MIT Chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Junior here, this is what I'm hoping to accomplish this year, but a lot of this I'm not fully sure about. Also, I'm new here so I have some questions along way (q's have *).</p>

<p>11th Grade
Birthday 12/11/93- 15 yrs old (*Does it matter if I'm young for grade?)
California
Low Income, 3 siblings</p>

<p>-GPA: 3.95-4.0 UW mostly all AP's, hardest course schedule</p>

<p>-Rank: Top 5% probably, 2008 there was 2,237 students total, not sure about my grade specifically (~560), in pretty decent school</p>

<p>-SAT I: ideally- cr750+, m790+, w740+, total 2300+, minimum- cr670+, m760+, w670+, total 2100+, probable- ~2200, math strongest, cr weak-medium, writing weak-medium</p>

<p>-SAT II: Math 1 or 2- 770+, Chemistry 790+, Physics 770+ (*if I do physics, it would be as senior, does that still work?)</p>

<p>-ACT: Haven't taken yet, if I do hoping for 33+</p>

<p>-APs:
Freshman- None, not really allowed.
Sophmore- World (5), only possible.
Junior- US (5), Eng Lang (4-5), Enviro (5), Chem (5), Calc AB (self) (5), Comp Sci A (self) (5), Human Geo (self) (5)
Senior- Calc BC (5), Eng Lit (4-5), Physics (5), Gov (5), Micro/Macro (self maybe) (5), Bio (self maybe) (5), Psych/Art Hist (self) (5) - *BTW is it worth self studying anything as senior? Obviously, for credits, but I mean for applications?</p>

<p>-ECs:
200-400 Community Service of mostly helping kids do art
More CS doing habitat restoration
Varsity Soccer Division I (maybe Div II) as senior (*is this that great?)</p>

<p>-Awards:
National AP Scholar by Junior, NHS every year, etc. (yayaya)
U15 club soccer 1st place in State Cup (CA)
" " " 1st in Regional Cup (Region IV)
" " " 2nd in Presidential Cup (national)
Maybe win/close to win CIF for soccer as senior (<em>but this wouldn't matter, right? Because applications are before this?)
(</em>Is this section weak? I might get some more things this year though.)</p>

<p>-Essays/Recommendations: Will be decent-good hopefully.</p>

<p>Other Questions:
-How good do APs look on app, is it worth taking this many?
-Will self-studying AP Calc and Computer Sci be pretty good for MIT (I'm in Pre-calc b/c I didn't really have choice of 7th grade math, it was wierd, so I don't think I could've gone to Calc, and its too late to switch in anyway, so I will self-study it and get a 5)?
-To bulk up ECs, should I increase CS a bunch, do a couple clubs (seems pointless to me b/c I probably wouldn't earn high position), or is it good now?
-For CS, does it matter really what activities I do?
-And if I want CS to be main part of EC, how much should I have?
-If this isn't good enough for MIT, what should I improve or where else would be a good option?
-Also, just curious, is there free-ride, merit-based scholarship at MIT?
-Overall, what should I do as senior, I'm a little confused, about taking AP tests and stuff at end of year after you already did applications?</p>

<p>Thank you very much for replies and input.</p>

2

<p>This may seem like a stupid question, but what’s your gender?</p>

<p>Yeah, AP testing comes after acceptances. But take those at least semi-seriously, OK? lol</p>

<p>MIT gives…good aid. but it’s not a free ride lol.</p>

3

<p>Male, and yeah I looked up on MIT scholarships and that’s what I found. So I probably shouldn’t self-study APs as senior? I’m only doing them this year for National AP scholar and I couldn’t fit them into schedule, and also to be cool b/c I self studied Calc and CS :). Lol, also, wierd question, but if I get a B in English will it kill me? I’m not that great at Eng and my teacher grades extremely harsh.</p>

4

<p>Well, I know that if you are taking an AP test (or multiple AP tests), there’s a place to mention all the AP tests you will take on the application to MIT. Hence, it may look pretty darn spiffy to have that on there.</p>

