Does going to IMSA increase or decrease chances of Stanford+MIT?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

I’m a 9th grader currently evaluating whether to go to IMSA or not. My admission is basically guaranteed because I was accepted last year and they told me I’d get in this year. I should also add that I would start off doing Calculus BC at IMSA.

Currently at my home school, Barrington High School, I have straight-As. I can reasonably get a 4.65 or higher on a 5.0 scale at Barrington, which would put me in about the top 3% of students.

IMSA, for those that don’t know, is a three year state charter school in Illinois. Now, I don’t really have that good of a knowledge of the talent pool at places like these. Here’s the admissions statistics, though: https://www.imsa.edu/sites/default/files/upload/2017school-profile.pdf
One of the main benefits of going to IMSA is SIR, their research program, which allows juniors and seniors to do research in Chicago every Wednesday and over the summer.

And here it is for Barrington: https://connection.naviance.com/family-connection/auth/login/?hsid=barrington. Click the guest option on the right.

My question is this: will going to IMSA increase or decrease my chances of getting into Stanford or MIT? I want to do computer science and maybe an econ+computer science double major. These are my dream schools. Barrington only sends one a year to Stanford, and basically no one to MIT. Will the added benefits of going to IMSA(more likely to do research, more advanced courses to take) help me in admissions more than any possible downsides to going to a more competitive school, where the course load is way harder?

2

I think that is the wrong thing to consider, by far.

IMSA should not be considered a stepping stone to some college. The experience by itself is life-changing and in terms of the bonds, network, etc., it’s akin to an elite LAC or boarding school.

But to answer your question, whether you get into MIT or Stanford will come down to you much more than what HS you go to. Consider IMSA solely on it’s own merits and don’t even think about whether it betters or worsens your chances at some college or not.

3

I think that IMSA has many merits on its own, for sure. At the same time, I don’t really think that its worth it to move from my already pretty good high school if IMSA decreases my college chances.

4

My recommendation is that if IMSA is not enticing enough on it’s own merits, then don’t go.

Once you become an adult, you’ll realize that whether you went to this or that elite college/program actually isn’t that big of a deal and that you as an individual matters more. MIT and Stanford aren’t more awesome than anywhere else, despite what you may think right now.

And I actually consider the HS experience to be more formative.

5

BTW, the truth of the matter is that nobody can truthfully tell you definitely that going to or not going to IMSA will increase or decrease your chances at MIT or Stanford.

Nobody can look in to the future or reside in alternate universes.