MIT admission! (and others, of course)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello, I just wanted to know if this list seems reasonable, or if I should add other schools for safeties, etc.</p>

<p>My GPA is 3.45/3.85 (I know, I know, it's bad)</p>

<p>Junior year I took:
BC Calc (5)
AP Physics C (5)
AP Chem (5)
AP Psych (5)
AP Eng. Lang (4)</p>

<p>SAT II's - 800 Physics, 800 Chem, 800 Math 2c
SAT- 790 M, 710 V, 730 W</p>

<p>I'm a white female student who skipped a grade, and have recommendations from my Multi-Variable Calc teacher, my Junior year english teacher, and a math professor who taught at Vanderbilt, MIT, and Stanford. </p>

<p>EC's:
Ballet, 14 years (performed at the Kennedy Center and with professional companies)
Singing (including All-State Choruses and voice lessons)
Chemistry Team co-captain
Math Team (including going to ARML)
Solar-Car building team
Piano, 5 years</p>

<p>I'm applying to:
MIT (EA)
University of Chicago (EA)
UMD-College Park (EA)
Harvey Mudd (RA)
Cornell (RA)</p>

<p>Does anyone have any ideas on my chances, or other schools I should apply to? Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Oh, for elaboration on the professor, he said that I am a "mathematics star" and "could be the next big thing in the math world". My MV Clac teacher's rec will say basically that out of her 25 years of teaching at a competitive public high school, I am the student that she has had with the most innate mathematical ability.</p>

<p>Basically, rec's are good, essays are decent, SATs are decent, GPA is terrible. Any suggestions?</p>

3

<p>Get a 800 on your SAT I math before you apply to MIT. You'll be up against a ton of 800s on the SAT I math (me for example), and some places like CalTech have had classes with all 800s on SAT II Math IIc.</p>

4

<p>Did you win at ARML?</p>

<p>What are your scores on the AMC/AIME/USAMO?</p>

<p>If you're going to bank on recommendations concerning your amazing 'innate math ability' you're going to need numbers to back you up.</p>

<p>I would say not a good chance (Unless you've made USAMO or something to back up the recommendations) .. that GPA is just a major set-back.</p>

<p>And the difference between a 790 and 800 Math SAT1 means virtually nothing, warped.</p>

5

<p>The difference between a 790 and 800 math SAT I means actually nothing at MIT -- (admissions officer) Ben Jones has advised people on this forum not to re-take a 760, let alone a 790.</p>

<p>MIT admissions officer Matt McGann has written [url=<a href="http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/apply/standardized_test_requirements/whats_the_big_deal_about_402.shtml%5Dhere%5B/url"&gt;http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/apply/standardized_test_requirements/whats_the_big_deal_about_402.shtml]here[/url&lt;/a&gt;] about the way MIT looks at applicants' standardized test scores.</p>

6

<p>I think you'll be accepted everywhere except MIT. I can see you getting deferred then waitlisted there.</p>

7

<p>Are you applying to MIT for the name or for continuing your ballet studies? I never quite understood why people go to these schools for undergrad. Personally, I think you can get a much better education (even in mathematics) at a different type of school. Maybe I'm just being prejudice by applying what I've seen at Caltech to MIT.</p>

<p>I think the Ivies and MIT/Caltech/Stanford get some of the best students who have accomplished the most through HS. However, I believe that they do not really do much to rigorously mold and rebuild those students to be super-advanced problem solvers. They are too interested in their grad students...which, btw, is really where the prestige of the school comes from. </p>

<p>A school like HMC or Olin will get the next set of students that did not get into the previously mentioned set of schools. HMC/Olin will develop their students far beyond what you will see elsewhere. Why? Because the sole purpose of HMC/Olin is to teach selective undergrads to be the best by the standards of the industry. </p>

<p>Don't believe me? I suggest you use Google to look at per capita numbers for HMC. Something like 30% of Mudd students get published while at Mudd. With only 5000 alums (ever!), HMC has produced more CEO's, lead researchers, PhD's (~35%), astronauts, than nearly any other school in the US (per capita). If money is your concern, Mudd alums also make one of the highest starting salaries, and ultimately, career salaries of any school in the US.</p>

<p>(But, you know, the entering (2009) median SAT for MIT was 1500 and HMC was 1470 so it really isn't a huge world of difference anyway)
Just some random links you may find of interest:
<a href="http://icpc.baylor.edu/past/icpc97/Finals/Standings.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://icpc.baylor.edu/past/icpc97/Finals/Standings.html&lt;/a>
<a href="http://bulletin.hmc.edu/archives/2005/Summer05/campus_news.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://bulletin.hmc.edu/archives/2005/Summer05/campus_news.html&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/profiles/generalinfo.asp?listing=1023484&LTID=1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/profiles/generalinfo.asp?listing=1023484&LTID=1&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/HMC.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/HMC.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

