<p>All right...</p>
<p>I know there have been many threads on this. But I just want to see if I'm qualified or what I have to do to become qualified.</p>
<p>So far...
Straight As with A minuses
Freshman in HS
Studying for SATs (score 2000+)
Swimming. (Definitely in Varsity in junior year)
Math team (going to state)
Newspaper
Gifted Program
Cast in musical
Planning on volunteering at hospital in the summer
Planning on volunteering for park district in the summer
French Club (may be the French Club President next year)
Community Concert Orchestra 1st violin
1st place at Geneva Banquest Competition (state violin)
1st at ISKC karate tournaments
Plan on taking around 9+ AP courses
Taking AP chinese test this year.
Taking SATs this year
On Speech Team
Will become a thespian
Will probably be induced for National Honors Society.</p>
<hr>
<p>So that's my resume, if you will
What does it take to get into MIT?</p>
<p>I missed gymnastics. Should I do it next year?
Should I take orchestra or art next year? I am adept in both so that I can easily rise up the ranks in both classes. I can get into AP classes for both no problem. what should I take?
What should I do? Scholastic bowl? Chess team? I can do both. In fact, I feel I am more well rounded than most people.</p>
<p>Any recommendations to become Ivy League bound?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I’m obviously still a Freshman in HS, but I know that it’s not that easy getting into MIT. I have weaknesses and strengths. Hearing that I’m qualified boosts my ego a bit. However, what does it take to further it up a notch?</p>
<p>I never competed in a national competition. I’m not president for anything. In fact, I’m not even sure of my SAT results. I’m studying hard now for my SATs. </p>
<p>If I take my SATs now, I’m probably going to get something like: MATH: 790 CRI REA: 610 WRITING: 650 ESSAY: 11. I’m fairly confident in my math skills and essay.</p>
<p>There’s no way of getting a 700+ on critical reading and writing if I take it now. I’m studying hard now for the test in June 1st. How should I study?</p>
<p>Now back to the original question. What should I do to boost that chance for getting into MIT? Another varsity sport? I’m learning vb right now in school. I’m learning python by myself. I’m planning to learn action script 3.0 by myself in the summer. However, I also have volunteer programs planned. Should I take a summer program at University of Chicago or Northwestern?</p>
<p>What path should I take? Thanks.
Don’t tell me I’m qualified. Tell me what I have to do. I have a passion for learning. I catch on to things very quick. I like to experience. I like to originate. I like to create. However, I have no idea how to get started.</p>
<p>You look like all you care about is getting into colleges, and I believe colleges really don’t like that. Don’t focus on what a college will think of you in every decision you make. Instead, you must find a passion and focus on it. I.e. if you love math, join every math competition in existence, convince your counselors to let you finish all your courses in math as fast as possible, and take college math courses. Buy books over math and read them. Publish papers on math. Become an established member in some math forum. Tutor people in math (maybe even travel to some impoverished nation and teach the kids there). Make a study guide for math and give it to anyone that wants it (hopefully your teacher will continue to give the guide to his or her students once you have graduated). The easy part is doing what you have done (and plan to do); making yourself look “well rounded”. The hard part, and the part that not only helps you but also impresses admission officers, is following a passion past anyone else.</p>
<p>Oh, and you need to get all SAT sections over 700. There really isn’t a difference between a 700 and an 800, but there is a large difference between a 700 and a 600. I did 14 SAT practice tests and 4 SATs to get the grade I wanted. Study vocabulary constantly. This will not only help you on the reading section, it will also help you in other aspects of life. (I used cardcram.com for this).</p>
<p>I also didn’t really read your last post. Try writing something in python and selling the program. Schools don’t care if you learned a programming language (anyone can do that, or lie about it), they care about the application of your learning.</p>
<p>If you continue along on your current path, you will have a chance anywhere. But you will be in a pool with a lot of other high school students who aced their classes and were active in EC’s; you will be in what I call the crapshoot regime. The choices you pose like choosing art vs. something else are totally irrelevant toward admissions. Generally, you want to choose EC’s that you are interested in enough that you can excel at, but at this point you probably don’t know what that is. I won a state competition in something that I only tried junior year; I totally wasn’t expecting it, either. Try to do stuff that you find meaningful; in the end you will probably have more to put on your resume’. </p>
<p>At this point you should be trying different stuff. Don’t overthink it, because believe me, it won’t help anyway.</p>
<p>Admissions doesn’t work like you think it does, with little choices determining how graduating seniors across the country are ranked. Registering for orchestra won’t nudge you ahead of Johnny in Topeka, Kansas, for instance. You can’t predict results like that. In my experience though, the most successful people in admissions were rocking their classes freshman and sophomore year while maintaining some EC’s/academic competitions. Junior year was when people started to win stuff in their EC’s. Even the guys who stuffed their schedules with numerous shallow EC’s were hardcore students early on in high school. </p>
