Another one

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
1

<p>What are my chances at Caltech?</p>

<p>Profile: Caucasion Junior at New York public high school. Parents well-educated, and well-off.</p>

<p>Stats:
-SAT: 2100 (800M, 650 W, 650 CR)
-ACT: 32
-SAT II Math 2c: 800
-SAT II Physics 2c: 800
-SAT II Biology: 610
-GPA: 4.0 unweighted
-Rank: 1/371</p>

<p>Relevant Coursework:
-AP's (9th): Calculus BC (4),
-AP's (10th): Statistics (4), Computer Science AB (5)
-AP's (11th): Physics C E&M (5), Physics C M (5), Chemistry (5), Stats (5), Calculus BC (5)</p>

<p>Math/ physics classes taken at local universty:
-Sophomore year: Statistics (A-), Calculus III (A), Linear Algebra (B+)
-Junior year: Number Theory (A), Real Analysis (A)
-Junior year summer: Light/Heat (A)</p>

<p>This year's schedule @ school:
-AP English Language
-AP Spanish Language
-Government/Economics
-Health/Gym
This year's schedule @ university:
-Abstract Algebra
-Topology
-Modern Physics</p>

<p>Activities @ summer:
-9th grade: Tested out of Biology to move into Physics/Chem
-10th grade: Went to a local math camp
-11th grade: Research with professor</p>

<p>Reccomendations:
-Rec from professor will be awesome, physics teacher will be great</p>

<p>Other stuff:
-Research project in number theory to be entered in Intel STS and Siemens. Its not finalist material, but I think it is fairly substantial (semifinalist in at least one of the 2 competitions, probably....)
-USAMTS Silver Medal junior year
-Math Club (9-12), President (11-12)
-Volunteering at a local hospital for 120 hours (10-12)
-National Honor Society (9-12)</p>

<p>Questions:
1. Will Caltech consider my ACT score rather than my SAT score?
2. Is this year's schedule too easy? Required classes......
3. For AP scores in Calculus and Statistics, what should I write? 5 or 4?
4. Will my better grades in 11th grade make up for weaker grades in 10th?
5. Also, I am really bad at competitive math (not even AIME). What I like is research and proof-based math (USAMTS). Does Caltech not even care for kids not good at competitions? Like me......:-)</p>

2

<p>Wow! You actually re-took AP's. I've never seen that before.</p>

3

<p>
[quote]
1. Will Caltech consider my ACT score rather than my SAT score?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Sure.</p>

<p>
[quote]
2. Is this year's schedule too easy? Required classes......

[/quote]
</p>

<p>No.</p>

<p>
[quote]
3. For AP scores in Calculus and Statistics, what should I write? 5 or 4?

[/quote]
</p>

<ol>
<li>you earned it.</li>
</ol>

<p>
[quote]
4. Will my better grades in 11th grade make up for weaker grades in 10th?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Upward trend is good... the suboptimal grades will have a slight negative impact, but an upward trend is good, and will compensate badly.</p>

<p>To answer 5, we admit plenty of kids who excel at independent work but never did superwell on competitions.</p>

<p>This seems like a nice application, but your verbal and writing scores are unusually low and I'd try to get them up if I were you. If you did that, then you'd be looking pretty solid -- lots of strong college-level math with nothing compromising in the application.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the comments. What should I aim for on the verbal sections?</p>

5

<p>700+</p>

<p>:)
Ben</p>