<p>My son is a sophomore in High School and Im trying to help him prepare to get into his first choice - M.I.T., which we toured last spring plus my whole family lives in the Boston area (we moved to Virginia). My dad was a professor of Physics there a long time ago, and can write one of his recommendations. He is a straight A student, and got a perfect 100percent score on his science SOL and very high on his math SOL last spring. He has been taking orchestra since 5th grade. Math is his favorite subject, and he is taking AP Math courses. He is not into sports or extra curriculars, but my dad said they would look at that so Im trying to encourage him to start up a Math Club since his high school doesn't have one yet - to show not only Math interest but leadership quality.</p>
<p>We are worried because we've heard stories about how you practically have to cure cancer to get in, and that most of their students are international. Please help us prepare to have a chance. Should he be taking 2 math courses at a time in high school? What else do you suggest? Thanks.</p>
<p>Definitely not most students are international. I believe 90% of students aren’t international. Unless you mean immigrants. We have a decent amount of immigrants, though I think there are probably still many more American-born Americans.</p>
<p>My understanding is that MIT admissions is based largely on this: [The</a> Match Between You And MIT | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/match]The”>What we look for | MIT Admissions)</p>
<p>Your son shouldn’t do things unless he is passionate about them, but the things he is passionate about he should take far, preferably well farther than his high school. Maybe taking some math classes at a local university, maybe doing some research at a local university, maybe being creative and doing something he’s interested that is completely out of the ordinary.</p>
<p>In what he does, your son should demonstrate that he
-would fit in at MIT, which can mean anything, really, because MIT has a wide variety of people
-would be happy at MIT, where he is likely to fail spectacularly at least once in something he has invested time and heart, where there will be weeks when it will feel like he is doing nothing but studying, where he will not always feel talented or special or intelligent
-is academically prepared for MIT
-would contribute to the MIT community while he’s here, by being interesting, active, and a good person
-would make good use of an MIT education by graduating still motivated if a bit broken, and by being bold and good enough to change the world in positive ways afterwards</p>
<p>Uh, Lidusha, your comment about “graduating still motivated if a bit broken” appears to be skewed toward your own personal experience. To the OP, my daughter graduated from MIT completely thrilled with her education, not at all broken, and happy to have been well prepared for grad school in physics. She loved her time at MIT. It’s hard to predict how things will turn out, I admit, but for some students it’s a mountain-top experience.</p>
<p>I never said I wasn’t completely thrilled with my education, I never said I didn’t feel thoroughly prepared for graduate school, and I never said I’m not loving my time here.</p>
<p>Uh, CalAlum.</p>