Wow, thanks for the replies... I expected harsher criticism than I got
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Why do you want to apply to MIT? To me, nothing in your posted transcript so far indicates a strong interest in math/science/engineering.
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You're correct, nothing in my transcript does indicate a strong interest in math/science/engineering. However, this doesn't mean I'm not interested. I have always had a desire to figure out how things work. I can still remember every time I visited Burger King I would take the toy that came with the kid's meal and crack it open to figure out how the mechanisms within the cheap plastic made sparks or how they wound up the wheels to propel the little car. When I was ten years old I wanted to know how the air conditioner worked so I removed it and disassembled it (it was a small window air conditioner). I also disassembled the vacuum cleaner and other things like this. Things didn't always work when I reassembled them, more often than not I had to troubleshoot the problem. Troubleshooting always turned out to be a learning experience though, and I can't recall an event where I couldn't fix the problem. What also attracts me to engineering is the power of creation. The fact that a useful function can be performed by something created out of otherwise useless breadboard, circuits and diodes is intriguing to me. When I was in the seventh grade I decided I needed a quality computer... so what did I do? I took up $600 that I had saved and went down to a local electronics warehouse. I matched all of the form factors and such and purchased all of the parts that I needed. I went home and spread it all out on the floor. My mom came home and freaked out that I had wasted my money on computer parts that I had no use for. Within two hours I had that computer booted up and running. Matter of fact, it's the one I'm typing this post on at the moment
Well, I let my engineering reasons ramble on a little long so I'll just say this about math/science. They're both entirely logic based and have the power to provide rational solutions to engineering problems.
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you're taking only 5 courses, none of which is an honors class. This is probably the most puzzling thing on your transcript. You say that at the end of your sophomore year, after having received straight As, you did not feel prepared to take on more challenging classes as a junior because of the "Freshman year incident". I don't think this makes sense.
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Well, six courses if you count the year of Spanish 2 that I'm repeating (I don't get credit for re-taking it, but it will replace the D from freshman year). The reason I didn't sign up for honors/AP courses at the end of sophomore year wasn't so much that I didn't want the challenge (believe me I do), but I was more afraid that the workload of honors/AP courses would perhaps end up digging me a hole just like the one I fell into in freshman year. (I hope that's a better explanation, my confidence level hadn't fully recovered)
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survive the basic core requirements: two semesters of calculus and two semesters of physics, in addition to other coursework.
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Yes, I've read the recommended high school preparation section of the MIT site. It lists physics as "recommended"... I suppose I'll assume that that means your chances are 1000x lower without it (with exceptions to the rule). In this case would it be vital that I take physics next year? (I don't believe my school allows me to take AP Physics without first passing Physics with an A)
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But to sort of parallel what CalAlum said, good grades alone will NOT get you into MIT. They'll make you eligible for consideration. What's your passion? Do you do stuff besides academics?
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Hmm... Well to be honest I my passion is learning... In my free time I read books, earlier this year I worked on a political campaign (of course none of that ever transfered in to community service hours required to graduate as it's not an 'approved service'), and I have an appreciation for foreign culture (films, traditions, etc). Actually, I originally intended to take Korean this year at a local college (my school only offers Spanish/French and none of the community colleges had Korean). Unfortunately the only time the course was offered was in the dead center of my school day. So far I've taught myself to read Hangul characters, I just have no idea what they mean
It's hard to make progress in learning Korean when I have other courses that take precedence because they actually count as official grades.
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It might be helpful to know what AP/Honors options you HAD but didn't take advantage of your junior year. Taking 3 AP classes your senior year, even with stellar grades in each subject, might not make up for it.
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To be honest I probably could have taken all of my current courses in AP/honors (with the exception of Spanish & AutoTech). I do understand that taking three AP courses will not be enough damage control for the 3 years of regular courses.
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If you get good scores on your SAT and SAT IIs (be sure to at least take the ones MIT asks for - Math lvl. I or II and one science subject - doesn't matter which), I think you have a chance.
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Well I'll be studying all summer for the SATs and just today I took the STAR CST (California Standards Test) and it feels to me like I got 100% on the chemistry portion so I'll take that as my science. I'll decide which math level to take depending on how confident I am after my summer Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry courses.
My apologies for making another lengthy post, perhaps I went into too much detail but I suppose that's what forums are for :P