lol do I have any chance?

<p>I think MIT is most likely out of my reach, but...</p>

<p>GPA : 4.05 out of 5.0 weighted (pretty bad I know, that's like top 18%ish in my HS although our school does not rank, I'm not very good at my humanities classes. But my grades show a very strong upward trend)</p>

<p>SAT: M:800, CR:660, WR: 690</p>

<p>SAT II's : Math Level II: 800, Chemistry: 800</p>

<p>AP's: BC Calculus-5, Chemistry-5, Statistics-5</p>

<p>EC/Awards:
-two time USAMO qualifier (AMC12: 129, AIME: 9)
-ARML participant (scored a 7 out of 8 in the 2006 ARML, which is like top 50ish that year?)
- AMC school winner/high scorer
- 3rd in my state math competition this year
- member of school math team
- random volunteering (60+ hours) for local non-profit organizations</p>

<p>BTW I am going to major in math</p>

<p>What are my chances? Should I even apply?</p>

<p>0% of people who don't apply get in.
it cant hurt to give it a shot.</p>

<p>IMO- you better being doing some really advanced math, because you look like your applying to be just a math guy (ECs are all math, grades are all math), and we only have 1 or 2 of those per yr, and they're scary smart.</p>

<p>
[quote]
we only have 1 or 2 of those per yr, and they're scary smart.

[/quote]

Do you mean MIT only accepts 1 or 2 math majors every year?</p>

<p>and ask yourself this how many of them are rising seniors...</p>

<p>There are a lot of scary--:eek:-- looking kids MIT admits and a
lot of smart:D kids MIT admits but every year they choose to admit
at least 1 smart&&scary kid </p>

<p>If cannot do super-smart try super-scary is the message I hear from
thekidhere</p>

<p>Hope that helps dong xie!:)
---proud to be a --:eek:-- scary kid
(I am studying the dummies guide to being smart and hope to be one of them smart:D kids by application time)</p>

<p><nonfactual rant="">
Given the deep-thinking-admission wave MIT is on to I would not
be surprised if they admitted a pink flamingo which professed an
interest in vegetariansim and gave up fish.....
</nonfactual></p>

<p>....so yes ....
you should apply though I would recommend RD</p>

<p>
[quote]
Do you mean MIT only accepts 1 or 2 math majors every year?

[/quote]

[quote]
and ask yourself this how many of them are rising seniors...</p>

<p>There are a lot of scary---- looking kids MIT admits and a
lot of smart kids MIT admits but every year they choose to admit
at least 1 smart&&scary kid</p>

<p>If cannot do super-smart try super-scary is the message I hear from
thekidhere

[/quote]

I obviously left a poorly written post. sorry.</p>

<p>allow me to rephrase.
We only have a few people who come here with absolutely nothing but academics on their mind, and those people tend to be incredibly talented in their given field even when compared to the standard set at MIT. What I meant by "scary smart" was the kids who look at a problem that you spent 12 hours working on and do it in their head in a minute, and there's only a handful of those in each class. I for one wouldn't want to compete for one of </p>

<p>The point I was going for was: present more than just the list of stats and the mathmathmathmathmath. Set yourself apart from all the other talented students. Your stats are in the MIT range though, and you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain from applying. I'd say go for it.</p>

<p>also:
[quote]
</p>

<p>There are a lot of scary---- looking kids MIT

[/quote]
</p>

<p>This is a false stereotype. MIT student look like any other college students.</p>

<p>Just kidding :) </p>

<p>... thekidhere .... stereotype? what sterotype.... the applicant pool is
filled with scary--:eek:-- kids and smart:D kids ergo the
scary kids at MIT</p>

<p>oh and I must add just got another poster from CALTECH (3 so far)
in the mail........what caught my attention was that there seemed to be no vegetarian pink flamingoes ;) amongst the photographs of admits</p>

<p>lol! we have the exact same SAT2 and AP scores!!!
my AIME and AMC scores are sucky though >.<</p>

<p>If you are going for JUST MATH , you'll probably have a hard time. (Though like other said there isn't that many USAMO qualifiers per year, but it's not like MIT accepts all USAMO people, there are other olympiads and reasearch etc.)
make sure to show why they should accept YOU instead of other math genius on your app!
If you are just basing everything on math, i know at least 3 people from my grade from my school that can easily beat you in terms of AIME AMC scores, and other math related things who all have better stats with crazy leadership in clubs and summer programs (RSI, Stanford research things, 2x MOsP) who are also applying to MIT this coming year(and my school only gets like 2 into MIT a year).
Don't get me wrong, your math scores are REALLY REALLY amazing, but that's just one aspect.
I mean how are you planning on filling out your 5 ECs? It can't be JUST math.</p>

