Should I even apply?

swim2daend · June 29, 2009, 11:26pm

Jewish White male

South florida

Major: Math

ACT: 31 (29R, 29E, 34M, 30S) essay:10 i no it’s not that great

SAT 2s: taking Math 1, Math 2, and Chem in October. I’ll probably only send Math 2 and Chem. Been getting 770+ on Math 2 practices and 700+ on Chem practices.

IB Diploma Candidate

Rank: 8/324 as of 5/7/09

GPA UW: 3.9
GPA W: 4.975

Classes:

Freshmen year:
Pre IB World History B/A
Pre IB Biology A/A
Pre IB French 2 B/A
Journalism 2 A/A
Research I/II (Physics H) A/A
Pre IB English 1 B/B
Precalculus A/A
MAC 2311 Calc 1 A

Sophomore year:
AP Calc AB A/A
Pre IB Chem A/A
AP Stats A/A
Pre IB French 3 A/A
AP US govt/VPS A/A
IB Computer Studies 1 A/A
AP English Lang A/A
AP Art History A/A
MAC 2312 Calc 2 A
ECO 2013 Macroecon A

Junior year:
IB Math Methods 2 SL A/A
IB Computer Studies 2 SL A/A
AP/IB English Lit SL A/A
IB Chem SL A/A
IB French 4 B SL - year 1 B/B I HATE FRENCH AND MY TEACHER IS BIAS!!! >
IB American History SL A/A
Research 6/IB TOK A/A
AP Micro A
MAC 2313 Calc 3 A
MAP 2302 Diff Eq A

Senior year:
IB Math HL
Discrete Math/Graph Theory
IB English HL
IB Chem HL
IB French SL - year 2
IB History of the Americas HL (yes 4 HL… what was I thinking lol)
IB TOK

ECs:

<ul>
<li>September 07- December 07 AP Statistics tutor
Reason for leaving: It interfered with extra curricular activities and school work.</li>
<li>June 08 November 08 Lifeguard</li>
<li>Group head in Freshmen Class Council: In charge of creating the float, which placed 3rd.</li>
<li>Sophomore Class Council - Sergeant-at-Arms</li>
<li>Junior Class council</li>
<li>Group head in Project Earth- Recycling Program.</li>
<li>Delegate for Mu Alpha Theta.</li>
<li>Envirothon Captain</li>
<li>Treasurer for Leukemia Inspired Fundraising Events (L.I.F.E.) club</li>
<li>Treasurer for National Honor Society</li>
<li>Created and President of ACE (Anti-Cheating Effort)</li>
<li>Big Brother and Big Sister Program participant (10): purpose of program is to motivate potential drug abusers, potential gang members, etc. under the age of 12 to use the alternative path and encourage him or her to be a good student along with an all around good person.</li>
<li>Varsity Swimmer (9,10,11): accomplishments: qualifier for district and county meets</li>
<li>Varsity Water polo (10,11)</li>
<li>Mu Alpha Theta (Math team/honor society) (9,10,11): accomplishments- attended state competition, received top score in the pre-calculus individual round at the state competition, qualified for team round at the state competition.
-Subjects competed in: 9th- Pre-calculus, 10th- Statistics and Calculus, 11th- Calculus</li>
<li>Volunteer Tutor (Algebra 1 (H), Geometry (H), Algebra 2 (H), Pre-Calculus, AP Calculus AB, Calculus H, AP Statistics, and Statistics H) (10,11)</li>
<li>French Club (10)</li>
<li>Project Earth (9,10,11)</li>
<li>Florida Math League participant (9,10,11)</li>
<li>AMC 10 participant (9,10)</li>
<li>AMC 12 participant (11)</li>
<li>Envirothon (10,11) Won 5th place overall in 2008.</li>
<li>Money collector for a school competition- Class that collects the most change in 2 weeks wins. All money went to help poverty in Africa. Sacrificed my lunch period for 2 weeks collecting change. (9)</li>
<li>Accepted to Law Week 2008 Selected students were accepted to have a tour of the West Palm Beach court house and learn more about the way trials work.(10)</li>
<li>Nominated for the National Honor Society (10,11)</li>
<li>Lifeguard (10,11)</li>
<li>AP scholar with distinction since 2008- average AP score of 3.5 or higher and have at least 5 AP exams with a score of 3 or higher (10)</li>
<li>Recruited onto the Palm Beach Community College math team (11). Won 3rd place individually at the State Competition.</li>
<li>Top singer at Freeform (11) A local talent show in the county that has been recognized for displaying the most talented performers.</li>
<li>Princeton Book Award</li>
</ul>

I have a FANTASTIC rec from my english teacher I had for both freshmen and junior year. I went from getting Bs in her class freshmen year to all As junior year and an A on my IB internal assessment. She is like my best friend and she went to Brown, UVA, and UMichgan.

