Hey, I was just wondering if anyone could give me some insight on my chances at MIT(I’m a Junior). I know that there are a lot of subjective parts of the college admission process, but I just want to have an idea if I should even try to get into MIT solely based on stats.
SAT I: 2230 (800 math, 740 reading, and 690 writing 10 essay). I also got a 221 on my PSAT so I’ll probably be at least a semifinalist (Pennsylvania)
Unweighted GPA: Based on my school its a 3.96 but I got 3 B+'s so I think that’s wrong. I tried to convert it to a normal scale and I got something like 3.81
Weighted GPA: My school has a weird system so its like 4.97. On a system based out of 5, I think I have a 4.3 or 4.4
Class Rank: I wasn’t looking into competitive colleges as a freshman and sophomore so my class rank was 39/558 at the beginning of the this school year. It is now 19/558 after one semester and it will likely go up.
AP Classes: Due to scheduling errors, I was not able to take AP Chemistry this year but I was able to take AP Statistics. Next year I hope to take AP Chem AB, AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, AP Micro, AP physics AB, and AP physics BC. My school has 4 classes one semester and 4 new ones the next semester.
EC’s: I know these are subjective so I will just list them.
-Robotics Club (FTC) since 10th grade. Co-Captain this year and most likely Captain next year
-Anchor Club (Community Service) no position
Peer Tutoring in Math since 10th grade
I’m very committed to Robotics Club and Tutoring so don’t criticize me for not having a lot of EC’s
I’m definitely more math, science, and engineering oriented as compared to English and the humanities, but I still want to take English classes. What do you think my chances would be for early action and regular decision?
@MITer94 Hey, thanks. I was planning on taking the Math 2 subject test in June and maybe the physics test in September. Is there anything else that you think I should do to improve my chances?
Does anybody have some helpful criticism so I can try to improve my weak spots? I know my ECs are lacking but I have some more that I didn’t list like my job.
@TheSATsSuck
For your EC’s, as long as you are doing something that you love, I think you are fine. Don’t try to have a lot of “filler” ECs. Most colleges are looking for quality, not quantity of ECs, so being very dedicated to a few ECs is fine.
I don’t think you should worry to much about your ec’s as long as you explain your passion for them in your essays but doing something like a sport would help make you appear more well balanced. Other than that the only thing I see that you could do is to try and do something over the summer at a college, ideally MIT of your interested.
If it interests you at all, and you have the opportunity, I recommend learning to row/cox. You could be a novice this Spring, work at it (attend a summer rowing camp) and commit for next year. 1) it makes you look like you work well in a team; 2) MIT has a men’s rowing team, both lightweight and heavyweight; 3) rowing can give you a slight edge at a top school. My D’s public high school just had rowers accepted to Princeton and Duke. If your school does not have a team, there are more and more boat clubs popping up all over. I have no idea if you are a male/female, but this is especially true if you are a female. That being said, it does help a bit for all applicants at the higher end schools.
You might not have the time with all of your AP’s, but it would help with your application.
No, NO, NO. Don’t do ANYTHING solely to help with your application to MIT. It may not be detected as such, but if it is, it is a killer. Do what you love and find cool. If you are a good match for MIT, it is likely that MIT also will find it cool, and voila, you get in. Apply Sideways: http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways
Dean of Admissions Stuart Schmill explained the secret to getting into MIT as “Work Hard, Be Nice, Have Fun”. And that seems flippant but it is completely correct. Work Hard is obvious, but academics do matter for MIT, rather a lot. You need to both demonstrate your capacity for hard work, and to demonstrate the achievement that comes from it. Being Nice is also important. MIT is a very collaborative environment. Problem Sets (Homework) is designed to be worked on in groups. You need to show that this will work for you. Have Fun is so important for MIT admissions. MIT is filled with people doing neat stuff. To demonstrate that you match well with MIT, you should also be doing neat stuff. Your definition of neat stuff may vary, but almost by definition, any activity that you do primarily because you think that it will look good on a university application is not joyous for you, and that comes through the application very much more often than you would think. Indeed, one of the very few traits that MIT interviewers specifically have to address in their interview reports is “joyfulness”.
But only if it interests you, and I do not recommend pursuing rowing (or any other activity) for the sole purpose of boosting admission chances into MIT or other top school.
Then again, if you’re going for yer pirate’s license, I guess rowing in HS is not a bad idea…
I want to clarify, that you shouldn’t do anything you dislike - my kids both were poor athletes, but really excelled at rowing - the teamwork, the speed, the machine-like focus, the physics of it. My D loved it, eventually had an injury (they worked very hard), then discovered her “real love” while she was mending. She never rowed to get into a good school - she had been told, though, (many times, unsolicited) that it would most likely help her to get into a better school.
In the end it didn’t matter to her, as she became committed to learning more about art. We have always supported whatever she wanted, without a look back. I was answering the OP in the spirit of “if it interests you at all” - I agree with Mikalye, that what you do should be “joyous” - I was just trying to say that if the OP is looking to expand interests, then he might want to see if he likes rowing. I re-read what I wrote, and it came across as calculating. I was just spewing back everything I’ve been told from other parents - my D enjoyed it, loved the speed and freedom, and values the experience that she had on the water when she rowed. Someday she would love a single sculling shell of her own. She will never be an “athlete” - she will always be an artist - but she enjoys rowing. We noticed that a lot of engineering types excelled at it. Didn’t mean to offend anybody.