My chances at MIT without AMAZING grades

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi, I’m a sophomore in high school. My hope is to get into MIT or Stanford (preferably MIT but I do have back up state school options). However, these are my grades:

Freshman year:
AP World History B+ 92%
H. Geometry A- 94%
Chinese I A 97%
PE A 96%
Orchestra A 100%
Theology A 96%
H. English A- 94%
H. Biology B+ 92%
H. Programming A 97%

Sophomore year:
APUSH A- 93%
Chinese II A 96%
H. Algebra II A 95%
H. Chemistry B 88.5%
H. English 10 -A 94%
Theology 10 A 97%
H. Precalc 10 B+ 92%

I am really worried about the math/science grades. What can I do to make up for the biology, chemistry, and precalc grades???

I know MIT is holistic so here is a little more about me. I have been a rower for two years (does that help with admissions?) and will be attending a summer rowing camp at Princeton and am on my class leadership team. I also am the Chess Club VP and a member of math club. I will be taking physics over the summer and taking AP Physics self study my junior year along with AP Microeconomics. (I’m not crazy about ap’s, I just like learning difficult things!) I also am preparing to apply for two patents (with a third one on the way) in the field of thermoelectricity and have recently won a $20,000 scholarship presenting this in a contest. I have had several family problems also. Do you think I have a good chance of getting in or should I give up because of my grades so far? Thanks for reading and feel free to be brutally honest.

2

Well, you should definitely NOT give up. I think Winston Churchill had an opinion on that :wink: …

Freshman year, well that is recoverable showing an upward trend. The tricky part is the whole supply:demand ratio for students aspiring to these schools, and Sophomore year math & science grades. Be sure to work on your GPA every week. Go in for extra help, review tests as they are returned, see what more you can do. You need to really take study skills VERY seriously so that you can convince the admissions folks that you are up to the caliber of work.

Both Stanford and MIT have very strong rowing programs (Women’s rowing is NCAA Div I for both schools- Men’s rowing is not NCAA sanctioned, so obviously there is no Division, but the programs are strong). So contacting the coaching staff would be a VERY good idea. Get your 2K erg down towards the end of Junior year, and maybe attend CRASH-B (if you are near Boston) to get an “official” recorded time. Study for the PSAT over this summer!

Good luck!