advanced math courses

<p>If a HS Junior took courses like Differential Equations, Linear Algebra and even complex analysis and gets a B or better, reasonably ok in HS GPA and SAT, what would be chances of MIT Caltech admissions?</p>

<p>It’s a good idea to get all A’s in college-level courses.</p>

<p>Honestly, there’s no way we’d know your chance of admission based off the info you’ve provided. Even if you put your entire application in a post, nobody would be able to give you accurate chances.</p>

<p>With your statistics, I can confidently predict a 23.72% chance of admission. Good luck!</p>

<p>Thanks very much.</p>

<p>Thanks for the predict. curious how u came up with that? The kid has some APs in Sc and Math too. Mostly As. Independantly taking AP phy C Mechanics only for now…</p>

<p>Don’t listen to lizzardfire, he’s clearly using an outdated algorithm. The actual chances are 31.4%.</p>

<p>This of course does not include your judgement of how great the instructor recommendations will be. For example, if you said they would be ‘really, really good’ the chances would jump into the mid 40’s, but if you just said they would be ‘really good’, you’d only jump a few percent.</p>

<p>Here’s the formula</p>

<p>[{(SAT)<em>(.24)/(5-GPA)}</em>exp{-(ECs)/(RECOMMENDATIONS)}]</p>

<p>I’m afraid that I can’t tell you any more though, I’ve already said too much.</p>

<p>Oh, sorry–I forgot about that algorithm. Please disregard my earlier post.</p>

<p>siyenga: LHC’s first post was correct. No one can really predict chances at Caltech based on the information you have provided. Further, what is it you have to show your passion for math and science? If you cannot show that, Caltech is very difficult.</p>

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<p>I would say that taking college-level math courses (and getting good grades in them) as a high school student shows one’s passion for math pretty well. Also, one has to realize that having passion for math and science is in no way guarantee of success here at Caltech.</p>

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<p>I agree that having a passion for math and science is no guarantee of success at Caltech. What I mean to say was “admission to Caltech is very difficult”. I was not clear enough, I am not talking about success at Caltech but success in the admission process. I hope that clarifies what I wanted to say. A better wording would be If you cannot show that, admission to Caltech is very difficult.</p>

<p>From what I hear that the admissions committee looks at passion for science and math as an important component of admission requirement. Taking higher level math courses does show interest, but is that sufficient in itself. The OP has not provided any information on other science and math related activities.</p>

<p>I got a B in Linear Algebra over the summer (although there were some other circumstances around that), but an A in my summer Calc 2 class and Fall term Diff eq class. Deferred EA by Caltech and then admitted, so there’s no “hard line” where if you get a B you’re definitely out. Only way to know is apply.</p>

<p>“With your statistics, I can confidently predict a 23.72% chance of admission. Good luck!”</p>

<p>That’s odd…with my calculations, I’m coming up with 25.44 (repeating) %. What were your steps?</p>

<p>I use a special formula modified by personal experience</p>

<p>Wow… I can’t figure out how I’m off by so much… I’m coming up with 43.664% and that’s rounding down!! Is anyone else running into similar problems??</p>

<p>This is exactly what I had, except throw in Multivariable and independent study in Complex Analysis. It’s absolutely no guarantee of getting into either of these schools, although I suspect it substantially helps. Personally I got into Caltech but not MIT or Princeton. There was another kid in my school that took Calc BC/Linear/Multi/Diff-EQ and graduated early after junior year, and the best school he got into was Carnegie Mellon (granted he had crappy grades and horrid essay-writing skills). I think my Caltech acceptance had more to do with my research at Penn than my advanced math classes, although I don’t think I would have gotten accepted without both. Also, I had mid to high A’s in these classes and all my other classes.</p>

<p>narps, are you from NJ and about how many years ago did that guy go to CMU?</p>

<p>No I’m in a PA suburb of Philly. And he’s currently a freshman at CMU.</p>

<p>Ahh, alright. His profile reminded me a bit of a friend from undergrad. He was taking grad math classes freshman year, double majored in math/CS and got a 4.0 while graduating in 3 years. Amazingly smart dude, we couldn’t believe he “only” got into CMU.</p>

<p>(Also really great guy, though when he didn’t feel motivated he’d put hardly effort into his classes. I could have seen him getting mediocre grades in HS and write terrible essays for college.)</p>

<p>My Junior year I took Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, and Multivariable Calculus (with all A’s) and in the course of my HS I got 2 B+'s (the first semester freshman year) with a very challenging load and I got rejected MIT and waitlisted Caltech.</p>

<p>You have to differentiate yourself in different ways. My interview for MIT (and Yale) wasn’t what I wanted because 3/4 of the time was spent explaining how my homeschooling worked (Homeschooled the last 2 years).</p>

<p>I’d say try to do research, and do other EC’s in math/science fields that you’re interested in and want to pursue in college.</p>

<p>I suspect that research(Except for ISEF I guess) and overloading yourself help a lot. the vital thing is to **show your interest. ** For me my grades in humanities are far better than in science and math. But I still got in.(ah, but rejected at MIT, haven’t applied to Pton) So you see. Essays signify quite a loooot.</p>