Any chance at CalTech?

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
1

<p>Yes, I know, another "what are my chances" thread. I'm extremely nervous about my chances, and would like advice...</p>

<p>SAT: 780 M, 760 V, 720 W.
SAT II: 800 Math IIc, 800 Physics, 780 Spanish
GPA (Here is where I start to have problems, I think): 3.8399
Rank: No rank, but I would be in the top 10%</p>

<p>Senior (academic) Classes:
AP Spanish
AP English
AP European History
Linear Algebra-first semester/Differential Equations-second semester (at college)
Computer Science (at college)</p>

<p>Junior Classes:
Calculus at local LAC (Equivalent of Calc BC): A/A (Highest grade of anyone in the class)(prof sent a letter to my gc praising my math ability, she will mention this in her letter. no prof has done this before.)
Advanced Physics (calc-based): A/A
Advanced Chemistry: B+/B+
US History:B+/A-
English:A+/A-
Spanish 4: B+/A</p>

<p>Extra-curriculars:</p>

<p>Knowledge Bowl Team: Team Captain/Spokesperson (Junior and Senior Years). Sophomore year petitioned the school to sponser the team (due to budget cuts the school decided to eliminate the team. Team has won many awards including: Top 20 in state (800 teams in the state), Conference Champions (Last 2 years), etc. [Grades 9,10,11,12] [15 hours/week, 20 weeks/year].</p>

<p>Bridge (the card game) Club: Co-founder. Taught many people how to play. Compteted in tournament, and was 40 years younger than the next youngest (and we finished top 10). [Grades 9,10,11,12] [10 hours/week, all school year].</p>

<p>Volunteering: Lead a group of volunteers to a nursing home. We play bridge with the residents. [Grades 10,11,12] [6-8 hours/week in the summer, less durring the school year].</p>

<p>Youth Ministry: [12]</p>

<p>Ultimate Frisbee: [Grades 10,11,12][ 4-6 hours/week, 15 weeks/year]</p>

<p>Movie Club: [3 hours/week][10-12]</p>

<p>Other Activities:
Attended a non-selective engineering camp.
Will compete in a robotics competion at local university before applications are due.</p>

<p>Awards:
AMC-12 School Winner (Score: 111.5)
Top 50 in a 5-state physics competion with ~1000 of the top few physics students from their schools competing.
Award for spanish proficiency
Honor Student (highest academic honor school gives)</p>

<p>I intend to major in physics</p>

<p>So, I have a few questions...
1) Do I have any chance? Will my weak Junior grades finish me off?
2) I am nervous becauese I have a general lack of math/science activities. My school offers none, so I have just taken as hard of science classes as I could. What would be the best way for me to emphasize my love of physics on the application?
3) I skipped 8th grade. Do I need to put this anywhere on the application, or will it hurt my app?</p>

2

<p>Your grades, especially in chemistry, aren't great. That sets the bar higher for the rest of your application. If you can, go get an 800 on the Chem SAT II and include that, and/or get a 5 on the AP if you haven't already. Your AMC score is good, but nothing all that special.</p>

<p>Get excellent grades in your classes this year, especially the advanced math. Try to do so well that your profs write you stellar recommendations. If you come across an intriguing and difficult problem in, for example, linear algebra, write it up nicely and send it as along with your application as a small independent project in math, but only if it's actually mathematically interesting and challenging. That sort of little thing helps.</p>

<p>You don't need to mention skipping 8th grade.</p>

<p>Nothing here "finishes you off" at all, but nothing stands out, either. If you submitted this now, you'd probably get waitlisted. If you add something intriguing/cool/extra like a writeup of some research, or something, I'd be more hopeful.</p>

3

<p>I'm basically going to second what Ben said; the chemistry grades are troubling and the rest of it looks fine, but not particularly exciting. </p>

<p>What is the engineering camp like? Any chance of getting some research in there, and doing something interesting, innovative and new? Or is it just a sort of dull "this is how you do something, sit and watch" sort of thing? Research always looks good. </p>

<p>Obviously one of your letters of recommendation should be from the professor of your math class. Go and talk to her outside of class nd get to know her a bit better, it will certainly serve you well in helping to get a stronger, more personal letter of recommendation. Ask her if she has any interseting, more in depth problems you could work on (and then submit it, if it really is interesting and takes more than a few hours to work out - as Ben suggested). </p>

<p>Other than that, you probably want to apply regular decision and make sure that you have straight A's first term. </p>

<p>Also, there are a pretty good number of folks around campus who play bridge - my Freshman year I taught about a quarter of my class how to play, and ended up playing more bridge than I did sleep. Fun? Yes. A good idea? Probably not. Ironically, the one suggestion that one of my friend's dad, who was a Caltech alum, gave me: Don't play bridge at Caltech. </p>

<p>Galen</p>

4

<p>Wow, thank you both for taking the time to reply!
I will definitely take the SAT II Chemistry, and I am pretty sure that I can do well (~800) on it. If I do this will it help to decrease the significance of that B+?</p>

<p>Unfortunately, the camp that I attended really didn't offer us any research. I will ask my math prof if he has any interesting ideas for a project (which I know that he does, because we were assigned a project dealing with Fourier Series and Radios, and I know that the idea was from a book filled with interesting math projects). Should the project be completely original, or would something like that be fine.</p>

<p>Finally, it's great to hear that people at Caltech play Bridge :) I've not met anyone (whom I haven't taught) under the age of 50 who knows how to play. This just makes me like Caltech even more. Thanks again!</p>

5

<p>
[quote]
I will definitely take the SAT II Chemistry, and I am pretty sure that I can do well (~800) on it. If I do this will it help to decrease the significance of that B+?

[/quote]
Yes. Not completely, but by a good amount.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Should the project be completely original, or would something like that be fine.

[/quote]
The less standard the better, but books like that are a good source. In view of your limited opportunities for original research, this will certainly improve your chances. Just don't leave it til the last minute -- work hard starting now (or soon).</p>

6

<p>Does Caltech care a lot about B's in humanity classes? For example, APUSH?
I know most of the applicants to Caltech this year opted out of this course because they knew it'd be bring their gpa down.</p>

<p>I know this comes randomly esp. since this thread hasn't been active since last year but people keep on complaining about how they don't have math and science clubs. What prevents people from starting one?
For both these clubs, all you really need to do is research online about competitions and olympiads or think of activities, generate interest, find a teacher to support it and there you go! Congrats. You now have a science or math club at your school. </p>

<p>Be proactive and open up opportunities for yourself...</p>

<p>I took a class at UCSD but it was only over 3 weeks and I really got to know the prof well. We literally spent the day together (8am-6pm) and the class only had about 13 kids...most that went out to go shopping during breaks. Would that have any weight? or is the time I spent there too short?</p>

7

<p>I personally got a C in AP Euro and a B- in APUSH. Caltech didn't seem to mind.</p>

8

<p>Yeah, I know a few people here with C's in APUSH, so I'm guessing it's not a huge deal.</p>