<p>s will be applying to MIT this fall for 2009. Hasn’t taken SAT subject tests yet, but scores are SAT: 2310 (800 math, 800 CR, 710 w) , ACT= 36, weighted GPa: 5.110, unweighted, 3.8. Top 1% of class. AP: Euro as sophomore, Junior: APUSH, Spanish A/P, English, and Senior: Calc BC, Psychology, English (I think), Physics, I only know Euro so far, its a 5. All Honors level classes when there is the option.</p>
<p>However, he took a study hall every semester except 1. He did that because he could, and saw no reason why he shouldn’t. Now, I’m wondering if MIT would frown upon this, as it may show that he didn’t push himself as much as he could?</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>How is his weighed GPA 5.11?</p>
<p>His scores appear to be good, but unless we have the context of what his school has to offer, I can’t say much. I don’t think study hall will hurt him in some terrible way.</p>
<p>My questions:
- What does he do outside the classroom?
- Is he interested in MIT? Why isn’t he asking this question?</p>
<p>Piper asked hers, so I’ll ask mine.</p>
<p>My question:
3) If he takes a study hall “because he can,” would he really want to have his a** worked off at MIT?</p>
<p>I agree with Piper and Ducktape that it will probably all depend on the context of the school. But to relieve your (and your son’s?) anxiety a little, I can assure you that not every student at MIT slaved the hours away on homework at home when he or she was in high school. My daughter never enrolled in study hall, but she sort of created her own study hall by staying in the library at school for an hour each day to knock off most – if not all – of her homework before coming home. I think one year she had a gap period in her schedule and used it this way. She did this because when she was home, she preferred to spend the majority of her time doing art, and she was also involved in some time-intensive extracurricular activities that she enjoyed. </p>
<p>What is life without art? Or time for friends, or cooking, or a sport, or a really fascinating science project? I can’t believe that anyone at MIT admissions is looking to see a transcript jam-packed with tough classes just for the sake of tough classes. Otherwise, what kinds of individuals are we creating?</p>
<p>The kids I know who’ve been admitted to MIT took the most challenging courses available at their high schools because they wanted to, and for the same reason they also engaged in interesting extra-curricular activities. MIT is a bigger challenge, and yes – now my daughter works her **s off. But she wanted that challenge. If a study hall period had been available at her school, she probably would have signed up for that, as did your son. I don’t think she would have skipped a beat to ask herself, “How will this look on my transcript?”</p>
<p>The application process can be fraught with anxiety, but try to relax.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t force him to do anything he didn’t want to do.</p>
<p>No one should pretend to be anything just to get into a school; they won’t really fit in.</p>
<p>And the study hall can go either way; as someone stated above, if he takes it just “so he can”, it might reflect something negative. But if it is taken to open more time to pursue more of what he’s interested in, it probably could even increase his chances. I’m no expert but that’s just my $0.02</p>
<p>Thank you all for your responses!! Just to clarify, at his school, honors level is considered 6.0 classes on a 4.0 scale. That is why his weighted GPA is over 5.0. And the reason he has no anxiety is because he is very confident that he will get admitted…I am much more realistic! </p>
<p>He took study hall for several reasons…he is a 2 sport athlete and it does eat up time after school. But I’ll be honest, I also don’t think he wanted to kill himself. His classes were considered the most challenging at his school.</p>
<p>I have thought about what some of you have said…If you don’t want to kill yourself in highschool, how do you think you’d like MIT? But thats not my call. As are all of you have responded, he is brilliant and motivated, and if admitted, I have no doubt he’d be successful.</p>
<p>So, we’ll see what the admissions have to say…There are plenty of brilliant and motivated students who apply. Thanks!</p>
<p>some schools might require study hall. Mine did for my first semester. MIT wouldn’t know whether it was required unless there are others applying that did not take it.</p>
<p>Uh oh, thinking you’re a shoe-in for a school is kind of bad =P.</p>
<p>What sports does he do? Does he do anything else?</p>
<p>It will be taken in context. If he took a lot of the rigorous courses and his study hall was replacing easy classes that he wasn’t interested in, he’ll be fine (as far as academics go).</p>
<p>The term is “shoo-in.” :p</p>
<p>I wish I could blame the time of day, but I can’t =P</p>
<p>i never took study hall, but at my school like the average number of class you can take is 6, max is 7.
9th grade i took :7 classes, 10th grade :6 11th grade: only 5 classes 12th grade: only 5 classes with 1 CC class each semester</p>
<p>I didn’t take the max number of classes that I could, and that was my choice. I wanted to spend more time on other activities outside of class, not just because I could.</p>
<p>Never be confident about getting in. it is never good.</p>
<p>I know plenty of people with better stats than your son and have lots of sports + clubs but still didn’t get in.
Of course, I also know quite a few with worse stats who did get in.
Talk him out of the being confident about getting into a school like MIT.
Also, assuming he’ll be successful among the smartest students in the world isn’t a good idea either. You can’t really tell till he gets there. Right now I am just hoping I can get close to the class average my first semester (and class average will get you a B grade most of the time)</p>
<p>Another example of worse stats: My school also only let up take 6 classes (7, for the few classes that were offered in the morning - AP Euro, Spanish III, Singing, Drama). I took 6-7-7-6 classes. And every year I had to take religion, which most schools don’t count as anything (as they shouldn’t - my religion classes were a joke). My school didn’t offer much in science (AP Calc AB and AP Bio, that’s it). And by some miracle I got in early (I should really ask the admissions gods about this…).</p>
<p>I find it odd that he’s confident that he’ll get in - has he gone through MIT admissions? Does he know what the school is all about?</p>
<p>PiperXP, I’m not sure he is as confident as he is acting…You remember high school age boys?? A boy from his school with amazing stats was recently rejected, which was a reality check for both of us.</p>
<p>And yes, we visited MIT last summer (going into Junior year) and loved it!! He really liked the students that we met and got a feel for the challenge of the school (although I’m not sure you can really understand how hard it is until you go there.)</p>
<p>Thanks again for all your words of wisdom and thoughts. I’m going to let him do what he wants as far as the admission process…If he doesn’t get in, then it just wasn’t meant to be.</p>
<p>
Heh, I admit that this is an area I fail miserably at. I went to an all-girls school where you met guys at football games/dances (neither of which I was interested in), so I’ll just take your word ^.^</p>
<p>I meant *to MIT admissions, sorry. He should really check out mitadmissions.org and read some of the blogs there =P.</p>
<p>I got in and I didnt take the maximum number of academic courses offered either. I wanted to be involved in theater and was a 2 sport athlete. So dont worry about it. My only advice would be to try to show that you are able and willing to do MIT level work by carefully selecting the courses that you do take. I cant really tell what is available at your school but the number of APs seems a little low. 8+ was typical for those with HPYMS aspirations at my school, which is a bit neurotic, but as I understand it, everything is viewed in the context of what was available to you and your other commitments. Also, I have heard that admissions likes to see that an applicant has reached outside of his or her academic comfort zone so you might want to try to do that in your senior schedule. Good luck.</p>
<p>It’s probably fine.</p>
<p>Our maxed number of classes was 7.</p>
<p>I took 7 (w/ two fluffish electives-drama and electronics and PE) 9th grade, 7 (w/ 1 elective-oral comp which=lots of speech and debate and PE) 10th grade, 7 (w/ a TA class, which is like study hall) 11th grade and 6 (all academics) 12th grade.</p>
<p>I got in and am going to attend.</p>