<p>Hello everyone. I really want to get into MIT in mechanical engineering. What should I work on in order to get in? What I have is listed below:</p>
<p>GPA: 4.0 (unweighted) 4.55 (Unweighted)</p>
<p>Completed Classes (engineering basis):
AP Calc AB
AP Calc BC
AP US History
AP European History
Honors English 11
Honors Spanish 4
Honors Chemistry
Honors Pre-calculus
Pre-Engineering
Principles of Technology
Physics
Robotics</p>
<p>Classes to take senior year:
AP Psychology
AP Gov/Econ
AP Stats
Teacher's Intern for Physics</p>
<p>SAT: 1910 (need to work on)
ACT: 30 (need to work on)</p>
<p>Extra-curriculars:<br>
Interact Club member (local volunteering 12 hrs....maybe a president)
Varsity Track Team Captain
Personal Business (Website design...4 years)
Summer Volunteer at daycare/school (40-45 hours)
Mikey's Motors (informed 3rd graders how a small engine works)
Active Board member on "A touch of understanding" (group that goes around to schools and explains disabilities)</p>
<p>Please tell me what else I can do to have a good chance of getting in. I know I need to work on my standarized testing.</p>
<p>Yes, you have a chance of getting in, but you haven’t even gone through senior year and you are already set on MIT? I think you should research, visit, and interact with other colleges before you jump right into MIT. Yes, it is a great school for engineering, but no, it is not for everyone. MIT isn’t even right for some of the smartest people in the world. You have to make an informed decision, not a blind one. Open up your possibilities and don’t just focus on one school. I know that everyone just “dreams” of MIT, but it might not be where you are comfortable. Look before you leap.</p>
<p>I have just ended my junior year and applications for colleges start in october. I want to get into MIT but, like you said, my options are open. I have also looked into Cal Poly San Luis Obispo which is one a strong choice for me.</p>
<p>I’m trying to get all my ducks in a row so I will be prepared when applying.</p>
<p>Any other tips or advice on what I need to work on?</p>
<p>Basically, just get your list of colleges, apply for them, visit the campuses, look at financial aid and how much you will have to pay, pick which school best fits you, and then go from there. Who knows, one of the other schools you are looking at might be the one you feel most comfortable with. Good luck in your search! </p>
<p>Anyone with more advice for Christian please give it!</p>
<p>You could always try to do something flashy, like enter a national science competition and do a project. Read some literature, find an idea that interests you, and do some sort of analytical project on it or something. I don’t know.</p>
<p>You’ve got all the fundamentals, but you need some razzle-dazzle. Maybe you can try to get in good with a few professors at MIT? Check out their research, and if you see anything that really looks cool, send a sincere email and tell them about it, and ask if they have any suggestions about what you can do to get in or if, once in, they would be interested in telling you more about their research / letting you help out in the lab.</p>
<p>Especially AuburnMathTutor and Salve!. I have looked into national competions and have found a couple. The two that look interesting to me at the moment are the TARC Competion (Team America Rocketry Cahllenge) and USAMTS (USA Mathematical Talent Search).</p>
<p>Would these be good or should I find other competions? Thanks for all the input so far!</p>
<p>Sounds like you’re one step ahead of us, dude. Go for it. Do your best, and if you place, great, if not, those competitions still aren’t something that many people do, really.</p>
<p>Keep up your GPA and improve your SATs. If you manage to score 2200+ and graduate at the top of your class, then there’s a very good chance that you’ll get into MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Yale, Princeton, or Harvard. Of course getting into any specific school is indeed somewhat random, but if you are a strong applicant you should get into at least one of them. </p>
<p>One thing to remember is that colleges are, at their heart, money making organizations. Yes, having intelligent students is important, but there are a lot of people who become leaders who are not intellectual powerhouses. If you can convince the school that you are a leader, then there’s a good chance that they will admit you even if statistically you are not at the top of the applicant pool. </p>
