<p>Two items: as an MIT grad, I am very happy that there was no calculus requirement, as my HS did not offer calculus of any sort (and probably still doesn’t). Since virtually everyone had already had calculus, I survived my first semester only because of pass/fail - but I did survive. There are still high schools that don’t offer calculus, and although I know that students can take calculus online these days, it’s not always as easy as you might think.</p>
<p>Second, I don’t think i will encourage my son to apply to MIT. Yes, they have an excellent STEM reputation, but they are relatively weak in the humanities, and right now he loves history almost as much as math and science. I will attempt to steer him in the direction of a university that has a strong history reputation in addition to STEM subjects, so that list provided earlier will be a big help. I would strongly encourage parents of kids who might possibly have other interests to look at the bigger picture of universities with many different strengths.</p>
<p>Of course, if your kid is absolutely convinced that he/she will be an engineer, then the tech schools (WPI, RPI, etc.) would be very valid options. Many many colleagues who came from those schools were excellent engineers.</p>