<p>Lol a B in English? nahhh, no worries there. kudos to you for trying to be a National AP Scholar via self-studying :D</p>

5

<p>Thanks. So overall, good chance or? Wait and also, what if I put on app that I am taking like 20 APs tests but don’t actually take em (or get low grade).</p>

6

<p>Bumpbump…</p>

7

<p>Any other comments?</p>

8

<p>Have you taken SAT practice tests and gotten those scores or are those just estimates?</p>

9

<p>I don’t see much science or math related activities. Why are you looking for MIT when you are not pursuing what they are renown for?</p>

<p>Tons of AP’s and higher test scores are important, but not enough.</p>

10

<p>No one is going to chance you based on projected stats</p>

11

<p>Sorry for misunderstanding, but I just want to know if I could get in with these stats so I have a goal. I have a great interest in science/math, but don’t really know how to get involved, is there any major activities I could participate in now as a junior? And if I do programming and animation and stuff in free time a lot, do I have to start a club about this to turn it to an EC?</p>

12

<p>yeah, i think you need more science/tech/math oriented activities if you want to get into MIT. These are good stats to strive for, but you need to show your “passion.”</p>

<p>you could do a science intership during the summer, or do research at a college and maybe publish a research paper. You can also participate in science/math competitions (sorry, to lazy to search for them for you). if i was you , i would try to build up a good relationship with my science and math teachers for good recs (obviously). </p>

<p>i don’t think you have to make it into a club for it to be a EC, though it does have other benefits like showing leadership, working with others, and your seriousness in programming (i guess). </p>

<p>also, about the national ap scholar thing…
i’m a junior too, and i’ve been thinking of trying to get national ap scholar. i’ve been thinking and researching a lot, and concluded that the award would look good on college apps in general. it shows that you can handle college work and is the most prestigous award given by collegeboard, but some people argue that you should focus on other things. a problem with MIT is that i heard that they didn’t accept many ap scores for science/math/tech (though need to look that up), and thus makes a lot of your ap scores a waste of money in terms of saving money for college. again, some people argue that you should do other stuff that is more cost-friendly and significant on MIT college app. Thus, national ap scholar will definately benefit you in the college app, but not as significant as you hope for the amount of money you put in. It will not and should not be the thing that shines in a MIT application. remember; what’s important is that you show your passions for science/tech/math. some ways are more effective than others. But if you just want to show that you can handle college work, then doing all these ap exams/ classes will work. However, colleges put more weight into this award if your school doesn’t offer a lot of ap exams (or any of the ones you self-studied) than if your school offers a lot. also, you can tell colleges that you’re self-studying in a section of your app (forgot which) but will be suspectible unless you already shown that you did a lot of self-studying before. i believe colleges don’t get your ap scores during college apps and thus don’t know what ap exams you took (? should check this). </p>

<p>you should still do well in senior year, 'cause colleges can still reject even after you get accepted if you suddenly change your schedule to easy classes or get bad grades. remember to apply to financial aid on time, apply to some scholarships for some more, do well on ap exams, etc., etc. </p>

<p>and about community service. you have a lot of cs already compared to most people. if you want it to be your main part of your app and it’s to MIT… maybe do something that’s more science/math/tech oriented and keep doing the cs you’re already doing. cs is a good way to show passion, and when it comes to big name schools like MIT, amount of passion must be maximize. maybe tutor kids in math, do science experiments in middle/elementary schools to encourage science, make animations to interest and entertain kids in poor areas, etc., etc? you shouldn’t be so worried over how many cs hours you have since you already have a lot, and should focus on quality (meaning continuing existing cs and have more sicence/math/tech cs if you want cs to be main part of app). to answer your other question, they won’t penalize you for the activities you didn’t and did do, but it’s YOUR application so it’s best to maximize the impact of your cs on the app.</p>

<p>remember; quality over quanity. keep taking science/math/tech classes, do national ap scholar if you really feel like it, get more science/math/tech oriented activites.</p>

<p>also, to your other post, you should NEVER EVER lie on your college app, because once they find out, you are REJECTED even after being accepted. some people are able to lie on things that colleges can’t really check on, but they can definately can check on whether or not you did do those ap exams. </p>

