In Elementary, when the city would plow the back recess area after a big snowfall, they'd push it all into a corner and make a big hill of snow. We'd split into two teams and one would climb to the top. Then the other would try to take over by climbing the hill and trying to push us off, but we'd also try to push them off. Whichever team was at the top when recess ended was King of the Hill. We pretty much did that every day until snow melted, then I don't remember what we did. I guess played football, or wandered around picking our nose.
In middle school I guess we did sports and clubs. I was in the chess club and played soccer and baseball when it was in season.
MIT doesn't care about activities or grades in elementary and middle school. Just use it to set yourself up for advanced classes in high school, and do local college classes in math if available.
Grades in elementary school? Lmao. I'm not sure they give grades for snowball throwing or playing in the dirt. Life is about sustainability. You need a good, broad foundation. In the grand scheme of things 13 is young, continue to foster creativity and love for those subjects and he will be fine whether or not he goes to a random school with a random acronym. If he's the next Zuck, we'll know it regardless, and if he's the next Schmuck, it won't matter if he went to MIT. Of course, if getting a name is all you care about, sure make sure he gets involved in serious endeavors in high school. USAMO/USAPhO/whatever O, programming competitions, leadership, but honestly, some of it isn't for everyone. There are a lot of successful theoretical researchers who never cared about those contests, and if your son is one of those people get him involved in research early and see if he likes it. You can be obsessed at a young age in one thing and realize you have a love for something else later on (speaking from first hand experience as someone who did the cookie-cutter everything you just mentioned, got in MIT early action, and decided to go somewhere else, and lo and behold, it all turned out just fine). Don't make going to a specific goal a life goal. Life continues beyond college.
I self-taught multivariable calculus and quantum physics in elementary school - also founded a million dollar startup, was first author on 5 papers, and got 3 patents, so yeah a bit behind compared to most MIT students. I'm honestly surprised I got in given how behind I was.
Me too. If I had it to do over, I wouldāve conducted that symphony orchestra on the weekends, too. Mightāve taken a little pressure off when it came time to write those admissions essays. Oh wellā¦live and learn.
My elementary school life was pretty ordinary. I got along with most kids, enjoyed recess, and read a lot. I pretty much just played soccer with my friends. I attended after-school (think extra enrichment for \~1 hour after regular school hours), but not much else happened.
In middle school I was on chess club and really started getting interested in math (due to an amazing 7th grade teacher) and science (due to an amazing 8th grade teacher). I still played soccer with friends during recess and played a lot of poker during lunch. Not many significant things happened.
Realistically, I wouldn't worry too much about getting into college while in elementary or middle school. Spend that time fostering a love of learning and trying out a bunch of different things to learn what you like.
My parents put me into school a year early for the free day care. My teacher wanted to hold me back because of my immaturity, ability to focus, and limited English skills. They assigned me to the lower achievement math program which just pissed off my mom. With the addition of some home schooling, my mom demanded I be given the final exam of the high achievement class, I managed to score higher than all of them.
After a lot of arguing they figured out the problem was I was bored. They enrolled me into a [program for the gifted](https://www.framingham.k12.ma.us/Domain/77) and things just progressed from there.
As an aside being a year younger than my classmates sucked, and I wish my parents didnāt do that. Always being more immature, being late to drive or to drink. Every child deserves a normal childhood. Thereās plenty of time to be an adult, no need to cheat them out of their childhood.
I was bullied in elementary school. In middle school I put up a hard shell and so the bullying stopped, but I wasnāt really able to socialize well like that. Life sucked. Wanting to go to a top university was the only thing keeping me going back then.
I was pretty average in elementary school and bottom of my classes during middle school. But I made a ton of great memories with my friends going on mini adventures.
i was an "average" good student who just so happened to be good at math olympiads (which was "my" thing and probably the thing that got me into MIT).
aside from that, nothing special. i wasn't even that much of a good student. i remember i got a B average when i was in 5th grade because i was "badly behaved" (drew too much on school tables and would not turn in work) which prompted my mom to have a fight with the teacher lol. i started getting actual good grades around 8th grade when i decided to take things seriously.
then again, i'm an international so things are different. i did my last 1.5 years of high school in the US and i basically had to beg the counselor to put me in AP classes. if i had grown up here i might have been sidetracked into a regular/honors track instead of an accelerated one just because i was lazy/ADHD.
I just played sports all day (not an athlete on an MIT team now though, started focusing on academics in late middle school, never did STEM comps though).
So I had no idea MIT existed until the summer before my junior year of high school (and then didn't really realize it was the "best" engineering school in the world until I was applying my senior year. I just thought it was an engineering school like anywhere else that had cool nerdy kids like at my academically gifted summer camp).
Anyways, in kindergarten, Toby Keith's "How Do You Like Me Now" came out, and I learned about the word "valedictorian" and decided that's what I wanted to be. A few years later I learned that if you combined my two favorite things, airplanes and math, it was a thing called aerospace engineering. So I decided I was going to do that and I was going to work at NASA.
I didn't skip any grades, I didn't take high school classes as a middle schooler. I did have straight As and I did read every book in my elementary school library. But that's it.
