USMA vs MIT

Where would you choose, MIT or USMA for Computer Science

  • MIT

  • USMA

Results are only viewable after voting.
i don't think the issue was with comments regarding MIT, it was those made regarding WP and it's attendees.
 
If you were my child, I would tell you to goto USMA & learn about military values, brotherhood, leadership & service, then goto MIT graduate school to learn hardcore computer science.
 
frenzymando said:
I'm very confused by why LurkerKing is getting so much flack. If you look at the MIT decision thread from last year on college confidential you'll see person after person after person with 34-36 ACT, 10+ APs with mostly 5s, top 5% in class and solid extracurricular activities getting rejected. The middle 50% for MIT on the math section of the ACT is a 34-36, that's a ridiculous number(it means that at least 25% of the class, probably even more than that, scored a 36). The average ACT at USMA is a 28(which is respectable but not an absolutely ridiculous figure like MIT has). How often do you people on here that were 3Q'd, scored a 35 ACT, top 5% of their class, and solid extracurriculars get rejected? The only case for USMA being harder to get in to I could see one making is that you have to be medically and physically qualified for USMA. Is there something I'm missing?

LurkerKing also made what I think is a very valid point. You can find people who got into service academies with 25s on the ACT. If you look through the all of the MIT decision threads on MIT from the last 5 years I would bet that you would not find one person with a 25 on their ACT(and not a higher SAT score).

Based on the decision thread, MIT is a crapshoot for basically everyone. The same cannot be said for USMA. Based on what I have seen on this forum, if you score a 34 ACT, you're top 1% of your class, you have solid extracurricular, and you are 3Q'd, USMA is no longer a crapshoot.
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To be honest I am very tired of hearing this comparison:) I believe SA kids would have no issues getting into MIT Stanford Harvard if they didn't have to be captain & play 2+ varsity sports or class officers or boys scout leaders or serving their community. DS will be attending SA over any top college because life is about character first and profession second .
 
Blessedmom said:
To be honest I am very tired of hearing this comparison:) I believe SA kids would have no issues getting into MIT Stanford Harvard if they didn't have to be captain & play 2+ varsity sports or class officers or boys scout leaders or serving their community. DS will be attending SA over any top college because life is about character first and profession second .
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What is your belief based on? Hubris? SA appointees aren't chopped liver but considering kids with 35 ACTs, top 5% of class, 10+ AP classes and solid extracurriculars have issues getting into MIT, I highly doubt most SA kids would have "no issues getting in" even if they dedicated their entire lives to getting in. I could have dedicated every single moment of my entire life to getting into MIT and my guess is I still probably wouldn't have gotten in.

MIT looks at extracurriculars as well so I don't see why you think SA kids would have an abundance of time to dedicate to other things had they wanted to get in there instead. MIT kids dedicated time to extracurriculars in high school just like SA kids did.
 
Blessedmom said:
I believe SA kids would have no issues getting into MIT Stanford Harvard
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Let's look at a few of the people that were rejected by MIT from last year:

"1. ACT 35 (breakdown):
SAT II: Physics 800, Math 800
Unweighted GPA: 3.87
Rank (top 20%, school does not rank, top 3 national public STEM schools):
AP (15 or 14 APs, 9 5s and 4s, 5 more taking this year):
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: several dual enrollment classes with local university, all APs or gifted
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): President of a regional chapter of international non-profit, Founding officer of his TSA chapter in his school, active in many clubs, got $12000 for a start up with his 2 friends in a local Launch Pad competition, hackathons
Job/Work Experience: internship with NCR junior year, school award for his NCR project, internships with IT start ups
Volunteer/Community service: tutors math for a local non-profit, internationl/peace non-profit vounteer and leader,
Summer Activities: Samsung App Program, State Honors Summer Residential program in Math

2. SAT I (breakdown): 800 math,760 cr, 800 writing
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 800 math II, 790 physics, 790 US History
Unweighted GPA: transcript only shows weighted (104.37 at time of submission I think) approximately 98 or 99 unweighted
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn't rank but salutatotorian out of 300
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History, US History, Bio, English Language and Composition, Russian (all 5s)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Macro, AP Chem
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Finalist, Ballroom Dance national title
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Ballroom Dance, Humans of (my school) (founder), Student Organization (Senior Vice-President), Junior Statesmen of America (Northeast State Director of Public Relations, Chapter Board), Jewish Club (President), Debate Team (VP), Business Club (VP), Math Team, Swimming Team
Job/Work Experience: Tutor
Volunteer/Community service: Every Sunday at the local Russian Jewish Community Center teaching kids elementary Hebrew
Summer Activities: Camp Rising Sun (international leadership program) 2012
Internship at KKWC law firm 2013
Internship at Borough Hall 2014
Congressional Campaign 2014

