Myself

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

Dear Fellow CollegeConfidential Members,

Greetings !,

I’m a 15-year-old male kid from India, I am currently in my junior year of high school pursuing the I.B. Diploma Program, I am a passionate student about computer science’s since my childhood and aim to major in it from a Tier-1 institute in the USA,

My dream university has been MIT since Grade 6 and I’ve tried to do the best I could to increase my odd’s for the same, for which I transferred from a CBSE (Indian Board of Education) to IB for my high school, therefore my grades suffered in my freshman and sophomore years, I started with a 3.2 GPA for my Freshman year and have completed the sophomore year by increasing it a little beat each term to a 3.6, although worse but still in an increasing trend considering the rigor of the MYP Program, this is a very low GPA and I do understand it that this will be a major setback for me and proves me as a fool aiming for MIT but that’s the truth :expressionless:

Despite this low GPA, I have always been in the top 3 students at my school with a thirst for sciences.

My predictive SAT Score is 1500+ for the December which would be my first shot at the test. I aim for a 1550+ and would try my best to achieve it in 1 shot.

My Extra Curriculars include -

1.) Completed a Cloud Computing Course in Server Deployment in my grade 6.
2.) Created a website to spread the knowledge and awareness about my religion in Grade 7, got 7000+ page views with viewers from 25+ countries, Interviewed for the same by 2 reputed newspapers.
3.) Working as a tech advisor for a reputed import-export house in my city since grade 7, sounds absurd and a lie but that’s the truth, I even have letters for the same issued by them to me as a proof.
4.) Developed websites for an NGO in my city
5.) Chartered a Lions International - LEO Club in my school as a President, which is the first school-based LEO club in my city and probably my state.
6.) Did a few fundraisers for the same with my peers.
7.) With the help and support of my LEO club, I aim to do even more service in the future and will increase these hours to 250-350+.
8.) Developed a Full-Fledged Sales and Inventory Management system in my Sophomore year as a part of my MYP Personal Project, Due to the stability and plethora of features present in my software, It was deployed at a wholesale business in my city which operates in 7 states across India.
9.) I still freelance as a web developed sometimes and have developed websites for various firms in my city.
10.) Was the cultural prefect of the Middle School in Freshman Year, Helped in organizing various exemplary events at my school.
11.) Planning to conduct a research under the guidance of a well-known scientist in my city, prepared plans for the same, probably publish a paper by the next summer (May 2020)
12.) In process of starting a chapter of Young Entrepreneurs Academy in my state, if this succeeds then we would be one of the 7 schools in India who host a Young Entrepreneurs Academy Program, Me and my best friend have been in touch with YEA! for the past few months and after lots of requests and assurances, they’ve agreed with us to allow us host a program in our city. (YEA! is one of the best High School Entrepreneurship Training programs from the USA - Many of their students go straight to UPenn)
13.) Planning to launch a few start-up businesses in my city by the next 3-5 months as we still have some plans to be modified before executing. (Under the YEA! Program)
14.) Would host a TEDx Talk at my school as I am the leader of our school’s Ted-ed student club.

I know these are not enough and are nothing exemplary compared to MIT standards and my GPA completely dismisses my chances, but still I would request you all to guide me, all suggestions for planning my next summer (May 2020) are welcome and I would love to do anything related to robotics and computer sciences which would improve myself as a student and quench my thirst for computers.

Thanks and Regards!
Apoorva

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@Sally_Rubenstone

Dear Madam,
Greetings !,

I request you to please have a look at my post and guide me for anything which I am doing wrong as I’m currently in my junior year and have only 2-3 semesters left for my profile to improve.

Thanks and Regards

3

@hackyshacky - I don’t do private counseling on the CC forum. If I did, I’d get about 100 queries a day (maybe more like 1,000)???!!! But, with that disclaimer in place, I will say a couple things:

I do feel you’ve answered your own question. That is, your chances of MIT acceptance will be slim without a tip-top GPA, in spite of your many impressive achievements and potentially high SAT scores. Your summer activities will not play a key role in your college acceptances because it’s your GPA that’s on the low side for MIT; your resume is already fine.

