<p>I'm Asian, and my GPA is around 3.7. I'm in ~top 20% of my graduating class. I barely have any ECs:</p>
<p>Math Club (grade 11)
Internship with professor (grade 10 - 11)
Volunteering at hospital (grade 10)</p>
<p>I'm a junior right now. Is it too late to turn things around and put me in the running for admission into MIT?</p>
<p>apply if you want</p>
<p>but your chances = quite slim</p>
<p>although chances for almost everybody at MIT = slim</p>
<p>but chances you will find a school that fits you well: great . … if you start thinking through what interests you about MIT </p>
<p>that could be item such as these:</p>
<p>1 -I am interested in technical subjects
2 -I thrive where expectations are quite high
3- Prestige is most important to me
4- I don’t need merit aid, so finding a school that gives a lot of non-need-based aid doesn’t matter to me
5- I love cities and could not imagine myself studying at a suburban campus</p>
<p>It’s NEVER too late to “turn things around.” But if you are doing that just to get into MIT it probably won’t work . . . be your best version of yourself.</p>
<p>You will need super high SAT scores.</p>
<p>What originally drew me to MIT was, I’ll admit, it’s prestige and notoriety for being an amazing school for computer science. When I recently started reading the blogs is when I fell in love with the institute. I feel like I would fit in perfectly at MIT.</p>
<p>The primary reason behind my lack of ECs and low stats is that I was very socially awkward my freshman and sophomore years. I was shy, and I was a frequent target for bullying by my peers. I barely had any friends. My response to this was to not go into any after-school activities because I felt that everyone would make fun of me for everything that I did. The depression that came along with this made my studies suffer.</p>
<p>This year I’m trying to become more social and not care what anyone thinks about me anymore. I’m trying to finally be myself.</p>
<p>MIT can be a very intimidating place for a good student. For someone who is an average student, it can be overwhelming. </p>
<p>Why not go to a school that you can succeed at? I always believe that what one gets out of a college education is proportional to what one puts into it. If you are always struggling at someplace like MIT, then it will be hard to do your best; and it will show. Go somewhere else but still a very good school. Do well there and you would be better prepared to go to MIT as a grad student.</p>
<p>I know I’ve made many mistakes, but if I were accepted to MIT I think I would be able to handle the work. My work ethic has changed a lot from my first two years of high school.</p>
<p>@ OP,</p>
<p>Don’t get discouraged by these posts which won’t affect anything.
As far “MIT is too much for average student” is concerned, I do believe these properly fits the kind of students MIT wants. Don’t get these false stuff affect you, its true that a better profile is always preferred but that doesnt mean you cant tackle pressure since you werent better on paper at that time :)</p>
<p>Good Luck !</p>
<p>I think I’m just gonna try to go for my state school, UT Austin, and then go for MIT for grad school.</p>
<p>I just don’t see how I could possibly get into MIT undergrad with my crappy stats and basically no ECs.</p>
<p>@OP,</p>
<p>Why do you care about these responses on CC which are literally useless.
I used to create threads & ask questions cause I thought may be there are ppl who really know something, but all are on the same boat technically. No real insights!</p>
<p>Obviously have a safety school ready, but don’t lose hope & try for MIT for as much as you can.</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>mitdreamschool - You don’t know if you can get in until you apply. You don’t need a bazillion EC’s to get into MIT. What you need is to pursue worthwhile experiences, and to be able to highlight those. I personally want to hear more about what sort of interning you did with the professor, what you learned from it, etc - and even how volunteering at a hospital has affected your outlook on life. I think these two things have the potential to be far more interesting than a laundry list.</p>
<p>Don’t mistake quantity for quality, and give yourself a chance :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Most ppl get confused as to how they can show up something similar in their essays, which I believe is absolutely unnecessary.
How can you expect everything you do in your life to change your outlook on life ?
I would suggest whatever he is, he should bring up things on that only instead of making up of some change of outlook which never really happened :p</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You can’t.</p>
<p>I never said “it’s done nothing to change my outlook on life” isn’t a valid answer. But in general, I want people to expand on their stories before thinking, “I only have two things to list under activities so I can’t get into MIT”. That said, I think many kinds of hospital volunteering have high potential to affect someone, hence why I asked for an expansion.
</p>
<p>Absolutely! I hope you’re not trying to imply that I want the kid to lie on his application.</p>
<p>Whatever you’re makes you what you’re and thus everyone is unique.
Try not to portray yourself like someone else.</p>
<p>Be as original as possible & hopefully MIT will have a spare seat for you :)</p>
<p>I will definitely apply to MIT on a whim, but I will be expecting to go to UT Austin.</p>
<p>There’s a thread on CC about a person who got into Stanford with no ECs whatsoever, but I don’t believe it.</p>
<p>^ Good luck 
I applied thinking there was no chance I would get in, and lo and behold.</p>
<p>And yeah, people lie a lot on CC. Go figure.</p>
<p>What ECs did you have? I don’t even have enough to fill the 5 spaces.</p>
<p>^ Comparing your ECs to my ECs is rather pointless ;)</p>
<p>Raw number doesn’t matter with ECs - it’s what you do with them that counts.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I always had this doubt !
Could you mention some ppl who did this ? Not the exact person but rather what they did :)</p>
<p>^ Mollie’s mentioned before that people have posted on the admitted thread, then the Admissions office has confirmed that no such student with those stats were admitted (this is usually in the context of affirmative action, and people claiming to have very low scores and be Hispanic or something). I have no doubt that other people lie even when not discussing affirmative action ;)</p>
<p>^ OMG!
I thought may be ppl only lied when posting chance threads.
Its hilarious to know that ppl also lie in the admitted thread.</p>