Question by Mak: Would I be able to get into a highly competitive college based on science like MIT?
I am an Asian-American (mom’s asian, dad’s white) male, currently 16 years old, junior in high school, graduating class of 2012. I go to a private, catholic high school that doesn’t offer many classes that are really unique, only the really standard core classes. I am also a hard worker.
I am just wondering about my chances of getting into a highly competitive, prestigious college/university/institute that is very strong in science/math/engineering. MIT is a big one I have in mind, but I am quite worried that my resume is lacking and would like suggestions of how to boost it. I listed my resume that includes classes, awards, activities, achievements, volunteering, etc., . . . basically anything I can think of categorized by year. For certificates, every year a certificate and plaque are given to the highest students in any general course (i.e. chemistry, honors chemistry, freshman english)
Resume:
#Freshman (2 Years Ago):
Honors Freshman English
Spanish I (no honors available)
Honors Geometry (most freshman take some form of algebra)
Honors Biology (most freshman take “Advanced Physical Science” and bio sophomore year)
Honors World History
Foundations of Christianity (Required religion course)
Morality and Sexuality (Required religion course)
Concert Band (class, but is an extracurricular, precursor to Honors Wind Ensemble)
Jazz Band (extracurricular)
Pep Band
Indoor Track
Outdoor Track
Honors Biology Certificate
Spanish I Certificate
Berklee Jazz Festival
Boston Heritage Music Competition
Film Club
#Sophomore (1 Year Ago):
Honors Sophomore English
Honors Spanish II
Honors Algebra II
Honors Chemistry
Hebrew Scriptures (Required Religion)
Justice and Peace (Required religion)
Honors Wind Ensemble (honors band, moved up from concert band which was mainly for freshman)
Jazz Band
Pep Band
Cross Country
Indoor Track
Outdoor Track
Honors Chemistry Certificate
Honors Algebra II Certificate
Chem Olypiad Certificate
Chem Olympiad (1 out of 4 people out of all people in Hon. Chemistry to go)
Manchester Jazz Festival
Boston Heritage Music Competition (1st place, Wind ensemble)
Foodshare Volunteer
#Junior Year (This Year, so far):
AP Language and Composition
Honors Spanish III
Honors Trigonometry/Honors Pre-Calculus
AP Physics (UConn class, teacher teaches @ UConn, so he teaches the same class at my school)
AP US History
Christian Scriptures (Required Religion)
Church History (required religion)
Honors Wind Ensemble
Jazz Band
Cross Country
Idk about awards/certificates yet
Tri-M Music Honor Society (does volunteer work)
National Honor Society
Soup Kitchen volunteer
Math Team
Computer Club
#Senior Year (Next year, projected classes):
Honors Creative Writing/Honors British Literature
AP Computer Science
AP Calculus
AP Chemistry
AP Gov(Maybe)
HILL (honors.institute.for.leadership.in.life, religion and history class, honors class)(maybe)
{NOTE: I could probably either take AP Gov OR HILL, but probably not both, would it look better for a college, for another AP class, or a honors religion and history class??)}
Honors Wind Ensemble
Jazz Band
Cross Country
Indoor Track
Outdoor Track
Tri-M Music Honor Society (does volunteer work)
National Honors Society
Soup kitchen volunteer
Math team
Computer Club
Chem Olympiad
#Other Stuff:
Piano (9 years. 2nd to 10th grade)
Guitar (6 years. 7th to 12th grade, I don’t plan on stopping)
I released a solo guitar album the summer before junior year.
I composed, arranged, recorded, and produced the entire album by myself.
I plan to do another one the summer before senior year.
I am really interested in audio engineering, music production but my school offers no courses on it.
Boy Scouts (5 years, 5th grade to 9th grade), Star Scout
Order of the Arrow member (special association with boy scouts, service)
National Guitar Workshop (summer before Junior, probably summer before senior)
SAT score: 1950, first official time, beginning of junior year (I know is sucks for MIT and I will try to get it much higher, at least >2100 hopefully, advice?)
Critical Reading: 650
Math: 610
Writing 670
PSAT: 195 (Yeah it sucks too, didn’t even make National Merit -__- )
ACT: haven’t taken
I am just looking for advice, I am totally stressed out over college and I am really worried that I my resume isn’t strong enough!
Edit: I forgot to include my GPA! It is a 4.25 on a 4.0 scale.
@cest524,
Thanks for the answer! I will definitely try to get my SAT boosted, I am just not very good at standardized tests 🙁
But I would really like to go to school in the Northeast, so I’ll research schools there.
Do you think having recorded two albums independently by college would could as a great accomplishment?
Best answer:
Answer by cest524
Hello, your resume is very good and would be very impressive at most colleges. However, MIT is strenuous to get into, and just about any other really top-notch college such as Princeton, Harvard, Yale, etc. The amount of stuff that MIT looks at is unbelievable. Even if you got a 2400 on SAT and 36 on ACT, that doesn’t mean you’ll get into MIT. MIT especially looks for really great achievements that you’ve done. AKA inventing and patenting something, winning the Intel Science Fair, publishing a popular book, etc. Your resume looks really great, don’t get me wrong. But MIT is among the best colleges in the world, and will expect your resume to be “out of this world.” I’ll tell you that you can consider a university like GA Tech. GA Tech has a spectacular engineering program, being the best in the US outside of Harvard, MIT, Caltech, and Stanford. It also has the best engineering school that is not super-impossible to get into, that has reasonable tuition, and that has a decent acceptance rate (56% the last i checked). You can check with US News and World Report to find the best colleges in each particular area. (BTW, i’m not at all trying to discourage you!)
To boost your resume, you need to have a VERY high score on the SAT and/or the ACT. Personally, I think the ACT is easier, but by no means is it easy. Of course, a very high GPA is always a good thing. But aside from that, you really need a truly amazing accomplishment such as winning the Intel competition or a similar competition, inventing something, writing a book, winning a Doodle 4 Google, etc.Hope this helps!
What do you think? Answer below!