3. SAT I (breakdown): 800 c/ 800 m/ 790 w
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II: 800 math 2, 800 physics, 770 bio m, 750 US
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis): physics B, Calc BC, Stat, World History, US, Comp sci, Enviro Sci -5s; lang-4
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: multivariable, differential eq, ap gov, ap lit, ap comp gov, ap physc c, spanish
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): USAMTS Bronze, AIME x2, National AP scholar, US Pres scholar Candidate
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Piano (MTNA state winner, International Young Artist Finalist and 4th Place), Performed at the US State Department for an Arts Festival (woo hoo), math club (VP), comp sci - flash programming (Sec), intramural basketball (captain lol), quizbowl, swimming
Job/Work Experience: none
Volunteer/Community service: summer camp (120 hrs)
Summer Activities: college courses, volunteering

4. SAT I (breakdown): W:800 M:770 R: 800 (first and only attempt)
ACT (breakdown): 36 across the board (first and only attempt)
SAT II: Math II: 800 Chemistry: 770
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/81
AP (place score in parenthesis): 4 in AP Chem (without having taken an AP class -- few APs offered)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Honors, a few AP, heavy on science
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NMF, US Dept of Education Presidential Scholar Candidate, Gold Medal National Latin Exam
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Scholar Bowl (co captain), Math team (captain), NETwork Against Malaria (co-president), student council, science club
Job/Work Experience: Mathnasium
Volunteer/Community service: Hospital volunteer, after school tutor
Summer Activities: work, scholar bowl camp, small amount of research

5. SAT I: 2400
GPA: 4.0/4.0 unweighted, 6.0/6.0 weighted
rank: 1/404
SAT II: Math II and Physics: 800
AP's: Lang and Comp, Microecon, Physics, and Calc AB: 5; Bio and Macroecon: 4
Senior classes: Engineering, AP Literature and Composition, AP Chemistry, World Cultures, AP Statistics, AP Latin IV, AP Calculus BC
Awards and acheivements: NJ GSET 2014, AP scholar whatever, National Merit Finalist, US Presidential Scholar Candidate, National Latin Exam silver/gold/gold, Math league high scorer 10th and 12th grade, most likely to survive a zombie apocalypse (school superlative), solved 102 Project Euler problems, creating a programming language (although that has not gotten far yet).
Clubs and activities: Math league (high scorer 10th and 12th grade, president 12th grade), Latin club, NHS, Robotics club (software lead and team won chairman's this year), Karate for 8 years (black belt), Origami for 10 years (designed over 100 models and taught at national convention), self taught programming in six languages"

That was from the first page of the MIT decision thread from last year. You can go through page after page through the last few years of MIT decision threads and find applicants of this quality being rejected again and again and again.
 
^^^ and somehow this is helpful to the OP who started this thread???
 
Well I think we have officially reached the point of being more concerned with defending our own "valuable" beliefs rather than giving a student some valuable, OBJECTIVE information that they requested to help guide them in an important life decision. It's a little embarrassing...
 
Everyone can argue stats all day. Everyone has what they value the most in selecting a school. SA have a unique mission and MIT has their own mission. IQ, GPA, ACTs, what research you did means zero to the troops you lead or a bullet headed your way. It's not like a young PFC thinks 'Well my Lt went to MIT' therefore they are the best leader.' Nope. Bullets and the enemy don't discriminate. I actually worked with a young MIT grad a few years ago who was a Marine... Brilliant, but struggled immensely to lead. Does that mean every MIT grad who earns a commission will? No. Does that mean every SA grad will be the best leader? No. SA deal with the rules they have such as Noms and 3Q status. I am sure there are some incredibly fit folks at MIT, but let's face it, there isn't a PT test to get admitted or Div 1 athletics to deal with there. Or a medical requirement. Each school has its own bad apples, no school is immune to it. So let's everyone take a deep breathe, do what is best for each candidate and not make this a food fight. The best path is the right path for each candidate.
 
Kids at MIT are smarter hands downs. If you don't believe me look at the stats. Also, this depends on your definition of smart.
 
Lurker just stop! Great they have better academic stats, but the bottom line is this forum is about ROTC and SA commissioning sources. None of the those fancy stats makes a great officer because they are smarter. The #1 grad in my class was a horrible officer. Our anchor man made CO. Smarts are one thing, leadership, servitude, followership are all unique and the goal of a SA. That is a huge component to selection and certain traits are looked at to grow and develop in these programs. The young men and women who enlist deserve the best officers. Smartest does not make best! MIT and a SA each have its own strengths and weaknesses. SA work with many more parameters than a non-SA school mandated per us code.
 
LurkerKing said:
Kids at MIT are smarter hands downs. If you don't believe me look at the stats. Also, this depends on your definition of smart.
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Oh goodness:) okay you win, MIT kids are smarter, SA kids are just smart bright well rounded young men & women who are willing to serve & put their lives on the line to defend our country our people & our freedom.
 
Congratulations! That is an AWESOME choice you have to make. But one thing is for sure, when you make your decision, jump in with both feet and don't look back/wish you did the other one. Both will get you where you want to go if you work hard enough.
 
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