Which grades do colleges pay the most attention to?

Answered

Colleges care first and foremost about your overall academic performance. Your composite weighted and unweighted GPAs are the main thing they look at, and as a secondary metric they look at your GPA fluctuation as well. If your GPA went down one semester, they want to see that you worked to bring it up in subsequent semesters. Colleges also analyze your GPA trend to make sure that you are not getting "senioritis." The more of an upward trajectory your GPA has, the better.

As for MIT, you want to make sure that your weighted and unweighted GPAs are as close to perfect as possible. Hope this helps!

To be a strong candidate for MIT I recommend doing the following:

-Grades - It's okay that you had a couple Bs, but try to minimize the Bs going forward and end on an upward trend. So you can probably afford just 1 more B, but aim for straight As going forward. Your WGPA doesn't matter as much as getting As in your classes. So you want as close to a 3.9 as possible UWGPA.

-Course Rigor - MIT doesn't give AP credit for STEM APs in general. I think you might get some credit for AP Physics C -Magnetism but that's about it if you score a 5. Nevertheless, most MIT admits have advanced course rigor compared to other college applicants. It's not uncommon for MIT applicants to have taken 1, 2 or 3 extra math courses or an advanced science course. Also many of them have taken Python and other CS programming courses prior to applying since CS is one of the most popular majors.

https://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/highschool/

-Intellectual Vitality/Curiosity/Enrichment - MIT calls these add'l experiences "enrichment". I highly recommend that you read about this.

https://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/enrichment/

-Personal Character - I think it's safe to say the MIT doesn't want all their cohorts to be carbon copy clones of one another. While having 1550+/35+ test scores might be a commonality as well as near perfect grades, the successful admit has a wide variety of skills, strengths, abilities, and innate unique qualities that go beyond checking the boxes for grades and test scores. Successful MIT students are very open minded and collaborative so if you have a track record of being part of a successful team or have leadership qualities that promote collaboration, that will serve you well. It's better to be able to play a variety of roles versus being a "loner" or someone that works best by themselves.

Good luck.

I would advise focusing on getting a 4.0 UWGPA before anything - often times colleges like MIT will throw away any applications that don't meet a GPA standard, which means that even if you have lots of extracurriculars and great test scores, you could be completely overlooked. After that, as many people have already said, start working towards getting good SAT/ACT scores. MIT students usually have a 1500 or higher SAT, so it is definitely a challenge.

As someone who also would love to go to MIT, make sure you have lots of other options, since MIT is really difficult to get into. I have faith in your abilities, but sometimes things just don't go the way we thought they would. I would recommend googling "top schools for insert major" to get a good idea of where you could earn a great degree besides MIT.

Good Luck!

While a GPA is important I would focus on getting a fantastic score on the ACT or SAT. GPA does matter but not as much as those test scores. So basically just do your best on your grades but focus on those test scores. Also MIT has a really low acceptance rate even for those with perfect grades so I would really give it everything you have to stand out with your extracurriculars. Hope that helps