Im applying to MIT other ivy leagues, how do i look?

Q. MIT is my dream school that id like to attend and participate in their biomedical or chemical engineering programs. Im currently a junior in high school. Here is my criteria:

Freshman Year: A's in every class finished the year with a 4.1 but only took honors mathamatics (i believe that may hurt me but i also have heard freshman year is slightly "looked over")

Sophomore year: I really stepped my game up that year and had a teacher who truly influenced me and kind of "sparked" me into the person i am now.
Honors Bio - A
Honors Modern History - A
Honors Alg 2 - A
Honors English - A
SPanish 2 - A
Programming Java Honors - A

Finished the year with a 4.5 cumulatively

Junior year:
AP Bio - A
AP Lit - A
AP Computer Science- A
Honors History - A
Honors Trig - A
Spanish 3 - A
Honors Chem - A

finished with 4.6 cumulatively

SAT - 2120(plan on retaking them)

Senior year(what i intend to take):

AP Calc
Ap prob and stat
AP chem
AP physics
AP Economics
AP Composition
Spanish 4
Honors history

Extra curriculars:

1. Play lacrosse year round on my highschool team(varsity sophomore year) and various elite club teams
2.Started playing the piano last year and am very accomplished(has become a passion now)
3. I participate in the science olympiad and went to states
4. I enjoy building robots with my grandfather(Science teacher & passion)
5. Got the green chord(award presented to a student for every 100 hours of community service)
6. I volunteer at soup kitchens and run science camps at my local YMCA during the summer for 2 weeks at a time
7. Help tutor kids in biology(last year) and mathamatics(maybe not extracurricular? who knows)
8. Started my own community service committee in my local town and got kids from school to join and participate
9. Trying to start up my own lacrosse summer club team for the summer with various teammates
10. I love to make up games, not just random ones in car rides but actual GAMES. Usually they dont involve boards and a bit more complicated compared to the everyday game. My new game involves a pair of magnets along with many objects. (not gonna give away all the secrets (: )
11. Co president of the Key club (club based on community service)

If you havent already noticed i like to do a lot with community service, not just because it looks good on a application but because of the sense of fulfillment i recieve when i know im helping another person.

A. I think you have a good shot, however your SAT score definitely needs work. Colleges these days are looking for more than just good grades and good extra curricular. They are looking for someone who is specifically passionate about something. Make it clear to the school that you absolutely love something. Whether that be something like community service (not the best "passion for a school like MIT") or mathematics, choose something that you really care about. But otherwise, if you continue to take hard classes, and graduate high (top 5% of class), then you have a good chance. Also, consider going to prep school for senior year, like Phillips Exeter Academy.

Original Question

Im going to apply to MIT/ and other ivy leagues, critique me!?

A. I can tell you that you have a very strong profile, but I can't make anything even close to a guarantee about your chances at acceptance. Your grades and extracurricular activities are stellar, but so are most of those students who apply to MIT. You can bet that you'll see a lot of AP science and math classes on their resume as well, science olympiad, and robotics (usually through their school), but also a lot of sports, music, and volunteer work. Especially when you're applying to a science-heavy institution such as MIT, you're going to need to really show that your passion exceeds or is different than everyone else's. That's really what it comes down to for top universities in the nation: differentiating yourself with something unique that's not academics or even extracurricular activities. Now it's possible that your uniqueness might extend into a manifestation that exists in your EC's, but I've seen everything that you've presented just here on Yahoo! Answers in the past year, and this is only a minute slice of the college applicant pool. Valedictorians, people with 2400 SAT scores, and students recognized nationally for their community involvement are regularly turned away from top universities because of how competitive admissions is.

I'll be attending a top 5 liberal arts college with a <13% acceptance rate in the fall and for me, my "hook" was that I want to study paleontology. In my case, this bled into my EC's as I've volunteered with a natural history museum and their dinosaur branch, so it really helped to show that I'm not just kid who hit his dinosaur phase late, but someone who's really engaged in the field and still wants to pursue it. Just like you, I took a lot of AP / honors classes, was top 10% in my grade (school doesn't rank, so it might have been higher), did a lot of stuff on the outside from volunteering at dog shelters to being captain of the Speech & Debate team, but it's really the paleontology (and maybe the little blurb about my reptiles in the short answer part on the Common App) that made me stand out from everyone else.

