MIT

wow. This is very impressive. Congrats on your academic achievements. What you have to your advantage in applying to colleges is that you have stellar grades, and you are the first to go to college, a minority, and of lower class. Also you have a job which shows responsibility and it is an extra curric. I am sure your SATs or ACTs are great as well. I would definitely recommend you get an interview with all of the colleges you want. The one thing that colleges love is if you can bring something different to the college. Sorry I can't help with connections to the schools you want, if I did have them, I would love to help. I wish you good luck, and I hope you get into MIT. Oh yeah, happy birthday

 

Im an Electrical Engineer (EE) major and so far I like it. Good job on being top 3...Unlike you, I was unmotivated in High School, made horrible math grades and treated school like a chore. By the time I was in college I started to really have a passion for math and ended up picking Electrical Engineering as my major. With that said, do you like math and sciences? If you do then Engineering is for you, now all you have to do is find the area you want to engineer in. Since I've always been very good with electronics like TV's, Computers, etc I thought I would enjoy and be pretty good at EE. If you know alot about architecture and so forth then I think architecture engineering might be for you. My brother was going to do architecture just simply because of the fact that their starting salary is good but as soon as he started taking all the special physics and math classes from his major he ended up having to change his major...now he's doing Communications. So Like I mentioned, if you really LOVE math you'll basically love any kind of Engineering.

 

My dad got a full-paid scholarship there, but declined it. I'm looking into Mechanical engineering, so maybe I can do the same if I keep my grades up. Congrats on your scholary achievments thus far, very impressive!!! Good luck.

 

Congrats on the academic achievement thing, and on going into a proper field, engineering!

A quick Google search turned up this:

http://www.ce.utexas.edu/

It's nice to have high goals like going to MIT, but if you can get a top-5 education at in-state-tuition prices, it would be hard to justify the expense of a better "name." You'll end up with a huge debt in student loans to pay back when you graduate. Just something to consider.

One of the great things about an engineering degree is that which school you went to isn't nearly as important as it is for other professions. My degere is from UT, the proper UT, the University of Tennessee and even though we Vols are required by law to hate everything about Texas, I'd recommend giving that "other" UT a serious look.

Whatever you end up doing, good luck with it!

 

Not to kill your dreams or anything, but if you decide not to go to MIT or don't get in for some reason, you can always go there for grad school. A very brilliant friend of mine went to UCLA for undergrad (could have gone to a top school but LOVED UCLA), and is at MIT right now in their PhD program. He wanted to go to UCLA as an undergrad for the sports and to have a little bit of fun. Now that he's done that, he doesn't mind living in Cambridge and going to a school with no sports to speak of. Just a thought.

As for me, I went to UCLA for undergrad and grad school in Computer Science. Feel free to ask any engineering questions you may have.

Also, just remember that there are plenty of young people with 4.0s and good SAT scores. Getting into MIT as an undergrad is extremely difficult. Apply to a variety of schools and pick your favorite out of the ones you get accepted to.

 

Always keep options open, you never know what could happen. Keep great contact with your guidance counselor and confirm that they are doing what they should.

I learned the hard way:

Dinged @
Duke, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, UPenn, Georgetown

Numbers were:
ACT: 33, SAT: 1430, SAT II's: 670, 710, 710
GPA U/W: 3.89
EC's: Three Sport Athlete, Class Officer every year, etc.

Turned out, my guidance counselor didn't send in my transcripts until a month after the deadline. This was after I kept on reminding the gc every week. Don't let what happened to me, happen to you. Good luck w/ your schooling.

 

WHAT! that is just wrong! your counselor should have been fired

 

LOL, I like how you say UCLA is not a top school.

Isn't it the 2nd hardest public undergraduate engineering program to get into?

 

Very similar numbers to myself. Too cool.

 

Check out Cal Poly San Luis out here in CA. We have an excellent ArchE program and unbeatable prices. I pay $4500 a year in tuition.

 

Good luck ! Make sure you apply to more than MIT just in case you don't get in. MIT is one of my choices for grad school. And make sure your essay is good - colleges are look at that more than ever.

 

Well... I guess I should clarify. UCLA is definitely a good school, but it's not one of the super elites. I consider MIT/CalTech/Stanford/Cal and others to be the top engineering schools. UCLA is one of the best public schools, but it seems to be one small notch below those powerhouses, in my opinion.

However, for me, i toffered exactly what I wanted - close proximity to family, public school (read: cheaper tuition), sports, life outside of studying, great neighborhood, awesome name recognition, and great academics.

Part of the reason UCLA is difficult to get into is because EVERYONE applies there. They get more applications than any other school in the country, if I remember correctly.

My advice is to apply to as many schools as you can that you have an interest in, find out where you're accepted, and visit every one of them. Don't do what I did. I applied to three schools, and chose UCLA before even stepping foot on campus. It worked out fine, but I wouldn't recommend doing that.

 

Being top 10 in your class in Texas gets you automatic admission to public schools in Texas. A&M and UT both have excellent engineering programs, and Rice is in US News' top 15 colleges in the nation. They have a good engineering program as well.

 

I'm an engineering student at UT (the good one in austin) and we have a great engineering program top ten in the country i'd recommend applying even if it's just a backup since you're admitted automatically (not automatically to the engineering college but with your grades, scores, and extracurriculars you shouldn't have a problem).

