Should I Apply to MIT with a Low SAT/ACT Score? [740M, 670RW]

Applying to College Early Decision / Early Action
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Hi, everyone! I’m a high school senior from India, and I’m passionate about pursuing computer science and mathematics. I’d love to attend MIT because of its cutting-edge research, especially in AI and data science. But I’m worried that my SAT score (not very competitive) might hold me back, even with my background and accomplishments. Here’s a breakdown of my profile:

Academics and Background

• School: top of my class

• Academic Interests: Computer Science, Mathematics

• Honors: India Topper in IGCSE Hindi (Cambridge); 5th in Caltech Math Meet (worldwide); Rising Star Humanitarian Award (Indian Red Cross Society); ranked 36th in ISTSE; Intl Rank 1 in IMUN Math & Sci Olympiad; Finalist in Cognitive Classroom challenge in New York Academy of Science (we built an AI-AR education system)

• SAT: 1410 superscore; Lower than I’d hoped (concerned this will be a setback)
• ACT: 26; Lower than I’d hoped (concerned this will be a setback)

Extracurriculars & Projects

• Founder & CEO of STEMExpedition: Built a community with 3,000+ members, hosted global STEM events, created an AI therapist tool for mental health support

• HBV Risk Assessment Research with Stanford Asian Liver Center: Developed an AI tool to assess Hepatitis B virus impact and support early intervention

• Edumadeasy: Created a platform for IGCSE resources, reaching 15,000+ students in 100+ countries

• Employmentally App: Designed to connect local vendors with workers to reduce unemployment in my region

• Volunteer Work: Active with the Indian Red Cross and Dera Sacha Sauda, volunteering at blood drives, and providing educational support to underserved communities

Leadership

• Academic Minister & Head Boy: Led multiple school initiatives and events, including a 1,000-attendee webinar on cybercrime prevention

• New York Math Circle: Selected for the most advanced level and later served as a Teaching Assistant

Additional

• Research Papers: Published on topics from algorithmic problem-solving to compact MRI systems for low-resource settings

• Personal Story: My background and financial struggles have driven me to become self-sufficient and help support my family through freelance AI/web development projects

Do you think my SAT score might hinder my MIT chances, or should I still go ahead and apply given the rest of my application? Any feedback or advice would be really appreciated! Thank you!

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If you would care to say, how’d you do on the math section of the SAT? What were your section scores on the ACT?

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Yes, those scores will hinder your chances.

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740 math
670 ebrw

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should I apply in RD then? but in RD, the acceptance chances reduces

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If it’s any consolation - your chances at MIT would still be extremely low (low single digit %) even if you had a perfect SAT score. So it’s not just your score holding you back - it’s extremely competitive because there are far more highly qualified applicants than available seats.

Your chances are further lowered because you are an international student.

It looks like you need substantial financial aid? If so, all the top schools that meet full financial need for internationals are extremely hard to get into.

You should consider lower ranked schools that provide merit aid. But you should also make sure you have an affordable backup option in your home country that you’d be happy to attend.

Good luck.

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It doesn’t matter for MIT if you submit your application early or regular as the early is nonbinding.

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But my observation is that RD is even more competitive than EA, so it doesn’t help OP.

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India is over represented among applicants to MIT. Your background and achievements would be compelling IF you had an SAT M800 - because that’s what your competition will have + a lot of MIT students get that score without breaking a sweat.
M800 means no more than 3 errors in the math section.
The trick with standardized tests is to recognize patterns so you know how to handle the question. Do lots of sample tests and zero in on the types of mistakes you make, learn how to fix them, do a lot of questions with that same type/pattern till you get 5-10 in a row correct, then again the next day, then again the next day. Once that one issue is fixed, look for the next one and repeat.

That means applying to MIT RD.
Where else are you applying? Do you need a full ride?
Have you considered a college such as Bowdoin?

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MIT is the mountain top, no doubt, but there are many schools (in and out of the US) that have incredible programs for AI and Data Science. MIT is likely not happening for you, so it would be a good idea to explore other options. You have some excellent aspects to your background.

