<p>GPA: 4.0 uw
AP classes: AP world history, AP Calculus
Since my school doesn't really have any other AP classes, next year I'm taking calc 2& analytical geometry, discrete math, chem 2. etc at local state university.
ACT: 32 (fisrt time)
Awards: AMC 12 102, invited to AIME this year, Van Vlek scholarship compettion finalist
EC: United States Academic Decathelon, Model UN, Green School (environmental club), city youth orchestra violinist.
Class rank: 1/73
Haha, I know its lacking a lot, so I hope to see some useful feedbacks!!
Thanks.</p>
<p>Test-wise: Do really well on your SATs, especially in Math. Do well on your SAT IIs, and make sure without fail that you take Math II. Consider sitting in for any of the AP Math or Science exams.</p>
<p>Academics: it’s great that you’re taking lots of rigorous math and science classes in school and expanding your horizons by taking classes at a local college. Keep that up.</p>
<p>ECs: show some more involvment in ECs, whether it’s more ECs, more leadership, more success, more time commitment…etc.</p>
<p>You need to cure cancer.</p>
<p>Calvin, there is so much not right about your attidude towards other people on these forums. Not just this one either.</p>
<p>an acceptance letter</p>
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<p>You can’t measure attitude. However, once you find something factually incorrect about my posts, feel free to criticize me then.</p>
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<p>There is absolutely nothing wrong with his post(s).
You really need to get a grip.</p>
<p>And I agree with 2CHiLLaXiN.</p>
<p>you need to enjoy your life and stop worrying about this stuff</p>
<p>Thnks to everybody, especially 2CHiLLaXiN…
& yep! now I’m motivated to develop a cure for cancer!!!
wait… I might as well give up on MIT and go for the Nobel Prize. lol</p>
<p>Actually while a Nobel Prize is a good thing to have, and can only help your application, one Nobel Prize on its own will not guarantee admission. Having multiple Nobel Prizes, in different fields however, will really help an application stand out. (grin)</p>
<p>Truthfully, there is no secret sauce. Getting into a competitive university is all about the match between you and the university. Read [MIT</a> Admissions: The Match Between You And MIT](<a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/pulse/the_match_between_you_and_mit/index.shtml]MIT”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/pulse/the_match_between_you_and_mit/index.shtml). Then do what you really enjoy, and if it really is a match with MIT, then it will do just fine.</p>
<p>Haha, first I will have to try my best in whatever I’m good at. Thanks for the advice!
I was little bit depressed after viewing the MIT 2015 EA thread. Many people with perfect GPA and 36 ACT 2300 + SAT didn’t get into MIT. On the other hand, surprisingly, there were some who didn’t have the best test scores but still got in.</p>
<p>Yea I was looking at Harvard 2013 Admissions thread and I saw a bunch of validictorians with 2400’s get rejected.</p>
<p>Being a Valedictorian and scoring a 2400 on your SAT don’t mean that you will become a great leader (which is a huge part of what these schools are looking for). In fact, a lot of the time, those people who do become Valedictorian and score a 2400 on their SAT are just really well rounded. Being well lopsided can make your application stand out more. Now, that doesn’t mean throw your class rank and your SAT away; that does mean, do things that interest you and don’t just focus on school and the SAT.
I took college classes first semester of freshman year.
I was tired of being well rounded so I didn’t take them the next semester. And I continued high school without them so that I could focus on math and helping the community, which were more important to me than taking classes at college.
I did what I wanted to do and now I’m able to take classes at that college again (and it’s the last semester of junior year).
What’s funny is that I don’t think my SAT scores, Valedictorian, or the college classes helped me get into MIT; though those are what I was freaking out about when I pressed the submit button. Yeah, a 2200 is enough–though I was valedictorian. But I believe it was my love for math and helping others that got me in, because I had intrinsic motivation that moves me to work on those things regardless of what MIT or University X or Scholarship X or Person X thinks about it (consider this as PHP as doing this to a variable would not be good practice in many languages). And I got in.</p>
<p>I can see you being much like me, considering that you are active and you’re ahead. Maybe you should apply a year early too, but that really depends on your situation. (I literally lived in the middle of nowhere so I needed to get out early if I wanted to do what I want to do)</p>
<p>I hope this advice helped you.
Also, if you need help for the AMC’s, email me. <a href="mailto:shrig94@gmail.com">shrig94@gmail.com</a>.
