<p>I wanted to go to MIT since I was 9. However I realized that it is extremely difficult to get in for an international student. I'm currently a sophomore in my high school. We don't have class ranks but I think I should be in the top 8-10%. Our school is private and very selective (50 students in total). Currently my GPA is 5.64/6. I'm about to take my IGCSE exams at the beginning of may and my predicted grades are:
Physics: A
Biology: A
Geography: A
Maths: A
French: A
ICT: A+
Global Perspectives: A
English Language: B
English Literature: B (but I believe that I might get an A)
The reason for those two Bs is that english is not my mother tongue, and I'm afraid that they will jeopardize my chances of getting in a top university. I have not taken the SAT yet. My EC are limited. In fact during the freshman year and half of the sophomore one I spent most of my time with a tutor to improve my English. At the beginning of this year I started MUN (I might become an officer next year) and I begun learning Russian on my own. For now I speak 4 languages: Italian, English, French and German. I have done about 50 hours of community service (teaching street children basic english and maths). Unfortunately here (East Africa) we don't have science competitions and we have very few EC available. What do you guys think i should do to get in a top university?</p>
<p>Are these grades IGCE examination results? Or are they grades in the classroom? IGCE examination results matter much less for the admissions result, I believe. And even if they were examination results, that would be a fantastic result to have.</p>
<p>Keep these grades up, A couple of Bs won’t hurt you, especially if they are foreign languages. Since you say there aren’t a lot of ECs where you live, create some, differentiate yourself. At the moment, you sound like a lot of other applicants, make the admissions officer say “wow”.</p>
<p>MIT is highly competitive. You try your best no matter what. There is no guarantee way getting into MIT. Having 4.0 GPA and 2300+ SAT is still not quite enough. As an international student, the game has a different rule. It would be very hard to chance you. But don’t be discouraged. Just do your best and give it a shot.</p>
<p>First of all, you do have access to the internet, so, ECs are definitely possible (although more difficult than in the United States). Second, you need to show passion. <em>Why</em> do you want to go to MIT? Is it because of the engineering program? Why are you interested in engineering? What do you have to show for it?</p>
<p>Being an international makes it even <em>more</em> difficult (if that’s even possible). So, unless you show passion somehow (and, if you aren’t able to, question why exactly you want to go MIT aside from the fact that its a top school), MIT will be a pretty high reach.</p>