Is it possible for me to be accepted to MIT

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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If you are serious about MIT, you may want to focus on studies first. By study, I mean your regular school and classes and stop worrying about second dimension of time. It may be there or not there, who cares, and even if you can prove or disprove it - you need to show that that you can solve high school level problems first. Learn physics, participate in olympiads and get to top 400 in country . It is quite hard even solving basic mechanics problems first. (Search for F=MA exam and USAPHO and see the problems there).

Even whole of string theory is giant question mark. It may be true, or may not be true. We will find out possibly in this century, and you just might be the person who get it right, eventually. But basics first. Solve toy problems of physics first, before getting into PhD level stuff.

I don’t know what part of country you are located in. If you within few hundred miles of MIT, check out high school programs that MIT offers. There are literally hundreds of programs, mostly free, that MIT provides to high school students. Check out MIT Office of Outreach. Check out MIT Inspire,. MIT Junction, MIT PRIMES, MIT RSI , MIT Beaverworks, MIT Broad Institute Summer Scholar, MIT Think and so on. No other university in the world is as welcoming to high school students as MIT. They nurture the talent early on and for free.

In general, if you are doing research without a mentor, that’s a red herring. Why? Because you don’t know if you are on right path or not. Plenty of high school students have published research (some from MIT programs), but they worked with someone more knowledgeable than them.

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I mostly agree with posters that suggest you should study more and study subjects that do not interest you, including history, English, and biology.

. FOR CERTAIN keep up your interests in mathematics and physics and ignore those that do not understand why you study physics. Keep up your interest but try to find a mentor to help you learn as well. Can you find a physics professor at a local college to help you?

Its really good that you are studying calculus 2, 3 and other subjects. Are you taking tests and passing them, too? Its nice to demonstrate that you are mastering these subjects with some sort of test. I would suggest you take two AP Exams as soon as possible to see if you have mastered the subjects you are studying. You should be able to get a 5/5 on these exams if you have mastered the subjects:
BC Calculus
Physics C

Since you are only a 9th grader and are advanced for mathematics, I would say YES, keep MIT on your radar. Just read now about MIT’s curiccilum, as you have to pass a semester of biology, a semester of chemistry and a year of physics, as well as a year of calculus, to get an MIT degree. You have a B average, thats not that bad, you can pull it up to an A, and get background in chemistry and biology so you can see if you want a broad based science education. Every MIT student takes almost the same curriculum, as a year of math is also required. You will place out of the math and MIT will allow you to test out of any class you want, which would suit you.

MIT will let any student take the final for any class and place out. I had MIT friends who studied 8.04 after freshman year, and simply took the final exam when they got back to MIT. Yes, MIT students do that sort of thing, and you seem to be the type of person who may want to do that. Good for you.

Remember 9th grade is easier than the remaining grades of high school. You will do better as you get more challenging material to chew on in school. Do you have AP or IB coursework, or can you go to a community college concurrently ? What is your plan for mathematics in high school? You need to try to take four years of math, or
maybe try to graduate early. If you are as far ahead, you may want to do all your math at a local college to be sure you are on track to get some credit for the advanced math you seem capable of. Or do you plan to repeat a lot of math in college? Think about that.

Good luck.

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Your interest in high level math actually indicates you may be a good match for MIT. It is one of the very few US schools where you’ll spend almost all your time studying math, science, engineering. Keep in mind that MIT is looking for smart AND dedicated students. You’re smart enough, but poor grades will make the admissions committee believe you’re not dedicated enough to graduate. If boredom is hard to combat at your current school, consider college classes where you’ll be challenged.

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recently (4th quarter of my school year) I was able to get all A’s at the near end of the quarter, however, I began to get demotivated, but I’m not sure why. Either way, I realized that it’s possible for me to get all A’s which is something I never believed would be possible. This year I"m planning to have an average gpa as the rest of my classmates in order to improve from my bare minimum performance of this year. I know it will be a struggle since It will involve mostly presenting, which I hate, but if it’s to go to my dream college, I will try my best.

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Yes you’re right I’ve been working for 3 months now and don’t even know how to start, so I eventually just gave up. I took some basic lectures of physics, I saw some lectures in high school physics, and then went to the lectures of Walter Lewin I watched 8.01, 8.02, 8.03, and I’m watching 8.04 and planning to watch 8.05. To be completely honest with you, I haven’t mastered physics or calculus, I’ve just improved on certain things like polar coordinates, etc. But this summer I started from the begging and planning to continue this path until reach calculus 3, maybe even go to different branches in calculus 2 like linear algebra. For now, I"m still learning Cal 1. As of physics, I realized, thanks to your comment, that I have to go to the bare basics. So I won’t be doing any more string theory questions until I go through all of the lectures on quantum mechanics.

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Hi @Arturo071
I am a fellow 9th grader. MIT’s also a prospective college for me and I’m also researching similar things like string theory. But I think MIT is looking for more school related things and also well-rounded people.

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But I think MIT is looking for more school related things and also well-rounded people.

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@STEMGuy2021:
MIT is looking for all types of applicants. Try your hardest, but be yourself and do not conform to someone else’s mold because you think it’s what will make you look better.

An MIT adcom, (MITChris) wrote this blog 9 years ago. It’s just as relevant today:

http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways