Chances of getting into MIT or Caltech?
Hey, I'm a senior this and I'm planning on attending a good college. However, my attention span is low and I have a very low GPA of 2.7(although I challenge myself with harder classes). I'm in science club, technical theater crew, a second dan black belt in tae kwon do, and I play baseball during the summer on a community team. I think that I can get high SAT scores (I studied the whole summer). I'm planning on joining many more clubs this year. I'm putting a lot of my hopes on my MIT grad uncle giving me a good recommendation. I also think that I can write a good essay.
Unfortunately, I would say your chances are slim to none. A 2.7 GPA is simply too low to get into a school like MIT or Caltech. If you were to get straight A's in all your classes this year, you would still not be able to pull your GPA up enough to interest either school. And you have to realize you will be sending in your application before the new grades even make it to your transcript, so your transcript will arrive at these schools with a 2.7 GPA on it. I spent two years on the Caltech admissions committee and I am not aware of a single case of someone with a GPA under 3.0 getting in. Your uncle is not going to be able to write a good enough rec. Since he is not your teacher and does not know you in an academic setting, his rec will be of minimal importance. Joining more clubs also will not help. Being in clubs really is not very impressive to these schools. And these schools have an eye out for applicants who pad their applications with senior-year clubs. Your only chance of getting into either school would be if you had something truly impressive in your application. Have you made significant scientific discoveries? Did you invent some new technology? I think that's what you would need to get into MIT or Caltech.
This seems like a lot of bad news, but you should realize that great students graduate with great degrees from non top-tier schools all the time. If you do well in whatever college you get into, you will be well positioned for whatever you want to do after college. And there are lots of great schools out there that would be interested in you. I would look into these types of schools. I wish you the best of luck in your application process!
Lec 5 | MIT 16.885J Aircraft Systems Engineering, Fall 2005
mit technical writing
mit technical writing
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