<p>Would I be able to get admitted if my grades were below average for MIT but I am a current member of Mensa and I have a pending patent for an invention?</p>
<p>Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>It depends on how below average your grades are. I doubt that anyone will care that you’re a Mensa member, though.</p>
<p>What is your patent for? If your invention is interesting, that will be a plus, but if you’re patenting the square I can’t imagine it will help you very much.</p>
<p>GPA: 3.98
SAT scores: M: 800 CR: 590 W: 680
SAT II: Math 790 Physics 740
My invention falls under the category of aeronautical engineering. I have spoken to an engineer who works at Boeing and he told me that it may in fact be able to work.</p>
<p>3.98 out of what? 4? 100?</p>
<p>“May in fact be able to work” is a start, I guess.</p>
<p>People patent ridiculous things all of the time. It’s great that you showed creativity and ambition, but a laundry list of achievements isn’t going to get you in the door if you can’t show that you can do the work. Your test scores look fine, so if your class rank is low, I’d be more concerned about showing that you’re also <em>willing</em> to do the work - you’ll jump through a bunch of legal paperwork to file a patent, but you won’t do your economics homework?</p>
<p>In any event, it’s worth a shot. No one’s a shoo-in.</p>
<p>Well, it is not a “ridiculous thing,” but rather it is an advanced mechanism that can increase fuel efficiency in aircraft. Trust me, it’s not something stupid like “increase fuel tanks by 3 cubic inches.” This idea came to me through lots of aeronautical research and theoretical thinking and may be adapted in future aircraft. Well, we’ll see.
Anyway, thanks for your help!</p>
<p>Inventing something is a first step. Proving its efficacy, manufacturabilty at a reasonable cost and seeing it implemented are different levels of accomplishment. You’ll probably need the same recipe for an admit that all do: success in a rigorous hs program, responsibilities/impact in and out of the hs environment, enthusiastic LoRs, etc. Plus a sense, in your CA, that you are the sort of neat, motivated kid MIT likes, who’ll thrive there, in and out of the class rooms and labs. Go find the posts by MITChris.</p>
<p>3.98/4.00 unweighted GPA is basically perfect–MIT doesn’t split hairs.</p>
<p>Don’t put mensa down on your college apps. There is a stigma against it because you are supposed to be listing what you accomplished rather than your inherent talent. This is, of course, ironic because people use the brand name of their colleges like an IQ test after graduation. If you actually were active in mensa, then I guess you might consider it, but I think it’s more likely to hurt you.</p>
<p>Your patent sounds great. A rec from the aerospace engineer which evaluates your patent’s utility would help. Caltech is the only place that actually may want you to send in the patent (check with them, maybe they just want an abstract.) For MIT, a short description will suffice.</p>
<p>^ OP never actually responded to clarify what his GPA was out of, it could be 3.98 / 5.0. Or it could be 3.98 weighted, where an AP A is worth 5 points and a normal A is worth 4 points (this is how my high school worked). So, I don’t think that you can conclude that 3.98 is basically perfect, especially since we don’t know what class percentile that would be.</p>