Some suggestions:

1. Definitely retake your SAT. You need to get into the 2200 range at minimum to be around the average, and preferably get higher. There really is not safe level to be at; just aim as high as you can and see where you land.

2. Like me, you probably didn't take a full load of AP's in the humanities (English, history, foreign languages) because they aren't your subject, aren't necessary for your future work, and take away from your time, just make sure that you articulate that somewhere because the three years of honors history stands out on the transcript.

3. Pick your essay topic very carefully. You don't want to show that you're a smart person; your grades already show that. You don't want to show that you're an involved person; your EC's already show that. You want to show that you're a unique and gifted individual who's worth admitting not only on the merits of his / her skills and talents, but his / her character and personality. MIT doesn't need smart students, they need smart people.

Original Question

Applying to MIT/John Hopkins/ Cornell for engineering, how do i look?

Q. MIT is my dream school that id like to attend and participate in their biomedical or chemical engineering programs. Im currently a junior in high school. Here is my criteria:

Freshman Year: A's in every class finished the year with a 4.1 but only took honors mathamatics (i believe that may hurt me but i also have heard freshman year is slightly "looked over")

Sophomore year: I really stepped my game up that year and had a teacher who truly influenced me and kind of "sparked" me into the person i am now.
Honors Bio - A
Honors Modern History - A
Honors Alg 2 - A
Honors English - A
SPanish 2 - A
Programming Java Honors - A

Finished the year with a 4.5 cumulatively

Junior year:
AP Bio - A
AP Lit - A
AP Computer Science- A
Honors History - A
Honors Trig - A
Spanish 3 - A
Honors Chem - A

finished with 4.6 cumulatively

SAT - 2120(plan on retaking them)

Senior year(what i intend to take):

AP Calc
Ap prob and stat
AP chem
AP physics
AP Economics
AP Composition
Spanish 4
Honors history

Extra curriculars:

1. Play lacrosse year round on my highschool team(varsity sophomore year) and various elite club teams that are recognized at participating tournaments
2.Started playing the piano last year and am very accomplished(has become a passion now)
3. I participate in the science olympiad and went to states
4. I enjoy building robots with my grandfather(Science teacher & passion)
5. Got the green chord(award presented to a student for every 100 hours of community service)
6. I volunteer at soup kitchens and run science camps at my local YMCA during the summer for 2 weeks at a time
7. Help tutor kids in biology(last year) and mathamatics(maybe not extracurricular? who knows)
8. Started my own community service committee in my local town and got kids from school to join and participate
9. Trying to start up my own lacrosse summer club team for the summer with various teammates
10. I love to make up games, not just random ones in car rides but actual GAMES. Usually they dont involve boards and a bit more complicated compared to the everyday game. My new game involves a pair of magnets along with many objects. (not gonna give away all the secrets (: )
11. Co president of the Key club (club based on community service)
12. Member of NHS
13.National Merit Finalist

Rank:
Im in the top 4% of my school or more specifically 25/595.

If you havent already noticed i like to do a lot with community service, not just because it looks good on a application but because of the sense of fulfillment i recieve when i know im helping another person. I also have an extreme passion for videogames. I play them all the time ranging across all the different genres. I dont just play them though, i write guides for them, help my friends out with them, make my own videogames, participate in tournaments and attend conventions. Im a perfectionist in them and obtain all the achievements and set my own personal goals within them, i know this is really nerdy and often frowned apon but hey, its what i enjoy doing, isnt that what its all about? (:

Please reply with helpful criticism.

A. It looks very good. Be sure it's all true. If they check any of it out and find out some is bogus, you're trashed. They'll also look at the reputation of the school. Get some good recommendations from teachers who know you well. Take your science projects seriously, and see if you can provide them a copy.

I attended before there were AP courses. Be very careful about using AP credits in place of basic MIT classes. Get really good counseling on this. Those early courses have a lot of material and education packed into them. If you start with mid-level courses with inadequate preparation, you may never get your head above water.

See if there's an active MIT Club in or near your area. They can put you in touch with visiting admissions staff. They can be extremely helpful. Or check the admissions areas of mit.edu.

Original Question

Title : Im applying to MIT other ivy leagues, how do i look?
Description : Q. MIT is my dream school that id like to attend and participate in their biomedical or chemical engineering programs. Im currently a junio...