MIT question

[AwesomeToad]

This is a question I would like an opinion by MattMcGann or someone from MIT, as well as fellow AoPSers.

How much emphasis does MIT put on distinguishing regular and honor classes (ex: Alg 2/ Alg 2 honors) or how fast I move through the high school math curriculum?

I am in the 8th grade now. When I was in 7th grade, I skipped PreAlgebra and took Algebra 1. It turns out that I had a schedule conflict for Alg 1 honors, so I took regular.

Next year (now) I tried to skip Geometry Honors. I gave up on the idea after I was told I was not allowed to get credit for the Honors class and would have to take Alg 2 regular. So I find Geometry Honors very easy.

I wanted to learn Calculus at latest next school year because I am doing Precalc outside of school. However, I am told that I am not allowed to skip anything Alg 2 or harder.

How much will this situation at high school hold me back from getting into MIT?

[t0rajir0u]

There's no set path for what you have to take in high school. The general philosophy is that you should be taking the hardest classes you can reasonably handle and that your school will let you take, but admissions officers take into account your resources or lack thereof.

Don't feel like you have to take the highest-level math courses you possibly can. If you rush through the curriculum you might miss more than you realize. And there are lots of other ways to enrich your mathematical experience, such as going to summer programs.

[PowerOfPi]

My opinion is that you should do more math rather than skip classes. The math at school does not include some important topics like problem solving and discrete math. For example, see this and this.