Needing Advice and My Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<p>I know. I know. Another one. I didn't know where else to turn, and this looked like a darn good place to start. I've seen countless threads on here asking "where do I stand in the admissions process?" Well, I'm here to ask the same question. Honesty is appreciated, of course. I'm currently a sophomore, so my grades for the sophomore year are ongoing.</p>

<p>Freshman Year:
World History/AP-A (I made a 3 on the AP exam)
PE-A
Choir-A
Geometry/PreAP-A
Physical Science/PreAP-A
English I/PreAP-A
Communication Skills/A</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
English I/PreAP-A
Computer Science I/AP-A
Algebra II/PreAP-A
Physics I/PreAP-A
Biology I/PreAP-A
French I-A</p>

<p>On the PSAT, I only scored a 195. For some reason I couldn't remember any of the geometry I had learned the year before.</p>

<p>I really have no extra-curriculars which are directly related to my school at this point, which definitely is not a selling point. I'm going to get on that soon. :)</p>

<p>Also, two days a week after school I work at a local junior college formatting their syllabi which are posted on the internet using HTML. Nothing too complicated of course, considering I've been dabbling in C++ for about 4 years now. Would mentioning that help? I like to work on my own video games in my spare time.</p>

<p>I'm really just looking for some direction here. I plan on taking, what I believe to be, a difficult schedule at my high school. I was also number one in my class freshman year and I believe I still am, out of a class of about 500 students.</p>

<p>Oh yeah, I'm hoping to major in Computer Science.</p>

<p>Sorry for the ramblings and the lengths of this post, I hope some of it made sense.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

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<p>As you pointed out, your extracurriculars are your weakness. I would work on them, because no matter how good your stats are, they usually won't get you in. Maybe you could do something with your C++ knowledge or with the video games?</p>

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<p>That's what I'm thinking. Now... to think of a goal that I could possibly complete involving games and programming within the next year and a half or so. Easy. Hah.</p>

<p>Also, would community service be worth mentioning? I'm guessing most things are, but I just thought I'd ask. I have about 100 hours right now from Church services and things with National Honor Society.</p>

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<p>To the OP:</p>

<p>Anything you feel worth mentioning is worth mentioning. Also, I personally feel extracurriculars per se would not get you in....only if you pursue some of them very very passionately, can you impress the AdCom...as zking pointed out, you may want to put your C++ knowledge to a good use. Since I am not from the US, I am not too familiar with your academic background, other than the fact that you have an impressive class rank.....All in all, try to do something that would separate your application from the rest..How about trying your hand at a sport if you are really interested....or getting a summer/school year internship where you would be able to put your computing skills to a good use??
My basic advise to you is: try getting involved in some extracurricular activity where you are genuinely interested.....</p>