I went through a lot my junior year. Including finding out about an affair my dad had with many many people, which was an issue even after we found out. he got caught 3 more times after. Also, i almost moved midyear, which caused stress and some how we got called by the Department of child services saying i was getting beaten and I wasn’t… It was strange, but more stress. Threat that my brother had cancer. more stress…

FANTASTIC rec from my guidance counselor! I love her!! lol.

I will take physics at the local CC next semester, but not advanced physics. I absolutely LOVE math. do you think it’s worth it?

kemcab · June 30, 2009, 6:51pm

I don’t see why not. You basically have the same grades and record as everyone else here. I’m no expert on admissions, but I think MIT won’t let you ‘laundry list’ your ECs so just list five.

quanta · July 1, 2009, 8:27am

Why not apply? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

cooliog81 · July 2, 2009, 10:18pm

yeah, you definitely have a good chance. My stats are much worse and im still applying :). Also, you may want your essay to somehow include some of the difficulties you had as a junior.
best of luck.

HiPeople · July 3, 2009, 12:39am

I agree with quanta…it’s not like you have anything to lose.

If you think MIT is your first choice or one of your first choices, then you should apply EA.

nk9230 · July 3, 2009, 6:27am

I wish I was at your IB school, I would have loved to take Math HL! But my school only has SL, and then we go on to AP Calc AB, and our language course B is two years… And I would have loved to take Chem HL too.

But yeah, Definitely apply. You have great chances. Chem HL + Math HL= Beast!!! The SAT IIs will be mega easy for you- Chem HL goes way past what the SAT II Chem even tests, and the SAT Math 2 only covers the first few topics of Maths SL, and there is no calculus. Maybe a limit question here and there, but no calculus.

Peytoncline · July 7, 2009, 1:29am

Apply, it’s the only way you’ll actually get an answer (if you don’t apply, you’ll never know what could have happened, you know).

And regardless, what you’ve listed looks pretty good. If you can bump up your ACT score a couple of points, I think you’ll have a pretty good shot (vague chance, I know, but I’m not an adcom, so I’m not qualified to really give you a percentage chance).

kemcab · July 7, 2009, 6:35am

I’m not an adcom either, but either way if you just threw a figure into the air you’d be winging it. I think they try NOT to because they emphasize that their decisions aren’t necessarily haphazard or one-sided, and not everything can be condensed into a statistic.

mathkid95 · August 5, 2009, 2:33pm

There is no need for drama like “Should I apply?” I am pretty sure deep down you are confident and will apply. For the “essay:10 i no it’s not that great”, that is also drama. It is good and you know it.

mathboy98 · August 5, 2009, 2:49pm

^ Nice name, mathkid :D

fizix2 · August 5, 2009, 6:03pm

hi :)

fun class. imo it’s the only class at your school that gives you a taste of what real math is like. (it’s really easy though so it’s actually the perfect introduction)

of course you should. it’s mit! =D
and like other people say,
you got nothing to lose.

and holy crap you have a long list of ECs
back when i was applying to college it was just,
math club really

collegeboss · August 5, 2009, 8:39pm

ya apply but realize if you get in there wont be any hot girls there. but if you couldnt get them anyway it makes no difference, so apply!

hamsi2004 · August 5, 2009, 9:54pm

go for it! your stats look pretty good
probably better than mine when i applied, haha.

swim2daend · August 6, 2009, 5:49pm

wow thanks for the advice. math kid, i knew the 10 was good lol. I meant the composite wasn’t that great (in comparison to those I’m against lol). Retaking it though :). I think I’ll end up applying to MIT. I was going back and forth about it so thanks so much everyone!

kemcab · August 8, 2009, 9:36pm

SAT essay is not exactly a great gauge of your writing ability. But if you get a ten on it you are certainly competent enough to write an outstanding essay.

neuron39 · August 9, 2009, 9:13pm

I agree that if you think you would attend if accepted, then certainly apply. To have a realistic chance, you should have SAT and SAT-II scores in the 700+ range.

Should I even apply?

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