Never, ever let someone tell you, you can’t! This is an important life lesson. Prove then wrong. Don’t even tell your friends your applying. If you get in then show them the acceptance letter.
There’s tons of people here that had never done any research at all before applying! You’re already a step ahead of me because I didn’t even do any olympiad/national merit stuff either (never even heard of it till I started applying lol). If I could get in, then you totally have a shot!! I have no idea what your friend was talking about tbh
I am always mystified when brilliant and talented students like OP come on asking whether or not they can get in. In this case, OP, you have perfect grades, wonderful test scores, the ability to survive abuse and foster care and yet you were willing to give up on something becuase some guy told you to? I’m so glad you changed your mind. Now, put that wonderful brain of yours to the task of figuring out what MIT (and every other school you really like) is looking for and craft an application that works. Read their website. Watch their youtube videos. And, most importantly, make sure you have some safety schools that you like and can afford, becuase as you must already know, you can do everything right and still not get into MIT.
I interview for MIT. I’m glad you decided to apply.