Advice appreciated, criticism

typical
Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:18:07 +0000

Hello there, everybody. This is my first time on this site; please excuse any errors as they are unintentional. Well, I’m interested in MIT mainly because engineering is a profession that seems to suite me well. Science and math are interesting to me, and critical thinking/problem solving doesn’t really get old.
Basically, I’m here to ask for help and advice from you guys on what I could do to make myself a better applicant and a more well-rounded person.
Currently, I’m a freshman, so it may be hard to predict what could happen. I plan on taking the SAT 1 and ACT next year as a sophomore (I have taken the SAT 1 before for a talent search).

Grade: 9
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Chinese
School: International Academy East

Grades: No GPA yet but I have all A’s right now
Major classes:
Integrated Math 3 (Algebra 2/Trig combined)
Biology
French 1
The IA goes by a “planned” curriculum, meaning very little choices are given for all courses. Next year, I take both physics and chemistry full year, and I plan on taking IB Physics out of other choices.

EC’s:
Junior Varsity Tennis for home high school (I tested into this high school, and it doesn’t have a sports program)
Quiz Bowl since 7th grade
Piano (regular competitions/trophies) and I must say, I’m developing a passion for this… I don’t practice as much as other kids in my studio, but I try to grind out 3 hours on school days, 2 at least. Summer, I do like 4-5 a day, which still isn’t very much. But at least I’m starting to understand it better and appreciate it…
Chinese school (yeah, I know… don’t say anything because I’m getting enrichment credit for this from school, and I get to take standardized tests for credit later on)

I also do clubs and such, but I don’t really count those as extracurriculars, because some of them are like ski/snowboard club. Since this is freshman year I didn’t do that much because I’m not too familiar with everything. Next year I’ll probably run for student council since people know me quite well now. I’ll also do science olympiad (I didn’t even know my school had it until it started…) and this year I’m aiming for captain at quiz bowl. As for tennis, I’m planning on doing it all the way high school, and aiming for Varsity in junior year.

So, my question is: what else should I be doing or trying to do? Probably too early to tell but does MIT seem suited for me?