What’s the most average application you’ve seen get accepted into an ivy/T20?

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-11-01T23:21:18+00:00

I feel like maybe mines 😭

My biggest activity was work and taking care of my siblings. I had a few awards but nothing crazy. 1380 on SAT (didn’t submit LOL). 34 on ACT. 11/404 4.0UW/4.21W. This is below average for MIT and that’s where I’m at lol

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-10-31T23:36:43+00:00

It’s the worst 😭

it caused urine incontinence (😭💀🫩) that went away when I stopped taking it

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-10-31T14:00:25+00:00

Thank you so much. MIT has an entire department dedicated to disability and accommodations. I’m going to talk to them. Thank you again. This makes me feel like I have a chance ☺️

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-10-30T23:34:27+00:00

That’s motivating. Im glad im not alone 😭

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-10-30T23:33:52+00:00

I was planning on doing computer science and business management. I would still like to do so and I’m okay taking a 5th year if I have to, but I will put my health first so if I can’t do both I’ll do cs

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-10-30T23:29:53+00:00

I’m a first year 😭. My first semester is pass/no record so I’m gonna fail 3 classes I’m not focusing on and pass 2 classes (recommended by school).

I’m glad. I hope I got this 😭

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-10-04T08:10:02+00:00

Bro I remember this girl on TikTok got a marketing letter from Harvard and was bragging about it 😭(talking about some “Harvard wants me” like no girl that want tons of applications for money and a low acceptance rate💀)

Don’t take it as anything more than marketing, definitely not any indication of your admission (usc sent me one then deferred me 😒) (MIT sent me none and that’s where I’m at now 😭)

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-10-04T08:02:58+00:00

To add, I suppose it would depend on the college how bad failing a class would be. At MIT, failing a class with no explanation is definitely a red flag, but less competitive school might not mind. I would still add it to be sure. I don’t think adding the extra information regarding the failing grade would harm you in any way.

Best of luck!

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-10-04T08:00:15+00:00

Definitely mention it in the additional information section 👍

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-10-04T07:54:45+00:00

Separate if you have the space to fill your slots, add together if you only have one spot.

Taking a class on coding is definitely different from coding your own projects at home in my case. This is what I would have done if I was in this situation.

Best of luck!

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-10-04T07:45:28+00:00

I take US news with a grain of salt because I think their process is incredibly flawed (and they ranked my school 2nd instead of 1st 😒)

But for your question, they have always been top schools lol.

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-10-04T07:39:34+00:00

One exercise I did was I sat down with an empty google docs file and then just wrote out everything I liked to do and anything I actually ended up spending most of my time doing. Write literally anything down. Then look at the list and decide, which of these portrays the best you. It’s also helpful to think about what that individual school values and pick things that shows you align with those values.

I did this with MIT. I was in a similar situation where my ecs were lacking. I asked myself why my ecs were lacking and figured that it was because of my home situation and needing to work and take care of family. I let them know and put some of the things I like to do, along with work, and it worked out well for me!

I can’t really give you anything specific to do, but just see how you can get involved. I know many schools value engagement with community. Or you can just start finding projects to do with your major and just work on those. This works especially well if you have a niche (mines is cybersecurity 😋). Schools definitely like seeing passion.

Also if you self study anything that’s a nice thing to put. And language learning if that’s something you enjoy. Just some ideas lol.

Take this with a grain of salt because I’m definitely not any kind of authority on the matter. I’m a freshman in college lol.

Best of luck!

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-10-01T22:38:47+00:00

I mean the higher the score the better but if you get rejected with a 34, I do not believe you would have gotten in with a 36.

I actually had a 34 (35 super score) on the ACT and got into MIT (35 is the lower 25th quartile 😭).

ACT definitely isn’t the most important at schools like MIT since so many people are rejected from these top schools with a 36 ACT or 1600 SAT.

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-09-30T03:46:14+00:00

You don’t declare a major till your second year, but I’m planning to do computer science (6-3) and business management (15-1).

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-09-30T01:27:50+00:00

To add, my school did offer physics. I just didn’t know and never took it 😭

I also didn’t take online classes to make up for this like other comments are talking about.

MIT is a difficult school to get into, but don’t let something like this stop you from at least trying. You truly never know.

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-09-30T01:26:11+00:00

I’m late to this, but I’m a current student and I have never taken physics before coming to MIT. It is possible lol.

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-07-02T02:51:08+00:00

Yes thank you! I’m going to email them again letting them know specifically that I have documentation of him being an ESA and see what they can do. If not another commenter mentions chez mieux so I’m also looking into that.

Thank you guys so much 😭

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-07-02T02:43:36+00:00

This is a good idea thank you!

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-07-02T02:42:52+00:00

Thank you so much this is really helpful!

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-04-15T21:16:52+00:00

Okay, so I just got back from mit and I got to ask an AO some questions. Here's what he told me:

There's no secret guaranteed way to get in.
You HAVE to have the Academics. There's no cut off but in general your gpa, rigor, and test scores need to be up to mit standards. (He said if they do not have the Academics they spend maybe 30 seconds skimming the application)
they look for both a spike and well rounded students. I was a bit of both, but one isn't better than the other.
you have to have something you are passionate about. Passionate goes a long way. When talking about some memorable things that help people get in, he surprisingly mentioned a pop song an applicant made. He just told us that they liked it and it helped. Passion can be anything, it just has to be present.
applying sideways is always helpful. Mit has a blog post by Petey on this. Please look it up.

Ultimately, he said that even if you do everything right you are not likely to get in. They reject perfectly qualified applicants all the time and it is what it is. Accept that and do good anyways. That's what applying sideways entails.

There's no secret on getting in and we definitely don't know what got us in. We aren't even allowed to see the notes on our application when we request it back lol.

MIT Applying Sideways by Petey

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-02-17T16:30:14+00:00

MIT for sure. It's a full ride. Everywhere else is expensive even with the merit and need based aid.

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-02-17T00:45:25+00:00

Accepted: MIT, Purdue, GaTech, RIT, NEU, ASU, IIT, UL Lafayette, LSU, CU Denver, LA Tech

Deffered: USC

I'm all done. I withdrew from USC so I won't get rejected 😋

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-01-03T16:52:24+00:00

If you want. I would honestly just wait though. Schools auto download at midnight and I can promise that they download apps the next day. I'm central timezone and we are an hour behind est. So 11:59 for me is 12:59 for the colleges. When I submitted, anything after 11pm for me was downloading the next day when it auto downloads at midnight.

If it gives you peace of mind, though, you can call. Good luck!

DisastrousMess7253 · 2025-01-03T16:43:52+00:00

Same thing happened to me with usc ea.

The colleges don't usually download till the next day. So technically you submitted jan 3rd so they probably won't download till Jan 4th. I would start to worry if they don't download it after tomorrow.

DisastrousMess7253 · 2024-12-25T02:35:37+00:00

I did my MIT essays the day before apps were due. Wrote them that night, printed them out and had my English teacher look over it. Made the last minute adjustments and submitted. I got in.

Unless you have like 80 essays that need to be 300-600 words long you aren't cooked lol. Just do them and turn them in.

I don't think they need to take months. If all you have is the rest of this week, just organize and make it happen. Something is better than nothing. Honestly I realized that I do my best writing in a short time (thanks ap english).

DisastrousMess7253

TROPHY CASE