Will I make it to MIT?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Hey guys,
I am hoping to attend college at MIT, as I would like to get a degree in Theoretical and Mathematical physics, and feel MIT would give me the best possible education in that area. (Back-ups would be Standford or California Institute of Technology)</p>

<p>I will be a freshman during the 2010-2011 school year.</p>

<p>This is my 4-year schedule as is, any reccomendations to improve my schedule would be extremely appreciated. We'll assume I get A's. I always have, and will do my best to continue that trend.</p>

<p>During Middle School:
Algebra I H
Geometry/Trigonometry H</p>

<p>Summer Before Freshman Year:
Spanish I at the community college (Going through that now)</p>

<p>Freshman Year:
English I H
Algebra II H
Biology H
World History/Geography H
Spanish II
Student Government </p>

<p>Summer Freshman Year:
Spanish III
Some volunteer work. It's a year away, so I'm not exactly sure.</p>

<p>Sophmore Year:
English II H
Trig/Pre-Calc H
Chemistry H
World History AP
Spanish IV
Student Government if Re-elected, otherwise some other Math/Science class</p>

<p>Summer Sophmore Year:
Uncertian...Maybe Community College, Maybe Internships if I qualify</p>

<p>Junior Year:
English III H
Calc BC AP
Chem II AP
American History AP
Spanish V AP
Student Government if Re-elected, otherwise some other Math/Science class</p>

<p>Summer Junior Year:
Uncertian...Maybe Community College, Maybe Internships if I qualify</p>

<p>Senior Year:
English IV AP
Stat AP
Physics H
American Government AP
<extra science="" math="">
Student Government if Re-elected, otherwise some other Math/Science class</extra></p>

<p>Other than academic subjects I will be doing:
Various Scientific Competitions
FIRST Robotics Club
Varsity Soccer (I love soccer, been playing since I was a kid. World Cup anyone?)
Track and Field
Speech and Debate Club
NHS Junior/Senior Year
Chess Club
Community service at Habitat for Humanity on weekends. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, (at least in terms of my chances of being accepted into MIT) I live in Arizona, which doesn't rate very high on the Edu-matastic Education Standings in the United States. How will that effect my odds?</p>

<p>Thanks for your help!</p>

2

<p><a href=“Back-ups%20would%20be%20Standford%20or%20California%20Institute%20of%20Technology”>quote</a>

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Like MIT, these schools are highly selective and should not be considered safeties.</p>

3

<p>senior year, I would look into taking Calc III rather than (or in addition to) Stats if you really love math. other than that, your 4-year plan looks almost identical to mine when i was entering freshman year. :)</p>

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<p>Go away from this forum for at least two years. It is way too early to think about college at this level of detail. Don’t sweat over where you live either. Elite schools like to find kids from all over the country. Do stick with honors classes. Do make sure you are in a good math track that will get to calc by junior or senior year if possible.</p>

5

<p>Oh man, when I think of MY summer before freshman year of high school…</p>

6

<p>dude, CalTech isn’t a safety. Second of all, it’s Stanford not Standford and that is not a backup either.</p>

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<p>Even if you straight As with tons of AP’s/IB’s and Honors, 2350+ your SAT/35-36 ACT, and have really great EC’s, unless you have an extraordinary hook (like the president’s son/daughter), Stanford and Caltech can’t be safeties.</p>

8

<p>I love how you assume that since you’ve gotten A’s in middle school, you will automatically get A’s all through high school, including in AP classes. good luck with that.</p>

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<p>Also I wish you especially good luck with backup, standford.</p>

10

<p>^^^^^^^^
Lol, classic.</p>

11

<p>Middle school and high school are way different. I got A’s easy in middle school, but in high school, I had some trouble getting my grades up.</p>

<p>You can get an A in every class you take, but grades are mostly a reflection of your effort. </p>

<p>If you try like you did in middle school, you’ll probably get a C.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

12

<p>I don’t see you mention that you will be participating in any math competitions. Doing well in those is an extremely good way to rise above the pack. There are also very prestigious summer math camps that are quite competitive to get into; that would be an excellent aspiration if you foresee a career in math theory.</p>

13

<p>Get some test scores and ECs, and come back summer of junior year then we’ll talk.</p>

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<p>

<a href=“http://imgur.com/DkIYR.png[/IMG]”>http://imgur.com/DkIYR.png

</a></p>

<p>epic thread title / username combo</p>

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<p>Seriouspost: </p>

<p>@Possibly - most of the posters in here are correct, you should not even be thinking about this for another few years.</p>

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<p>^^I enjoyed that too</p>

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<p>I’d caution you against focusing too much on academics. Yeah, okay, you hear alot about how GPA is the most important thing to college admissions. But (at least for me) it’s much more enjoyable to take it easy in school, get maybe a 3.9 UW and do some fun ECs than to be a grade grubber for the 4.0. </p>

<p>If you like physics, I recommend self studying for USAPhO and going from there.</p>

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<p>I hear that USAPhO is just applied integrals for x hours of testing. USABO is much more fun. :P</p>

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<p>Ye, if you make USAPho team, u’ll have a good shot and can consider caltech and stanford as safeties…:P</p>

20

<p>

</p>

<p>Caltech would be likelier than Stanford because the former is more swayed by major science awards. In any case, neither Caltech nor Stanford is to be considered a safety.</p>