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I don’t think the OP mentioned financial need? But if $$$ is needed it is harder for sure. Two ideas for high - reach top AI schools that are test optional…Stanford (meets international need) and CMU (does not). The rest of your application is super strong but top schools are still a reach, even test optional. Good luck!

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The percentage of accepted international students at MIT is about 2%. So…apply if you want to…and see. That’s what a lot of well qualified applicants will be doing.

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Not explicitly, but I inferred that from this statement:

And hence suggested:

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So obviously this is not going to be exactly what you want to hear, but . . .

MIT last reported 6717 International applicants. It accepted 129. So it had to reject 6588 as it was accepting the 129. So how does it do that?

Well, we know one thing MIT is looking for is outlier math ability. The SAT Math is not necessarily super important per se, but MIT has suggested in the past their reported SAT Math is so high just because the sorts of math outliers they are looking for typically find it easy to get a very high SAT Math score. I’m not qualified to judge your math credentials, but part of your problem is going to be reconciling your SAT Math score with their normal expectations.

And then something a lot of MIT applicants may not understand is MIT takes very seriously that its undergrad program is part of what is sometimes called the Liberal Arts Tradition. Most of the top STEM undergrad programs outside the US are not, but MIT is.

And so no matter what you major in, MIT is going to require you to get a broad liberal arts education. And among other things, it will do that by requiring you to take HASS (Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences) classes. And MIT teaches those HASS classes at a very high level, and so it expects all its students to be well-prepared to thrive in high-level HASS classes.

So MIT’s reported RW range is ALSO very high. Not quite as high as its Math range, but for the SAT its middle 50% is 740-780, and it is 69-72 for ACT R+W.

OK, so I think Internationals, and really all MIT applicants, should understand that one of the easiest ways for MIT to get down to a manageable pool of applicants is to eliminate almost all of those applicants who might be competitive by their normal standards in terms of Math/STEM, but are not competitive by their normal standards in terms of Reading/Writing/HASS.

Of course you can still apply to MIT anyway. I just think you need to understand your challenge will be to convince them you are BOTH the sort of math outlier they are looking for AND the sort of Reading/Writing/HASS student they are looking for, despite not having SAT scores they would normally expect from such applicants.

And since described that way that is an extremely daunting challenge, if you want to study in the US, you should make sure to apply to other US colleges that do not have the same expectations as MIT. Indeed, for a variety of excellent US colleges, your test scores might be just what they are looking for in an International applicant–at least if you can pay what they charge, which is a whole other topic.

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Should you apply? Yes, if you want to attend.

Will you get in - unlikely - but if you don’t apply, you won’t get in - that I 100% know.

Good luck.

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As others have said, yes. I think that your math SAT is quite low specifically for MIT.

One thing that I wonder about, how have you done in math classes in high school? For students wanting to go to MIT, whether you get A’s, A+'s, or A-'s in math and science classes is likely to matter, particularly when you have 740 on the math SAT. Have you taken any SAT science or math subject tests? If so, how did they go?

How many of the questions on the math SAT test did you consider difficult? Did you run out of time, or did you miss several questions? Did you take the SAT more than once?

740 is in general a very good math SAT score. However, it is not good for MIT (nor for Caltech). From personal experience I can assure you that math classes at MIT are way, way more difficult than the math section of the regular SAT exam.

MIT is going to have plenty of applicants from India who have 800 on the math SAT test, and who also have ECs that are very strong. I do wonder whether you should just focus on other schools.

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Yeah, it never feels great to tell someone simply not to apply.

But in fact the very experienced college counselors at our feederish HS will apparently do just that sometimes. And reportedly MIT is one of the top colleges for that happening. Meaning apparently they have a good idea who might get accepted to MIT from our HS, and if a kid clearly is not in that group, they will encourage them not to apply.

That said, I’m not in a position to know that is the right advice for the OP. I just do think it is sometimes the right advice for some kids.

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OP- Apply.

And then put MIT out of your mind, and take all the energy you are using to wonder if your scores are high enough, and apply it to finding 3 colleges you can get in to, afford, and can be excited about.

They are out there. But you won’t be able to get excited about them if you are obsessing about MIT.

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What can your parents afford?
Where else are you applying?

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