Chances

Congrats because most people get 1-3% on MIT, maybe 3-9% on Cornell if they are really smart.

There are things you can improve and things you can not improve to get into MIT of an IVY

First, the things that you can not improve:

1. You have to accept your race, gender, and location.

Second, the things that may or may not make a difference.

1. Your intended major. (some majors are more competitive than others, CS versus Linguistics for example

2. Whether or not you apply for financial aid. (some school are need-aware but not MIT/IVYs)

Third, the things that may improve your % percentage changes on the CollegeVine chancing engine:

1. How many AP classes you take by the time you apply. (10+ preferably)

2. How many Honors classes you take by the time you apply. (5+ preferably)

3. How may college classes you take by the time you apply. (5+ preferably)

4. Your final GPA (as close to a 4.0 out of 4.0 as possible)

5. Your ACT or SAT score, preferably 35/36 for the ACT, and 1540-1600 for SAT (even though Cornell stats are lower, higher stats are better)

6. Getting all 5s on all 6 AP Class slots makes a difference as well.

7. Getting 750+ scores on your SAT II subject tests (even though Cornell/MIT doesn't require SAT II, the CV changing algo. might still use that)

8. Having some State, or National level or World Class ECs gives you a boost as well. So that would be A, B, or C level ECs.

9. There is no place to enter the guesstimate of how great your teacher and counselor recommendations are going to be, so keep that in mind you need good ones but you can't enter them in the chancing profile.

You have the ability to stub in various scores and ranks and see how that changes your acceptance percentages.

Keep in mind that MIT is the hardest one to nudge up to say 30-40% because they are purely a merit-based institution. CalTech is all super hard to nudge up. If you still have 10% to 15% on MIT, that's really good compared to the real 7% acceptance rate. And if your chancing is 10%-15% for Cornell, you are right smack in the middle since the implied acceptance rate for Class of 2024 was something like 12.3-12.4%

Everyone seems to have their own biased opinion of what it takes to get into MIT or Cornell so take it with a grain of salt. There are people on here who think they know best and love to correct other people's answers. I answered your questions from the perspective of improving your odds on the CollegeVine platform which is what you are talking about in your question. I know from playing around with the chancing engine that these things change your percentages. Since I don't work for CollegeVine I don't know why or what weight these play into your overall improvement but they do. Now that doesn't mean my answers are incorrect for CollegeVine or CollegeVines chancing engine. If someone doesn't agree with the CV, they are free to offer their own opinion but to weigh in as the authority is quite ridiculous for members who have never applied to either school.

Best of luck playing around with it.

So I largely agree with @VeggieDance there are significant corrections to make and I have some of my own input.

Cornell admit rate if I remember correctly is around 10-11% your percent means you are more likely than average to get in. Same for MIT but I’m the chances are even more boosted as MIT if I remember correctly has a 7% admit rate.

Also you need all excellent catergories to be competitive nothing will garuntee Admission at ivy caliber schools.

Also your essays and rec letters need to be phenomenal. I saw online that a USC admission counselor said lukewarm rec letters kill thier chances so you need great ones. Also the percentage you get via the algorithm doesn’t calculate essay and rec letters so your chances may not be entirely accurate.

Now for edits to veggiedances answer

AP classes take as many as is feasible not just a set number. Also don’t take an AP just because it’s AP personally I have dropped an AP course for a non weighted engineering course as an intended STEM major. The best advice is to take 2/3rds of all available AP classes notable exceptions are if your schools has 25+ APs. In that case if your a STEM major forget that AP Music and Art is offered along with all foreign language classes that you aren’t taking. That should be 60% preferable. A bit more insight taking 4/4 APs is vastly better than taking 6 APs when 20 is offered for example.

Also Honors while your school may weigh in in your gpa or not weigh it it is still and advanced class but isn’t the same rigor as a AP class. Personally I say that .75 honors equals 1 AP.

Dual enrollment (classes taken at a college whether community or 4 year) is not needed. It’s merely a feather in your cap. Not having will not hurt you. I will recommend dual enrollment to students that have no AP or Honors courses.

I agree you need a really high SAT or ACT but the numbers themselves are a bit wrong.

For Cornell the average ACT is a 32-34 while MITs is 34-36. So a 33 is still competitive at MIT and at Cornell it’s standard. For SAT at Cornell it’s a 1490-1540 and MITs is 1500-1570 so get a low to mid 1500 and you’ll be fine.

AP exam scores has no impact in college admissions if they do it is negligible. It’s used for either placement into advanced courses essentially an ivy equilvent honors college or depending on the school college credit but MiT and most of not all of the ivies don’t give credit merely the placement. I’d email them to find out more.

Also most if not all ivy schools are test optional not to mention SAT subject optional. A really good SAT subject score UF submitted will help you but a lack of one will not hurt you.

Also depending on geography/ residency you can get a very small boost. Typically for ivy caliber schools the geographical boosts are either for living near the school as you’d be more likely to enroll there or if contribute to the state wide diversity ie you are from Wyoming you’d get a boost as you once increase diversity something colleges really care about. Also whether you like it or not race plays a part and rule of thumb is Asians get a decrease in chances while African Americans and latinx get a boost.

TL DR: Conpared to the average admissions rate you are doing fairly well at Cornell and very good for MIT. The algorithm isn’t perfect as it ignores a few big ticket items but it’s the best available. Veggiedance answer is fairly inaccurate but does have some good points.

Hope this helps and please comment if you need clarification as I’d be happy to help clarify!

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Cornell/MIT are reaches for everyone except for recruited athletes, people with hooks (incredible backstories/achievement in particular fields), and some legacies. Be happy with a 10-15% chance. You could possibly get in with the right essays, but that's for the college to decide. In any case, be sure to have some target schools (seems like you're going for STEM, so think Bucknell, Tufts, Northeastern), as well as some safeties (in state public college, UOP, etc).