i really would like to see where i stand in getting admitted to MIT. any pointers?
ok well i'm an upcoming junior, class of 2014, in high school with a REALLY good work ethic.
my freshman classes:
cp biology (normal class)
honors geography
honors language arts
accelerated integrated algebra
sophomore classes:
honors chemistry
honors literature
ap world history
accelerated integrated geometry
honors latin (but i dropped out seecond semester because my mom was afraid i would get a B)
my schedule for next year:
ap physics b
ap language and composition
ap us history
ap psychology
pre-calculus
honors Spanish II (im skipping spanish 1 because im a native speaker)
my schedule for senior year:
ap liturature
ap macro and microeconomics
ap calculus bc
ap biology (to make up for my normal biology)
honors spanish III
self-study ap statistics
my extracariculers are:
math team (junior and senior)
mu alpha theta (junior and senior)
national honor society (junior and senior)
softball (but only for my sophomore year and i was a scholar athlete in a varsity team)
the Gwinnett County Student Leadership Team (junior and senior) (this is a prestigious organization in my county and only 3 student are chosen every year)
current GPA: 3.6 and by my senior year ill most likely have a 3.8-9
and i'm in the top tenth percentile
i have a STRONG love for math. i call it a passion, and i'm going to major in mathematics.
i just want to know if any MIT alumni or applicants think this is good enough? what do you
suggest to heighten my chances? don't worry about my SAT scores. i'm in the process of studying intensively.
you guys, i know what i want and i want MIT. its my heart and soul and i am determined. i know i can get into a non ivy but i believe if i set my mind to it i can get into MIT. that's all i want.
So by the time you apply and you get straight As from here on out, you'll have about a cumulative 3.77 GPA. That alone, makes your MIT quest quite a hurdle
And please take note of barrk's factoid for you. Any legitimacy you have about "I must be MIT" is pretty squashed when you don't even know that it's not an Ivy League school.
Frankly your fixation, at this stage, is rather poor form. You need to keep a wide list of options ahead of you.
Your course load is quite decent, but you should state what you did in your EC's, or any accomplishments/awards you have. Have you ever taken the AIME or USAMO? If you qualify for the USAMO, you've got a much better chance (some forums say that ~75% of USAMO qualifiers who apply to MIT get accepted).
Also, don't worry about whether MIT's an Ivy League school (it's not). The Ivy League is an athletic conference, similar to the Pac-12 we have here in AZ and the West coast.
MIT places good weight on the interview and recommendation letters, so it's hard to predict whether you've got a good chance. It's quite selective (acceptance rate ~8-9%) so you'll need to apply to other colleges as well.
I'm in no position to give the odds of you getting in but if you challenge yourself and pursue your passions (and lift your GPA like you plan) then I wouldn't say its impossible. As much as I'd like to say otherwise, you likely won't be one of the top applicants but you surely wouldn't be one of the worst. Good luck and remember that as a mathematics major, the material will be essentially the same wherever you learn it, the only difference would be the rigor involved in undergraduate courses at MIT, so try not to worry too much about it.
I don't think being a girl helps in that sort of way. It's like telling a guy, "Hey, these cookies have too much flour, but because you're a guy, I think they taste great."
OP, I'd go for it. But don't get attached to any one school. It ends in heartbreak if you get rejected/WL or less happiness ('cause you thought I'm definitely gonna get in, no doubt *smugness*) when the acceptance letter comes in.
this is kind of my fault because i wrote this in a rush and didn't think from an outside perspective, but i didn't exactly say MIT was an ivy, i just said i knew i could make it into a non-ivy but again, it's kind of my fault. thank you for all the reply you guys i really appreciate the advice/constructive criticism, i'm trying my best for this school.
something i didn't mention however, is the reason i want to go to MIT. the reason i want to go to MIT is because i am fascinated/obsessed/in love with math and science, these are my passions and i couldn't imagine a career without it. therefore from a very young age i knew that i wanted to go to the best school that "specialized" in these subjects. that's where my goal for MIT set in.
