Need help deciding

[JohnCli]

Name: John (It really is)

Country: Philippines

Religion: Roman Catholic

Started High School in July 25 2012 (My B-day "1997")

Estimated High School graduation date is July 25 2013 (Hopefully)

School: IB,IS, U.S. Curriculum Career School (Homeschool)

 

 

Brief description about me:

Male who's not interested in men or women (I love knowledge better)

Philippine Patriot

Lazy when it comes to sports

Industrious when it comes to Science and Knowledge Gathering

I think I will always fail

I try to rid myself of emotions

 

 

Problems:

I always get low grades on my exams and Ace+++ my review tests and Quizzes.

My Psychologist told me that I only fail it because I'm too nervous and paranoid (she's 24 ._.) so she told me to relax and don't think to hard on myself.

 

 

Something to say:

As you can see I'm almost graduating and I still have problems with taking my examinations and I don't know why ._.

I'm afraid to fail my exams for college cause I'm planning to go to CIT or MIT (California/Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and if I fail because of my emotions then it sucks.

 

 

Question:

1. What's better between MIT/CIT when it comes to Chemical Engineering,Astrophysics,Nuclear Physics and Biological Engineering?

 

2. Any tips on how not to freak out on exams?

 

 

 

 

[timo]

You shouldn't worry about the first question until you get accepted by both institutions.

[elfmotat]

Sorry about the reality check, but I wouldn't expect to get into either. The only people who get in to MIT or CalTech these days are people with absolutely perfect grades, tons of extracurriculars, and who have likely won science/engineering competitions or have published good research. Most schools also have an upper limit on the number of foreign students they're willing accept (no more than 10% of all admissions), so not being from the US will significantly hurt your chances as well.

[JohnCli]

Given the fact that I am home schooled, even though I have perfect grades, I still need to get tons of extracurricular activities right?

 

Any suggestions for any University where I might get accepted? so I can try to apply as a transfer student after a year?

 

Thanks guys, I guess I need to perfect my first college year (If ever I get accepted), get ton of activities and hopefully discover something great.

 

 

Since MIT and CalTech are somewhat impossible for me considering that I am home schooled Filipino what's the answer for Q2?

 

 

 

 

Question 3:

What's the difference between Software Engineering or Computer Engineering.

 

I did a lot of research about these two courses but it's still pretty unclear for me.

 

Hopefully there is a software engineer here who can tell me the difference.

[Tamorph]

 

Industrious when it comes to Science and Knowledge Gathering

I think I will always fail

I try to rid myself of emotions

 

I wasted half my life before deciding what I really wanted to do. It seems you have an ideal opportunity.

 

Study psychology, psychiatry, biology, chemistry, physics or quantum mechanics. Study yourself and find out what makes you think "I will always fail".

 

There's enough material there for a lifetimes study and you have continuous access to someone to experiment on.

 

Good luck.

[Sato]

Sorry about the reality check, but I wouldn't expect to get into either. The only people who get in to MIT or CalTech these days are people with absolutely perfect grades, tons of extracurriculars, and who have likely won science/engineering competitions or have published good research. Most schools also have an upper limit on the number of foreign students they're willing accept (no more than 10% of all admissions), so not being from the US will significantly hurt your chances as well.

 

That's almost completely true. My friend Eric was accepted into MIT this year and only had Piano band and Math club as his extra-curricular activities. But yes, he was american, had a ~4.13 GPA weighted (4.0), and scored a 2400 on his SAT.

[JohnCli]

That's almost completely true. My friend Eric was accepted into MIT this year and only had Piano band and Math club as his extra-curricular activities. But yes, he was american, had a ~4.13 GPA weighted (4.0), and scored a 2400 on his SAT.

 

How old was he when he was accepted?

 

I wasted half my life before deciding what I really wanted to do. It seems you have an ideal opportunity.

 

Study psychology, psychiatry, biology, chemistry, physics or quantum mechanics. Study yourself and find out what makes you think "I will always fail".

 

There's enough material there for a lifetimes study and you have continuous access to someone to experiment on.

 

Good luck.

 

Thanks, I'll be sure to try what you said though Psychology bores me sometimes, maybe it's just because my mom's a psychologist and she talks to me about her job almost everyday.

[Sato]

How old was he when he was accepted?

 

 

Thanks, I'll be sure to try what you said though Psychology bores me sometimes, maybe it's just because my mom's a psychologist and she talks to me about her job almost everyday.

 

He's currently 17 and a senior in my high school, going there next year. I do know two people who were accepted into the MIT media lab when they were 14 though. Why are you trying to get in a year earlier, or is that just when secondary schooling ends in your country?

[JohnCli]

My dad's a lawyer and my mom''s a psychologist both of them came from successful families so it is expected of me to achieve great things plus they are the best schools that can satisfy my hunger for knowledge.

