Caltech 2023 EA Results

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
1

Seems like decisions are coming out in a few hours here…
Please keep this thread solely for results. Good luck to all!

Remove the “a” in the bold, size, and color of your decision.

[aB][asize=4][acolor=#008000]Decision: Accepted[/color][/size]**
[aB][asize=4][acolor=#FFA500]Decision: Deferred[/color][/size]**
[aB][asize=4][acolor=#FF0000]Decision: Rejected[/color][/size]**

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
Weighted GPA:
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1:
Teacher Rec #2:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec:
Interview:

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?:
Intended Major:
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection

Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

General Comments:

2

Might as well go ahead and post:

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1570 (800 math, 770 reading), 19/24 on essay
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II: 800 Math 2, 790 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: On a 100 point scale = 105.6
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1 out of 300
AP (place score in parenthesis):
5s on Human Geo, Gov, World, Calc AB/BC, CS A, US History, Bio, Physics C: Mech, Chinese, Seminar, Lang
4 on Chem
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: 6 APs, 2 Dual Enrollment math classes at Georgia Tech
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None really, all my awards were state or regional; qualified for AIME twice

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Math Team, Leo Club (VP), SciOly (Team Captain), CS Club (Co Founder), Academic Team, Robotics, some other smaller stuff
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service: Did a lot of volunteering at a variety of places, food bank, senior living facility, refurbishing tech. Talked about these a lot in my essays.
Summer Activities: Governor’s Honors Program, a small math camp, volunteering
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 8/10, Felt pretty good about the content of them but I procrastinated a lot on supplementals :stuck_out_tongue: Talked about stuff I was really passionate about.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: Math 10/10, def got an A1 rec, am really good friends w teacher
Teacher Rec #2: good?, not too sure as my teacher retired and we never really spoke much afterwards
Counselor Rec: 10/10, we met a lot throughout the year and she knows a lot of stuff I do
Additional Rec:
Interview:

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: CS
State (if domestic applicant): Georgia ?
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Income Bracket: Middle to High
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection

Strengths: Test Scores, Essays, Extracurriculars
Weaknesses: Didn’t have any stellar awards or research or massive accomplishments
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

General Comments:

Best of luck to anyone reading this who is applying!

4

Decision: Deferred

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1490 (790 Math, 700 RW, 22/24 Essay)
ACT (breakdown): 33 (34 Superscore)
SAT II: Math II: 800, Physics: 720
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): Don’t know specifically.
Weighted GPA: 4.91/4 Weighted
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 5/338
AP (place score in parenthesis): CS (5), APUSH (4), Lang&Comp (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: 5 AP’s, 1 Independent Study in CS, 1 Business Class
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): International Finalist in DECA, National Merit Letter of Commendation, AP Scholar Award (Nothing significant asides the DECA award)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): DECA (Officer), Math Team (Co-Founder), Inventeam (Lead-Programmer), Varsity Basketball, NHS, Key Club.
Job/Work Experience: 2 Summers of Paid Programming Internship. Other generic job.
Volunteer/Community service: Average amount of Service hours. Nothing to brag about
Summer Activities: College Research Junior Year
Essays (rating 1-10, details): First Three (STEM Activities): 2/3 Very good. Talked about internship + research. Techer Essay: 8/10. Very passionate and specific on my goals and intentions at Caltech. Humor/Creative Essay: 10/10. Very unique and strange experience that occurred. Easily my strongest of the 3. Caltech Contribution Essay: 8/10. I put a lot of time into this one. I talked about how I deal with long lists of assignments and manage lots of things at once – and how I could bring that to Caltech
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: (11th grade History Teacher + Basketball Coach): 10/10He told me it was one of the best letter recs he had ever written
Teacher Rec #2: Math Dept. Head/10th Grade Math Teacher: 7/10. I’m sure it was great, but I never heard anything else about it from her.
Counselor Rec: No clue. Im sure it was fine but once again, I never heard anything about it from my counselor
Additional Rec: 1 From Internship Boss, 1 From College professor that watched over my research (Both Very good)
Interview: Didn’t have one

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: CS
State (if domestic applicant): MA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White, European
Gender:Male
Income Bracket: Middle Class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Nothing Really that I can think of

Reflection

Strengths: Essays/Letter recs/Grades
Weaknesses: Standardized Test Scores (Specifically RW sections).

