Advice appreciated, criticism

collegealum314
Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:51:02 +0000

Yes, you do look like a good fit for a place like MIT.

Science Olympiad was my major academic activity (and I got in), so don’t feel like it’s not important enough to help you get admitted. I knew a lot of people at MIT who did that, too. My activities freshman year kind of looked like yours too.

Think about taking the AMC’s (1st round of math olympiad selection). You’d probably enjoy it. Shoot for qualifying for the AIME. It’s realistic given your background, and it would look nice. They used to give it in February, so if you got moving you probably could take it. You will have to be somewhat pro-active if your school doesn’t have people take the exam. Talk to your math team coach or contact the AMC directly.

Doing research for one summer at some university and submitting your work to Intel or Siemens would also help, but it’s a little early for that. Most people don’t do that until the summer of their junior year. I generally took classes and/or played sports during the summers, and didn’t do research.

I think you are approaching things the right way, but just keep in mind that it college admissions is a crapshoot and things aren’t always logical. One piece of advice: in a couple of years you’ll be taking a lot of standardized tests, including ones in science. The guys that just coast through with A-'s or don’t try to challenge themselves generally end up having trouble on these tests. And if you try to coast with A-'s, there’s going to be a time where you miss the cut-off if you get a teacher with harsh or unfair grading. Try to crush your classes and try to find ways to challenge yourself and the stuff you are required to do, like SAT’s and SATII’s, won’t require any preparation.

There’s a thread on the Caltech forum that will give you a good guide.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-institute-technology/442418-anyone-wanting-know-their-chances-getting-into-caltech.html
Caltech admissions is more straightforward; shoot for that and then apply to MIT too and see what happens.