MIT is my dream school and I am planning on applying. To that end I am also working my butt off to be a "competitive applicant". Even though the odds of getting into MIT are against me, even more so is my mother. She is really pushing for me to go to MSU. It is not because of the money, it is only because it is closer (although I know that my 3 younger siblings, when it comes time for college, will be able to go whereever they want becasue my mother would have gotten over this notion that we will fail at life
if we go out of state). Her theory is is that I can go to MSU get my bachlors degree (which would only take me 4 semesters given all my AP credit that theygrant there) and then go anywhere I like for grad school. I tried to explain that even people who went to MIT for their undergrad don't always get into MIT grad school. She says she doesn't understand why MIT is so much better than MSU and why I would prefer MIT. I would like to go to school for engineering or physics. I have tried to tell her about the undergrad reseach oppurtunities and other things that make MIT distinctive, but I think she needs to hear it from someone else. I plan on showing her this post so any and all comments would be welcome and greatly appreciated. Thanks.