[Arete]

I currently work at a well known private R1 university near MIT. MIT has about a 92% rejection rate overall, which ramps up to over a 99% rejection rate for international applicants for undergraduate acceptance. So realistically, you'd need your CV to obviously be in the top 1% of applicants from a cursory 30 second look. I.e. your perfect academic record, major awards and accomplishments which are exceptional at a global standard are on the front page.

 

The second thing I would consider is that the US system differs from others in aiming for your undergraduate degree to be more general than other places - i.e. you don't go straight into a medical or law degree, you get a general undergraduate degree with a major, then go to graduate school and get a law/MD/etc degree. MIT offers majors in architecture; engineering; management; science; humanities, arts, and social sciences. While an engineering major might do a lot of computer/software engineering, you'll come out with a bit of paper that says your major was engineering as opposed many other countries where you can get an undergraduate degree in "Bachelor of Software engineering" or "Bachelor of law" etc, which may or may not matter in your home country/where you intend to work.

 

The third thing I'd consider is visa requirements. Many countries have a return policy on student/exchange visas to the US, in that once you finish you studies you need to go back to your home country for a period of time (usually 2 years I think) before you can relocate overseas again. If you wanted to eventually work overseas this might affect you decision.

 

The fourth thing I'd consider is cost. MIT, for example is a 4 year undergraduate school. 9 months of tuition is $42,050, add summer term tuition at $13,920, add books and other expenses $2,772, and finally room and board at $12,188. So you're looking at about $70,930 a year for four years - $283,720 for the degree, unless you can land a scholarship. http://web.mit.edu/facts/tuition.html All that without going to grad school. That's a lot of money for an undergraduate degree. It might be more effective to do your undergraduate in your home country then shoot for MIT/Caltech for graduate studies - 60% of MIT students are graduate students, and 40% of those are international (as opposed to 10% of their undergrads). So in terms of probability of getting in are higher - it won't be as expensive, and you'd still have an MIT degree. Personally, I'd probably enroll at UPD and look at US schools for graduate studies.

Edited March 15, 2013 by Arete

[JohnCli]

I currently work at a well known private R1 university near MIT. MIT has about a 92% rejection rate overall, which ramps up to over a 99% rejection rate for international applicants for undergraduate acceptance. So realistically, you'd need your CV to obviously be in the top 1% of applicants from a cursory 30 second look. I.e. your perfect academic record, major awards and accomplishments which are exceptional at a global standard are on the front page.

 

The second thing I would consider is that the US system differs from others in aiming for your undergraduate degree to be more general than other places - i.e. you don't go straight into a medical or law degree, you get a general undergraduate degree with a major, then go to graduate school and get a law/MD/etc degree. MIT offers majors in architecture; engineering; management; science; humanities, arts, and social sciences. While an engineering major might do a lot of computer/software engineering, you'll come out with a bit of paper that says your major was engineering as opposed many other countries where you can get an undergraduate degree in "Bachelor of Software engineering" or "Bachelor of law" etc, which may or may not matter in your home country/where you intend to work.

 

The third thing I'd consider is visa requirements. Many countries have a return policy on student/exchange visas to the US, in that once you finish you studies you need to go back to your home country for a period of time (usually 2 years I think) before you can relocate overseas again. If you wanted to eventually work overseas this might affect you decision.

 

The fourth thing I'd consider is cost. MIT, for example is a 4 year undergraduate school. 9 months of tuition is $42,050, add summer term tuition at $13,920, add books and other expenses $2,772, and finally room and board at $12,188. So you're looking at about $70,930 a year for four years - $283,720 for the degree, unless you can land a scholarship. http://web.mit.edu/facts/tuition.html All that without going to grad school. That's a lot of money for an undergraduate degree. It might be more effective to do your undergraduate in your home country then shoot for MIT/Caltech for graduate studies - 60% of MIT students are graduate students, and 40% of those are international (as opposed to 10% of their undergrads). So in terms of probability of getting in are higher - it won't be as expensive, and you'd still have an MIT degree. Personally, I'd probably enroll at UPD and look at US schools for graduate studies.

 

Expenses will never be a problem for me. My only problem is getting accepted because I have no extra curricular activity that can help me get accepted. My parents said "Don't go to UPD" too risky, my parents are overprotective and UPD just had a student suicide issue right now. Can I still get accepted in MIT with only perfect grades and perfect SAT results? if not where can I possibly get accepted for an undergrad course because right now my parents have a lot of issues with Philippine Universities and they are thinking of homeschooling me for college! which is a bad idea. I plan to study abroad and work here in the Philippines for my father's company.

Edited March 22, 2013 by JohnCli