The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is regarded as one of the world's most prominent universities. Thousands of students apply to MIT each year and only a small sliver of these students receive a letter of acceptance. The students who get into MIT are all uniquely different in their own way. MIT graduates are leaders in a variety of fields and among the world's smartest minds. Among MIT's alumni, staff, and professors are 96 Nobel laureates, eight Fields medalists, and 26 Turing Award recipients. Alumni from MIT that have created companies have a total of more than 1.9 trillion dollars in revenue as of 2014. To have a chance at getting into a top school like MIT you need to have a perfect or near perfect GPA, amazing test scores on the ACT and SAT, and extracurricular activities that reflect your commitment and leadership. All of these requirements are critical to your admission to a college and without them your dreams of getting into a top college are nearly impossible to accomplish. If you want to get into MIT you will need to make sure you focus on everything mentioned above, and additionally you must be someone who strives for excellence, takes advanced courses (Even if Its out of your comfort zone), is willing to go above and beyond, participates in the community, has multiple extracurriculars, and most importantly you be your unique self.
In order to get into a school like MIT you need a near perfect GPA which is very difficult to do throughout high school. To maintain a perfect GPA you need to get straight A’s in every single class. The difficult part about this is that not even a single A- is allowed. A lot of people believe that achieving a 4.0 GPA correlates to being smart, but in reality this is not the case. Allen Cheng, an Alum from Harvard, claims that to get a 4.0 GPA he relied on “effective academic habits” and other strategies. You need to have an efficient schedule that allows you to get your work done and not procrastinate. This will require you to have self discipline and motivation throughout high school to be successful and handle the challenging course loads. Without a good strategy, you will not get anywhere. A 4.0 GPA requires a lot of hard work. It necessitates a significant amount of conscientiousness, consistency, and commitment. You must always be on top of things every single day. You cannot make a mistake on any exam, paper, or task. This isn't that horrible if you're only doing it for a few assignments in a few classes, but if you're doing it on a constant basis over four years it is extremely difficult. If a 4.0 GPA is your objective, you may have to put partying or going out with friends on hold for a long time during high school. Nothing comes easy when achieving perfection in academics, but with hard work anything is possible.
To get into an ivy league college you have to achieve a perfect or near perfect score on the ACT/SAT. This is extremely difficult though, as the probability of a student receiving a perfect score on the ACT is about 1 in 735 students while the probability for receiving a perfect score on the SAT is less than 1%. The odds are not in your favor when it comes to taking these tests, and they are extremely difficult to perfect. If you live on Western United States, you are most likely going to be given the ACT test. This test is graded on a scale of 1 to 36, with 36 being the highest score possible. The average score on this test is around 21, while the average score for a student accepted into MIT is a 35. This gives an idea of how difficult it is to get into MIT and other ivy league universities. Don’t get discouraged though, as the actual odds of you receiving a near perfect score is dependent on how well you study and prepare for the test early on. If you live in the Eastern United States, you are most likely to be given the SAT test. On the SAT, the highest possible score is 1600 (it used to be 2400), and the odds are heavily stacked against you more than you think. In 2019 around 2.2 million graduating high school students took the SAT. Of these 2.2 million students, only around 7 percent of them received a score of 1400 or higher. To put this into perspective, this means that only around 22,00 students earned a 1550 to 1600 on the SAT in 2019, and only half of one percent of these students received a flawless score of 1600. The most important thing to remember if you want to earn a perfect score on the test is to establish an effective study schedule that allows you to comprehend everything that may appear on the test. If you prepare for the test you will do well.
To get into MIT it requires more than just academics. Even if you have completed the academic requirements, you still must meet the payment requirements which can also be difficult. The cost of going to MIT per semester before aid is provided is around $72,462. When financial aid is provided, the average cost lowers to around $16,636. This is a significant reduction in price, but still very expensive. Aside from the cost of MIT, there are still other factors that play a role as well. MIT wants students who have a unique background and are driven towards excellence. They are looking for students who are not only determined to succeed but also unafraid to fail. They look for people like this because they know that taking risks leads to resiliency and often victory. People who understand that failure is a part of life are the most creative and successful people in life. If you stay focused and don’t give up on your goals you will accomplish anything. MIT wants people who will change the world while still being theirself.
MIT has unique admissions processes that change depending on different factors. Some of these different acception processes are based on the amount of people who applied, the percent that was accepted, the amount of early action applicants who applied, the amount of early action admits, the amount of people waitlisted, the amount of people admitted from the waitlist, the amount of U.S citizens that were admitted, the amount of international students that were admitted, the admitted students test scores for each subject, and any other factors that play a role in how people are chosen to be accepted. Test scores and other academic records are recorded as well in the rigorous admissions process, but MIT deeply cares about things like your fit with the university. MIT wants people to know that they admit people to their college, not statistics. You have a good probability of being admitted into MIT if you are true to yourself and work hard to achieve your goals. Don’t let the admissions statistics discourage you from trying to get into MIT.