My Math story... will a D ruin my chances for MIT?

CountingDown
Sat, 06 Jun 2009 19:02:56 +0000

BC covers just a bit more than AB. My non-mathy S took AB this year and found it pretty easy. If your school has a good rep for doing well on BC and you were at the top of the class in Pre-Calc, I’d say go for BC.

BTW, MIT does not reject you for less than straight As in math. S had a couple Bs scattered in there (one semester of functions, two semesters of MV/DiffEq where he had As on tests and low Bs on p-sets – and HW was 30% of the grade), is a math major, and got into MIT EA.

The place to address the early grades in Math is in the GC’s letter. Presumably this person realizes you were in a poor math placement and can explain. Be sure to set up a meeting with your GC and discuss this and how it might be presented in a letter. Applicants should not discuss grades in essays; it comes off as making excuses, whining or blaming.

Nevertheless, remember that MIT gets thousands of qualified applicants. There just isn’t room for everyone, no matter what one overcomes or what one does with the opportunities available. Admission is not an entitlement for hard work.