Chance Me: MIT and Cornell - Space Sciences (NASA SEES Intern, Rocketry Team, MA Public School, 4.0 GPA)

Demographics

  • US domestic
  • State/Location of residency: MA
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public
    • My school never shows us any out-of-school opportunities to pursue our interests so I had to find my own opportunities

Intended Major

  • MIT: Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
  • Cornell: Probably Astronomy

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.915/5.3
  • Class Rank: 12/261 (top 4%)
  • ACT/SAT Scores:
    • SAT: 700 English, 780 Math
    • ACT: 35 English, 33 Reading, 34 Science, 31 Math (but I am retaking in Oct to get at least a 35)

HS coursework

  • English: Honors grades 9-10, AP Lang grade 11, Honors Poetry grade 12
  • Math: Honors grades 9-11, AP BC Calc grade 12 (that’s the highest my school offers)
  • Science: Biology Honors, Chemistry Honors, AP Chemistry, AP Physics C: Mechanics
  • History and social studies: CP 9-11, Honors 11 (US and World History)
  • Language other than English: Honors Spanish 9-11, AP Spanish V grade 12
  • Visual or performing arts: Theatrical Set Design, Jazz Choir
  • Other academic courses: AP Comp Sci Principles, AP Comp Sci A, Comp Sci II, Intro to Comp Sci, Engineering Honors, Emergency Medical Responder, gym classes

Awards

  • St. Lawrence University Book Award
  • AP Scholar
  • College Board Top School Recognition Award
  • 2023 DECA Districts 6th Place on Hotel and Lodging Management
  • 2024 DECA Districts 1st Place on Hotel and Lodging Management
  • 2023 Girls Tennis Division II Champions

Extracurriculars

  • NASA STEM Enhancement in Earth Sciences (SEES) Internship 2025, Moon and Moon-to-Mars Team
    • Chosen 82/3000. Designed long-term lunar research habitat, successful lunar regolith seed growth; AGU conference ‘25; research paper
  • Student Leader & Advocate, Youth Action Advisory Board
    • Attended statehouse meetings; reduced school substance use by 10%; presented youth health survey findings to community; organize school mental health events.
  • Co-Captain, Girls Tennis Team, Division II
    • 2023 State Champs; Varsity Letter '25; direct summer youth clinic for 20+ kids; undefeated 2023 & 24.
  • Organizer of a Rocket Science STEM Program for Local Elementary Schoolers
    • Taught rockets, STEM challenges, hydroponics & teamwork
  • Treasurer & Data Manager, Rocketry Club
    • Participate in the American Rocketry Challenge (ARC), built & launched 30+ rockets; manage team budget for purchase/deposits and launch data
  • Co-President, Math & Chemistry Tutor, Peer Tutoring Program
    • Improved tutee scores by 135%; organized group studies for AP & Honors classes
  • Mathematics Team
    • Placed 4th out of ~15 on team; ranked top 5 in Division; competed in monthly meets
  • Science Team
    • 1st place in Nuclear Chem; ranked top 5 in league

Essays/LORs/Other

  • LOR: Precalc Teacher, AP Lang Teacher, Research Mentor from NASA SEES (Scientist with PhD from NASA)
  • Personal Statement: Paper cranes and how they made me confident with belonging to a new school
  • MIT short responses:
    • Education question: Going to a school in a different country for one semester in 8th grade for family reasons
    • Collaboration question: Theater (might change it though but I am a theater kid)
    • Challenge question: When I had to step in for a Varsity position as a JV player
    • Pleasure question: Paper cranes or calligraphy because I am crafty but I might do theater if I switch the other response

Schools

  • MIT: EA
  • Cornell: RD
1 Like

Great record. The 35 ACT is great but a higher math can help. Still both are reaches - just because they are for all.

If you want large schools, CU Boulder and U Arizona are top shelf in planetary science - they’d be great safeties for you. ASU as well.

U Rochester and Florida Tech would make great private school safeties - although not as reputed in the field as the large publics - in case you need more.

I agree - you need a higher test. But your 780 Math is strong. I might take the SAT in hopes of boosting English too. I say that because 780 is the 25th percentile at MIT while a 35 is on the ACT That will be a hard lift from a 31 and you have the math score where you need it already.

Also, you didn’t mention cost. Have you run the NPCs ? These are $400k schools for - I’d check career outcomes. Cornell has a robust dashboard but even over multiple years doesn’t have enough data to say.

I assume you’ll go grad school
but I found a salary on Purdue’s table - had none for 2024 but $52K in 2023 - so - just so you see a potential outcome vs. investment if you are full pay.

Take your shot - but I think Cornell is your better odds but given they have no career data, how robust is their astronomy program? I might research more - and make sure you can afford - and that your parents want to afford these schools. Lots of great programs in this arena.

I’d say MIT is a no - as of now - and Cornell - hard to say but you never know. You’ll be in range I think - but yes, your test is low in one area on each and that might be what keeps you out.

Best of luck to you.

Cornell is very strong in astronomy and astrophysics. They have their own observatory and a very robust offering of courses.

OP -
Fun fact - Carl Sagan was a professor at Cornell for nearly 30 years. I got to hear him lecture when I was a student before he passed away.

For career information you can email: as_careers@cornell.edu

2 Likes

If you hope to go 1/2 you still have time to move Cornell to ED. 0/2 is the most likely outcome the way you are applying.

