I'm not on a math or science team, do I still have a chance at MIT?

[bart2385]

<p>Thanks in advance guys =)</p>

<p>Math and science has been a large focus for me in high school, and I want to continue the path here.
Stats:
Male, Midwest, Caucasian, No hooks</p>

<p>Academia:
GPA: 3.994UW
SAT: 2300 (800 M, 720 CR, 780W)
SAT II: 800 US History, 800 Chem, 800 Math 2
AP Tests: APUSH (5), Euro (5), Calc BC (5), Lang/Comp (5), Stats (5)
Senior Year Courseload: Multivariable Calc., AP Econ, AP Comp Sci, AP Lit., CIS Comp, CIS Spanish 5, AP Physics, AP Chem.
Major Awards: National Forensic League Degree of Honorx2, Degree of Excellencex2, ExCEL Nominee, 2 time Tri-Athlete Award, AP Scholar w/ Distinction, National Merit Commended</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Cross Country (4 years): Captain, All Conference, State Qualifier, Academic State Award Winner, Academic State Gold, Academic State Silver, 2 time Scholar Athlete of the Year, 3 time section qualifier, three varsity letters</p>

<p>Swimming (4 years): Captain, 2 time Academic State Silver, 3 varsity letters, most improved, 4 time section qualifier, True team section runners up, 4 time true team section qualifier, True team State Qualifier, Section Finalist (100 Breastroke)</p>

<p>Girls Swim Team Manager for 1 year.</p>

<p>Track and Field (4 Years): 3 Time True Team Sectional Qualifier, 2 Time Sectional Qualifier, Most Improved, Scholar Athlete of the Year, 2 Time Varsity Letter Award Winner, Honor Roll Time in 2 events (Mile-4:30, 2 Mile-9:56), 2 Time Sectional Medalist</p>

<p>Debate (3 Years): 3 Time State Qualifier, Novice Classic Debate State Quarter Finalist,
JV Classic Debate State Quarter Finalist, National Forensic League Member, NFL Degree of Honor, Degree of Excellence, 2 time Letter Award Winner </p>

<p>Student Council (3 Years): Officer, Organized various things, including running a school wide Community Cup that includes a $1000 prize and a choice of charity, and also ran initiative for healthier district school lunches, 2 letter awards</p>

<p>National Spanish Honor Society (2 Years): Nada, I'm just in it</p>

<p>National Honor Society (2 Years): Dialogues Director: (I have organized city wide presentations on various topics with very well known people, for example, globalization, modern media, etc- Its kind of a big deal, and may be topic of an essay.), Volunteer Gold Award, Attended State Leaders Conference, Dodgeball Committee (ran a local dodgeball tourney where all proceeds go to JDRF, lots of money raised), lots of leadership things</p>

<p>LINC: LINC 101 - Leadership Class, get school credit on my transcript
LINC Leadership, Leadership, do large scale leadership with Freshmen and newbies at school
LINC 301: Captains training</p>

<p>Summer Activities:</p>

<p>Work Experience: Lifeguard/WSI Instructor</p>

<p>Volunteer Work: Tons with NHS (300+ Hours Total? + Every summer since 7th Grade I help teach “Space Camp” for little kids, Captain+organizer for a local “Relay for Life” Team), big ones include Red cross, hospital, others. Most importantly, I started volunteering in any way I could for JDRF after my brother was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, the disease has impacted our family a lot.</p>

<p>Running Camp: .....I ran a lot (400 Mile Club)</p>

<p>Swimming Camp: ….I swam a lot</p>

<p>Star Wars Collectable Card Game Club: I played competitive star wars collectable card game. I went to states, regionals, and nationals! Got 8th in Regionals, 2nd in a local tourney, and competed in nationals (I beat my former “master”, heh heh)</p>

<p>Triathlons: I independently train and compete in triathlons after seeing Ironman on TV - I love them! Triathlons may be a topic of an essay for me.</p>

[mathboy98]

<p>I’m not qualified to chance you for MIT, but what I can say are these tips:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>If you ARE into math and science, chances are you’ll apply to other schools too. It’s just standard nature to focus on the chance we’ll succeed (at least for a lot of applicants) at gaining acceptance to a given school, but odds are it’s not going to happen, even if you’re really good. This means the other schools (CalTech, Harvey Mudd, other good schools like Harvard, U. Chicago, Princeton…) are possibly on your list. This means you should clearly demonstrate your math and science passion, and some of those schools might want to see it very directly demonstrated (CalTech comes to mind). Acing a competition, partaking in <em>meaningful</em> research, writing of your experiences in a way that hopefully makes someone on admissions light up with a fraction of your passion for a moment is all stuff you want to do.</p></li>
<li><p>MIT happens to be a school which seems to accept various forms of evidence of the ability to contribute, despite being skewed to the maths/sciences disciplines. I would thus say the answer to your question is an easy “yes” from what I’ve heard, but by that I just mean you definitely have a nonzero chance. Whether your chances are good or not for MIT in particular is a different story; my vague experience suggests you’ll get in somewhere very good with that profile.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>You’ve done a very good job at school and standardized testing, so you should have little problem in that particular sense.</p>

<p>Any more specialized remarks than this should warrant actual alumni, admissions officers, etc to discuss. Take my advice as merely coming from a math/science enthusiast who’s seen various people take various paths.</p>