<p>You still have a good chance though! better than mine!
I still need to get close to USAMO cut off >.< got into AIME since 8th grade just no USAMO!!!!!!!!!!!!GRRRRRRRR
too busy with other stuff >.<</p>

<p>what other things(EC, leadership?) do you have?</p>

<p>

Um.... sorry to burst your bubble, but... "too busy with other stuff" is <em>good</em>... and it really is not a requirement for admission for you to "get close to USAMO cut off". (Especially since the "other stuff" you've spoken about before includes heavy involvement in FIRST robotics, which is a very good thing to be able to show on your application.) </p>

<p>Unless of course this is a personal goal you'd just like to reach. Seriously, hundreds of people are admitted to each class who have never come anywhere near "close to USAMO cut off", and in fact probably hundreds who have never <em>HEARD</em> of USAMO or had no opportunity to qualify. Take a few deep breaths. (PS: how was your visit? :) )</p>

<p>i wonder wat the acceptance rate of USAMO qualifiers are at MIT....</p>

<p>USAMO is definitely going to help though it's no guarantee. Show some personality in your essay and you'll have a great chance.</p>

<p>To Mootmom
I just got off the plane >.<
The visit was cool!!!
the weather was not... it was 90 degrees that day.
i'll make a post about it later.
but one quick question, i went on the tour and stuff but they didn't get us to fill out any visitor info sheet, so how would they know I visited?
(for the USAMO thing , it's kinda like a personal goal.I haven't done much problem solving since like 3rd grade( busy learning English after that and doing "other stuff") so I am really bad at using my newly learned math skills in problem solving)</p>

<p>They don't know you visited, rainy. Visiting campus is not a criterion in the admissions decision, it is just for your personal edification. Hence they don't keep track.</p>

<p>icic, just wasn't sure because someone I knew said she had to fill out a visitor info form when she visited. Maybe she got confused with one of the other schools that she visited.</p>

<p>“ I mean how are you planning on filling out your 5 ECs? It can't be JUST math.”</p>

<p>Why not? By filling these 5 blanks with JUST math ECs, it shows the OP’s passion towards math. Yes, being an all-rounder is something. That can be shown in recs and SATs, and GPA. But showing your passion in ECs and essays is very important. Im not sure what you mean...</p>

<p>EC != awards though the person listed a lot of wonderful math awards but not exactly extra curricular activities
For math EC
you can have Math Club, Math Tutoring and what else? That's kind of what I meant.
And also by having combination of other things makes one unique. If there is ONLY one side, it's pretty easy to be compared with others.
Random example that may or may not be accurate:
person #1 : 3x AIME
person #2 : 1x AIME, Science Bowl, Science Fair
person #3 : 1x USAMO, 3x AIME
the #1 can be compared with/beat by #3, , but person #2 with other things, can't really be straight out compared with the other two.</p>

<p>Won't you think it's a bit excess to fill out your WHOLE application with all math? ( EC, awards, all essays, all short answers). Sure it shows passion, but I am sure colleges likes to see different sides of you.
the OP's achievement in math is really REALLY great, and there is nothing wrong with showing passion towards math. Just the whole application shouldn't be just that. To me, the applications are short and one should try to show as much about himself as possible.</p>

<p>just my inexperienced thought</p>

<p>Well I'm not going to fill the whole application with math... and I do have other interests but they are more personal and hard to put on a college app(it's impossible to prove that I can solve a 3 by 3 rubik's cube in 40 seconds unless I send in video or something)</p>

<p>dong_xie, you don't have to prove it to them. It's some thing you should mention, but remember that a lot of the applicants will have small tidbits here and there like what you mentioned. I would think MIT adcoms would not be surprised that an applicant might be into something like rubiks cube solving (on the other hand, if you listed base jumping you might want some evidence).</p>

<p>lol!
have you heard of macky? i am pretty sure he is applying this year too and he had the world record for rubik's cubes at one point after Tyson Mao(and amazing math skills). If you go to the math contests around here, it's scary how many people can go sub-30 sec. You CAN include a video if you really wanted to. I know someone that submitted a circuit board he designed. and you don't really need to prove that you can. Solving rubiks cube in 40 seconds is cool and all. its more important to show why you like it, and what it means to you. and for that, you CAN show in your app. (hint: the "what do you do for fun?" question)</p>

<p>that post was just pointing out to the person before me that it's not very wise to fill out with JUST math, not really saying that you are. and again, i think you have a really good chance (even though chance don't mean anything and won't make a difference in the real decision)</p>

<p>p.s. doh! differential beat me to it</p>

<p>Yeah I've heard stories about Macky (at ARML) juggling 3 rubik's cube and solving them simultaneously.</p>