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I knew when applying that I wasn’t at the same level as Caltech. I was just applying because I’ve always heard of Caltech being such a prestigious school and I figured I’d give it a go. I don’t have a lot of the extra stuff on my resume that is needed to get into a school like this, and I very much respect all of you that have those higher tier scores and elements on their resume.

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Caltech is the first school that I have heard back from.

Congrats to those that got in! You will all do great things!

5

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1550 (750 Reading, 800 Math), no essay
ACT (breakdown): 34 (36 English, 34 Math, 31 Reading, 34 Science, 9 Essay)
SAT II: 800 Physics, 800 Math 2, 730 Chemistry (did not submit)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 6.7619 on 6.0 scale
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 32/770
AP (place score in parenthesis): (5 on all of them) Human Geography, World History, Computer Science, U.S. History, Physics 1, Chemistry
IB (place score in parenthesis): None
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics C, AP Physics 2, AP Calculus BC, AP Biology, English Honors, Spanish 3 Honors
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None, only some state awards from Science Olympiad. Only thing that I think might even matter is National Merit Semi-finalist designation, but I’m sure prestigious universities don’t care about that.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Computer Science Club 9-12 (President), Science Olympiad 10-12 (State Team), Mu Alpha Theta 10-12, Science National Honor Society 11-12, Key Club 9-12
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community service: 80 hrs through Key Club
Summer Activities: Dual-credit college courses, programming, video games, books

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
STEM Experiences: 6/10. Personally, I felt that these were kinda trash and awkward.
Techer essay: (8)
Sense of humor: I wrote about memes. (8)
Contribution to Caltech: (7)

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: AP Physics teacher, we’re on extremely good terms with each other. He also co-sponsors the Science Olympiad team so he knows my work ethic and my dedication in and out. (10/10)
Teacher Rec #2: Dual Credit English teacher. He likes my writing style and I always tried my hardest in his class. (9/10)
Counselor Rec: I didn’t even know her. She probably copy and pasted a template recommendation. (???/10)
No additional Rec

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes.
Intended Major: Computer Science
State (if domestic applicant): Prefer not to disclose
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: M
Income Bracket: Prefer not to disclose
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

Reflection:
Strengths: I honestly think it was my essay about memes. Besides that, test scores I suppose.
Weaknesses: Weak extracurricular activities and leadership positions. No major awards.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Dice roll? ?
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: This is early action so most other colleges haven’t released their decision yet.

General Comments:
I really believed that I was going to get the effective rejection deferral because I’m definitely one of the weaker applicants in terms of distinguishing factors. I guess I am evidence that you don’t need to be in varsity sports, win national tournaments, have internships, do research, publish an influential paper, take all of the AP classes ever offered, and be valedictorian. Good luck out there!

6

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1590 (800M, 790EBRW, 5/4/6 (oops))
ACT (breakdown): n/a
SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.35/4
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/~360
AP (place score in parenthesis): Physics 1/2/CMech/CEM, English Lit/Lang, USH, Gov, Calc BC, Stats, Chem, CSP (all 5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP Psych, Spanish 4, Orchestra, Calc III, Cardio-Fitness (lmao), AP Bio
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): RSI, AIME (x4), All-State Orchestra, Google Code-in Finalist, NSB Qualifier (?)

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Science Bowl (captain), CS Club (founder), FRC, Debate (captain), Orchestra, Knowledge Bowl (captain), district literary journal editor
Job/Work Experience: Research internship, not discussed in app
Volunteer/Community service: Mathcounts coaching, NHS (not talked about in app)
Summer Activities: RSI (wheee!), a high-altitude balloon project for the eclipse, nothing much else

Essays:
STEM Experiences: The word limit and the number of essays kind of hampered me, but they were okay. (6.5/10)
Explore, innovate, create: Lots of focus on stuff I’d heard from Caltech AOs before, so may have been slightly formulaic but good (8/10)
Do for fun:: Bunch of separate leisure activities vaguely centered around creating and exploring. (8)
Contribution to Caltech: Lots of discussion of various experiences which brought novel perspective, really unique I think so good but hard to generalize. (8/10)