<p>For me, I got the highest grade in almost all classes freshman year onward. During junior year, my goal was to perform at such a level that each of my recs would say that I was a once-in-a-lifetime student. As for EC’s/academic competitions, do as well as you can. There are various scholastic competitions. I did respectably, but didn’t win any of the marquee awards (USAMO or Intel). Try to qualify for AIME at least, and place in some state level awards. These days, even Intel finalist doesn’t guarantee anything, but it probably means you will get into at least one of the top 5-10 schools. </p>
<p>If you want your chances to go way up, make one of the traveling teams for physics, chem, bio olympics, or make the training camp for the U.S. math team. The last one is almost impossibly hard to do, especially if you are only in the top track at the typical high school (say algebra II in freshman year.)</p>
<p>My other piece of advice is to get off CC, because it’s addictive. While you’re on cc asking numerous questions over what you should do or whether your “chances” have improved, other kids will be working.</p>
<p>No that’s not true. I like what I do. That’s why I do it. You must surely know that the only way to produce good music is to truly appreciate what you play.</p>
<p>I do what I love. I love programming. I simply adore swimming. I write creativity everyday. It’s part of life. I embrace life. Frankly, I hate SATs. However, I must face the horrible truth. Jeezus, I love math more than most people do. I believe it’s a great brain stimulator. In fact, I’ve done things like sending things to companies. I’ve applied to theatre fests before. Trust me, I do what I like to do. And I like to do a lot of things. And this may appear to be ‘nerdy’ for most people. Tutor people in math. People naturally come to me for help.</p>
<p>Any studying techniques for the SATs?</p>
<p>Anyways. So I got: Do everything that I love. Study hard for SATs. What else should I have? I’ll give anything a try. And I end up liking what I try.</p>
<p>collegealum314: I’m going to assume CC means computer. </p>
<p>I’m on the computer quite a bit. I’m not addicted to it or anything. when I’m studying for my SATs the computer is locked and put away. However 2+ hours a day on the computer is a lot. It’s my resource. I find opportunities with my computer.</p>
<p>I keep a running blog. I take notes on One Note. I don’t do a lot of crap on my computer like most people. I email frequently to random places and people. It’s my form of communication.</p>
<p>Thanks collegealbum314 for your first post. I’m not sure if I’m going to qualify for AIME, but I know for a fact that I scored the highest AMC score in my school as a freshman. I started to pursue math around 5th grade, getting as far as algebra 2. In jr high , I started with probability and counting. And a bit trig and calculus. However now I’m starting to slack off in math and pursue other stuff.</p>
<p>Life is eventful, ain’t it? :D</p>
<p>CC means “college confidential,” this website.</p>
<p>Ahh, I’m a newbie … obviously. :D</p>
<p>Why are you even considering taking the SATs right now? You’ll be fine in math, learn enough vocab to do sufficient in reading, and take it as a Junior like a normal person. A couple leadership positions are always good, don’t go nuts. There are a ton of people that spend high school constructing this perfect resume on paper by joining every club possible and taking twenty-five APs and doing a million hours of community service and doing ‘research’. These people get rejected from MIT /all the time/. And when they don’t get into their ‘target’ school all that fake stuff they did for their applications turns out to be time wasted (except for the community service I guess). So slow down for a second. Pick one of your actual, legitimate interests. And just do it, like crazy. Take all that time you would have wasted in clubs that you don’t really care about, and all that time you would have wasted adding that extra 10 points to your math SAT score, and spend it all on your interest. Be obsessive, do something amazing. Maybe even something that contributes to society. You sound like a pretty smart kid, you can do something incredible in three years. You still have time to fail at it a couple times. This is what appeals to admissions officers. And at the end of the day, even if you don’t get into MIT, you’ll still have a real set of skills.</p>
<p>Well, I’ve heard that the smart schools don’t accept scores lower than a 700 and a 600 is all I can seem to obtain. You think I can do something incredible? Incredible literally means unable to believe. Just saying. Wow. All these choices. Kinda hard to choose, don’t you think?</p>
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<p>Metapod is right. If you take your humanities classes seriously and work to develop your writing abilities, your scores will improve naturally over time. Work to improve your vocabulary and incorporate it into your homework essays. Reading comprehension can also be improved through practice. </p>
<p>It’s a rare person that can get 700+ on the verbal SAT (CR, whatever) as a freshman.</p>
<p>
There are programs out there (CTY for instance) that require SAT scores, though I’m guessing that the OP is just taking the SAT for random reasons.</p>
<p>So do you guys think I should make the SAT this upcoming June void?</p>
<p>There’s no harm in taking it. There are summer academic programs that require the SAT. It’s really up to you.</p>
<p>I took it freshman year because I needed it to apply to a magnet school. I also needed it for CTY.</p>