Visiting colleges, tips?

**MrRubix** · 08-18-2008, 02:19 PM

Re: Visiting colleges, tips?

BTW, MIT>Caltech in terms of social atmosphere. Caltech people are, on average, really nerdy. MIT people are still smart but know how to have a good time. I've been to both and MIT kicked the crap out of Caltech in that department. Girls were hotter, too, haha

**Relambrien** · 08-18-2008, 02:51 PM

Re: Visiting colleges, tips?

I'll respond in parts since Rubix's post is so huge

Originally posted by MrRubix

FRO: I used to be a mod on CC, and I fielded tons of questions -- so I guess you can say I am bringing some CC here

A 650 Math score is *NOT* competitive for MIT, wtfh. Who the hell was smoking the peace pipe when they told you that one?

Karyn Blaser, the person who led the information session and apparently an admissions officer for MIT. I didn't believe it for a second either.

Your SAT's are great, but your Math II is very very lacking -- Math IIC 800's are so common at MIT (even across the nation I think 800 IIC is something like 90th percentile). Especially if you're going into CS... you really need to just go 800 the sucker if you can. It's an easy test and it should just be something you have. Math Level 1 is a bit silly because the curve is retarded and IIC is harder in terms of material anyway. But applying to MIT without an 800 IIC will probably raise a few eyebrows, especially if it's as low as 730. That means you probably missed like, what, 10 questions (random guess)? Fairly large chunk or so -- try to tighten it up if you can. You can always use a score-rush option, and there's plenty of time to do this.

See, that's the thing. My school doesn't have Algebra II. I took the test and there were several questions about vectors and matrices--which I haven't been introduced to other than "this is a matrix, and this is a vector. Moving on..." Yeah. I've taken AP Calc AB (highest my school offers), and even then, my teacher didn't expect any of us to even get a 3 on the exam; he knew it was a terrible class. I got a 4.

Physics has a VERY nice curve, but that's because it's considered a hard test, but imo it's easy to 800 if you're decent at physics and have been exposed to a very wide range of subjects (mechanics, thermodynamics, light, energy, atomic physics, relativity, and even history). That means you should know important moments in history as well as famous experiments such as Young's Double-Slit model, Bohr's model, how Einstein's photoelectric effect worked, Rutherford's s***... the list goes on.

I better hope my school's new physics teacher is any good, then...from what I understand, hardly any of that was taught with the last teacher. Actually, I think kinetic physics was all the class covered.

If you know jack s*** about physics right now, get a Princeton Review book on it. It's the best you'll get and it's closest to the test material (f*** Barron's, f*** Kaplan's). It'll prepare you with anything you'll likely need to know to at least get a decent score (750+) on physics. Chemistry is, imo, harder than Physics and the curve's really gross, and the test format's appalling (especially the T/F/CE crap). I barely 800'd the sucker (almost didn't make it), but I found it 10x harder than the Physics test. Don't do Chemistry unless you're really good at it. Physics is far easier to prepare for.

Advice well-taken. I'll be getting that book ASAP.

This has been the subject of tons of debate... but statistics pretty much show that applying early somewhere gives you a better chance "SORT OF," but in general it isn't really a significant correlation. Schools generally try to deny the statistics because they don't want people applying early for the sake of trying to backdoor. Also, to clarify, EA is nonbinding while ED is binding. A good aspect to applying early is that a deferral means you get re-evaluated for Regular Decision. Applying EA doesn't mean much other than you apply early and receive your decision early. In general though, applying early is a signal that you plan on attending if accepted. Some schools like Yale and Stanford have SCEA (Single Choice Early Action) which means you can't apply to other schools, but you aren't obligated to attend if accepted. But you can apply to as many EA schools as you like under MIT's system. ED schools pretty much say "You apply to us and only us, and if we defer/reject you in the first round, you're free to apply wherever else you'd like."

But I mean if you love MIT, then by all means apply early. It certainly wouldn't hurt. Keep in mind though that the early pools tend to be pretty strong and self-selective.

Understood.

EDIT: Also, that GPA appears to be your weighted -- what's your unweighted? Do you know your rank at all? Do you generally take the hardest classes available at your school?

Unweighted is probably around 3.97 or something like that. I've gotten one B in 3 years so far. As for class rank, I'm #2 out of 110 or so in weighted GPA, solely because I took an extra non-honors class that brought down my overall GPA, since it was only out of 4 instead of 4.25.

As for taking the hardest classes available, yes. Except my school's class choice is appalling. Here's what my schedule looked like last year:

Study Hall
Honors U.S. History
AP Calculus AB
Naval Science III/Leadership Program
Honors Integrated Science III (which is really Chemistry)
Honors American Literature
Phys. Ed./Health
Spanish IV

My school does not offer any higher-level courses in math or Spanish, so I've completed those. And these are the only classes I -could- take, outside of switching Spanish for French and doing Music Appreciation instead of Study Hall. We don't get to choose our classes; the catalog is so small that our schedules are assigned to us.

