MIT

I thought Caltech was easier to get into than MIT, because they look for a more specific kind of applicant and less apply? I don't really know anything about it though.

 

Probably easier to get into if you just have numbers. I believe they have the highest average SAT (don't quote me on it though).

 

Interesting. About your uncle, would you say that MIT contacts and quality of education led him to do so well; or do you think that he could have done it from a lesser known university?

BTW, UMich is an excellent university.

 

Caltech is more difficult to get into from my experience. Numbers alone will not do it (and I don't think they will at MIT either). Many people are rejected with perfect GPAs and SATs. Good letters, and a demonstration that you have a very strong interest, ambition, and creativity in science are the most important things. The numbers have to be there, but they're really just incidental in comparison to the rest of the application.

 

My cousin, graduated from a private school here in Houston, one of the tops in her class if not #1. Got FULL academic scholarship to MIT. Not sure which engineering she did, but graduated in 4 years with a 4.0. She came back here and worked a few years and now she's in Chicago getting her masters.

So with your credentials I would say you have a definite chance. Congrats on your gpa as it is right now, i wish i would have strived a lot harder in both high school and college. Not having to do anything to get As and Bs really kicks you in the nuts when you go to college. Anyways, congrats.

By the way, is it a 3-way tie with the 4.0? Why are you ranked 3rd?

 

Some schools "weight" GPA with Honors and AP courses getting an additional .33 or .50. Example, an A in AP Chem would be a 4.50 or 4.33 rather than a 4.0

If it is a weighed GPA, there could be someone with a 4.10 and a another with a 4.05 compared to his 4.0

 

4.45, ranked 30th...

 

I got 2 B's in honors classes but was still valedictorian. GPA was a 4.4x or something, I don't remember.

 

First congratulations on a great high school career and test scores.

Next, Caltech and MIT are not just top 10 schools, they are science/tech schools. They both exist primarily to produce the next generation of Nobel prize winners, everyone else falling short of that are just fallout. So not only do you have to have excellent SAT's and GPA, but also a clearly demonstrated interest in science/engineering. This could be science projects, robotics competitions, Intel Science competition, etc. AP classes in Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, etc are good, but the minimum. They will forgive lack of athletics, no student association leadership roles, not being prom queen, etc if you show independent activities in technical areas along with the scores. Recommendations from your science/math teachers and a good interview are pluses. Caltech does not have anything in Architectural Engineering (Civil Engineering is closest), not sure about MIT.

As has been alluded to earlier, it can be easier to attend Caltech or MIT in graduate school versus undergraduate. A lot of students fail or drop out in those two schools because they're not ready for the rigor and intensity of the curriculum. Even though most were in the top 3, and often #1, of their schools 80% will find they are at best just "average", and 40% will find that they're now "dumb". The shock can throw many students off and depress them to the point where they give up, whereas waiting to attend in graduate school they've often developed more maturity to deal with the demands of the coursework and the realities of their class standing.

Shoot for the college you aspire to, but you'll also get a good education at UT or some other school that might be less competitive entrance-wise and you'll still get another shot at MIT for grad school if it doesn't work out the first time.

 

More a philosophical comment. Once you attend a top 10 school (Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, etc) you're likely to hear/know of someone "close" that will have made a lot of money after 10-20 years. Perhaps a few. My personal belief is that once you focus on the top 0.1% of the students of any cohort, which these schools concentrate, this becomes almost a certainty. Of course these schools provide a fine education and all of these people must have had the intelligence; but it also takes savvy and luck to hit it that big. To paraphrase a mathematician, it's neither necessary nor sufficient, but it does make it more likely.

 

http://www.di.net/article.php?article_id=371

Book itself may be available in your library - if not, request it - it's written from standpoint of those who hire grads of NAAB Accredited Architecture Programs as well as their views on regional school graduates.

In the meantime, as evidenced by the scrollbar, note there is a long list of comments, questions and answers. Be sure to take notes - plenty to um, draw from. You'll see SLO (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo) mentioned time and again.

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I'm glad to see you have an MIT grad for a mentor. Imitation is, after all, the sincerest form of flattery.

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Most importantly - never use the words "lower class" in reference to you or yours again. However, stating "the antonym of wealthy" will endear yourself, and in so doing, open doors.

 

A good friend of mine is a Freshman at San Luis. He loves it.

 

A little bit of luck, knowing the right people (which he met at MIT) and everything came together. Would it have happened if he didn't go to MIT, honestly, probably not, just because of the people he started it with.

But then again, maybe if he went to UT he would have met Michael Dell, been friends and be worth 100X as much, so you never know. I think the most important quality if you want "F U Money" is to work harder and smarter than everyone. Become the best at something and it will work, no matter where you go, or even if you go.

 

I graduated from MIT in 2004 with a Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering. During my last two years there, I switched from the standard mech e academic program that is very rigid and rigorous to a newly accredited Mech E program that allowed for more flexibility by allowing me to select courses from outside the department to create a concentration that would compliment my mech e courses. Since I had a great interest in design and not so much the thermodynamics-fluids and materials aspect of mech e, I modified my schedule so that I could take courses like Experiencing Architecture Studio and Intro to Aerospace Engineering and Design.

I dated a girl for a while who was an architecture major at MIT and since arch. is one of my main interests, I took a few classes in it, so I'm pretty familiar with what goes along with that program. While it's not as intellectually demanding as say, physics or math, it is quite possibly the most physically demanding major you'll come across. Be prepared to spend most of your time away from home in your studio, eating there, and sleeping there. All-nighters are commonplace and kids sometimes go 2-3 nights in a row without sleeping so that they can work on their projects. You also have to be extremely creative and willing to accept a lot of criticism without getting disgruntled, but since you seem to have a passion for design already, creativity shouldn't be a problem.

