Hi,
I am an Indian immigrant and I am currently a freshman in high school. My dream college is to get into MIT, what should I do? I will be taking the IB program in 11th and 12th grade which leaves me with one free elective. I have played the guitar for 3 years and have taken a break for one year (outside of school). I want to continue it. I am also planning to be valedictorian in my school and I want to take another IB class to increase my GPA points. Suppose I will get a really good grade on the IB tests and the SATs, what other factors are needed to go into these colleges? If I continue to take a sport or fine arts for the next 3 years, I have to be really good at it to show that those 3 years were worth it. Which would colleges prefer: sport or fine art? If I take that, I will have time for other activities but I won’t be valedictorian. Can you please help me on this and also tell me which colleges I will probably get into?
MIT is a very big reach school for ALL applicants. If you are not a U.S. citizen, it’s an even bigger reach. Admission rate is under 5% I believe.
So…I would suggest that you do what you enjoy…if it’s sports, do sports. If it’s fine arts, do fine arts. There is no magic formula that will guarantee MIT admission. There just isn’t.
And if you don’t get accepted, you will never know why!
You are now, what? 14 years old? I would suggest that you broaden your horizons over the next couple of years. Sure, apply to MIT if that still is a reasonable application for you. But make sure you start to think of other colleges where you can enjoy attending, and are affordable…and will help you reach your goals. There are plenty of schools out there beside MIT…start looking for them…in about a year.
Straight from MIT admissions:
"Find what you love, and do it. Maybe it’s a sport. Maybe it’s an instrument. Maybe it’s research. Maybe it’s being a leader in your community. Math. Baking. Napping. Hopscotch. Whatever it is, spend time on it. Immerse yourself in it. Enjoy it.
First of all, you need to know that it is still early in your plan to get into US colleges and universities. You need to perform well in school. Your activities and extracurriculars will be based on high school activities. If you plan to continue an activity, then that will show longevity and dedication to your EC.
Also, you need to know that MIT is deluged with hundreds of thousands of applicants, each year, from all over the world; especially from India, which means that you have to be one of the top students in all of your country, to even be considered for admission to a top US university.
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Secondly, you need to figure out your budget. All of the schools in the US are expensive. What will your parents pay yearly? You need a budget.
In addition to the excellent points mentioned in the posts above, I’d like you to consider the possibility that MIT might not be a great fit for you. It’s no doubt an excellent school, but that does not make it the right school for every individual and every personality type.
It’s too early for you to have a dream school. Enjoy high school, do your very best, and try not to be obsessed with getting into one specific school. There are lots of factors that go into selective school admission decisions and many of them are not in your control.
By the time you’re approaching your senior year, you’ll likely have a better idea of what kind of college experience appeals to you. At that point you need to look deeper than just the brand name and build a balanced list of colleges. And most importantly get a firm budget from your parents, as aunt_bea mentioned.
Good luck and enjoy your high school years!
Actually, I will caution you to NOT elevate any college to the “dream school” level. Find a bunch of colleges where you will be happy to study…with a variety of levels of competitiveness for admission.
This implies you live in the US. Do you have permanent residency status? Or not?
Agreed. I should have made that clear in my post.
You are a 9th grader. It is impossible to give you a list now of colleges you probably will get accepted to.
You can have a 4.0 GPA and a perfect SAT and yet not get admitted to any of these super reachy schools. I see this happening to kids every year. That’s because perfect stats are only the starting point for admission into these schools. They have only a few thousand seats each year and tens of thousands of “perfect” applicants. That’s when all your other accomplishments, essays, letters of recommendation, etc come in to play; along with factors you have little or no control over such as your demographics, zip code, competitiveness of your school and region, your parents’ level of education and affluence (or lack thereof), etc.
In other words, none of us cannot predict your chance of success!
So focus on being the best student you can be and excel at the extracurricular activities you truly enjoy. And don’t obsess over the outcome.
Thanks for catching this. Are you currently a student in the US? Please focus on your current studies. Focusing now, intently on MIT, does not mean that you will be admitted.
Every college and university is different. MIT does not fit everyone. The “TOP 10” do not fit everyone. MIT is a very competitive school and they are VERY selective about their incoming students. Trying to plan your life, now, for a school that has a very strong possibility, and likelihood, of not admitting you (or thousands of other students) is not a way to spend your high school years.