8

<p>I'm definitely considering HMC. I visited MIT in February, though, and just loved the people and classes there. I would not be going just for the name, basically. I also considered Olin, but I'm not sure that I want to go into engineering, so HMC and MIT seemed like better choices.</p>

<p>As for ARML, the team I was on came in the top quarter, but I definitely did not win. My AMC-12 score was only a 115, but that was in my freshman year. I had to drop math things for a while because ballet became so intense. I was on a pre-professional track for a while, which involved around 30 hours of dancing a week.</p>

<p>Thanks, everyone! I know that my chances at MIT are very slim, but I'm definitely going to try. The fact that I'm female could help me out a lot, so that's what I'm going for.</p>

9

<p>115 on the AMC 12 is a very good score for a freshman.</p>

<p>I myself had a 129 on the AMC 12 that year and was pretty darn happy. But then I had a 136 this past junior year and I was ticked...so I'm not the best judge of what a good score is.</p>

10

<p>Whoa there, I think Harvey Mudd is a great school and a great choice for undergrad, but I think MIT is too.</p>

<p>I completely disagree that professors at MIT are "only interested in grad students." If anything, undergrads at MIT are treated more like grad students than like undergrads -- most upper-division courses are joint grad-undergrad classes, for example. (My buddy who's a first-year grad student is taking a class this term that I took as a sophomore.) About 80% of MIT students do undergraduate research, and I believe the percentage who get published is about a third. I graduated with three publications on my CV. It doesn't matter what your registration status is at MIT -- it matters whether or not you're an outstanding scientist or engineer. </p>

<p>It's a very widespread belief that elite research universities pay more attention to their grad students than to their undergrads, but I've never seen it in practice at MIT, and I doubt it happens at Caltech or Stanford either. When I interviewed for grad school at UCSF (which is a grad/med-only institution), people made a big deal out of the fact that professors at UCSF wouldn't be distracted by undergrads. Nobody's really getting shafted -- it's just people trying desperately to pursuade you that the grass is really, really, really green when you're the center of attention.</p>

<p>I agree that doing undergrad science or engineering at Mudd will do a lot of things for you. I don't agree that it will get you farther than an education at MIT, Caltech, or Stanford -- all four schools are outstanding, and it's ludicrous to choose between any of them based on academic quality. At the point that you're lucky enough to be deciding between educations at all four, you should be deciding based on fit, not based on academic factors.</p>

<p>The point of a great science or engineering program is to teach students how to think, and that can be accomplished at any of a number of awesome schools.</p>

11

<p>Thank you for that wealth of personal information, Mollie! Although I only visited for a few days, the professors definitely seemed to care about the students. One of the professors came up to me afterwards and asked if I was a pre-frosh, and told me that if I had any questions about the school, to ask away, etc.</p>

<p>But if I get into any of those schools (beyond UMD, of course) I will be very happy! The fit is hard to know without extended personal visiting, which my mother won't let me do until I get in, but from what I can tell, HMC and MIT both seem really good for me.</p>

12

<p>HMC is almost as difficult to get into as MIT, so don't bank on that too much. Cornell Engineering is also pretty damn hard to get into, and that GPA will hurt.</p>

<p>UChicago will be hard to get into as well, considering they don't care too much about test scores so your grades will be magnified in importance(which doesn't work to your advantage here). Better write a killer essay here.</p>

<p>Other schools? If you're applying to HMC and MIT mind as well try Caltech/Stanford (though Caltech is closest to HMC in terms of weather and size). Carnegie Mellon, Rose Hulman, Cooper Union, Olin are great places for technology too.</p>

13

<p>The OP is a female, though. That's what boosts her chances for MIT, HMC, and Cornell engineering. I am pretty confident that the OP will get into both HMC and Cornell.</p>

<p>And if you do get into both HMC and Cornell and not MIT, do what I did...
Choose HMC!</p>

14

<p>Even if you get into MIT, strongly consider choosing HMC ;).</p>

15

<p>Thank you for that information, everyone! I know that being female definitely boosts my chances, so I'm glad for that! I'm kind of hoping that schools will look past my SATs and see my "potential" or something.</p>

<p>I'd be more likely to consider HMC as a top choice if it weren't in Southern California. I really prefer cold weather. I'd still be very happy going there, though!</p>