<p>Ok so I'm going to predict my transcript/e.c. for the end of junior year (sophomore now).</p>
<p>Algebra II (A/A)
Chemistry (A/A)
AP Physics C (A/A)
AP Lang (A/A)
AP Bio (A-/B+)
AP Stats (A/A)
AP Calc BC - Calc I + II (A-/A-)
Calc III - Dual-Enrollment (A/A)
AP Lit (A/A)</p>
<p>I should have ~450 hrs of community service w/ volunteering at a local hospital.</p>
<p>ACT: 34-36
SAT: 2250-2400</p>
<p>Now, what do I NEED to do to bump my chances at MIT. I will have the grades and test scores, but what should I do to distinguish myself?</p>
<p>P.S. Am planning in going into engineering.</p>
<p>NHS
Basketball-4 years (1 year captain, 2 time MVP, varsity 2 years)
Track (4 years varsity, 2 year captain)
Going on a group for community service for 4 days during Spring Break</p>
<p>@ttparent
I’m not really excited or passionate about anything at the moment. I just know that i love math/science and the engineering department is what interests me the most. I also love physics and am very interested in how the earth works and what we can expect from it</p>
<p>@Borb
Those aren’t all of my ECs, i just listed a few general ones. I’m going to have a lot more, would that increase my chances?</p>
<p>If you take a peek at the MIT decision board, there are full of people with super stats that were rejected. There is nothing wrong with good stats but MIT seems to get way too many that they cannot accept them all. If you can distinguish yourself from others somehow, you have better chance to get in. Are you good enough at Basketball to make MIT varsity team? Do you have any EC that a little different and not just another bullet similar to what other kids might have? Are you female or of any other minority group other than Asian male?</p>
<p>What math and science extra-curriculars do you do? This is probably more important for a Caltech, but MIT will likely only accept you if demonstrate more interest in math and science than taking a lot of those classes (unless you are a URM, athlete, or girl).</p>
<p>My D was rejected despite being a girl, having a 2300 SAT, 3.9 GPA and lots of EC’s with leadership. My analysis of the situation is that she didn’t have enough science-specific activities such as research and winning high-level awards in national contests. Her awards and activities were more humanities and math-related and I’m sure they get plenty of applicants with similar resumes to hers and with higher AMC scores. </p>
<p>My advice to you is apply EA to MIT but also identify several other colleges you will be happy at. There are lots of other good “techy” schools.</p>
<p>Also, my H’s boss is convinced that his son will get into MIT next year if the boss gets a letter of recommendation for the son from the CEO of HP. I am skeptical about this working but will have to wait until next year to see what happens.</p>
<p>It depends. If the son did something significant related to HP and that is detailed in the recommendation then that would help. Otherwise, I think if it is just a letter from a powerful CEO that has remote contact with the kid, then I think Adcom will see right through it. Big donation from HP, however, might speak volume. Given of course that the student has a stat that is within the range. It would be sad if the student gets in with mediocre stat with the recommendation as the only trump card.</p>
<p>The only link I know of is the dad is head of the IT dept of a large company and the company buys a lot of HP equipment. The son may be a wonderful candidate (I don’t know him) but the situation just seems rather unsavory.</p>
<p>To the OP: If you like physics could you enter some physics contests or do some physics research this summer? This website lists contests and summer programs you could look into. Most students I know who got accepted to MIT had won science-related contests of some sort. </p>
<p>You’ll get better info if you ask this on the MIT board, where people actually know something about the school other than conjecture and stereotype.</p>
<p>As an MIT alum:</p>
<p>Quit worrying about specific things that you “need” to do. You <em>need</em> to have good strong academic credentials (grades, SATs, class rank if your school has it, rigor of schedule). Note that “perfect” is not required, you just have to demonstrate that you can actually do the work. You <em>need</em> to not shoot yourself in the foot with your essays (believe me, a lot of people fail on this one), and to cultivate good enough relationships with a few teachers that you can get good recs.</p>
<p>Beyond those essentials, you should be doing things that you care about. If you are actually a fit for MIT, probably some of those things will be in an area that MIT is good at - whether it’s general science/engineering, or a specific sci/eng subject, or political science, or architecture, or whatever. You should try to show high achievement in those to the extent that you can. Not all of your (formal and informal) activities will necessarily be related to what you want to study at MIT specifically, and that’s fine - in fact, I’d recommend that you have some non-field-focused ones unless there is truly only one thing that you care about in life. But there is no checklist of “Okay, does this applicant have one sport, one academic club, one leadership activity, and one service activity?”. The approach is more “Does this applicant care about and contribute to the things that they do? Are their reasons for choosing MIT sound? Does this applicant demonstrate personality traits that are conducive to success at MIT? Will this applicant take advantage of the MIT experience and be a positive force in some aspect of MIT life?”</p>