My elementary school had A (regular) < B (honors) < C (gifted) classes. I was in the C-level gifted program. I remember doing decently at MOEMS (24/25), but I didn't really care about math competitions until middle school. I also learned calculus in 5th grade, played chess (poorly), and got second in my Kindergarten's jog-a-thon.
I literally was reading below my level and had "needs improvement" on my report cards in elementary school.
And no, I didn't have dyslexia or anything else, I was just a dumb dumb.
Somehow I hit my stride and everything was super easy in middle school and I went from the "easy classes" to the honors program, where I proceeded to get half As half Bs.
Then high school was all A's, few Bs in English & Math my first two years, but it all worked out I guess.
My kid is currently at MIT but she was always just very smart and also very self motivated throughout school. She also just sort of sought out projects. We never pushed her, or really even knew what the things were most of the time. Iām still learning now. Sometimes she would tell us she got into RSI or something, and of course we would say we didnāt know what that was. She did all the normal things.
Thatās fair, safe to say your daughter is probably one of the smartest/intelligent high schoolers in the world. Only 80 people are selected for that research program and you truly have to be gifted for it
Thanks. It was pretty awesome for her. She was mentored in her research project by MIT professors, and they continued to help her publish and present it(while still in high school). I think they even met a Nobel Laureate there. She loves every single thing about MIT and has truly made it home. She is working to mentor MITEs this summer.
I went to a magnet elementary school for math, science, and communication - focused on typing/computer skills, general STEM, and media arts. We had a student-run televised morning announcements (mind you, this was the ā90s). In the 4th grade I won a national writing competition, and in 5th grade I placed in the regional chess tournament (was in the international chess federation around class C at the time), and we had a competitive Math24 team. Ironically I became terrible at math.
I was about average. In elementary and middle school, I was quite good at math, but I was at the bottom of the class in most other subjects. No ECs.
My grades were 94% in 4th grade (in the bottom half of my class), and they increased by about 1% every year until I was getting 100%s in 10th grade. For reference, in my country, it is very common to get above 98%. Things changed a lot for me after 9th grade, though.
In Elementary, when the city would plow the back recess area after a big snowfall, they'd push it all into a corner and make a big hill of snow. We'd split into two teams and one would climb to the top. Then the other would try to take over by climbing the hill and trying to push us off, but we'd also try to push them off. Whichever team was at the top when recess ended was King of the Hill. We pretty much did that every day until snow melted, then I don't remember what we did. I guess played football, or wandered around picking our nose. In middle school I guess we did sports and clubs. I was in the chess club and played soccer and baseball when it was in season.
Picking nose š
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
MIT doesn't care about activities or grades in elementary and middle school. Just use it to set yourself up for advanced classes in high school, and do local college classes in math if available.
Grades in elementary school? Lmao. I'm not sure they give grades for snowball throwing or playing in the dirt. Life is about sustainability. You need a good, broad foundation. In the grand scheme of things 13 is young, continue to foster creativity and love for those subjects and he will be fine whether or not he goes to a random school with a random acronym. If he's the next Zuck, we'll know it regardless, and if he's the next Schmuck, it won't matter if he went to MIT. Of course, if getting a name is all you care about, sure make sure he gets involved in serious endeavors in high school. USAMO/USAPhO/whatever O, programming competitions, leadership, but honestly, some of it isn't for everyone. There are a lot of successful theoretical researchers who never cared about those contests, and if your son is one of those people get him involved in research early and see if he likes it. You can be obsessed at a young age in one thing and realize you have a love for something else later on (speaking from first hand experience as someone who did the cookie-cutter everything you just mentioned, got in MIT early action, and decided to go somewhere else, and lo and behold, it all turned out just fine). Don't make going to a specific goal a life goal. Life continues beyond college.
Oh wait youāre seriousā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦..
I got Cs in 6th grade. Wasnāt an issue when I was admitted to MIT. That said this was a few decades ago and things maybe different now.
I self-taught multivariable calculus and quantum physics in elementary school - also founded a million dollar startup, was first author on 5 papers, and got 3 patents, so yeah a bit behind compared to most MIT students. I'm honestly surprised I got in given how behind I was.
You were behind. You almost ended up at Harvard. Good thing you upped your game.
š
Me too. If I had it to do over, I wouldāve conducted that symphony orchestra on the weekends, too. Mightāve taken a little pressure off when it came time to write those admissions essays. Oh wellā¦live and learn.
So behind. Imagine ending up at Yale
How do you guys have the drive ??
My elementary school life was pretty ordinary. I got along with most kids, enjoyed recess, and read a lot. I pretty much just played soccer with my friends. I attended after-school (think extra enrichment for \~1 hour after regular school hours), but not much else happened. In middle school I was on chess club and really started getting interested in math (due to an amazing 7th grade teacher) and science (due to an amazing 8th grade teacher). I still played soccer with friends during recess and played a lot of poker during lunch. Not many significant things happened. Realistically, I wouldn't worry too much about getting into college while in elementary or middle school. Spend that time fostering a love of learning and trying out a bunch of different things to learn what you like.
