Surgeon General-->fit?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<p>Hi everyone, I'm inquiring for general input/advice. I'm a junior applying to colleges next year. I am interested in neuroscience and politics, and my ultimate passion in life would be to become surgeon general of the US (health+politics). Would MIT be able to match this pursuit? Here is a snapshot of who I am. Do I stand a shot of getting in?</p>

<p>SAT: 700math, 720writing, 730criticalreading
SAT 2: 760 Math, 750 French, 770 Biology, 690 World History</p>

<p>AP/H classes taken in past/now (I have taken regular classes in addition to these too*): Algebra 2 H, Trig H, Calc AB AP, Bio H, Bio AP, AP Lang/Comp, Amer. Lit H, World History AP, US History AP, French 4 AP</p>

<p>Next Year: CalcBC AP, Linear Algebra (cc), AP Lit, AP Econ/Gov, Engineering II, French 5, AP Chemistry, AVID tutoring</p>

<p>GPA: top 10% (this is hard since our school does rank only by non-W...so people may take no hard classes and still have a better rank, as opposed to if I get one B...)
W: 4.6 cummulative, junior year: sem1=4.8, sem2=hopefully 5.0
UW: 3.86, this will probably go up though -->3.9</p>

<p>This spring I am aiming to take a C-programming class at CC, plus Psychobiology</p>

<p>ECs: Varsity Cross Country, Varsity Track (9,10,11,12)
Research: Regarding c.elegans at Stanford, dendritic proteins (neuroscience) (11,12)
Science Olympiad president (11,12)
FRC Robotics (10,11,12)
Speech and Debate (9,10,11,12)
Lectoring at Church (10,11,12)
Piano (8 years)</p>

<p>Awards/Honors etc:
-MVP, TopNewcomer, All-League, competed at state level 3 years, 5:16 mile, 19:40 5K, 2:27 800. I'm going to compete in a 1/2 marathon too.
-Competing in SV Science Fair this spring, aiming to qualify for Intel ISEF, will apply for Intel STS with research next year as well, +Siemens
-Founded team, will establish a science book drive, plus Science Week at our school with a symposium+speakers, science demonstrations at local elementary schools
-FRC: highest team winnings possible, both local/national
-High NFL honor</p>

<p>Community service: school ambassador (visit middle schools to talk), city youth commission for 6 years, will be an FLL coach this fall, tutoring (inc. AVID tutoring). I have also spoke at city council meetings on issues I feel strongly about in our community.</p>

<p>Summer: built a gokart, running
-Planning to do either Penn BioMed Academy, Stanford SIMR, or JHU/Brown Summer sessions this summer. Plus Stanford lab research</p>

<p>Traits: My friends and teachers would call me a charismatic, witty, determined person. I am a strong public speaker (this will be evident in the interview), have a good sense of humor and enjoy telling funny stories, and am determined to do everything I say I will do, on many levels (sports, school, etc). I'm innovative as well, and often contribute ideas that are of purely my own making. This is visible through my school projects. I'm sure these traits will show in my essays.</p>

<p>So there is your small snapshot of who I am. Now--what would you honestly expect my chances to be? I'm interested in neuroscience/biotech/med/politics and am hoping to run for MIT. I understand that chance threads are annoying, but I think that sometimes applicants get good insights from the responses</p>

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<p>“hoping to run for MIT” huh? OMG it’s like you are running for a place in the White House :smiley:
To MIT, it’s never “enough”. They like people who have the potential to pursue their passions untiringly and succeed, I believe. I mean, just continue doing everything you love to, though the EC looks great already. And try to depict your personality in the essays the best you can. And your attitude seems to in line with the way MIT thinks. You have a chance, and I think now you should find out how to hold it tight :)</p>

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<p>keep pursing!! Goodluck</p>

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<p>Go for an election in the Congress. I’m sure you will get a lot of good votes. And then apply for MIT. Write a book of an experience of running an election. Then you can spend the rest of your years being a general surgeon.</p>

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<p>Yes, MIT is a good place to study both neuro/bio and poli sci. There are majors available in biology, chemistry, biological engineering, biochemical engineering, chemical engineering, and brain & cognitive science (among other bio/neuro-relevant fields). Most of those also have minors available, and there’s a minor in toxicology & environmental health. On the political side, there’s a major and minor available in political science (which is a great department), and there’s are minors available in public policy and science technology & society.</p>

