Questions concerning disqualification... (test scores, grades, being annoying....)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

I have a lot of concerns…

I recently got my subject test scores back (I just shipped them off to MIT), but I am afraid that they will disqualify me for them.
I got 660 on my Math II and 740 on Biology. Also my other scores on standardizing tests weren’t so good. I took the ACT and my test scores were 30-composite, 28-math, 31-English, 31-reading, 9-writing, 30-combined English and writing,and 32-science.

My grades are okay, but they aren’t the best. I wish I could explain the situation on paper, but I was afraid of making it seem like a sob story. My total GPA is a 4.0; however, freshman year brings me down .2 points because I did not really care about school. I got a C in geometry and 3.5 both semesters, but after my grades were a whole lot better. Sophomore year I only got one B, and then Junior year I took 3 AP classes and 1 honors (I got 4.2 and 4.3), and this year I am taking 5 AP classes (though 2 are each a semester long so more like 4). I did mention my situation a little in the “What is the hardest challenge you faced?” portion, but I didn’t really go beyond my mother having me when she was my age and raising me by herself. I didn’t want to talk about how I raised myself, cooking and cleaning, and almost never seeing her and never had any help with schooling whatsoever. I didn’t want to seem like a sob story and tell them that I was sexually assaulted when I was twelve and when I told my mom what happened she told me it was my fault, and how I lived in the same room that it happened in every day. I didn’t want to talk about how I had to emotionally support my mom while she broke me down telling me that she “thinks god is punishing her for having me; for not getting an abortion.” I wish I could have done more but it was really hard to do everything by myself. Okay. Sorry. I have a lot on my chest. You can ignore the second part of that.

Tl;dr: My grades/extracurriculars don’t reflect the type of student I am.

However, I do have some things going for me. Can you tell me if maybe despite those things above, I have a chance?

I started my own business selling baked goods and made a website I linked in my application. My teacher for biology really really believes in me and that it is meant for me. She asked me for pictures to include in her letter of recommendation, and she let me know that it was two and a half pages long, and that she told a story about how I came in after school to find an answer to my question in class to find out how transformed E. Coli bacteria looked expressing the glowing genes.

I also had a nice interview. It lasted for about four hours. My interviewer really thinks I should go. (I also didn’t tell him much about my situation though.)

I would type more but… I am sure that it would overwhelm you guys so if you have any questions, I’ll answer! (Especially about the being annoying… Let’s just say I sent a few emails…)

2

For me, the strangest thing about this post is the 4 hour interview. Are you serious, or are you stretching the truth a bit? Anyway, this is an interesting situation because you hear from MIT admissions people that they could take the “top” 2-3-4 classes worth of students and still retain a similar quality and the idea that in this situation the riskier cases become more appealing. Your story, your application, seems like a high risk/reward. Assuming they find that your character/personal qualities are a great fit and that you have initiative, risk taking, etc, you have the backstory that correlates with qualities like high adversity, drive, and similar characteristics. It’s often those people, those with the most willpower, (not necessarily smarts) that do the greatest things. But your test scores are very bad in comparison to the other applicants, especially math which tends to be the most important.(Though they aren’t in what I would call the “you need to be a once-in-a-million student to be admitted with them” range. The ACT sections almost all have their first digit a 3, which is good according to MITChris.) It’s more likely that people with these types of scores are unable to handle the rigor of MIT; consider that if MIT admits you, they want to be very confident that you will succeed, graduate, and do great stuff. Keep in mind, if you aren’t a good match in their mind, you have virtually no chance ( the way I see it.)

If you gave them enough information to certify that you can handle the work at MIT and you are an exceptional fit and all the other great things, you have a good chance at admission.

Some final thoughts: With a situation as complicated as yours, you must be able to express articulately and concisely your circumstances, your struggles, and how they affected you. Throughout your post you say you leave things out to avoid a sob story. Maybe you have left out information that is very valuable to them. Maybe you present yourself incoming from a better situation than you did, changing the context in which they will review your app. It is integral, to use a math term, that you expressed your circumstances, what you overcame and how they will make you do great things at MIT, thoroughly in your app, for that is your greatest strength. Context is so very important and so very neglected here on CC.

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I am not exaggerating about the interview. I came 30 minutes early (3:30) and it ended at about 7:30 when my mother came because she was worried.

I am really upset about everything. I know it’s terrible to compare myself to others and for the most part I never do, but I can’t help but be frustrated at my situation. I definitely feel that I can much more capable than I appear on paper. I know for a fact that if I make it in, I will not fail to graduate because I gave up.

I only hope my teacher’s letter of recommendation can help me through this. She was very excited to share it with me. I wanted to cry when I read it. She believes in me more than I ever could.

