Another chances thread...

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
1

<p>Applying: Early Action
UCSD Medical Scholars- Applying, but I am asking for chances to either regular Caltech or med scholars.</p>

<p>SAT I:
---Verbal: 680
---Math: 770
---Writing: 780</p>

<p>^^1st try in May. Awaiting October scores.</p>

<p>SAT II:
---Math IIC 800
---Biology M 770
---Chemistry 790</p>

<p>Grades
Unweighted GPA: 3.83 out of 4
Weighted GPA: 4.61 out of 5
Weighted GPA:
---AP and honors classes: A=5, B=4,etc.
---Regular classes: A=4, B=3,etc.
Upward trend: 5 B's in freshman year (out of 14 possible), 1 B sophomore year, 1 B junior year</p>

<p>*Extracurricular Activities: *</p>

<p><em>ACTIVITY</em> - <em>total hours put in</em></p>

<p>NIH/HHMI Internship (National Institutes of Health / Howard Hughes Medical Institute) - work alongside PhD during summer of 2007 and from 12-5 pm during my senior year; very selective (20 people out of my county); pays stipend of $1600; 20 hours/week during school year and 40 hours/week during summer; counts towards high school credit - ~1000 hours</p>

<p>Volunteer at Hospital - worked in oncology and orthopedics - 70 hours</p>

<p>Chemistry Club- Prepares for University of MD Chemathon competition; geared towards AP Chem students. I placed 3rd in chemical jeopardy, a written event. Dozens of high schools from MD compete - 72 hours </p>

<p>Science National Honors Society Tutoring and remediation for state biology exam. Also do pizza sales. - 28 hours</p>

<p>Biology Club- Prepares for USABO (USA biology olympiad) - 18 hours</p>

<p>Medical Masterminds Intramural Trivia club- Learn basic medical operations (i.e. taking blood pressure) and do trivia on medical terms- 18 hours</p>

<p>National Math Honors Society- Tutor in math - 16 hours</p>

<p>Awards and Recognitions:</p>

<p>AP exam grade of 5: Biology, chemistry, world history.</p>

<p>2nd place Honors Physics Written level - Countywide Final Frontiers "Newton's Nightmare" in a group of 3 from my high school (including myself)</p>

<p>USABO (abbreviation explained in activities) Semifinalist - About 500/6000 people competing get this award nationwide. it is designed for AP Bio students like myself. I got the highest score in my school, was one of only 3 from my school to become a semifinalist, and I was the only junior to become a semifinalist.</p>

<p>USAPhO (physics) - Plan to take this year while I take AP Physics C- 50/50 chance of winning anything. I'm applying EA so I guess this doesn't matter.</p>

<p>USAChO (chemistry)- Missed the deadline for taking it last year. Will most likely take this year. I'm applying EA so I guess this doesn't matter.</p>

<p>Won 3rd place in one event at chemathon (chemical jeopardy)</p>

<p>Physics Bowl written Honors physics level competition- Second place in honors physics level at school, which means nothing since our school didn't qualify to compete. I took this a year after honors physics, so I didn't do as well as I had hoped.</p>

<p>Other Information: </p>

<p>Under-represented Minority? no
Location: Maryland
My high school is one of Newsweek's top 100 public high schools.</p>

<p>My career goal is to become an ophthalmologist (eye surgeon) and my research in the National Eye Institute (explained under NIH/HHMI) confirms my interests.</p>

<p>Junior Courses:
-AP Bio
-AP Chem
-Honors English
-AP World History
-Honors Precalculus</p>

<p>Senior Courses:
-AP Physics C
-AP Art History
-BC Calculus
-Honors English
-Rest of my day is spent as an intern (until 5 p.m.)</p>

<p>School Rank:</p>

<p>School doesn't rank but according to the school profile, I am in the highest grouping they have (top 14%); colleges will not be able to differentiate top 5% from top 13% since top 14% is the highest group.</p>

<p>Letter of Recommendations:</p>

<p>AP art history teacher, AP chem teacher, lab preceptor (as supplement)</p>

<p>Interest shown:
Visiting information session hosted by Caltech on Sunday.</p>

2

<p>Don't worry about your chances.. you have a good shot.</p>

3

<p>Heh, that post was really misleading when skimming through it. </p>

<p>I saw the bolded "Awards and Recognitions", saw USAChO, USABO, and USAPhO all listed under there, and was really impressed someone made so many national teams. </p>

<p>Turns out the guy hasn't even taken the qualifying exam in some cases, only that he plans to. Might want to take that into account while filling out the application.</p>

4

<p>I got USABO semifnialist. The rest I plan to take. In any case, it's not on my application at all.</p>

5

<p>Alright, some complete honesty;</p>

<p>your accomplishments aren't impressive. The USABO semifinals, which you seem so proud of, are relatively trivial to make. In fact, the entire "Awards and Recognition" section could almost be taken completely out and it wouldn't change your chances for any school you're applying to, especially Caltech. </p>

<p>However, the medical internships and volunteering at a hospital, that's excellent. Your scores and grades are decent too.</p>

<p>I really wouldn't include the Medical Masterminds club, Chemathon Jeopardy Junk, etc, etc. on your application. </p>

<p>It might distract the reader from the valuable stuff you actually have on your application, and is minor enough not to help you anyways.</p>

6

<p>You're not gonna like what I'm about to tell you:</p>

<p>Don't come to Caltech if you're premed.</p>

<p>That's right. Just don't. Or apply, get admitted, show up for pre-frosh weekend and then have everyone tell you that it blows to be a premed here and only about 1/5 of the graduating students who aim for med school get in, and go somewhere else instead.</p>

<p>As a senior Biology major here, I have known many premeds through my classes. I have seen three classes' worth try to get into med school and I have seen many, many of them fail. Do you know what happens to a bio major graduate who doesn't get into med school? One of two things: (a) they use their world-class, $160,000 education to become a paramedic, hoping this will someday boost their application when they reapply, or (b) they become lab techs, also a complete waste of their brainpower, and try to get into grad school but don't have the research experience to do so successfully for several years. You don't want to be that person, trust me.</p>

<p>I'm trying to do you a favor here. You could, and probably would, ruin your career if you matriculate. Talk to premeds at the info session if you can. And as you listen to their opinions, remember that they haven't had their dreams dashed just yet, whereas most of them will have by the time they graduate.</p>

<p>You have been warned.</p>