Tips for a junior trying to get into MIT?

I think it's great to have a dream school and I support that. But here are the hard cold facts about MIT. 95.32% of highly qualified applicants will be rejected either in REA or RD. And the ones that do get in are some of the smartest kids on the planet.

One thing I truly believe is that if you want to get into a top 10 school these days, you have to start curating your spike narrative as early as 8th grade, not wait until 11th grade to dial it in.

I'm sure you have done a lot of things most high achieving HS students have done which includes taking a lot of hard classes, getting good grades, and high test scores. That is the bare minimum you need these days not to be put right away into the rejection pile. The things that get you into these schools have more to do with your Spike Narrative, the impact, and quality of your ECs, your awards, honors, and accolades. You have to present something that is unique about yourself that no one else has and that can either be a Spike narrative or some evidence of Intellectual Vitality that other kids in your zip code or city do not have.

Joining X amount of clubs, starting a club, or doing a summer program is not really going to make a big difference to T10 schools. You have to own something you do incredibly well all by yourself.

Some things that other admits of T10 schools have done are taking advanced college courses in Math, Science, or subjects they are keenly interested in that are not available through their high school. Many MIT admits have 5 or 6 years of math with 2 or 3 advanced topics. Many MIT students are expert coders. Many MIT students have won top awards at STEM competitions. Many MIT students have attended prestigious summer programs on full-merit scholarships.

You do not have much time over the summer (4 months) to be super competitive so pick some things that are doable and focus on them. Also, review your college list and make sure you include some schools that you would be perfectly happy attending that is achievable to get into. Personally, I think I would have been miserable at MIT since I don't love STEM subjects, and keeping a healthy work/sleep/play balance would be a struggle at MIT where there is rampant grade deflation and so many book-smart people.