I wish I devoted more time to math. I did mention at one point I am in a math 3 levels higher than my mother ever took. I actually found that I really like calculus and I am doing a lot better in it than other math subjects. I love dealing with infinities and concepts. It seems I always have missed point because of computational errors and the fact that I don’t dedicate time to memorizing formulas. The last test I took in math (my favorite chapter. Indefinite integrals) we had to memorize the integral of lnx; however, I did not but I did a mini proof on the side to figure it out. I think that I am good at specific kinds of math, and others I just make too many mistakes.

How bad do you think my test scores for math are?

My MIT interviewer majored in math. He actually told me to look up the axiom of choice. It was really cool and interesting. He wants me to read some books. He knows that I ask questions all the time (I actually keep a notebook I call The Notebook of Questions with me to write down all the thought provoking questions I have), and wants me to come back to him with good questions. Then he said that I’ll change my major to math after.

What information do you mean by enough information? I hope I am an “exceptional fit.”

So I left things out that I shouldn’t have. How do I correct this? I hope they haven’t filtered me out yet. Do you think it’s too late? My math teacher is actually planning on writing me a letter of recommendation. She is the same teacher who I got a C in freshman year and was my last year’s teacher. She knows of some of my family life and the other day she told me she thinks I belong there as I was explaining my hypothetical model trying to connect the 4th dimestion, spacetime, the theory of relativity, and the expansion of the universe into a 3 dimensional representation. (This is an example of what things come out of my book of questions)

I want to thank you so much for your elaborate review. I really appreciate it!

4

@geekysciencegirl and @ManaManaWegi, I lurk here occasionally because I have a son who is applying for admission, but I don’t usually post. However, I want to here.

geekyscience girl, I totally agree with ManaManaWegi’s thoughtful response. I want to add a couple of things. First - a hug. You’re amazing to be where you are, looking ahead to your future, college, etc, with circumstances that so easily cause others to be left short sighted in survival mode (emotionally, if not physically.) Needless to say, it’s a wonderful thing that you WERE given life, and I do think you have a story all of your own waiting to written in the next chapters of it. I hope all the best for you with MIT, and any other college that you may be applying to. I’m sure you’ll be an asset to the community wherever you go. I do hope your ‘annoying’ emails provided some brief but personal context about your scores (which are low, but not ridiculously so) as I do think, as Mana referenced, context is extremely important (and yes - lacking on CC.) I don’t doubt the long interview - my son applied last year and was interviewed for 3.5hrs. He applied again this year and was interviewed for just under 3. I think they take the interview more seriously than a lot of other colleges.

ManaManaWegi, I just want give a quick thank you. I have not read all the posts on here, but the one’s I’ve seen from you have been consistently helpful and supportive in both fact and friendliness. The maturity level in your posts is such that I can’t tell if you’re a student or parent, but in either case - thank you for adding to the positive side of CC.

Best of luck to you both.

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@geekysciencegirl

  1. I don't think automatically ruling out comparing self to others is required. It's often necessary to compare people, I mean. admissions committees do it all the time.
  2. The process of memorizing calculus formulas is a sin. I love math proofs; they're what make math beautiful. Plugging in variables is not fun, and I hope to limit that in my math career. Good job on the mini proofs.
  3. On the math scores, I'm sure you are familiar with the score percentile ranges, but you may not understand fully the importance of high math scores. For the Class of 2020, 1108 students applied to MIT with an ACT math score in the range of 28-30, of those 13 were admitted, and the 25 %ile and 75%ile ranges for ACT and SAT II math were 34-36 and 780-800 respectively. This is a large obstacle; be sure to understand this.
  4. I highly recommend getting familiar with the axioms of math, as every single mathematical proof is based on them. It's quite incredible actually that I can prove to you that the indefinite integral of x^3 is 1/4x^4+C just from a few simple true statements. (of course it would likely require hundreds of pages of proofs and theorems.)
  5. By "enough information," I wasn't implying a lack of information communicated in your app, rather just a possible lack of assuring qualifications and accomplishments to assure them that you could handle the work. In other words, there may have not have been more you could say to increase the admissions team's confidence in your academic ability.
  6. Look at fit, or match, here: http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/match 7.It's almost certainly too late for new recommendation letters.
  7. I didn't mean to imply that you left out stuff, just that you may have. If you left stuff out, I don't think it would be appropriate to correct that. The best way to communicate new information at this point is probably email.
  8. Books of questions are great.
  9. Good luck

@CoramDeo7 I’m also applying for admission to the class of 2021 at MIT. Thanks for the nice comments.