<br>
<br>
<p>So let’s do the “What if” first. What if you apply? Two end results as far as admissions go - you are accepted or rejected (“waitlisted” will eventually still fall into one of the other two). If you are rejected, will you be crushed? Will you really miss the application fee or the time spent applying? And what if you are accepted? Will the happiness on this side be greater than the sorrow if rejected? Will the benefit from attending MIT outweigh the loss of the application fee (as you’ll have that either way anyhow)? The only way you can have “No chance” is by not applying. If you apply, your worst case is actually “low chance” rather than “No chance” as even if you had lousy stats for MIT like a 1700 SAT and 3.4 <em>weighted</em> GPA and whatever else, there can always be a fluke…but only if you bother to apply.</p>
<p>So you ask if it’s worth it to apply…it depends on how much the money and time means to you versus how low you feel the odds to be. My son applied to MIT for graduate school without his parents being willing to pay the application fee as we felt his odds so slim (given that he was only 14 and had no research published yet) that it would be a waste of money (we were willing to pay the application fee for the highly ranked state U application as we felt his odds of being accepted there exceptionally high), but <em>he</em> was more confident about his odds and applied using his own money and was accepted. I credit him for going ahead and trying for something he wanted even while having parents who lacked support in him there.</p>
<p>Thus, even if everyone on this board told you not to bother applying, if it’s something <em>you</em> really want, I’d say go for it. Even if you don’t get in, research has showed that a certain amount of “failure” helps in life, so given that, it seems applying could only be a win/win situation for you.</p>
<p>Good luck, whatever you choose to do!</p>