<p>I have had a history of mediocre math grades throughout my high school career. It says that on the MIT website that my application won't be looked at if there "are a bunch of D's" but the thing is that I'm always researching some mathematical topic like game theory or graph theory. Will my application still be considered?</p>
<p>unless you have a very good explanation as to why you got bad grades in math, i don’t think you’re application will be competitive in the MIT application pool
there are probably people out there who also research mathematical topics, but get good grades</p>
<p>of course, you only said that you have bad math grades. maybe you won some other awards, which would give a significant boost to your application</p>
<p>If you’re going to be an aerospace engineer as your handle suggests, keep in mind that calculus is more important than graph theory or game theory.</p>
<p>Be careful not to play into any stereotypes. You don’t need to be a math savant to get into MIT, but you do need to demonstrate a strong interest or commitment to math and/or science. That being said, the rigor of your course load is also really important. If by “a history of mediocre math grades” you mean you’re barely passing your school’s easiest math courses, that certainly wont look very good at all (moreso because that would be indicative of laziness and lack of effort than an actual matter of your intelligence). But if it means you’re keeping a B/B+ in tough courses, I wouldn’t count yourself out so soon. MIT really is looking for people who will be a good fit for their culture and who will bring something unique to the campus. Your grades and scores are good measures of whether or not you can handle the MIT workload, but I’m not convinced that some “mediocre” math grades will necessarily break your application.</p>
<p>Assuming you’re a junior, a word of advice would be to take a challenging math course next year, and really work hard to show improvement from your previous math grades. It will be considered when your school sends the mid-year report. Good luck!</p>
<p>I imagine your application will be considered, but they will be looking at it with a very strong emphasis of “will he be able to do the work here? even the work he doesn’t enjoy doing?”</p>
<p>I guess the question is what the OP means by mediocre math grades.</p>
<p>well i have about a c average in IB HL Math</p>
<p>I would say that you would have to show more proficiency in math somewhere, say by getting a “5” on AP Calc and perhaps qualifying for AIME to make up for it. Just having an interest in studying advanced math topics recreationally won’t cut it. </p>
<p>If you take calculus at a community college and ace it, that also might help. </p>
<p>At this point, though, I would try to think about what you can do to prepare yourself for a technical career. You’re really putting yourself at a disadvantage if you haven’t mastered basic math skills (trig, algebra, calculus.)</p>
<p>Do you really want to be an aerospace engineer or is that just a random handle you picked?</p>
<p>it was just a random handle, i wanted to be one when i was a kid, but im really looking into medical research.</p>
<p>I feel Olo is right on the spot:
“will he be able to do the work here? even the work he doesn’t enjoy doing?”</p>
<p>If you tried hard and still got C average, then they’ll wonder if you’ll be able to do the work there.
and if you are the kind who thinks the hw or wtv isn’t worth your time, then they’ll wonder if you’ll do all the work needed for classes at MIT.
Either way it’s not going to look good.</p>
<p>If it was the first reason, you need to show that you can handle harder classes
if it was the second reason, show that you are willing to put in effort in to anything you do, not just the ones you like.</p>
<p>I enjoy math quite a lot, and I’m able to handle hard concepts. I guess i just need to put more effort into my classes, so I guess I better do well in my second year of IB HL math.</p>
<p>How would having the highest score in your school on the AMC but failing to qualify for the AIME be seen by MIT and other schools?</p>
<p>^^ That happened to me in junior year and I am going to MIT next year, but I was also the one who organized math team/organized the AMC at my school and stuff. Also, it was the first year my school had ever taken AMC, and the next year, I took classes on AoPS/met with my math team over the summer to improve. So… it depends on the context - it might be especially good if you then take the initiative to improve, if math is your thing/if you’re interested in doing better (I want to major in math, so I was really interested) If a lot of people at your school take AMC, and especially if you were only a few points from qualifying for AIME, it could also be good. Plus, it helps put your math education in context, a little. </p>
<p>So, it’s obviously something to mention, but it might not specifically help you or give you a “hook” - then again, it might help as one part of your application as a whole.</p>
<p>^^Sorry, I hope that didn’t come off as bragging btw - didn’t mean it that way. I just mentioned that stuff to say like, it depends on context, but there’s lots you can do to make top in your school while not qualifying for AIME be a good thing/a springboard for improvement/etc.. Also, if you have time, and you’re interested in improving/trying to qualify for AIME, you might check out artofproblemsolving.com (AoPS) - awesome site.</p>
<p>there are too many USAMOers on AoPS XP but good reference places. i got the books and met the author. They got a large bank of past AIME and AMC problems. Go through some of them if you are bored.
I think what really helped lalaloo was her initiative for starting the contest.
but best in your school is still better than nothing, right? AMC is just a score, what really matters is how much you like it and how much you enjoy learning the concepts.</p>