Will I get accepted with my tough classes and awards for research?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Residence: Minnesota
HS Class: 2012</p>

<p>GPA: 3.74 Weighted
International Baccalaureate Diploma Program
ACT: 22 </p>

<p>AP Biology - (Testing Senior Year)
AP Psychology - 4
AP Spanish - (Testing Senior Year)
AP Chemistry - (Testing Senior Year)</p>

<p>IB History of the Americas HL - (Testing Senior Year)
IB English HL - (Testing Senior Year)
IB Chemistry HL - (Testing Senior Year)
IB Spanish SL - (Testing Senior Year)
IB Psychology SL - 5
IB Math Studies SL - 6 </p>

<p>University of Minnesota- Twin Cities CIS Principles of Microeconomics</p>

<p>IB Creative Action Service (CAS)</p>

<p>C - Science Fair
A - Triathlons
S - Volunteer in Ask An Expert Forum on Science Buddies .org</p>

<p>Awards and Experience</p>

<hr>

<p>Work Experience - Caribou Coffee Team Member since August 2010</p>

<p>Lab Assistant
August 2010 – February 2010 University of Minnesota: Twin Cities – Graduate Department of Neuroscience; Neurochemistry , Minneapolis MN</p>

<p>Lab Assistant
September 2009 – May 2010 University of Minnesota: Twin Cities – Graduate Department of Psychology</p>

<hr>

<p>Student of the Month - Chemistry
Student of the Month - Health</p>

<hr>

<p>Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)</p>

<p>Grand Award: Third Place in the world for Behavioral and Social Sciences presented by Intel and Society for Science and the Public $1,000 (2011)
First place award of $1,500 for "Excellence in Behavioral and Social Sciences" from the College of Psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) (2011)
$60,000 Tuition Scholarship to IIT for Outstanding Excellence in Behavioral and Social Science Research. (2011)
$50,000 Tuition Scholarship to Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, Nevada (2009, 2010, and 2011)
Intel ISEF Finalist 2009, 2010, and 2011 </p>

<hr>

<p>Minnesota Academy of Science: Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair</p>

<p>Recipient of Gold Medal (2009, 2011) – Awarded to top 5% of projects
Wolfram Award, Best in Category for Behavioral and Social Sciences and License to Wolfram Mathematica Software (2011)
Secondary Teachers of the American Psychological Association - Outstanding Research in Behavioral and Social Sciences and Best in Category for Behavioral and Social Sciences: (2009)
JMP Division of SAS Institute, Data Discovery Award – Best Data Visualization, Statistical Analysis, and Mathematics – 5 Year Personal Access to JMP Computing Software (2011)
Seagate Rising Star Award for Top 40 First Year Projects (2009)</p>

<hr>

<p>Minnesota Academy of Science: Tri-State Junior Humanities and Science Symposium</p>

<p>Callback Finalist – Top 9 Research Papers and Presentations in the Symposium: Recipient in 2011
Outstanding Achievement in Tri-State Junior Humanities and Science Symposium and Monetary Award: Recipient in 2011</p>

<hr>

<p>St. Cloud State University – David F. Grether Central Minnesota Regional Science and Engineering Fair</p>

<p>Secondary Teachers of the American Psychological Association - Outstanding Research in Behavioral and Social Sciences (2010)
Outstanding Achievement in Regional Research Paper Competition and Research Symposium – Advancement to Tri-State Junior Humanities and Science Symposium (2011)
Best of Fair and Advancement to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (2009, 2010, and 2011)
Premium Award and Advancement to the Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair (2009, 2010, and 2011)
United States Air force Outstanding Achievement Award (2010)</p>

<h2>David F. Grether Memorial Scholarship $1000 (2009, 2010, and 2011)</h2>

<p>Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) Competition</p>

<p>YES Semi-Finalist in Public Health Research Paper Competition sponsored by Collegeboard and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation $1000 (2011)</p>

<hr>

<p>Anoka-Hennepin District ISD#11 District STEM Fair</p>

<p>1st Place and Outstanding Achievement (2009 and 2011)
United States Navy Award for Outstanding Research (2009)</p>

2

<p>Were you high when taking the ACT…?</p>

3

<p>I think your extensive research experience will lead admissions to look seriously at your application. But your weighted gpa and ACT scores are below the range that MIT admits, as you can see here: <a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/stats[/url]”>http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/stats&lt;/a&gt;. In fact, no one admitted last year had ACT composite scores below 25, and unless there is a typo above, yours are 22.</p>

<p>If you are a second language learner, you should take care to explain. If not, you might study and re-take the test.</p>

<p>MIT is very, very challenging, and the coursework will be more difficult than anything you’ve faced so far, despite the IB courses you’ve taken. Could you succeed in classes at MIT? That’s the question everyone evaluating your application will be asking. Students hoping to go on to graduate school need to maintain good grades at MIT. I think it’s clear that you may very well go on to become a successful researcher, but it isn’t clear that MIT will provide you the support and training you need during your undergraduate years. Look at it this way – if you apply and don’t gain admission, you could use the four years of undergraduate study to improve your skills and apply back to MIT for graduate school. </p>

<p>Good luck, though. You have a really interesting background and I expect you’ll do well in the long run.</p>

4

<p>That’s a typo on your ACT score, right? A 22 on the ACT would adversely affect your chances of admission at the large, public university where I teach, because the university has run studies on the rates of return after the first year, and the graduation rates, as functions of the ACT composite score. A score below 24 would put you in the “at risk” category here, to say nothing of MIT.</p>

<p>Aside from that, to me you look golden, with four caveats:</p>

<p>1) MIT admissions will want to know about the actual projects you did, what your contributions to the research were, what you learned, and what impact your work has had, as opposed to just the list of prizes.
2) That’s enough prizes for about 4 applicants. Is this “for real”? I know that many of the competitions award multiple prizes for a single project, but still, this looks a little over-the-top to me. The Intel awards are for team projects, right? You’ll want to write about the contributions of your team-mates, too, and your interactions.
3) You are at risk of falling into the category of posters who annoy PiperXP, by posting chances threads with a set of accomplishments that would have most people drooling.
4) And then there’s that ACT score. Is this thread a joke, or an experiment?</p>