Should I Try...?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>SAT: 1990 (R:590 M:770 W:630) -> RETAKE IN OCTOBER
SAT2: 800 Math 2C 790 Physics 770 Chem
ACT: 31 (super scored. E:26 M:36 R:29 S:33)
GPA: 3.9 UW 4.2 W (5/600)
AP: Calc BC, Chem, Phys B, Stats 5
English Lang ....2 -0-
Senior year: AP BIO, LIT, EURO, CS,
online gov/econ, Spanish 3
1~2 courses at community college</p>

<p>ECs, Clubs and Sports:
Swim team
RED Cross (Vice)
Film Club (secretary)
Acapella Club
Decathlon (Pres)
Math Club (Founder and Pres)
Physics Club (Trying out for pres)</p>

<p>Summer
Habitat for Humanity
Volunteer at company called innoworks (maybe intern this year)
Tutors
EPGY (this summer, quantum mechanics)</p>

<p>ETC
Church Praise Leader</p>

<p>Awards:
AIME qualifier (9th, 10th, 11th) - 3, 4, and scantron got lost in junior year :(
ARML - SoCal B2 (10th) SoCal B1->A3 (11th) (7th in Div B)
School Awards on math and sciences..
AMC school winner, ACS school winner, Decathlon math first in county (all the minors)...</p>

<p>Ok, these are my stats... My weakness is English (AP and standard score shows), which I have to improve by this summer..
I guess my realistic goal for SAT is 2150 (650, 800, 700)
I'm also a male Asian in SoCal, which makes it worse..
I don't have major awards like USAMO or Intel, and I don't even have research experience.</p>

<p>I was born in Idaho, but moved to Korea when I was 3.
I came to US in my freshman year, second semester, with GPA of 3.5 in beginning..
My dream since 5th grade was going to MIT and become an astronaut, but seeing all the stats of CC people who applied for MIT last year, I'm very discouraged...</p>

<p>Even though MIT is my first choice, I don't see any chance of getting in.
Should I even try EA or RD? or should I just give up realistically and shoot for grad school..?</p>

<p>What are some other schools I can shoot for other than MIT for undergraduate?
My major will be either math/physics/EE/econ</p>

2

<p>If you really want to go there then the obvious answer is yes, try. Apply and see what happens. Other schools to consider would be VA Tech, GA Tech, Purdue, U Mich, Pitt U. With SAT scores of 2100+ your options will open up more.</p>

3

<p>Yes, you definitely should. Just try to raise reading as much as you can. A higher writing wouldn’t be too shabby either. Do try for EA, just retake the SAT’s in October.</p>

<p>You could look at Caltech, Stanford, Harvey Mudd, Carnegie Mellon, Lehigh, and Northwestern. All very respectable programs in those fields. Also agreed with above, just raising SAT 200 or so would be very helpful, and it’s pretty realistic.</p>

<p>As many others have said, the 100% way of not getting in is not applying :D</p>

4

<p>Thank you … I’ll do my best !!</p>

5

<p>I think you have a good shot.</p>

6

<p>Just try and improve your CR to somewhere in the 650+ or 700 range and you’ve got a good shot, but note that your recs and essays matter a lot so you’ll need to really shine there (and if your weakness is English then have someone proficient at English check it out after you’ve wrote it so that you don’t have many mistakes)
Good luck :)</p>

7

<p>If you don’t mind me asking, is your weakness in english because you lived in Korea? I talked to an admissions officer one time who said that if english was your second language and you could talk about that in your essay, and show how it affected you and made you stronger, etc, that might balance out weak writing/english ap scores.</p>

8

<p>There’s no harm in applying is there?</p>

<p>Just apply with all the required documents. MIT gives lot of emphasis on your personality & qualities. So you might just get in luckily.</p>

<p>But retake the SAT. An improved SAT I score would improve your chances</p>