<p>About the weakest part of my application is my GPA of 3.5
I got 2 Cs in my freshman year due to immaturity. (none are in math and science courses) Then sophomore year I started getting mostly As and a few Bs. Junior year I improved to all As. </p>
<p>My SAT is 1550.</p>
<p>I can get very good teach recommendations. </p>
<p>The strongest part of my application would be that fact I made it to the USAMO junior year. Plus I'm the captain of the math team. I also got the "physics student of the year" award at my school.</p>
<p>During one summer I worked at an engineering company and helped discover an important mathematical error in one of the formulas the company used, which saved a lot of headache for the company.</p>
<p>So do I have a decent chance at MIT? I hear the admission officers look at each case individually and in "context", but I can't help but worry about my freshman year grades. Is there an unwritten rule that says "anyone with C on their record is denied no matter what"?</p>
<p>i highly doubt there is any policy like that, but how do you get C's out of immaturity?</p>
<p>and is that sat out of 1600 im guessing? or 2400...</p>
<p>its pretty hard to say you have a good chance or not, thats more about how they like you as a match, but the helping out the engineering comapny thing soudns cool. dont worry about it until the letter is actually physically in your hands.</p>
<p>I got 2 Cs in spanish and ancient history class. I didn't care about those classes and grades in general at the time. Ironically, the reason I did bad in them was because I was practicing for the USAMO in those classes. </p>
<p>But I did realize my mistake and managed to improve my grades drammatically.
Should I try to explain this?</p>
<p>I wouldn't stress over it. The role of your transcript is to show that you can do the academic work. If you are getting solid grades since Freshman Year then that isn't really a problem. The grades are not what is going to get you in or not. That being said, if you feel that you need to explain it, you can do so.</p>