<p>Are these classes above-average, average, or below average, in terms of math/science classes that MIT finds impressive on an application? (I've gotten high A's in all of them, Bee tee dubs)</p>
<p>In addition, this is the hardest scheme my school offers. Since I took Geometry in the middle school, I’m not allowed to do the Algebra 2 + PreCalc combo in 9th grade. MVC is the hardest they offer, as no transportations are available to colleges. In addition, of the three AP sciences, [Bio, Chem, Physics], I’m doing all of them.</p>
<p>And IDK if this is unrelated, as I dont know how much humanities and FL takes into applying to MIT, but I’ve done Spanish 2 H [highest available freshman year], English 1 H, World History H in my freshman year. In addition, I did Spanish 3 H, Am. history H, English 2 H in 10th grade. I also did Span 4 H, AP USH, and English 3 H in 11th grade. Next year I’m doing AP Bio, AP Physics, MVC (maybe AP Stat), AP English Lit, AP Spanish Lang, AP Art History (Maybe)</p>
<p>They evaluate you based on your school. If that’s the most rigorous that you can take, then you are totally fine. From a national perspective, that is still a very rigorous schedule. A lot of kids don’t take BC, and even less take MVC. It won’t make heads turn at MIT, but it’s a strong schedule.</p>
<p>MVC if you have the choice by far, AP stat is a joke. I really wanted a MVC class but I was the only one who demonstrated an interest so…ya that didn’t happen.</p>
<p>Taking MVC, even if its the basics, in HS will at least introduce the material and set you up for higher stuff in college. Plus, sitting through a year of AP Stat rots your mathematical brain (trust me, it happened to me. I can barely do calculus after taking AP Stat this year, and BC Calc last year)</p>
<p>This is my math curric, but I skipped out on sci this year (11th grade) so will be taking AP Chem and AP Phys in Sr. yr. </p>
<p>I don’t think it’ll impress anyone at MIT, but we’re taking the hardest courses or schools offer in math, so it won’t hurt us. But one sniveling sophomore somehow got into Calc AB when he should be in Pre-Cal because my school doesn’t do that. Hope this doesn’t hurt me.</p>
<p>I have hovered around the MIT boards a lot, kind of probing this question, and it is my impression that what’s important is that in <em>SOME</em> math or science class, your teacher has exceptional things to say about you. Or in some way in a technical field, you must stand out – they want evidence of a spark that demonstrates to them you’ll benefit from the strongly technical culture at MIT. </p>
<p>No given sequence of math or sciences courses probably will guarantee you admission, and no sequence that doesn’t lack the fundamentals like calculus will keep you out. They want to know not how many things you have read, but what kind of thinker/mind you are based on the words of people who’ve seen you think and reason mathematically and/or scientifically. </p>
<p>My impression is that multivariable calculus will be a more interesting and challenging class. It wasn’t my favorite course at all, but it was more interesting than AP Statistics.</p>
<p>Seriously, just take MVC – there’s nothing specific (except basic calculus – and that might not be a hard and fast rule) that MIT expects. </p>
<p>There’s no reason MIT would expect you to do a ton more math. And there’s no reason with that schedule, you’d appear under-prepared. Just be sure you achieve well at what you do study. If you want to challenge yourself more, maybe pick up a book that’s a little more solid on the theory of MVC, and read that and do problems from it. Taking initiative and doing things like this will do worlds more to convince your teachers and MIT that you have a bright future than learning a bunch of subjects with shallow foundation – anyone can do that, really. </p>
<p>Hope this helps. This is just general advice from a math student.</p>
<p>yeah man you are basically a year ahead of me in science and math and I got in… though they won’t be particularly impressed you have definitely had enough, and more than they “expect” i’d say</p>
<p>If I were an admissions officer, I would look for energy and excitement in math along with a level of math that lends credibility to the energy. This is because in a sense, once you get to a school like MIT, your opportunities are boundless, and you can actually learn ridiculously crazy amounts if you so choose to push yourself – you can learn at a speed that’ll in a sense nullify having been “ahead or behind” in high school math. </p>
<p>Being “a year ahead” hardly matters, just to comment on one of the posters above me. It’s how energetic you are once you get to college that mainly matters – when you’re surrounded with smart people and with tons and tons of opportunities to learn, your speed of learning increases dramatically from what it was in high school. </p>
<p>All of this is coming from someone who’d done a relatively good quantity of math before coming into college.</p>