<p>Does MIT like those who are above average in every area or those who are extremely talented/passionate at one area?</p>
<p>I have asked this before but I still have not made up my mind whether or not I should apply to MIT, here is why:</p>
<p>GPA: 4.05 out of 5.0 ( low, our school doesn't rank but 18% of ppl have GPA > 4.0)
SAT: 2150 (660/690/800)</p>
<p>SAT II's : Math Level 2: 800, Chemistry: 800</p>
<p>AP's: BC Calculus--5, Chemistry--5, Statistics--5</p>
<p>Awards/Extracurricular's</p>
<ul>
<li>2 time USAMO qualifier (AMC12: 129, AIME: 9) </li>
<li>ARML participant/ 2006 Individual High-scorer (i got a 7)</li>
<li>school math team captain</li>
<li>tutoring
-participation in state math competitions, 3rd place in state last year</li>
</ul>
<p>My parents think it's not worth applying because my GPA + SAT probably means auto-rejection.</p>
<p>Also I cannot really find a good "safety" school that will guarantee to accept me and still has a strong math program.</p>
<p>You are definitely not an automatic reject, especially because you've done very well in well-known math competitions. It's hard to gauge your chances without knowing your unweighted GPA and how many people have higher GPAs than you from your school. Also, knowing what classes you got B's in would help. </p>
<p>Have you considered retaking the SAT? Take some practice tests. It shouldn't be that hard for a USAMO/ARML qualifier to improve their score through some minimal practice and checking their answers. </p>
<p>I would suggest that you apply to University of Chicago and/or University of Michigan. Neither school will be a safety (except U of M unless you live in Michigan. One of my high school friends was a USAMO qualifer, majored in math, and won a NSF fellowship for grad school (very competitive.) He was very happy with the undergrad education at WashU St. Louis. However, I think U. of Chicago might be the best place for you regardless of whether you get into MIT, especially if you would prefer a liberal arts environment.</p>
<p>It's hard to know about the strength of undergrad math programs, but my opinion is that U. of Chicago is your best bet. You might have a good shot at Yale, because they don't have a lot of truly great math people there but their department is top 10-15. However, for yale I would suspect that you would need to get your math score up to near-perfect.</p>