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You are here: Experts > Education > College Life > Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) > MIT
Expert: Sue Kayton
Date: 5/16/2008
Subject: MIT
Question
QUESTION: Hi, I'm in ninth grade and my GPA is a 3.7 and I am planning on taking AP classes to boost my GPA up. Also this summer I am also taking a SAT prep class. I am willing to work my butt off for the remainder years of high school. I was just wondering if you have any advice about what classes to focus in on and what I really have to do to get into MIT. Thanks
ANSWER: Getting into MIT takes more than just hard work. It takes a lot of luck, and it helps to have something different or unusual. MIT turns down zillions of applicants with perfect grades and scores, taking students with lower grades and scores because they think they are interesting, different, will make a positive contribution, etc.
Read this
http://www.suekayton.com/college.htm
Don't take classes just to boost your GPA. Take classes that you find interesting. And think about a job - nothing impresses a college more than a student with a job whose boss thinks they are great and writes a recommendation letter for the student. You can butter up teachers, but bosses are usually much less easily influenced. This applies to either paying jobs or volunteer work.
You will need two recommendation letters - one from an English or social studies teacher and the other from a math or science teacher. Make sure you get to know a few teachers - not just as a number or as a grade, but as a person.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: So your saying that I should take classes that I think are interesting and do some cool stuff around the school. Such as clubs, and all of that other stuff and make my resume very interesting with a huge variety of cool and influential stuff.
Answer
No. Take classes that you think are interesting and do things that YOU think are cool. Better to do one or two cool things, and do them intensely, rather than spread yourself very thin doing a bit of everything in sight. Figure out what you like doing, and DO it.
It doesn't have to be school stuff - could be school, job, clubs, Scouts, religious group, volunteer group, etc. There's an old saying that if you do what you like to do, it doesn't seem like work, it seems like fun. That's the point here. And don't forget to take time to read stuff. Here's a link to interesting books
http://www.suekayton.com/reading.htm
Good luck!
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