Is it just me or is MIT wayyy out of my league?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<p>When I look at the stats of some students on cc - the summer programs they've done, the awards they've received, INTEL this, International that, 1st place, gold metal... - what are the chances that I'm looking at completely BS in a lot of these ECs and awards? Because when I look at their senior year course loads: AP bio, AP calc,etc vs their ECs: international award winners, research discoveries and paper publications, it doesn't connect to me.</p>

<p>In my school, there's this really smart girl who specializes in math, qualifying only for the USAMO since 8th grade, taking AP calculus as a freshmen etc. And her course load as a sophomore is one of a senior's because she took all these AP classes her freshmen year. I don't know much about her other ECs, but in general international level awards or even national level honors just don't appeal to our schools' students, despite the fact that we send plenty of them to top 10 colleges each year.</p>

<p>And from a personal point of view, when I see these aggregates of all these prestigious awards, researches, volunteers PLUS varsity sports, I'd say "there's no freaking way all of this happened, unless you were doing computations when you were still a sperm cell..." SORRY if I'm insulting, but that leads to my question. Because I have heard of stories where people just make up random crap that got them into their dream colleges. And some of these application overviews look like someone's going to become the next Albert E by the age of 27.</p>

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<p>well some people lie, but that is there choice. I doubt most of us do lie, but you do have a good point. I guess some people are really obsessed about college</p>

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<p>A lot of it probably has to do with the fact that it's really hard to get your school to let you be that advanced in math without really motivated parents. The only person I know of that was able to take math like that girl in my school had a mom on the school board. I'm sure a lot of the people that have all these international awards and stuff do a lot of studying on their own, so you can't really use their courseload as a real judge of how much they actually know.</p>

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<p>Ahem.</p>

<p><em>places soapbox on the ground, dusts off the top, and gingerly steps up onto it</em></p>

<p>People on this forum are CRAZY. Lots of people applying top notch colleges are CRAZY. I don't know if most of the people who post here are telling the truth, but either way, DON'T compare yourself to them. There are several reasons for this, but the most important of which is that scores aren't everything. Even all that other stuff- awards, international science fairs, etc- aren't everything.</p>

<p>Why? Because, no offense to anyone out there who has those impressive achievements- a lot of those kids can't handle anything but insanely hard math problems. MIT wants people who are real people- not people who just study all the time, have no interests outside their best subject, and don't know how to fail.</p>

<p>I'm not saying that everyone who has impressive stats fits that stereotype, but some of them certainly do. And they are not the only ones to get into MIT. MIT admits plenty of ordinary people too- first generation college students, people from small towns without many opportunities, and people who are generally well-rounded, interesting people.</p>

<p>I won't try to claim that I'm exceptionally interesting (except I suppose MIT thought so) but the most impressive achievement I probably had in high school was...gosh, National Honor Society? (P.S. NHS at my school was a joke and a total waste of my time, if I could do it all over again I probably wouldn't even bother applying.) I had high test scores and good grades and participated in a lot of activities but I never went to a single science fair in high school. Or middle school. In fact, to this date, the only science fair I've ever been at was in my elementary school's gym. I was in 4th grade. Or was it 2nd? I'm not really sure.</p>

<p>I was in the NJ Science League, and went to a couple of science competitions- but there were literally no qualifying requirements and I didn't even go to enough of the events to get a participation award. I didn't win a single award or recognition at ANY level, except some "commended scholar" thing which just happened automatically by virtue of whatever my PSAT score was. (I can't for the life of me remember.)</p>

<p>Knock on wood, I'll be graduating from MIT in June.</p>

<p>In other words: No. MIT is not way out of your league. </p>

<p><em>step off the soapbox and neatly puts it away for the next time this subject comes up, probably in 3 days</em></p>

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<p>very well said :]
<em>applause</em>
I think the problem that people think is that MIT is the technology center through smarts, but it isnt that at all because everyone is smart in their own way, and it is this misconception that has driven many people to study all the time. Just being yourself and being good at something is what mit really looks for</p>

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<p>There is a reason the middle 50% of MIT scores are in the high 700s. I'm not saying go study all the time, but you're kidding yourself if you think MIT doesnt look for science or math related initiative.</p>

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<p>oh really...
what makes you say that?</p>

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<p>So that's where my soapbox went!</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Almost all international students admitted to MIT have earned some form of regional, national or international distinction in areas from leadership, music and art, to scientific research, academic competition and athletics.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>LauraN, I agree that not everyone would have excelled in High School - and it's right of MIT to recognise talented students who hadn't had as many opportunities in HS. But that mightn't be true for international admits because of the immensely stiff competition, and the OP is international.</p>

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<p>Plus there's no one that MIT is a certain to get into for so it's almost out of everyone's league :-D</p>

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<p>Yeah true balaylay. and thanks LauraN. I know I'm crazy and I still dont have incredible international or intel awards. Dont compare yourself to us because this is our lives, and we like it :) well at least I speak for myself :P</p>