Quite simply, but there is nothing we can tell you that will ameliorate your obsessive thoughts. The problem with your obsession is that you are prone to obsession, not that there’s an answer to your questions that you aren’t getting.
Serious question: your parents have sprung for a college counselor… would they consider taking you to a therapist? Your problem is less admission to MIT than it is the way you’re thinking about MIT. It seems like you recognize this, and we’re not going to be able to help with the way your mind works no matter how hard we try.
Maybe your best option is to find somebody who can.
Yes. When you quote one of your own, long, repetitive posts people’s eyes will glaze over and ignore the whole thing. You should strive to be succinct, non-repetitive, and show some indication that you are actually reading the replies people are writing to your questions.
Does that help?
More seriously, you’re simply ignoring the advice people are giving you. THERE IS NO MAGIC WAY TO GET INTO MIT. Or into any highly competitive school. Living your life as if the only things that have purpose are the ones that will look good to MIT is a good way to ensure rejection. It’s hard to accept, and it’s likely this will have no more success with you as any of the last 10 times people have said it, but it’s the way of the world.
Seems like you didn’t read the post that I quoted. It wasn’t asking for the same thing. It was a different question about CAREERS, and what career to choose. There was some discussion of getting into MIT, but that was not the critical part of the post that I quoted.
Know a really good way to figure out what career path is best for you? Go to college.
It’s almost 4 years until I go to college. I can’t have this stress bubbling inside me for that long.
I want to know my career path right now because then I can plan what major(s) and how many years of college I will do.
To sum it up, this is what my really long post that I quoted talks about.
As others have suggested, you really ought to talk to someone about stress and your obsessiveness. You can start with your guidance counselor or your pediatrician.
Or we can figure out what I will do for my career and relieve stress that way (which is what I want to do).
You should join the military. It is very structured in the way you will like.
I think we all know that the odds are very high that you would simply start stressing about something else.
Go see a counselor or doctor. Seriously. You will have a much easier time working through what you want to do for a career once the underlying anxiety is not clouding your mind.
Also, you don’t necessarily have to figure out what to do with a career now. Many people use college as an opportunity to test out different fields, since you can get a much better and more accurate exposure to them in college compared to high school. You’re never going to find geology or aerospace engineering courses or career fairs in high school, after all.
If you get to college and you’re not sure what you want to study, spend your first few semesters taking general education requirements, and pick out a few majors you think you might be interested in and spend your time figuring out what they entail, and whether you might like them. Take introductory courses in them, talk with other majors, talk with professors, and attend talks and job fairs.
Many people also end up in college with a clear idea of what they want to study, then change their minds. As long as your university has good programs in a wide range of fields, you should be fine.
Since the OP is looking for advice, let’s move this to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Other than stop stressing so much, what should I do?
Should I just keep doing what I’m doing, getting excellent grades/scores, participating in many extra-curriculars, playing excellent violin, and maybe even start playing in nursing homes, etc.
Is that really all I have to do?
I just keep feeling like this is not enough for a high school freshman to be doing that wants to get into a top school.
It just seems like a normal thing to do - too common.
But is that really all I can do, or the “limit” of what I can do to maximize my chances for a top school besides finding something to make me stand out?
**
What should I do about my careers?
If your primary motivation is money, you’re going to have a hard life. If you love science, engineering, math…GO DO THAT. Trust me, you will be happier.
As I mentioned earlier, I went to Cornell. To pay for it, I had an ROTC scholarship, so after graduation, I served 5 years on active duty as an Army officer. I made very good money. When I was serving in Germany, I was making well over $100K…but I didn’t want to make it a career, and wanted a civilian life. I took a MAJOR pay cut to get out, and while I’m making good money now, I’m still not quite back up to what I was making when I left the Army six years ago. And I’m SO much happier. I enjoy my job, I enjoy my life more.
The whole thing is…find something you enjoy and be good at it…you’ll make a good living and have a good life.
How much does a quantitive analyst make and what do they do?
Just wondering because if they pay a lot (you know what I expect as for as pay goes; if not it’s $100,000 a year starting out, and then after a few years of experience, $150,000 - $200,000 a year) and involve mathematics (I’ve heard it is a math job), then that might be a good job to aim for which would mean that I would know that I’m going to major in mathematics, and if I know that, then I have a better idea of the colleges that I will be applying to, and then I have a better idea of what to aim for.
Find something you love, other than money.
I think you said that you’re Indian, but do you ever watch Bollywood films? If so, you (and your parents) might want to see 3 Idiots. I think you might learn something. (Also, much earlier in the thread someone recommended How I Got Into College and you should see that as well.)
I’ve seen three idiots once, but it was a while ago so I don’t remember it well. What exactly happened again?
Seriously? Did you not notice the underlined blue text in my post? It’s called a hyperlink and it will bring you to an article about the movie on a wonderful resource called Wikipedia.
^from wikipedia.
Is this what you are targeting at?