<p>Your credentials seem reasonably solid. At the very least, I’d say you’ll merit consideration.</p>

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<p>@12npm12: HAHA when I said “hoping to run for MIT” I meant like RUN physically, as in cross country or track. But I’ll admit your interpretation is more hillarious.</p>

<p>@MrPropapanda: WELL I actually do compete in Student Congress as a debate event…I think that the pace of the actual Congress, however, would bore me haha. Who knows. Maybe I’ll become the MIT kid who comes in and changes the way our political system works O_o</p>

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<p>So you are “practicing”, right? :smiley:
Oh I forgot to tell you that when you apply to MIT, you don’t apply to any particular major; you will decide on that later in the second year (if admitted)</p>

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<p>@12npm12: What do you mean by “practicing”? As in…practicing ECs?
And yep I knew the majors stuff. I like that–gives me more time to decide.</p>

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<p>One of my reasons that I like MIT is that, no major deciding immediately. </p>

<p>But… =0 My incompetence has failed me.</p>

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<p>@neongreen: No I meant praticing “running”. Just kidding</p>

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<p>I don’t know of any college in the states that even suggests you pick a major immediately, except for engineering/science tracks.</p>

<p>In which case MIT is no different, because it requires the prerequisite courses.</p>

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<p>To be honest, I’d set your dreams of being surgeon general to a lower standard. Some things in life are based more on luck than actual skill.
I find it strange that you have a 5:16 mile and you were MVP as well as Varsity in XC/Track. I guess it’s just because you live in a less densely-populated area than I do because I run high 4:50s and I’m only JV Captain. And if I remember correctly, I don’t even think I could qualify for running Varsity Track & Field in MIT.</p>

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<p>Have you two verified that you’re the same gender? :smiley: It kinda makes a difference in what is considered a good time. I know neongreen is female - it’s in her profile - and a 5:16 mile would have got you on varsity on girls’ track and XC teams in my area, too.</p>

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<p>I think that for a girl a 5:16 is fast…we have boys on our team that can run 4:20, though
I got a letter from MIT to submit my times after this season…hopefully I can make my time even lower :slight_smile:
I don’t have an ultimate goal of being surgeon general. I’m just looking for a way to unite my interests in public speaking/politics and biomedical engineering/neuro. Maybe that’s where I’ll end up though, who knows. :D</p>

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<p>I’d get that math SAT up (it’s in the bottom 25th percentile) and that gives you a great shot.</p>

<p>Edit: Ok since everyone’s talking about track time the fastest track guy in my school in recent years has 4:08 1600</p>

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<p>My suggestion to you:</p>

<p>Honestly, unless you are a genius, MIT is the worst place to go for Pre-Med. You work your ass off for 4 years and then get a lousy GPA because of the annoying grade deflation. Harvard>MIT.</p>

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<p>i got into MIT EA.</p>

<p>i think your EC’s are impressive. but you still need to get that Math higher.</p>

<p>personally (although I haven’t started @ MIT )I believe that admissions into MIT is all about the Match. have you checked this?</p>

<p>[MIT</a> TechTV – Behind the Scenes of Admissions at MIT](<a href=“http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/1502]MIT”>http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/1502) </p>

<p>I am sure MIT would love to have a Surgeon General. :)</p>

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<p>@Torcher: Really? Wouldn’t med schools know that MIT is harder for GPA than Harvard and take that into account? :/</p>

<p>@tuangpi: Congratulations! I am applying EA next year-fall 2010.
I agree with the match theory. I believe that MIT would be a great place for me, since I’m the creative-fun type of person that organizes scavenger hunts, hunts for tardigrades in my backyard (yesterday lol) etc. That it a main factor in my applying.
You got in–how were your stats in comparison?</p>

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<p>Oh, med schools know. They just don’t necessarily care. (Grad schools, in contrast, have a better set of priorities.)</p>

<p>MIT undergrads do just fine applying to med school. The [latest</a> stats](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/career/www/infostats/preprof.html]latest”>http://web.mit.edu/career/www/infostats/preprof.html) from the Careers Office indicate that 94% of MIT undergrads applying to med school get in, which is in line with MIT’s peer schools. Applying to medical school from anywhere is pretty brutal, though.</p>

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<p>just to mention, I am not sure if Torcher’s posts can be taken seriously.
you’ll know if you search his posts from his stats.</p>