2 Likes

@np_207, of course you’re aware that no one here can really give you a chance of being admitted to MIT and Cornell, other than “unlikely,” and that is simply because these schools are reaches for everyone with single digit admit rates. It shouldn’t discourage you, but I assume you probably have more schools on your actual list, including target and likely schools?

It would help to know what type of responses you are looking for. Would you like people here to offer suggestions for additional schools that are more likely admits than the two you listed, or suggestions for lower cost schools, to fill out your list? Or did you want to discuss EA / ED / RD strategy?

4 Likes

Both are reaches. You need to make sure that you are applying to safeties. Whether you also want to apply to match schools might depend upon how you feel about your safeties.

You SAT score is superb. It is either at or below (depending upon what you look at) the 25th percentile for MIT. If I have my numbers right, then the 25th percentile for the math part of the regular SAT is 790 (some sources say 780). From my recollection as a freshman there (a long time ago), lots of MIT freshman had 800 on the math part of the regular SAT, and also on some SAT subject test or tests (usually in math and/or sciences). After the first week you just forget about it and don’t talk about it anymore.

Your stats are otherwise superb. It is not entirely clear to me how your GPA can be this high and put you “only” in the top 4%.

31 on the math part of the ACT is a possible concern for a student applying to MIT (unless you were sick that day, or took it when you were very young, or something).

I see no discussion of budget. You should either verify that your parents are fine with full pay, or have someone (probably a parent) run the NPC.

MIT is a lot of work. I would not call it “better”. I would call it “more academically demanding”. Some students love this. Some hate it. Some love it part of the time and hate it part of the time (or even at the same time). The desire to do this needs to come from inside the student themselves. Make sure that you want to do it.

I would only apply ED at all anywhere if two things are both true: (1) You are sure that it is your top choice; (2) Either you and your parents are fine with being full pay, or the NPC shows that it is likely to be affordable. ’

And make sure that you apply to safeties that you would be happy to attend.

2 Likes

Missed it but they are applying EA and RD. Thanks @michaelcollege .

I think given the overall SAT or ACT - he is saying the student is smarter to apply ED to Cornell - don’t want to speak for him but that’s the feeling I got.

That MIT is not happening and the best chance for Cornell is ED.

Hopefully the OPs ACT math comes up or SAT English comes up - but whatever happens, they are a great student and they will find a great home - whether it’s one of these two or otherwise.

1 Like

I think a few people here are able to do quite a bit better than that for some people, especially when applying to an ivy regular decision and MIT ea, with SAT’s and class rank slightly below average for those schools. In other words, you will never hear me saying “nobody can predict admissions” at top colleges because if I feel top colleges “are a reach for everyone,” I would more likely read and not comment. Note I even made sure to identify and clarify high school and it’s associated profile before I comment. To be more specific.

MIT EA - High Reach and Cornell borders between a high reach and a reach, but if OP moves to ED it becomes a regular reach. @AustenNut may or may not agree, but they are quite good at predicting admissions IMO.

Like others, I think you are a credible candidate for both of the colleges you named, but they are such hard admits you will want to make sure you have chosen other great colleges for your list. We can help, but you have not given a budget or other criteria that might guide us.

But just to give you an idea, if you would really like to do Earth and Space Sciences, the University of Washington has a great program in that:

If you would be interested in combining such an interest with Astronomy and related interests, Colorado Boulder has a great program like that:

As does Penn State, particularly a good choice if you prefer to stay closer to home:

Just a quick sampling of what is out there at not so reachy universities.

2 Likes

That is very kind of you to say, but I don’t feel qualified to say anything beyond “low probability” (i.e. sub-20%) chance for strong candidates to make it into a school that’s a reach-for-all-qualified students. That is not to say that I would estimate a student with a weaker profile as having a sub-20% rate for those schools (I might go so far as to say less than 1% or 5% or not worth an application), but for strong students, I just categorize them as low probability.

I suspect the only thing that might give a bigger nudge than normal is the NASA internship where the applicant was one of 82 chosen out of 3,000, but I don’t know if that would be enough for someone like @hebegebe to make a guess beyond “low probability.”

1 Like

@np_207

You are a very strong college applicant, but MIT is one of the most selective colleges in the world, and it’s hard for a high school student to know just how strong the national and international competition is. The NASA internship is certainly selective, but that level of accomplishment is very typical of applicants to MIT.

Based upon what I see, I agree with you and @michaelcollege that MIT is a high reach. What could change that? One thing is if you are a lower income family in which case your accomplishments would be considered compared to other lower income applicants. Another is if your research paper gets published in a peer reviewed journal.

My recommendation is that you ED to Cornell. I would also like to see the rest of your college list. If you are really set on astronomy, I would hope that includes Arizona.

4 Likes

The OP plans to retake the ACT to bring up their math score, but given that they already scored a 780 Math in the SAT, would it make more sense for them to instead re-take the SAT to try to bring up their English score? Here is what they posted:

ACT/SAT Scores:

  • SAT: 700 English, 780 Math

  • ACT: 35 English, 33 Reading, 34 Science, 31 Math (but I am retaking in Oct to get at least a 35)

For MIT, the OP should keep in mind that they will have to submit all scores from all exams taken. Of course I am not an expert on MIT’s evaluation process, so I am not sure how MIT evaluates an application with lots of varying scores, or how that might affect the OP’s decision making process of which exam(s) to retake.

1 Like

good point! I recall that there are one or two colleges that have that requirement.