My kid didn’t take 12 AP courses, had no college counselor and zero SAT prep tutors… but chose MIT anyway. Not for the earning potential, not for the “door opening” either.
He chose it because the “drinking from a fire-hose” analogy that EVERYONE kept repeating- professors, alums, current students, adcom’s- was exactly what he was looking for. MIT didn’t insist “You must apply to the engineering school if you want engineering” or “CS is an impacted major”. Since everyone pretty much studies the same thing until they are done with HASS and the core- it doesn’t matter whether you think you’re god’s gift to physics or chemical engineering- everyone studies the same stuff. As a person with a lot of interests, having to decide while still in HS “I’m going to be an X” wasn’t appealing to him (and as it happens, he changed his major several times at MIT, picked up a minor, swapped out the major and the minor, etc.)
There are reasons- enjoying the vibe, craving the educational challenge- that people choose a college which have nothing to do with starting salary. Right???
And only on CC do people “fret” that they aren’t going to get admitted to MIT. In the real world, EVERYONE with a cursory understanding of statistics knows that admission is unlikely. So there’s no fretting. Apply, then figure out a solid Plan B and hope for the best. Fretting means you have a poor understanding of the odds- which doesn’t bode well for someone who wants to attend MIT.