If you've done your research on the careers of architects, you'll already know that it's a long and generally not very lucrative process. After getting your BS from MIT, you will most likely have to intern for some time before going to grad school for your Master's. That girl I mentioned before got an internship right out of MIT, is making less than a public school teacher, and has a second job as a waitress. Not exactly glamorous. I'm not trying to scare you out of architecture, but you just have to know what you're getting yourself into. I really enjoyed the arch. courses I took, mostly because they were so much easier and and allowed more freedom than mech e.

MIT does not offer Industrial Engineering as a major, so the closest thing to that would be Mechanical Engineering. If you want to design buildings, you should go with Architecture....and if infrastructure is your thing (i.e. designing bridges, dams, roads, etc.), Civil Engineering would be your major.

Before you can choose your major at MIT, you have to get accepted. Here are some Class of 2008 admissions statistics:

-16% of applicants were accepted.
-42% were valedictorians.
-91% were ranked in the top 5 percent of their high school classes.
-SAT I means for math and verbal sections were 724 and 759, respectively.
-7% of students received 1600 on their SAT I, and 62% had at least one 800.

As these statistics show and as how others in this thread have pointed out, academic excellence is fairly standard for the average applicant; that alone will not grant you admission into MIT. If you really want to attend the institute, you're going to have to set yourself apart from the others. There are toooons of geniuses at MIT who have won all sorts of awards and can make solving extremely difficult problems look like a piece of cake. That said, EVERYBODY at MIT is a nerd in some way, whether they like to admit it or not. That said, a lot of those nerds are socially inept and don't know a whole lot about life outside of working hard in school.

Your angle should be to show that you can do well in high school (with your 4.0 GPA and high SAT/SAT II/AP scores) and show a passion for things outside of academics. That can be athletics, a hobby, adventure, a job, etc. Just show that you're not only a bookworm and that you are motivated to take the initiative in other aspects of life. Your chance to convey this to the admission staff will be through your application essays and during your interview.

Put a lot of effort into your essay and make sure it's well-written. Since so many students at MIT are engineers and scientists at heart, their prose can leave a lot to be desired. MIT kids generally don't have as great a command over the language as, say, Harvard kids. You also have to consider that a large percentage of students are international, with English being their second or third language. So making sure your essays are well-written already puts you ahead of the game. Just make sure they're also captivating.

Another important step is to apply "early action." By doing this, you will need to take your standardized tests a bit earlier than your peers so you can send your application off in the fall of your senior year. MIT will let you know in December if you have been accepted, rejected, or deferred until the spring. If you are serious about attending MIT, this is a HUGE step in letting the school know you want to be there. And unlike other schools' early admittance programs, MIT's is non-binding; so even if you get accepted and change your mind, you don't have to go.

If you have any further questions about the school or application process, feel free to ask here or through e-mail ([email protected]). Best of luck to you.

 

I think this is what you meant!

Congratulations John. Good luck.

 

Heh, heh. There's even a T-shirt .

Congratulations on the Junior year program. I'm sure that will help you get into any number of good schools, whether it's MIT or Caltech .
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Excellent job so far. Your grades are to be commended!

Why the dead set interest in MIT? It is a great school but there are several schools with better Architecture programs in the US. Cornell, Harvard, U of Cincinatti, U of Iowa, U of Michigan, Syracuse just to name a few.

Don't kamakazi your college choices by only applying to one school and remember if you don't get in to MIT there are LOTS of other equally (and some marginally better) qualified schools to consider. MIT was number 12 in architecture just a couple of years ago.

Good luck with wherever you decide!

 

I'm not trying to be a buzzkill or anything, but did you mention that you liked to draw these buildings and stuff? Do you draw a lot?

Sorry for the 20 questions, but to be honest, you won't be drawing many of these modern buildings as an architectural engineer. Drafting them, yes, but not necessarily drawing them. From what I understand, Architects design buildings. Architectural engineers specialize in designing the engineering systems within buildings. Basically you'll be making sure that ***** works and doesn't fall over.

Architectural Engineering majors study the planning, design, construction, and operation of engineered systems for all different kinds of buildings. All those tremendously important things in every building that no one really notices like electrical systems, lighting, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, fire protection, plumbing, and structural systems. There is very little actual drawing that goes with this career, but the careers are very bright.

I'm just trying to help you out, and from the way you worded your first post, it seems you may have misinterpreted the major. If I have taken the information incorrectly, sorry, but at 17, you're due all the knowledge you can afford. Godspeed.

 

Yah, don't be deadset on MIT, hard as hell to get in man. I had some good sh*t in high school and got dinged after first applying early, waitlisted then rejected. Good times. I'm not bitter ;-).

 

Way to go John!!! Thats just awesome.. I don't think i could have ever done that lol..

try and take some pictures while your up there in boston for me

 

Congratulations man!!! Best of luck to you. But I don't think you need it since you made it as far as you have.

 

John,

Congratulations, that is just awesome. Can you show us some of your work? We like to have summer interns with your attitude.

My wife is still sad that she went to Columbia instead of MIT for her architecture graduate studies. Do not go into mechanical or electrical engineering if you have a propensity to design.

Good luck with your summer program.

Rijk

www.rietveldarchitects.com