The 4 initial steps

If you are reading this article, it is likely because you want to study at MIT. I can tell you that it is not impossible, in fact, what you have to do is given in 10 steps. The first four are summarized in the following video:

These are:

Let's go step by step. The mere fact that you are reading this article implies that the first step is very clear to you. You must prioritize your education because it is the most powerful weapon that you have to succeed in this life; therefore, you must study what you love because if it is not like that, it will be very difficult for you to get far. The second step is to be the best student in your class, don't be satisfied with a runner-up position, try to be the best because the school will be the easiest stage in your entire life. The third step is to master mathematics and don't feel bad if you feel at the beginning that it is difficult to understand, usually, mathematics requires a lot of effort from your side, perseverance and practice are needed to reach a level where math becomes an easy subject to handle. With time you will realize that you are good in mathematics because in the classroom your friends will always ask you questions or because in the exams you will end up getting the best grades. If you reach this stage, you should not feel fulfilled, because if you get the best grades it means that you can handle a more advanced level of math problems, that is, you should strive to reach a level where you actually feel that math becomes extremely challenging, for this you must enroll in institutions that prepare young students to participate in the International Mathematical Olympiad. Each country has at least one institution and that's why I'm giving you a list below so that you can get in touch with them and start this adventure.

If you are poor you should not worry about it, most of these institutions grant full scholarships to those who have a lot of potential, so don't limit yourself and start to fly.

The fourth step is the most important of this part because it not only involves a step to get into MIT but also a step to know if you have the potential to be a successful student in the future. To measure this, I recommend you set yourself the goal of passing the admission exam of Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería (UNI) of Peru. But why this is important? Because the MIT admission exam is a simple test and if you prepare yourself at a level that is much higher than that test, then you will gain more confidence to get a perfect score in the MIT admission exam. Moreover, because the UNI exam is much more difficult, it will help you to be prepared for more challenging obstacles in your career path.

Probably those who don't live in Peru don't understand what I'm suggesting here, so it is better to give you the context. In Peru, Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería is the institution that presents the most difficult admission exam. Because of this, there are several institutions, known as pre-university academies, that provide exclusive preparation to successfully pass this exam. It requires a high level of mathematics, physics, chemistry, verbal reasoning, math reasoning, and general knowledge; therefore, if you don't live in Peru, you should focus first on passing the most difficult entry exam in your country and then try to solve the questions of the UNI admission exam. In the module Tests of nepy.pe we compare both, the MIT exam and the UNI exam. I invite you to solve these tests to get an idea of which level you are at. The UNI exam comes in 3 parts, a) Verbal and Math Reasoning + General Knowledge, b) Mathematics, and c) Physics + Chemistry. As a personal experience I can tell you that when I took this exam with a 6-month preparation time, in a) I got 13/20, in b) 11/20, and in c) 15/20. And believe me, with that score, I was able to get a perfect score in the MIT admission exam, then you already have an idea of what you need to overcome.

It is because of this that I believe that you can get a much better result, that's why when students ask me: "Do you think that I can get a perfect score on the MIT admission exam?" I reply: "6,000 students apply to Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería and only 800 are admitted, out of those 800 I'm sure that 600 are capable of getting the highest score in the MIT admission exam, because if I did it with an 11/20 in mathematics and with a 6-months preparation time, what can we expect from those who get +12/20 and have a longer preparation time? Of course, there is a very important factor that I'm omitting here and that is the fact that the MIT admission exam is in English, and if you don't know English then your mathematical skills won't matter. And this is the biggest obstacle of non-developed countries around the world, because, for example, out of those 800 who are admitted to UNI in Peru, only 6 would have an acceptable level of English to apply to MIT; however, paradoxically, none of them would try to do it because they would think that being admitted to MIT is a dream impossible to achieve...

Can you imagine what would happen if countries like Peru would invest in English as a second language? Well, likely, these countries will take a generational leap because not knowing English becomes a detrimental factor for opportunities around the world. But to get into MIT it is not enough to get a perfect score in the admission exam. In fact, now let's imagine that every student in Peru knows English. I told you that 600 were capable of getting a perfect score on the MIT admission exam; however, this won't be enough to be admitted because MIT would also check what you have done in the last years of study. Curiously, in Peru, out of those 600 UNI-admitted students, 500 dedicated a year exclusively to their preparation, that is, they finished high school and then they registered at a pre-university academy. They wasted an entire year of their lives in an institution that will never be recognized by MIT because pre-university academies have no value at an international level. It is for this reason that if you trace your objective well, you should not even think about getting into a pre-university academy once you finish high school, of course not, instead you should study at the academy while you are still in high school, in the mornings you will go to one and in the afternoons to the other, at most, it will only give you time to have lunch, but it is there that you will show that you are an exceptional student and the future will reward you. Now, in case you tell me that you don't have sufficient financial resources to register at a pre-university academy, then you just have to get the books because all the information is there. To all this, can you imagine what would happen if the state policies of Peru would reform education in such a way that no one would have to spend an extra year in a pre-university academy? Well, 600 students every six months in Peru would have great chances to get into MIT, of course, one more factor is missing and that is the desire to dream...

That's why I ask myself and I repeat it many times: "Having so much potential, why don't you take the next step? The step of dreaming and believing in the impossible." If you decide to take that step, you will likely achieve greater things in this life. I hope you dare to do it because I think you are capable... and with this article, you already know what you have to do and how you should do it... I invite you to read the second part where I talk about the remaining 6 steps.

Part 2