I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!

[Zholl]

here's a question: I have a 3.2 GPA and an ACT score of 35 without the writing, though I expect to score similarly on the SAT next month, but I'm 124 out of 300 and some students (I had to give my only transcript copy to my engineering teacher), so I'm obviously not that highly ranked in my school. what would you say my chances of acceptance are?

some other information: I'm currently in my second year of calculus, and am taking AP physics and a third year of engineering, as well as a few other AP courses and such, putting me at 8 semesters of math, English, and sciences, 5 semesters of history/social studies, 4 semesters foreign language, 1 semester of microeconomics, and 12 semesters of music classes.

[Greg Marra]

I am worried this thread is going to descend into people worrying a lot about their grades and test scores. There are a lot of things that make you an interesting person to colleges. Among the top is passion.

Be yourself and do what you love.

[Chris is me]

My personal, non MIT opinion on what will be the inevitable GPA questions: Do you really want to go to a college that throw you out because of minute differences and numbers and grades that are based on arbitrary scales with no standard that are decided entirely by your teacher's and institution? Be a genuinely interesting person and I bet they won't care that your 3.75 isn't a 4.0.

Here's my question about MIT: One of the big things that was told to me about MIT was their suicide rate. Is this a really big deal? What resources are there on campus for students who find themselves in these situations?

[Zholl]

Originally Posted by Greg Marra

I am worried this thread is going to descend into people worrying a lot about their grades and test scores. There are a lot of things that make you an interesting person to colleges. Among the top is passion.

Be yourself and do what you love.

this hadn't even occurred to me. I'm still in that spot where I'm trying to figure out where I'd like to go and whether I'd be eligible at a school before spending 50 dollars to send in an application, and it'd be good to know whether my academic qualifications would be unacceptable. the way the counselors talk doesn't help this much, either

I'll definitely have to keep this more towards the front of my mind moving forward