Is MIT or CalTech too Much?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'ma rising junior, and I really really want to go to either MIT or Caltech. Thanks for looking at this.</p>

<p>Personal-
Male, both parents from Iran (I don't think that counts as a minority :( )
Dad went to a bunch of schools, finally graduated from Tufts, Mom never went to college
Live in Eastern, MA</p>

<p>Academic-</p>

<p>Freshman Year-
Went to a public high school, all honors courses, GPA 4.518 w, 4.0 uw, rank 1/~130
(BTW, would colleges look back to my freshman year, especially since I don't go to my freshman year school anymore?)</p>

<p>Sophmore Year-
(School grades on 0-6 scale)
Fall Winter Spring Final
English (The course for 10th graders) - 6 5 5 5
Second Year French- 5 6 6 6
Honors BC Calc- 6 5 6 6
AP Chem- 5 5 6 5
Java Programming (One term) 6</p>

<p>The next three courses were for the
diplomia requirement and all one term
History- 4
Religion and Philosophy- 4
PE (Pass/Fail) - P</p>

<p>Junior & Senior Year, Planned Courses-</p>

<p>Junior<br>
11th grade English
3rd Year French
Multivariable Calc
AP Java Programming
AP Physics
Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity (Spring Elective)
Art (A one term Diplomia Requirement)</p>

<p>Senior</p>

<p>World History (Diplomia Requirement)
French Literature
AP Biology
Honors Math Seminar (Fall Term)
Java Programming Seminar (Fall Term)
Music (Winter Term, Diplomia Requirement)
Architecture I (Winter Term)
Architecture II (Spring Term)</p>

<p>EC's</p>

<p>Cross Country, I might make bottom of the varsity team this year, but I'll definetly be on it senior year
Indoor and Outdoor Track, same as XC
Science Club (The Team was 2nd in the state this year)
Math Club -
New England Math League, usually score 5 or 6 out of 6
Math Olympiad, one point away from qualifying last year for 2nd round
113.5 on AMC 10
American Regions Math League in Pennslyvania (I got a 4 out of 8)
Chess Club
Ping Pong Club
Co-Founded Mock Trial Club for next year, will be Co-President
Won the school science bowl this year</p>

<p>I will be applying for NASASharp, RSI, and SSP next year (if you know of any other good summer programs, let me know!)</p>

<p>Standardized Test Scores-
SAT I- 670V 780M 680W(Based on MC only)
SAT II- 800 Math IIC, 800 Chem (should I also take physics next year?)
AP - Calc BC/AB 5/5
Chem 5</p>

<p>I can definetly get great rec's (my math teacher said I was one of the best students he taught in his 11 years of teaching).</p>

<p>I want to major in something in the math/science area, but I am also interested in law and wouldn't mind going to a good law school if I am rejected at MIT and Caltech (Isn't that weird, a science geek who wants to be a lawyer?!? Go Ahead, laugh)</p>

<p>Any comments on my chances or what I can do to improve them? Thanks a bunch!!!!</p>

2

<p>I'm not an expert, but here's my take:</p>

<p>Your SAT I scores probably merit a retake if you think that you can do better. Especially the verbal part needs a little work. SAT II's are nice though, and if you are applying for class of '11 you won't need a third subject score.</p>

<p>Also you might want to plan on taking more science/math AP's if they are offered at your school. If there are any harder courses than what you are taking now, then take them. I don't know your reasoning behind taking Architecture but it might be to your benefit to take core classes in high school and branch out into more specialized courses later on.</p>

<p>Of course if architecture is your passion, it might be a good idea. But just from my experience, you aren't going to find what you like doing from high school classes (and if you do, it's surprising). The classes just won't be at a sufficient level to really get you an accurate idea of what such field is about. For example, a High School Java class will never come close to exposing what the field of Computer Science entails, nor will a Physics lab clue you in to what Eletrical Engineering is all about.</p>

<p>I'd suggest working on whatever your have a passion for, as a hobby. From what I hear, MIT isn't just looking for academics on your app but for genuine interest and curiosity about something. What stood out to me about your EC's is that all of them have to do with school or academic clubs. It's just my personal view, but you should get involved with things that don't necessarily have to do with schoolwork. Hospital volunteer, Young life, boy scouts, whatever else. There also isn't anything that just especially hints at a "long term" engagement in something.</p>

<p>I hope you don't take my comments as too harsh, just trying to help from what I know. I will be taking a MIT admissions and tour tomorrow morning (yes, i'm in Sudbury outside Boston :P) so will let you know if there's anything that I left out.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for your input.</p>

<p>I forgot to mention that the SAT I scores are only from practice tests, but the SAT II ones are offical.</p>

<p>About the architecture, it's not that architecture is my passion, it's the fact that my school requires more than just one term of art and music.</p>

<p>About the EC's, I do have some that aren't school related. For example, I have been working at a small company as a summer job over the past few year and helping them develop a website (which is not that great). Would that be something colleges would like to see?</p>

<p>Again, thanks for all your help.</p>