If, however, you hail from a disadvantaged background, you may get some extra “wiggle room” from admission officers, even if your GPA is on the low side for MIT. Otherwise, you can keep MIT on your list but look beyond it to the many other excellent engineering programs in the US. Note, however, that if you require financial aid, this will set the bar VERY high for you. American colleges have limited aid for international students, and there are tons of strong Indian candidates in most elite college applicant pools. So if you do need aid, I recommend that you home in on colleges where your GPA and test scores put you way above the medians.

Good luck to you! It sounds like you have a bright future ahead, whether you land at MIT or elsewhere.

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Thanks a lot for your blessings madam !

@Sally_Rubenstone

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Why MIT?

You need a very good, very specific answer to this question. What can MIT do for you that no other college can? And what in turn might you contribute to the MIT community?

Wanting to attend MIT “since 6th grade” won’t cut it. What 6th grader knows anything deeply meaningful about MIT? They just hear that it is a prestigious college. You can’t say it is because you want to go to school in Boston, because there are lots of colleges in or near Boston. You can’t say it is because of “beautiful architecture” or because you want to be in classes with “smart kids” or because MIT has “excellent professors” or “an impressive history”. Those things describe thousands of colleges across the world.

MIT has no shortage of strong candidates from India. You’ll need to show them why they should pick you.

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MIT acceptance is 7-8%, and even lower for an international student from India.
You have to write your essays specific to MIT. Read Admisson blogs on their website.
Frankly, your activities are more business oriented than Tech.
Why not apply to Wharton UPenn ? Not that it is any easier to get in, but you need to do more research on the colleges.

In the meantime, work hard to improve your GPA and SAT.
Good luck

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@Groundwork2022

Hi ,

TLDR Content Ahead:p

So I wanna attend MIT since Grade 6 as it is the only school in the world which patents more than 450 inventions each year, Thus the MOST Innovative Institute in the world, their hacks are simply the best and the community of students is just ‘mind blowing’

The ‘Research Centre’ at MIT is simply the amalgamation of the world’s best science laboratories and professors

Once I had got a opportunity to visit MIT and Harvard Campus in my Grade 8 as a part of a school trip to USA and I can say for sure, It’s the place where I wanna be , I visited Harvard but did not get the science or innovation ‘vibe’ there but as soon as we went to MIT, and after touring the campus, I decided , That’s where I wanna be. To your surprise, At the time when I toured Harvard, I did not even know that it was an Ivy League and that it’s an institute with the LEAST acceptance rate in the world

So No, I do have some information about MIT and do not crave it because it’s the best and top in ranks but because it’s a place of like minded individuals and all have a thirst for innovation.

During our visit to MIT, we got an opportunity to meet 2 students at MIT, who were our hosts for the tour and trust me I saw the same enthusiasm and thirst for sciences in them as I had at the time, Like I REALLY loved innovation and inventions.

But sadly I messed up my grades when i transferred from CBSE to IB, decreasing my grades from Straight As To Occasional As and Bs :expressionless:

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hackyshacky:
If you believe MIT is the right school for you, then definitely apply and give it your best effort.

But make sure you have all your “Plan B” school applications in tip-top shape. That’s just a simple reality for anyone applying to a competitive school like MIT.

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Your application for admission will be reviewed alongside all of the other applicants from your region…and the very vast majority will have very high stats. MIT is a reach for you, and just about everyone else. I would guess acceptances from your area are less than 5% of applicants. That means 95% do not get accepted.

So…sure…apply…but come up with a better “why MIT” answer than the number of patents issued. That isn’t going to impress the adcoms.

And most definitely, apply to a variety of other colleges, including ones in your country.

Also, what is your family ability to pay for MIT…about $70,000 a year USD? Yes, MIT has generous need based aid for accepted students…but this is based on your family income.

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Right. Any time you want to insert “best” into a Why Us, think again. They know what their assets are, their fame. They want to see how applicants know more about four years at the college and how they will fit, contribute, and more. You, the applicant. And not how the college will increase your job opportunities. That’s after you study there.

Read the MIT admission blogs. (I don’t know why so many kids put any tippy top on their lists, without reading the colleges’ own websites.) And learn how the right rounding is important.