Next year, my schedule should include the following:

Honors Military History
Honors Physics
AP English Literature
AP Bio (I pretty much have to take this if I want to have a chance)
Music Appreciation
Naval Science IV/Leadership Program

The only other class I could take that I haven't taken is French. I have taken every other available class in the school. Military History is a requirement for my school, and no other senior social studies options are available. There is no AP physics course; the only AP science is in Biology.

What I'm mainly worried about, provided I get accepted, is whether or not I'll be okay in CS. My school's computer curriculum consists of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access. And that's it. All the website stuff I know is self-taught.

I'd like to be able to do more, but unfortunately, my school doesn't allow it. And to give an example of how bad the content is for the classes we -do- have...

Well, I already explained about how I haven't learned anything about vectors or matrices other than that they exist and what they look like. Our chemistry class was essentially the periodic table, dimensional analysis, chemical nomenclature, and basic stoichiometry. Biology was "evolution runs everything, here's how," focusing mainly on microbiology and DNA. Our electives are crap: the computer curriculum, Spanish/French, and music. That's it.

Because of that, my ability to perform on standardized tests has, I belive, been extremely hindered. If my school had decent classes with competent curricula, then I'd be a lot more confident.

**FRO** · 08-18-2008, 02:53 PM

Re: Visiting colleges, tips?

Adding to MrRubix's post, a score of 730 on math 2 does not say much at all, because this test is curved SO much. I have collegeboard's study guide for math 2 and looking at their conversion table, a raw score of 36 would get you a 730, meaning you missed/skipped nearly 1/3 of the questions. A 730 on many of the other subject tests looks pretty good, but on the math 2 it's probably the equivalent of a 6__ on most other subject tests. A raw score from 43 to 50 would get you an 800, so essentially every question you answer correctly past 36 would add about 10 points to your score. An 800 math 2 is pretty damn important while the math 1 doesn't mean much. Some schools (Berkeley from the top of my head) don't even want you to send in your math 1.

Edit: You don't really need calc to do well on the math 2. I took the test while still taking trig as a junior and got an 800. IMO it's more about your approach to the problems

**MrRubix** · 08-18-2008, 03:10 PM

Re: Visiting colleges, tips?

Admissions officers will generally say a lower score is "competitive," perhaps as to not scare people away, but what they won't say is that those lower scores are generally what recruited athletes have (people at MIT may have a 650 math if they're accepted to play for something). If you aren't a track superstar or soccer phenom, you are going to need really good SAT scores. It's just the way the reality of it works. For example, the average SAT at top schools tends to be anywhere from 1400-1450, roughly. People generally do better in Math than they do CR. A 650 Math would be far below average. What she gave you was really bad advice, IMO. But your SAT is almost a 2300 so you're definitely competitive no matter where you apply, really. 3.97 UW GPA is great too, especially with that rank. So you're good to go there, but again, get the damn Math IIC up, lol.

The cool thing about these tests is that if you don't know something, there's always a way to find out. For IIC I'd advise looking for some Sparknotes guides to help prepare. They are ABSURDLY close to the real thing. Odds are 90% of the stuff you learn/master in the Sparknotes books will show up on the IIC.

Your school can suck hard (mine sure as hell did), but you can still pwn the tests. I came from a really crappy public high school, but I got 800's on all my SAT's and SAT2's except for SAT1 CR, in which I got a 790. It's really a function of: 1. How quickly you learn, 2. How badly you want it, 3: How much you're willing to prepare. Even if your school sucks at teaching physics or math, a little research and preparation can teach you how to do everything you need to do in a very short time. The practice tests are invaluable resources.

Your schedule looks alright. Your school sends a register showing available courses, so as long as you're taking the hardest crap that you can, you'll be okay, especially with scores like yours (which clearly show the bottleneck here is your school and not you).

I'd also advise you to look into the CS curriculum to get a taste for exactly what you'd be expecting material-wise. It goes well beyond mere MS Office products, haha. Do you program any?

The more initiative you show, I think the better. If you manage to accomplish cool **** from a limited school, I think it can help you a lot because there are many more kids who came from very privileged educational backgrounds who essentially have all the resources laid before them. The more you self-teach and develop external skills that you can show evidence of, the better you'll come across.

And yeah, FRO is right. Math I is not even really worth sending. Even an 800 Math I isn't saying a whole lot. I always find it funny when native Chinese speakers take the Chinese SAT2 because it's either "Ok, you got an 800 in your native language. Is this supposed to impress us?" or "You got something less than an 800 in your native language?! WHAT THE HELL." Math I is basically the same way, but the curve sucks. IIC is curved in a way where if you study for it, you'll 800 it easy even if you miss a few questions. It's also relatively easy to get an 800 even without preparation, but sometimes there are little random formulas/concepts that may escape your memory, but this is why preparation does a great job. It's a great feeling to walk into a test like the SAT and to recognize everything they throw at you. You know what they're asking, you know how to solve it, and you save lots of time.

**Mentch** · 08-18-2008, 03:33 PM

Re: Visiting colleges, tips?

What are some good universities to go to for a major in business?

/off topic