIT network. They will give you all the contact info when you start the application process, but interviews must be scheduled very early in your senior year, so make sure you start your application as soon as you can and get the information to contact you Educational Counselor (EC). I don't remember the exact statistics, but those who had a higher acceptance rate than those who did not. When you go to your interview, it will be at a place where both of you agree to meet (mine was actually in McDonald's, haha). Make sure you are dressed appropriately (full suit isn't usually required, just don't show up with ragged pants, a corona t-shirt, flip flops, etc. Usually Khaki pants and a nice looking shirt is casual enough and nice enough for wherever you go.) Have some well-thought out questions written down on a piece of paper when you show up, and practice asking them, as stupid as that might sound. Make sure you seem confident when you walk in and shake your EC's hand, and introduce yourself. Thank you EC when the interview is over and be kind in general. I was really nervous when I went into mine, thinking that I would be meeting with someone who was more than human, since they had actually graduated from my dream school, but they are just normal people, and are doing interviews because they want to help you.</p>
<p>That was a lot of info in one post, but I hope it helps. I really do think that you have a chance if you can follow through with what you are planning. Best of luck to you in 2 years.</p>