How hard is it to get into Harvard and MIT?

cmeistergeek

Assuming you're not like a double legacy and assuming you want to study engineering or computer science. How good are the engineering and computer science programs at Harvard and MIT? I'm a junior in high school and ranked in the top 2%. The valedictorian of last year's graduating class had a 4.5 weighted GPA (4.0 uw) and 2380 SAT score with good marks on his Calculus BC , Physics, and 3 other AP exams along with tons of ECs. He got rejected from both MIT and Harvard. I believe he's at Virginia Tech now studying computer science.

Turgon

cmeistergeek wrote: »

Assuming you're not like a double legacy. I'm a junior in high school and ranked in the top 2%. The valedictorian of last year's graduating class had a 4.5 weighted GPA (4.0 uw) and 2380 SAT score with good marks on his Calculus BC , Physics, and 3 other AP exams along with tons of ECs. He got rejected from both MIT and Harvard. I believe he's at Virginia Tech now studying computer science.

I imagine it's very hard and a little luck is involved if you are trying to get in on Merit. I know at Oxford and Cambridge the places are simply overwhelmed every year with applicants most of who have top scores in everything. There are just not enough places so boatloads of applicants who meet the entry criteria are unhappily overlooked. Going to the right school can help..or knowing an Ambassador, or so I was once told

You could always try the postgraduate route or simply the backdoor route. I undertook my Masters degree project at Cambridge University years back although the degree was conferred by a different University. I accomplished that by writing to an academic who's work interested me to see if he had a project for me. I would have liked to have gone on, and while he ultimately complimented me on my work there my mathematics background was inadequate to be useful to him as a research assistant and my grades for my postgraduate degree were also alas not good enough. It was an interesting experience. I published my work soon after.

kiki162

Not sure about the programs themselves however getting into one of those places is hard enough as it is. First thing with any ivy league school is you want to be doing lots and lots of activities within and outside of school. Also prepare to have no social life outside of school and all the other things you are doing. Spending your entire summers doing something other than sitting on your butt also helps out. Being insanely busy is the whole point.

There are other schools like Johns Hopkins, Penn State and others like VA Tech that are good schools to get into. And if you can't get into the ivy league school of your choice, there's always graduate programs you can look at too. Provided that you blazed through your undergrad with a 4.0 and had a killer resume to boot.

swild

It takes more than grades. Thousands of students apply to those schools with the same GPAs and SATs. That allows them the flexibility to look for the right candidate that will be able to complete their program. Extracurriculars and the essay get you the interview. The interview gets you admission.

I graduated high school with a 3.24 and was accepted to MIT, but decided to follow a girl to a state school instead. Whoops.

Turgon

kiki162 wrote: »

Not sure about the programs themselves however getting into one of those places is hard enough as it is. First thing with any ivy league school is you want to be doing lots and lots of activities within and outside of school. Also prepare to have no social life outside of school and all the other things you are doing. Spending your entire summers doing something other than sitting on your butt also helps out. Being insanely busy is the whole point.

There are other schools like Johns Hopkins, Penn State and others like VA Tech that are good schools to get into. And if you can't get into the ivy league school of your choice, there's always graduate programs you can look at too. Provided that you blazed through your undergrad with a 4.0 and had a killer resume to boot.

The social aspect is a factor. Unless you are simply brilliant elite institutions are not always impressed with top academic qualifications in and of themselves. They are overwhelmed with applicants with those credentials. So they like to look at what you do outside of class to see if you are interesting or can offer something to the University. In other words, yup, do lots and lots of things. Organise stuff, arrange stuff, lead stuff, win prizes, travel, speak, raise money, be in organisations, be impressive! Sounds exhausting? It sure must be and a lot of those folks dont get in! But it can't hurt your chances.

cyberguypr

According to this article chances suck.

An all-time low of 6.2 percent of applicants were offered admission to the Harvard College Class of 2015, beating records for the sixth consecutive year in what reflects a trend of increasing selectivity both at Harvard and at other top-tier universities.

Notification letters were mailed yesterday afternoon to 2,158 students, who were selected from a pool of 34,950—the largest number of applicants ever.

I like how this guy sums it up:

They must be, simultaneously, a bold leader and an easygoing follower. They must consume gossip mags and classic novels with equal ferocity. They must enjoy spending countless hours holed up in the library--if and only if they spend the same number of hours at a sweaty dorm party afterward in order to forget what they studied.

They must be equally comfortable dining in evening wear at a Michelin three-star French restaurant and wolfing down Oreos and peanut butter as they sit, pajama-clad, on a lumpy and off-kilter futon mattress.

In other words, they must be superhuman.

cmeistergeek

Wow looks like VT then. There's a running joke among applicants that the things that separate a Harvard accepted and rejected/deferred status are legacies and medals in the Mathematical Olympiad or grand prize in the Intel STS.

Here's a NYTimes article about Google offering computer science graduates starting salaries of $90,000 to $105,000
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/technology/26recruit.html

dave330i

I hear both are easier to get in vs. getting a job at Google. I've always wondered the value of ivy league education. Assuming you're smart enough to get in, but not super smart enough to be in the top 5% of your class, is it worth it?

cmeistergeek

According to this NYTimes article, Google is paying computer science majors $90,000 to $105,000 right out of college
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/technology/26recruit.html

swild

dave330i wrote: »

If you're smart enough to get into ivy league, then you can probably get a free ride at a good state college, where you'll stand out more, have better chance getting picked for a project, network with other bright people in school etc. Guess it's big fish in little pond vs. small fish in big pond.

I have been in the big fish position and it sucks. I was wanting to learn, not teach others what I learned in high school. I would much rather not be noticed in a big pond but have competent people to work with.

it_consultant

cmeistergeek wrote: »

Assuming you're not like a double legacy and assuming you want to study engineering or computer science. How good are the engineering and computer science programs at Harvard and MIT? I'm a junior in high school and ranked in the top 2%. The valedictorian of last year's graduating class had a 4.5 weighted GPA (4.0 uw) and 2380 SAT score with good marks on his Calculus BC , Physics, and 3 other AP exams along with tons of ECs. He got rejected from both MIT and Harvard. I believe he's at Virginia Tech now studying computer science.

First of all - good job working hard and studying the sciences. Second of all - if you look at the legacy aerospace companies like Lockheed and Boeing, they are basically fed by the California PUBLIC University system. I wouldn't worry about getting a job if you go to a lowly public University and get a science based degree. In fact, in many ways it could be better. Public universities constantly get government grants to study this and that and their students benefit greatly from this.

I was listening to a story on NPR about the first google science fair winner who was admitted to MIT. She was able to isolate the protein that caused resistance to cancer drugs in people who had gone into remission from a previous cancer. Can you match that? Probably not, do you need too, probably not. You don't actually have to be 100% better than everyone else in the long run to be successful. The reality is you only need to be moderately better than average to do really well.

Google Science Fair Winner Discusses Her Project : NPR

GAngel

I got into MIT with a GPA of 3.9 and lots of extra curriculars.
It helps alot if you know alumni or go to a highly rated school which usually has alumni. Nepotism rules if you're on the inside

never applied to Harvard there comp sci program is still nothing to write home about.

the_Grinch

I can vouch for Google being the toughest interviews I have ever been on. First it was 3 technical phone interviews covering everything you could think of in regards to troubleshooting. Then I headed to the NYC office for 3 to 5 in person interviews. The third interviewer pwned me with high stress interview tactics. After that it was thanks for coming we'll let you know....sucked as I did well prior to that interview, but such is life!