<p>Hello CC forum users,</p>
<p>Similar to many of you, I am currently searching for an appropriate college for myself, at which I am likely to get admitted as an international student. In case this matters, my home country is Germany and I will be making my A level exams at the beginning of the next year. At this point, I will have reached the age of 17.</p>
<p>Due to the fact that my preferred field of study is engineering, I already have a list of both national and international universities of which one of them I hopefully will be able to attend in the next year. </p>
<p>As the title already anticipates, one of them happens to be MIT. I did not choose this college merely because of its remarkable prestige, but as far as I have learned about it - on grounds of its focus not on theoretical concepts, but on their practical applicability. This exactly coincides with my willingness to establish an enterprise. (Plus the opportunity to meet Noam Chomsky :))</p>
<p>If you have any knowledge of universities which provide similar conditions and where I have a higher chance of admission, don’t be shy and let me know.</p>
<p>To avoid false hopes, I seek an objective assessment on my talents/skills etc., preferably in respect of the requirements that MIT expects their freshmen to fulfill:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I have been occupied with informatics (or at least the informal part of it, programming) from the age of 9 focusing on web development in the past years and being able to show several examples of successfully completed commercial applications.</p></li>
<li><p>Since the beginning of this year, I have found an increasing interest in social sciences (namely economics, politics and history) which was reason enough for me to teach them by myself. The downside of this occupation is, of course, that it has nothing to do with engineering.</p></li>
<li><p>I am more and more sliding from informatics into electronic engineering. In the past weeks I have reached a level making be able to build a kind of practically relevant - sensory device.</p></li>
<li><p>I have also been reading a political journal and a couple of novels to improve my knowledge of the English language.
Additionally, I am engaged in a sport that I exercise 2-3 times per week.</p></li>
<li><p>What regards my grades in school, I am (at least) in the upper tenth part in all of my classes except sports.</p></li>
<li><p>My plans for the remaining half year include some electronic devices, a blog system and the finishing and subsequent publication of a couple of frameworks/ UIs and some essays on social sciences/philosophy that I had in my mind for some months.</p></li>
<li><p>The notable downside of my activities is my individualism. I prefer to think, act and be alone which is reflected in the fact that I am underrepresented in social activities. But I cannot help myself, because it has proven itself several times that in many activities working alone on a subject is way more efficient. And this is also true for the kind of sports I exercise. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>I am thankful for every answer,</p>
<p>John</p>
<p>P.S.: Your forums are really nice! My compliments.</p>