<p>so does everyone who gets into MIT crazy good in math and science? being a double minority, would i have a chance in getting into their liberal arts school? do they even have one?</p>
<p>No, MIT does not have a liberal arts school....it's not even divided into "schools" per say
With regard to chances, MIT looks at more than the GPA. A high gpa is nice but if your classes were primarily lets say... Underwater Basket Weaving III and you have a 4.0 as opposed to a having a 3.4 from taking the most rigorous courses in your school. They'll probably look at the 3.4 a bit more favorably. </p>
<p>Third, you need not be "crazy good" in math and science..it can help but if you enjoy it will help.</p>
<p>thank you aislynn</p>
<p>It's worth underlining that MIT undergraduate admissions are not affected by your declared choice of major -- prospective English majors are not advantaged or disadvantaged relative to prospective electrical engineering majors.</p>
<p>Although many of MIT's social science and humanities department are excellent and well-respected, MIT is still primarily a math and science school, and admissions officers at MIT look to see that students will be able to successfully complete MIT's General Institute Requirements -- every MIT graduate, even those who major in the humanities, must complete two semesters of calculus, two semesters of physics, a semester of chemistry, and a semester of biology, among others. While you certainly don't have to be some sort of math and science genius to get into MIT, you're not doing yourself any favors if you aren't at least somewhat talented in and interested in those subjects.</p>
<p>Being a black female, by itself, is unlikely to help you.</p>
<p>Being a black female who demonstrates in her application that she has overcome racism and/or sexism, or anything else, to succeed academically, or who can otherwise tie her experiences as a black female into having traits that MIT values, will probably be seen as a plus.</p>
<p>The 3.9 GPA tells us nothing, other than that it's high enough to not raise any red flags about your academic capability, assuming you took a reasonably rigorous courseload.</p>
<p>Most people I've met at MIT are very good at at least some kind of science, whether that's biology, chemistry, physics, computer, math, whatever. Or they're very gifted at something like designing circuits. However, they aren't necessarily "crazy good" in all of them. A physicist isn't necessarily good at biology, a chemist isn't necessarily good at math. You have to be good enough at math that you can pass 18.01 and 18.02, but you don't have to be some kind of mathematics olympiad champion, and most MIT students aren't.</p>
<p>Being a black female will help you, whether or not you show that you overcame sexism or racism.</p>
<p>kevtrice, do you have some basis for that or are you just conjecturing?</p>
<p>no, he's probably just asian.</p>
<p>The basis is affirmative action, you do not have to prove discrimination to benefit from affirmative action.</p>
<p>"Affirmative action" can mean about a million different things, ranging from strict racial quotas, to advantage on a point scale, to an extra effort to recruit applications from the targeted groups, to having a racially balanced admissions committee to offset the effects of people's racial schemas. I don't know what you think MIT's AA policies are, but I suspect that it's not quite accurate.</p>
<p>Regardless whatever MIT's AA policies are exactly, they will help this particular applicant. Why deny it? AA isn't a bad thing. Heck, the applicant seemingly even seeks to take advantage of AA by highlighting that she is black using the title of this thread rather than just the typically titled "chance" thread.</p>
<p>No more nonsenses!!!</p>
<p>She's a black with a stellar GPA and she wants to major in non-tech programs like English, Jorunalism, and whatnot. She's a unquie applicant what MIT wants most- She will have an excellent shot</p>
<p>Rabban, I don't know where you got the idea that wanting to major in something non-tech gives you brownie points with MIT Admissions, but it's not true. Like Mollie said, MIT doesn't judge applicants by intended major, because they know that a lot of these people will change their minds. Since Mollie and I are actually student employees of MIT Admission, perhaps you should not dismiss what we say as "nonsenses".</p>
<p>Being "unique" is a nice buzzword, but it's not enough. There are tons of unique people out there who wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell at MIT.</p>
<p>Now, she may indeed be an excellent applicant, but she has not given us much info useful for determining that. All she's said is that she's a black female with a 3.9 GPA.</p>
<p>With all honesty, can you say with a straight face that MIT adcom is not gonna give "brownie points" (no pun intended) to the OP, considering she's a double minority (female + black) ?</p>
<p>It's high time for us to shed off sham and naivete...</p>
<p>uhh... you get nothing for wanting to major in journalism at MIT but my pity.</p>
<p>Rabban, you are in danger of getting me to say that MIT doesn't award extra points to minorities just to avoid being on the same side as you.</p>
<p>Thank you, Orbis.</p>
<p>Jessie, it's OK to take back your statement that being a black female won't help you. I know there is a desire to back up what you orignally say, but people make mistakes sometimes.</p>
<p>If you had to prove overcoming racism to get affirmative action it wouldn't nearly be so controversial, in fact I don't think it would be very controversial at all. You say affirmative action could mean a lot of things. But let's assume we are talking about an advantage on a point scale, because the other types would not generate any controversy, except quotas, the most controversial (plus I think they may be illegal or generally unused).</p>
<p>Here are two things that are undeniable truths about affirmative action that gives an advantage to minorities on a point scale (or on subjective judgements, because the essays are evaluated, but they themselves are not numbers):</p>
<ol>
<li>It takes spots away from non-minorities with better credentials and gives those spots to minorities with worse credentials (let's leave it at SAT, GPA (the biggest criteria for admission) for now).</li>
<li>It lowers the admissions standard (SAT, GPA) for minorities.</li>
</ol>
<p>People will try to refute these truths by saying, "it doesn't take spots away from non-minorities, it just gives them to minorities," or "it just helps minorities out." There are a fixed number of spots, so to give one to someone, you have to deny one from someone else. Then they'll claim it doesn't lower the admissions standard for minorities, but it does because it admits minorities with less credentials.</p>
<p>Now does this mean affirmative action is bad? Nope. But if you find it that you can't defend affirmative action without trying to refute the two things above, then you aren't arguing correctly. And if you can't agree with those two points, then I cannot discuss affirmative action with you, because you are being irrational.</p>
<p>Please keep posts on topic and relevant to werunthis08's original question.</p>
<p>Obvious reasons include gender, access to training both in equipment and facilities and societal pressures. All of these skew physical potential and make comparisons suspect. No one would argue that the best male marathoner will always beat the best female. However the same cannot be said for cognitive ability.
Citation will require more than a little while to locate, but I hope 'The Bell Curve' is not given as evidence of the purported differences. If my statement on parity is incorrect please enlighten me to the differences and quantify them.</p>
<p>I think similar factors to the ones you list exist in the mental sphere, so physical comparisons can be illuminating.</p>
<p>You keep implying the burden of proof is on me to show that there is no parity, but I reject that. Different cultural groups differ in myriad ways. Studies have shown that perceptual abilities, just to name one thing, differ significantly by culture (see, for example, Cultural beliefs as nontrivial constraints on categorization: Evidence from colors and odors. D Dubois - Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2000.) And this is only the tip of the iceberg.</p>
<p>There is a huge number of reasons to believe that different genders and cultures might be different in all sorts of ways, including intellect. I don't accept the premise that we should assume they're equal and I have to prove otherwise. Since you said you had statistics, let's see them.</p>