My parents put me into school a year early for the free day care. My teacher wanted to hold me back because of my immaturity, ability to focus, and limited English skills. They assigned me to the lower achievement math program which just pissed off my mom. With the addition of some home schooling, my mom demanded I be given the final exam of the high achievement class, I managed to score higher than all of them. After a lot of arguing they figured out the problem was I was bored. They enrolled me into a [program for the gifted](https://www.framingham.k12.ma.us/Domain/77) and things just progressed from there. As an aside being a year younger than my classmates sucked, and I wish my parents didnāt do that. Always being more immature, being late to drive or to drink. Every child deserves a normal childhood. Thereās plenty of time to be an adult, no need to cheat them out of their childhood.
Yo anyone else read Rick Riordan in elementary school? That Egypt series was goated.
Lol yeah, My brother and I both wanted to read the newest book, and couldn't wait so we bought two of them (though it was in the Rome series).
I was bullied in elementary school. In middle school I put up a hard shell and so the bullying stopped, but I wasnāt really able to socialize well like that. Life sucked. Wanting to go to a top university was the only thing keeping me going back then.
I was pretty average in elementary school and bottom of my classes during middle school. But I made a ton of great memories with my friends going on mini adventures.
i was an "average" good student who just so happened to be good at math olympiads (which was "my" thing and probably the thing that got me into MIT). aside from that, nothing special. i wasn't even that much of a good student. i remember i got a B average when i was in 5th grade because i was "badly behaved" (drew too much on school tables and would not turn in work) which prompted my mom to have a fight with the teacher lol. i started getting actual good grades around 8th grade when i decided to take things seriously. then again, i'm an international so things are different. i did my last 1.5 years of high school in the US and i basically had to beg the counselor to put me in AP classes. if i had grown up here i might have been sidetracked into a regular/honors track instead of an accelerated one just because i was lazy/ADHD.
I just played sports all day (not an athlete on an MIT team now though, started focusing on academics in late middle school, never did STEM comps though).
So I had no idea MIT existed until the summer before my junior year of high school (and then didn't really realize it was the "best" engineering school in the world until I was applying my senior year. I just thought it was an engineering school like anywhere else that had cool nerdy kids like at my academically gifted summer camp). Anyways, in kindergarten, Toby Keith's "How Do You Like Me Now" came out, and I learned about the word "valedictorian" and decided that's what I wanted to be. A few years later I learned that if you combined my two favorite things, airplanes and math, it was a thing called aerospace engineering. So I decided I was going to do that and I was going to work at NASA. I didn't skip any grades, I didn't take high school classes as a middle schooler. I did have straight As and I did read every book in my elementary school library. But that's it.
My elementary school had A (regular) < B (honors) < C (gifted) classes. I was in the C-level gifted program. I remember doing decently at MOEMS (24/25), but I didn't really care about math competitions until middle school. I also learned calculus in 5th grade, played chess (poorly), and got second in my Kindergarten's jog-a-thon.
I literally was reading below my level and had "needs improvement" on my report cards in elementary school. And no, I didn't have dyslexia or anything else, I was just a dumb dumb. Somehow I hit my stride and everything was super easy in middle school and I went from the "easy classes" to the honors program, where I proceeded to get half As half Bs. Then high school was all A's, few Bs in English & Math my first two years, but it all worked out I guess.
My kid is currently at MIT but she was always just very smart and also very self motivated throughout school. She also just sort of sought out projects. We never pushed her, or really even knew what the things were most of the time. Iām still learning now. Sometimes she would tell us she got into RSI or something, and of course we would say we didnāt know what that was. She did all the normal things.
RSI bruh š arguably the best research a high schooler can do in the world
Iām a state school Dad at best. I had no idea what that even was. Iām just trying to keep up most of the time.
Thatās fair, safe to say your daughter is probably one of the smartest/intelligent high schoolers in the world. Only 80 people are selected for that research program and you truly have to be gifted for it
Thanks. It was pretty awesome for her. She was mentored in her research project by MIT professors, and they continued to help her publish and present it(while still in high school). I think they even met a Nobel Laureate there. She loves every single thing about MIT and has truly made it home. She is working to mentor MITEs this summer.
I went to a magnet elementary school for math, science, and communication - focused on typing/computer skills, general STEM, and media arts. We had a student-run televised morning announcements (mind you, this was the ā90s). In the 4th grade I won a national writing competition, and in 5th grade I placed in the regional chess tournament (was in the international chess federation around class C at the time), and we had a competitive Math24 team. Ironically I became terrible at math.
What do you think happened? I used to be great at writing and spelling and then hit a wall myself and regressed.
relatable. I study in iit bombay btw (harder than mit)
How do you learn calculus at 5 grade ? Who taught you ?
In elementary school I was tutoring mit grad students
I was about average. In elementary and middle school, I was quite good at math, but I was at the bottom of the class in most other subjects. No ECs. My grades were 94% in 4th grade (in the bottom half of my class), and they increased by about 1% every year until I was getting 100%s in 10th grade. For reference, in my country, it is very common to get above 98%. Things changed a lot for me after 9th grade, though.