I went from not knowing what an AMC was to making USAJMO in a year; it took some work, but it was the biggest life changing experience that I’ve had so far (paired with AwesomeMath).</p>
<p>I second what shrig94 said. Sure, good scores and rank won’t hurt you, but those are not the most important things. I am not valedictorian (in fact, I’m not even sure that I’m in the top 10%) but I got in. Instead of focusing on perfecting my GPA, I did extracurriculars that I cared about and that showcased my skills. MIT looks for people who do things, not just study, and as long as you find some things to be passionate about which keeping your grades at an acceptable level, you have a shot. That being said, admissions is a crapshoot for people with perfect scores and for people with the perfect personality match to MIT, perfect extracurriculars, etc.</p>
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<p>Are there not a lot of different kinds of people who go to any given competitive university? I sometimes wonder how distinct this ‘match’ is from just being great at what you do, with some good vision of what to do in the future with it. </p>
<p>The only explicit point on which I have heard MITChris distinguish between top schools is that he has said for those interested in top financial engineering undergrad programs, MIT is not the place (while it is strong in a lot of things related, the attitude of wanting to go into finance straight up may not be fit).</p>
<p>Forgive me if I misrepresented anything.</p>
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<p>No poking the sacred cow of admission buzzwords.</p>
<p>You should know better than that.</p>
<p>No it’s a really good question, but from my unofficial perspective, the answer is in mathboy98’s post. He says:</p>
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<p>And that is it in a nutshell. Match is largely about attitude. And as MIT is an evidence-based institution, attitude is conveyed less by what you say in a 250 word answer to a question than in what your actions and your decisions over years reveal about your attitudes.</p>
<p>Sure there is a lot of variation. Given 4300 undergraduates, you would expect that. But when you look at the aggregated behaviour of those undergraduates, you can see quite a few common attitudes.</p>
<p>For example, consider the UROP program. This is completely voluntary. Nobody will ever make you take a UROP. Worse, in order to participate in a UROP, a student has to show the initiative to reach out and contact the professor running the project. This can be a little bit scary, particularly to a freshman. Nonetheless, of the class that graduated in 2010, 87% of them had participated in at least one UROP project. And this to my eye goes to match. MIT admissions admits students with the drive, the intellectual curiousity, and the intitiative to participate in the UROP program.</p>
<p>Or take the less obvious statistics. In the class that graduated in 2010, 20% of the class had participated in an intercollegiate sport. More than 80% of the graduating class had participated in an intramural sport. Does this mean that MIT is a jock school? Absolutely not, but a lot of MIT’s eduation, and indeed a lot of the sciences, is based around working in teams. Most successful MIT students work well in teams. Now those don’t necessarily have to be sports teams. Performing arts groups, for example, also rely hugely on teamwork. I think that a comfort with team-working is an attitude, but I think that it is an attitude that is also part of the match. MIT Admissions tends to admit students who can work well in teams.</p>
<p>In the graduating class of 2010, some 30% of the class studied, interned or volunteered abroad at some point during their time at MIT. I think that a curiousity about how the world works, coupled with a willingness to see more of it (including travelling within the US) is also an attitude common to a lot of MIT students.</p>
<p>Yes, with 4300 MIT students, there will be a lot of different manifestations of “MATCH”, that is to say, a lot of different ways of demonstrating certain attitudes, but the attitudes that each of the competitive schools look for (and there is a significant variation between a good match for MIT and a good match for Yale, for example) vary less than you think within any institution.</p>
<p>do whatever you want as long as you become really realllllly good at it. you don’t need to cater to mit either. for instance, you would think that doing really well in some math/science extracurricular would help. It definitely would, but don’t do it unless you actually want to.</p>
<p>me personally, i did not join a single math/science related ec throughout high school, but I pursued other endeavors that i truly love, had a FANTASTIC time becoming accomplished in them, and then i got in to mit. </p>
<p>…and get near perfect sat’s & grades with a difficult courseload</p>
<p>You should follow your interests. You don’t need perfect scores, but it really helps to do something at a high level. If science research interests you, you should see if you can find a way to do that. If Robotics, Science Olympiad or other science related ECs appeal to you and are available consider doing that.</p>
<p>But above all remember that you may do everything right and still not be accepted. Four years ago, my son was rejected from MIT. He was accepted to Harvard and Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science. He went to CMU and has been happy and challenged. The first day of orientation the Dean asked how many of the SCS’ers had been rejected from MIT - I think 90% of the audience raised their hands. MIT’s rejects do very well. My son is graduating in June and already has been offered his dream job in computer science with a salary twice what I have ever made. His friends are doing very well too.</p>
<p>I really think it’s better for students to keep busy doing what they like, not what they think colleges like and then sell themselves to colleges instead of trying to fit themselves into some idea of what they think colleges want.</p>
<p>The OP should be really glad.
I did the same thing my freshman year and posted about MIT on CC. Everyone told me not to come back until junior year >.<
Ironically, I took their advice and did what I loved rather than becoming an SAT freak. In fact, I completely did things my own way, regardless of what my parents wanted me to do (and this sometimes didn’t work too well, but generally did).
My advice is to not listen to anyone but yourself. I’ve learned more from that than anything else in my life. I believe that this piece of advice is the key to success.</p>
<p>Back to the story–I did what I loved and guess what, I came back junior year. The funniest part is that I was tired of being where I was and I saw MIT as an opportunity to be able to do more of what I love. And, as a junior, MIT is giving me that opportunity; the opportunity to explore the world, to help others, to innovate, to inspire–and all a year early.
And had I not gotten in after taking the risk of applying my junior year, what would I have done?
I’d apply the next year. 
Take risks, do what you love, and you’re bound to do great.</p>