<p>so, in all:
current stats= maybe/ low reach.
current stats+more passion= way better chances.</p>

13

<p>So I’m assuming that since you’re a junior, you have not taken the APUSH or any of those AP’s listed as 5’s under junior year and senior year?</p>

<p>As a whole, if you get all of your estimated stats, you should be good. Just need more science/math.</p>

14

<p>Have you tried joining a math/science club in your school (science olympiad, for example)? This is pretty much an essential for something like MIT. Also try contacting local universities about research in math/science. Looks like you won’t have enough fundamentals for higher math research (should finish calc BC at least, which you can’t do until sr yr), so try chem/bio/physics. If you are successful in doing this type of scholarly research, especially if you can write some kind of report, you’ll get a huge boost in the admissions process. </p>

<p>It seems like community service and soccer is your main forte, and your AP independent study shows more self-motivation than sheer excellence in math/science per se (AP’s, despite being college courses, cannot distinguish a student in a particular field. I can’t interpret literature/primary documents for my life and still got 5’s in Eng Lit and History). Your resume is thus very strong for schools like Columbia, Williams, and Brown - more liberal-arts type, but still elite universities.</p>

15

<p>Thanks everyone for comments and advice. Now I have a couple other questions.</p>

<p>teskata, you mentioned joining math clubs and stuff, but would that really do much, I mean I probably won’t get a high status in a year. I guess being a member would be better than nothing.</p>

<p>Also, I have a good family friend that went to MIT and is now a very successful programmer and computer guy (I won’t get into details). But anyway, is there anything I could do with him that could help me for app? I don’t really know anything about interns, but would becoming his intern be acceptable and beneficial? And if I do this, would this be a situation where I do a report or whatever? where would I submit it? how many hours should I do? what kind of work would I do for a company like this? other details?</p>

<p>And people said that I’m not particularly strong in extracurricular math activities (which I am not), but doesn’t MIT look for students with a passion (for me, doing cs with kids or soccer) in areas that they do for fun and not because they think MIT will like it (math clubs)?</p>

<p>Seperate question about application: There is a section for scholarly honors and one for activities (s’far as I know), but how about honors/awards that aren’t school-oriented?</p>

16

<p>Like you said, joining a club will be better than nothing. However, given that you only have a year, it would be rather unlikely that you will become very involved (like leadership positions). I was just thinking that since MIT is a technology school that looks for strong students of math and science, they would like to see at least something related. </p>

<p>If you can somehow get that internship with your friend, that would definitely be something to add. It would show a hundred times better than a math or science club. </p>

<p>You said that MIT looks for passion in something. That’s true, but I’m pretty sure that the “something” is math or science. Other Ivy leagues may be open to anything, but keep in mind that MIT is a specialized school.</p>

17

<p>I completely agree with everything you said, its just that I read this at MIT admissions website:</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities</p>

<p>Some students feel so much pressure to get into the “right” college that they want to make sure they do everything “right” - even do the “right” extracurricular activities. Fortunately, the only right answer is to do what’s right for you - not what you think is right for us.</p>

<p>Choose your activities because they really delight, intrigue and challenge you, not because you think they’ll look impressive on your application. Go out of your way to find projects, activities and experiences that stimulate your creativity and leadership, that connect you with peers and adults who bring out your best, that please you so much you don’t mind the work involved. Some students find room for many activities; others prefer to concentrate on just a few. Either way, the test for any extracurricular should be whether it makes you happy - whether it feels right for you.</p>

<p>By the same token, some applicants struggle to turn themselves into clones of the “ideal” MIT student - you know, the one who gets triple 800s on the SAT. Fortunately, cloning is still for sheep. What we really want to see on your application is you being you - pursuing the things you love, growing, changing, taking risks, learning from your mistakes, all in your own distinctive way. College is not a costume party; you’re not supposed to come dressed as someone else. Instead, college is an intense, irreplaceable four-year opportunity to become more yourself than you’ve ever been. What you need to show us is that you’re ready to try.</p>