I also attended a seminar for MIT when i was looking at colleges and they talked about some of the things that they look for, and it's pretty much the same as every other school just with a little bit higher expectations. Good grades, great test scores, as well as a very well rounded and active student. Start getting into contact with them now to let them know you're interested, and see if you can't find the nearest admissions office so you can start to get to know the people there, because at some point they may be giving you an interview.

Also if i remember correctly MIT doesn't give out any scholarships, so you're best bet is federal aide and other scholarships as with every school it's best to start applying now which sounds like what you're doing.

Set your mind to it and you'll attend MIT if not as an undergrad possibly as a grad student as someone else mentioned. Just don't forget to apply to other schools as backups just in case.

 

MIT is VERY hard to get into. Is your school relatively well known? How many kids do they send to MIT each year? I hope you have high test scores to go with your high class rank (high as in near perfect). You are also going to need a ton of things that are "interesting" about you and set you apart from different students.

So many people apply to the big schools each year that are president of the math club, won the local science competitions, 4.0, #1 in the class, 1500 or whatever SAT. You have to differentiate yourself from them somehow. I say that the admissions process is a bit of a crapshoot, especially to top schools.

You really have to put yourself out there. Now, if your school sends 3-4 kids to MIT every year and you are #1 in your class, that is a different story. But if your school sends everyone to the state schools and nowhere else, you are going to have to work your ass off. Get awesome recs, write an amazing essay, and show yourself to be an asset to the school in some way.

Visit, go and try to talk to the specific admissions officer that will be reviewing your application (they have different officers for each region of the country). Be persistent and send updates and stuff and make an effort to let them know you REALLY want to go to MIT, but don't be annoying.

In the end if you don't get in, it's not the end of the world. Work hard, get internships, do your thing. There are a lot of good schools out there. Don't get your heart set on MIT though, or any top top school really, because they are really hard to get into, and not always the best students get in. It's a fact of life (or college admissions).

Edit: Just re-read your initial post. Didn't mean to scare you too much. Keep in mind I wrote what I wrote from the perspective of a jaded white boy that came from a mediocre high school in the midwest and get denied to basically all of the top schools I applied too

As a minority and the first of your family to go to college, you will do very well in the admissions process (hopefully at least). I would make sure to give some indication of this in your application. It will help you out a LOT.

I'm not sure what the best profession for you will be - I'm sure other people will be able to help you out more with this - I'm an economics major who never had the same aspirations as you. I would consider Rice though, even if just a back up (OK I'm a bit biased here ) - maybe the architecture program? I think it's 6 years and you come out with a masters? Not 100% sure on this one, Rice is a pretty good school and very well respected in the south (also ranked nationally as well, top 20, I think it is 16 or 17).

In any event - good luck, and keep us updated. Are you a junior now? You still have some time to think about it if so - if you write the schools and stuff I know that some low-income minority students the good schools will fly out and stuff to show around. I've heard of this happening to a few kids around my area.

 

Welcome, John!
I cannot assist you with your college choice, but it pleases me always to encounter motivated youth. Thank you, and my very best wishes for your future!
Keith

 

I know, but I try not to be bitter. I just will try to get into a top program when I apply to business school in the future.

 

If you were looking at MIT, here is where I would look:

UTexas (great school, being a TX resident, it shouldn't be too difficult to get in)
MIT (you already listed it)
CalTech (Tougher than MIT to get into, but if you like MIT, you might like Tech)
Stanford (great location near Silicon Valley, great academic institution)
Duke (beautiful campus, great athletics, great academics)
Northwestern/UChicago (If you want to look in the midwest)
Princeton/Harvard/Yale (I know they have great math programs, don't know about engineering)
UC-Berkeley (Great institution, near tech center)

Other schools to look at (I don't know a lot about their engineering programs):
-UCLA
-UVA
-Columbia


Good luck.

 

Just graduated U. Mich mechanical engin. I always wanted to go to MIT, had a 4.0, near perfect SAT & SAT IIs, varsity athlete, nat'l ice hockey player (recruited by many D1's and MIT's DIII), sold a technology biz for 6 figures at age 15. Not bragging, but don't get your hopes up. You must have to cure cancer to get in.

Anyhow, I came from an amazing school, well known in the area for being quite good as a public. I took all AP classes and barely did anything in high school. Once I got to college it was a breeze. If you're good at math, especially diff. eqn's, engineering should be easy.

A freind of mine who was a year head of me and is now in the PhD program there thinks MIT is easy. Another friend 2 years below me thinks it's hard as hell.

Unlike others here, I say if you get into MIT you go, no matter what the debt or cost. You simply can't beat the name, makes it easier to get into grad school or whatever you want. My uncle went there for undergrad and grad and sold his company for high 9 figures when he was 35. Not an unusual thing for MIT grads. I wouldn't necassarily do architecture though, maybe mech. engineeering, you can do anything with that.

Good luck man.

 

You have to be really f'd up to like Cal Tech. Sorry, but that is the weirdest freaking place I've ever been.

 

Just a word of caution. Don't count on impressing anyone at MIT with a 4.0 and being top 3 in your class.

Of my graduating high school class. 5 had perfect SAT's and solid 4.0's. Many more ranged from 1500-1560 SAT.

Only 2 were accepted into MIT and they weren't the top of the class. They were excellent atheletes and very well rounded.

MIT is a very odd school and my friend who worked in admissions says that they took the most random variety of students.

 

It just caters to a very specific type of person. I loved it. Others hated it. I imagine MIT is similar, but probably less extreme.