If you will be applying as a US permanent resident or citizen, being Indian is irrelevant, and improving your chances (about 5%) rests on the same basis as all US applicants to top schools: achieve exceptional stats, demonstrate a passion for your studies, and if possible produce achievements recognized on a national and/or international level e.g: science fairs, RSI, olympiads, math competitions, etc.
If you are an Indian national without US residence, the odds are much lower - probably in the sub 1% range. MIT doesn’t publish enrollment by country, but Harvard - with similar acceptance rates and numbers of international applicants - does. Harvard averages about 6 Indian students enrolled in each incoming class. To be accepted from India at Harvard (or peer schools like MIT, Yale, Princeton, etc.) you have to stand out as one of the handful of most amazing students in India, and/or have absurdly wealthy, or well known parents.
OP has said:
That implies OP is a permanent resident (green card holder) or citizen in the US. If permanent resident, he may obtain citizenship by the time he applies to college.
Yes, country of origin is not relevant but being a permanent resident is different than being a citizen. For example, some public schools only provide aid (including merit scholarships) to citizens and not to permanent residents.
Somewhat off topic, but given current trends in language usage (un-housed vs homeless, woman vs cis female; etc.) I’m not particularly confident in what anyone means by immigrant absent clearer indications of the actual status. That’s why I split the answer so that OP can choose which description fits them best.
I like the “applying sideways” blog that @worriedmomucb posted a link to. As I understand it, it recommends that you do what is right for you, and do it very well. This is the approach that my family has used, and up to now it has worked well for us (including getting me into MIT as an international student many years ago). However, what was right for me, what was right for my wife, and what was right for my two daughters is entirely different.
In terms of taking IB classes, again, do what is right for you. Do not worry about how university admissions is going to interpret it. Think about what level of class work is right for you. Also, in math (I was a math major) take classes that you are ready to take, and be very cautious about jumping ahead. What you will learn next year is going to be based on what you are supposed to be learning this year, and on what you learned last year.
The same approach works for ECs. Participate in the ECs that are right for you. Whatever you do, do it well. If you get into a leadership position, remember that “leadership” is not about being boss. Instead, it is largely about making the activity better for everyone, and listening and then applying reasonableness and common sense.
One last point is that MIT is a “fit” school. It is appropriate for some very strong students, but it is not appropriate for all very strong students. We can think about this more when you get closer to the time to apply to universities.
You are asking the wrong questions and making the wrong plans.
You don’t know enough about college and about yourself to even determine whether MIT is even a good place for you.
NO NO NO NO!!
Again, that is the wrong question.
The right question is: what do YOU prefer? Sports, art, or both?
You cannot plan to be a valedictorian, because you have absolutely no control over what other students in your high school will be able to do. It is no different than planning to be accepted to MIT. You cannot do that either, since you do not control much of the process. All that you can do is do your best.
You have not finished your first semester of freshman year, so exactly how would anybody be able to even start guessing this?
At this point in high school, you should be focussing on what you want to do in high school.
Doing well in high school is not getting an acceptance to a college with low acceptance rates that your parents and their friends (and your friends in high school) consider to be “prestigious”.
Doing well in high school is being able to feel pride in what you accomplished in high school.
Your life in high school should be about trying to become your best self. For your own sake, please please please do not spend your four years of high school trying to become somebody that you believe colleges will “like”.
A fact of life: the Best Colleges for you are the colleges which fit the person who you will be when you graduate high school, and there will be many of these. They are not the colleges which require that you curate a persona that the college may or may not like.
One last thing for you to think about:
If you need to change who you are for admission to a college, there is no way that it is a good college for you. If you need to make yourself unhappy in order to be accepted to a college, that means that the college will continue to make you unhappy when you attend that college. How can MIT (or another college) be a dream college is you need to be miserable for three years before you attend the college, and then, if you are accepted, continue to be unhappy for the next four years.
If you need to choose between art and sports to be accepted to a college, and you really want to do both, that means that the college is not a good college for you. There are dozens of amazing college which you can attend after engaging in both sports and art in high school, and even continue to engage in both while at college.
My advice - log off of this account and go do your best at high school.
Good luck in high school!!
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