<p>Math/Science/Engineering competitions are a good thing to get involved with but I’d imagine that success is very well correlated with academic skill in a specific discipline. So if you are not that good at math, it might not be fruitful to invest a lot of time in math competitions. Focus on what aptitudes you have and prepare accordingly.</p>
<p>The money-making point is a good one. Schools like to see their students succeed in the “real world”, get really famous and increase the prestige of their school, and then donate lots of money. This is roughly analogous to (or perhaps indicated by) a drive to give back to your community right now. Volunteer/charity work is great, and leadership positions in it are even better, because this shows that you are not a calculator but a human being. You seem to be headed the right direction, so I’d just like to advise you to go for depth in your ECs, instead of doing a bunch of things and not really being involved in any of them.</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice. So what I’m hearing is to work on my SAT’s. Since there is 2 more test dates before the application deadlines are due, here is my plan:</p>
<p>Btw i forgot to post SAT II’s:
Math II: 770
Physics: 530 (I had a really really bad physics teacher. I’ll have to read the book and teach myself)</p>
<p>Test Date 1: Physics
Test Date 2: Full SAT</p>
<p>I’ll also take the first ACT date test again. I’m never a good standarized test taker :(</p>
<p>For my EC’s I’m not sur how much deeper I can go. I’m assuming personal business is a plus but the only thing I can go deeper in is the “Touch of Understanding”. </p>
<p>It sounds like you have a good plan! Don’t worry too much about the standardized tests, there are a lot of people who are just not good test takers. Anyway, you will be fine! Don’t worry about it. If you have the mindset to achieve you will!</p>
<p>By the way, your test scores really aren’t that bad.</p>
<p>You sound like a very strong applicant. Just buy the official SAT study guide and work your ass off for a week doing every practice exam and see what you did wrong. That increased my score by almost 200 points. If your scores are stronger, you are strong in the running. Your accomplishments and EC’s mean much more than a 2400 and you will be a stronger applicant if you have 2100+.</p>
<p>@collegesgirl</p>
<p>You have a statistically higher chance to get into MIT if you are female, because they accept a greater percentage of females than males, although this is offset by the fact that female applicants to MIT and engineering schools in general tend to be a lot more self selective (and are much stronger than the average male applicant). </p>
<p>However, you are not considered “UR” since the women who get into MIT have similar high school stats. Statistically, you have a higher chance on getting in without doing Siemens/Intel/etc because of the smaller female pool and MIT is one of the few engineering schools schools that can successfully maintain 47% females. Women at MIT do have a higher GPA on average at MIT despite entering with slightly lower SAT scores (doesn’t necessarily mean they’re better). </p>
<p>Also do the “optional essays” with a lot of care since they will show MIT that you care about the school and most successful applicants do them anyway. This is another piece of advice that will strengthen your MIT application a lot. Think about them starting now. My optional essays were weak (and that was only one of probably many reasons that I didn’t get in).</p>
<p>Thanks. I am at a summer program in science/math and the advisor thought i would have a chance. Doing calculus, etc. I real love math. I have junior yr. ACT 32 (34 math/36 reading), i may take it again. I didn’t plan on SATII now I have to take them. Probably Math 2, and US history, then chemistry. I won’t have Physics until senior year. I had chem sophomore year, so I am kind of concerned, but I am good reader and probably can review SATII Chem for later fall test. I have done well on this past year’s AP Testss…3 5’s and 1-4. Senior year will either take AP Calc AB or BC.</p>
<p>I played sports for a few years, but took this summer to go to a long program.
If not MIT, where did you go?</p>
<p>I go to high school in San Luis Obispo and let me tell you there is no better college town/atmosphere in the country. It is phenomenal and a very underrated school.</p>
<p>I too am looking at MIT and I wish you the best of luck. Your overall resume is very strong.</p>
<p>I just got my physics score back and I raise it 210 points!</p>
<p>I got a 730 on it.</p>
<p>It looks like my extracurriculars, SAT II’s, and GPA are set but I still need those standarized scores. ACT is still 30 (not retaking) and SAT is 1910 (retaking in December)</p>