asking about stuff will help me in my admissions

Answered

Hi, welcome to Collegevine! As a matter of housekeeping, only ask 1 question at a time. Most people are very busy with the college applications and will not be interested in answering 7 questions.

1. Most Top schools are looking for remarkable students that are not only excellent students but have a proven track record of serving their community, showing strong leadership qualities, having impressive accomplishments, superior writing and communication skills and being humble and gracious and kind. 95% of MIT applicants were rejected during early action admission. And close to 97% will be rejected for regular decision. Within the reject pool, which is a self selecting pool of some of the smartest kids in the world, are many students with perfect grades and test scores and ECs. There simply isn't enough room to accommodate more than 4% that apply and many certifiable geniuses end up at the their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or lower school choices.

2. Your ECs are good but not impressive compared to ECs of students admitted at top Schools.

3. The Turkish International Scholarship is much more generous than American scholarships. I also think European countries that have free college are a much better fit for you. In the US, unless you are a top student with the highest GPA, Test Scores, ECs and other evidence of intellectual vitality, you will not be considered for full tuition scholarships. Less than 1% of universities offer such need based scholarships as you seem to require since you are poor. This is a grave misunderstanding amongst HS students living outside the US.

4. If you should get accepted, you would work with the country's embassy in Turkey to secure a student Visa. For example the US Consulate or US Embassy in Istanbul.

5. Changing Schools will not expunge your academic record to zero. You will have to repeat all your 2.5 years high school if you want a clean slate and start over.

6. There isn't very much you can do about your GPA so try to get a high SAT or ACT score. But remember having a high test score is only one of the many criteria used.

7. AP classes are college equivalent courses offered primarily in the US. Every May there is a week of AP testing. IBs are International Baccalaureate coursework that high achieving kids take either individually or towards an IB diploma. Every year there is IB testing as well.

51 schools in Turkey offer them.

https://www.ibo.org/about-the-ib/the-ib-by-country/t/turkey/

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=431917997918958

It's good to have dreams @eymen. Moving forward, I recommend you work on getting into a college that will have you, not MIT. So be realistic yet optimistic that you find a place that will give you the opportunity to prove yourself. A place where you can grow into your potential.

Good luck.

Hey @eymen! Welcome to Collegevine.

Also an aspiring MIT freshman here.

Here are my best answers to some of your questions:

1) MIT emphasizes that it's looking for "nice" people over and over again. It's looking for genuinely compassionate people in addition to those who are interested in deepening their knowledge in many areas (like you!).

2) Your extracurriculars look alright, but I'd need to see more detail to really be sure. MIT also cares about community service and your involvement towards real ends and making an impact in the world, so consider adding on strong extracurriculars that fit in with that profile. Collegevine's blogs have some resources that might help.

3) Scholarships are super complicated, and since I'm a domestic student, I probably don't understand all the minutia required for international students. If possible, I would try to get in touch with someone from Turkey or Syria that is currently attending university in America and ask them how they did it.

5) I don't believe changing your school will remove your score history, especially if a whole quarter/semester/marking period has passed and your grades have already been put into a report card. There will be a section on your college application for you to explain unfair grading circumstances like you have in your question.

6) Do what you love! Freelancing and working on projects is great for building skills in development and creating a portfolio. However, it's also critical that you get your scores sorted out—both your SAT and GPA. MIT is really picky with both of these, so you'll want your GPA to be near that 4.0 you're working for. As for your SAT, aim for 1510+.

7) Advanced Placement (AP) is a high-level standardized class, usually for students in the US. IB (International Baccalaureate) is an international diploma program that hosts a ton of similarly high-level classes. Both IB and AP classes are usually indicative of high course rigor, which is what colleges are looking for.

Let me know if you want me to explain more about anything!

— Tetrachloride

I have some advice on entry and the first years of college that I wish I had known and used in my time:

1. You should plan your time clearly and know what you can spend more time on and what you shouldn't pay attention to at all.

2. Working and learning is a good idea. You will have a clear idea of how to communicate with employers, what is required of you as a professional and so on. The earlier you start working, the better.

3 Never refuse help. There are many different services that can help you with different tasks, for example you can buy a custom essay here: https://papersowl.com/buy-custom-essay and not spend too much time writing it. Instead, you can devote more time to your work.

4. Plan and execute your plans. When you know clearly how much and what needs to be done and how much time to do it, it becomes very easy to be productive.

I hope you will find these tips very useful!