Would I have any chance at MIT?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

I’m an incoming senior, and I feel like I have no chance at MIT. However, my mom is telling me to apply since I’m a girl planning to apply for civil engineering, and the acceptance rate for girls is higher at MIT.

Currently, my 9-11 GPA is a 4.2 W and 3.95 UW, and my 10-11 GPA is a 4.3 W and 3.92 UW. I’m not sure how much freshman year grades matter to MIT, but I got a 4.0 W and UW both semesters. Sophomore year I took one AP class (Human Geo) and I got a 4.16 W and 4.0 UW both semesters. I took four AP classes junior year (Lang, Calc AB, Physics 1, and Environmental), but screwed up my first semester and got two B’s, so my GPA was a 4.28 W and 3.71 UW. However, second semester I improved and got a 4.57 W and 4.0 UW. Next year, I’m planning to take AP Lit, AP Macro, AP Calc BC, AP Stats, AP Comp Sci, AP Chinese, and Robotics.

I took the SAT and ACT in June, so the scores aren’t out yet. I’m planning to take the Math II and Physics subject tests in August.

My class rank as of right now is 12/580 and I’ve been president, VP, and had division leadership roles in key club since sophomore year. I’m also in NHS and was the VP of CSF junior year. I was in JV tennis junior year and I hope to be on varsity senior year. I will most likely have at least 400 community service hours.

I feel like the two B’s I got in first semester of junior year messed up any chances I might’ve had with MIT. Also, I don’t feel like I’m getting any higher than a 1400 on my SAT since I’m not stellar at the English section. I’m not sure how much my extracurriculars will help me with admissions either. I’m also mixed Chinese/White and I’m part of a middle-class family in California if that changes anything.

I apologize that I made that so long, but let me know if I should bother applying for MIT. Thank you!

2

From what I gathered, your GPA should be fine, and the 2 B’s you got won’t matter very much, although they will ask about them. If you’re still scared about them, MIT has approved people who got 1 and 3 B’s.
Also,there’s nothing you can do about it now, so you should focus on other things, like studying for the SAT, a 1400 on the regular one can really hurt you, since you would have to get a 700 on both Math and Reading sections; About your extracurriculars, I’m also not sure about how they’re “measured” myself, almost nobody is, so try not to worry too much about them, if you do them just for the passion you have, that should be enough.
And about the: “should I bother applying for?” I’d say it’s worth a shot, the worst that could happen is getting rejected, like the vast majority of those who try. If that happens, remember that even a guy who built a working nuclear reactor in his garage got rejected, so you won’t be a failure. I’m just a student with the same dream, so don’t take my advice for granted, and from nobody else in this forum, read the posts from the official site and keep doing what you do!

3

Adcoms can smell “I’m only applying here because my mom made me.” If you don’t actually want to go, don’t apply.

“I want to go, but I’m afraid of rejection,” is a different kind of problem. Taking risks and going beyond your comfort zone are part of growing up. Have a reach school on your final list and take a chance at rejection, just make sure it’s someplace you’d actually want to go. It’s good practice for life.

4

Your grades are fine. They won’t be the reason for a rejection. Focus on things you can control such as standardized scores, extracurriculars, letters of recommendation.

5

Your grades are a lot better than mine were, and I got accepted. I had quite a few Bs on my high school transcript. My high school unweighted GPA was 3.86. I had 1440 SATs, and maybe a similar number of extracurriculars. I think you will have more APs than I did. So I’d say your chances are okay.

6

I agree with @AroundHere. If you really want to go then apply. Don’t apply just because your mother wants you to. MIT is an academically very challenging university, and your mother won’t be doing your homework and won’t be taking the tests.

If the B’s are in math or science courses that is unfortunate but you still probably have a chance. If the B’s are in humanities then I am not sure that they will care at all (I did a lot worse that this in English and History and language classes and still got in, although that was a very long time ago).

When I was there the median score on the math part of the SAT was 800, I am pretty sure that this is still true. However, there were lots of students who did less than 700 on the English part of the SAT.

7

@DadTwoGirls One B was in AP Physics 1 and the other was in AP Lang. There’s a chance that my physics teacher might bump my B in physics if I passed the AP test (I’m really not sure if I did though). Thank you for your input though!

8

You will be fine, just remember that MIT is pretty much a reach for everyone who applies. But I heard grades and test scores (ACT/SAT) are pretty important there, as MIT doesn’t put as much emphasis on hooks (URMs, first-gen, etc.) This is also the reason why there are stories about students who has perfect GPA and SAT scores getting rejected…

Bottom line is, you won’t know if you’ll get accepted or not unless you actually apply. Best of luck.