Recommendations:

Teacher Rec #1: AP Physics teacher from 10th grade year. Wrote my RSI rec and witnessed my work on various projects, probably 9 or 10/10.
Teacher Rec #2: AP Lit teacher from last year, generally liked my writing, directing the new literary journal I’m working on so probably 9 or 10/10.
Counselor Rec: No real extra information external to my app, so probably vaguely formulaic, maybe 6 or 7/10.
Additional Rec: None sent.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: CS
State: SD
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Middle
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None really?

Reflection:
Strengths: I liked my essays as a coherent whole; I think test scores and RSI also really helped.
Weaknesses: No reaaaallly major awards + a very diffuse, all-around structuring which is not very conducive to a coherent narrative for a person.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Essays. They were long enough word count-wise to add dimensionality to character.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Two safeties, waiting on all other early action schools.

General Comments:
Be yourself, fill the space you’re given so that you’re an actual human being and it’ll be grand. Good luck!

7

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1570
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 800 Math II, 780 Chemistry, 780 US History , 750 Biology M
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.37
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calculus AB, Calculus BC, US History, European History, Chemistry, Biology, Computer Science A (all 5)
IB (place score in parenthesis):N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics C Mechanics, AP Physics C E&M, AP U.S. Gov, AP English Language, Graphic Design, Civics, Economics
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nope

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): library free coding academy for girls (founder), Young Leaders in Healthcare (VP), Tennis (JV Captain, Varsity Captain), Women in Computer Science
Job/Work Experience: Tutoring at Mathnasium
Volunteer/Community service: 200 hours at the hospital, TA for local Korean school
Summer Activities: lab volunteer at UCSD cardiology lab (10th grade), research intern at SDSC, turned in unpublished research poster (11th grade)
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App (7/10): I liked the topic, but I didn’t develop it very well for early action.
3 STEM Experiences (6/10): Pretty mediocre, but that’s pretty much the prompt. I mainly listed my very modest EC’s
Collaboration/innovate at Caltech (8/10): I did mine on personalizing education through technology. I liked how the essay turned out, and I compared Caltech to Hogwarts.
What do I do for fun (9/10): I wrote about loving to bake animation characters into cookies and other snacks and giving them to people
Diversity essay (10/10): This essay probably got me into Caltech… I wrote about something very unconventional-- fairies!
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: Math teacher 9/10. Pretty close with her, but don’t know how good of a writer she is.
Teacher Rec #2: APUSH teacher 8/10. I don’t know her very well personally, but I did participate a lot in her class. I think she spent a lot of time on her letters though.
Counselor Rec: 6/10 probably generic, since I am in a very big public school
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: N/A

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Of course
Intended Major: CS
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Large public, pretty good school for STEM
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: $100,000+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Nothing.

Reflection

Strengths: ESSAYS, scores, GPA, maybe my library academy?
Weaknesses: No huge award, pretty jumbled and generic EC’s
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Probably my essays, since I tried to make them unique. I am proof that you don’t need to win every award or to start research in 9th grade!
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Caltech was my first decision. Waiting on MIT, CMU, UIUC, and UC’s

General Comments: I am SO SO thankful for God, my community, and the admissions people for giving me this opportunity. I honestly am not the typical strong applicant, so I think this was pretty much all my essays. Any prospective applicant reading this, don’t be discouraged because you think you are not good enough! You definitely have as good of a chance as anybody.

8

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): none
ACT (breakdown): 35 Composite, 35 Math, 32 Science, 36 English, 35 Reading, 8 Writing
SAT II: Math II, 800 and Physics, 770
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.6 (out of 5)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 11 / 740ish
AP (place score in parenthesis): Computer Science (5), Human Geography (5), Statistics (5), Physics I (5), Physics II (5), Calculus AB/BC (5), English Lang&Comp (5), US History (5), Environmental Science (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Chemistry, AP Psychology, AP US Govt, Civics/Economics (H), AP Computer Science Principles, AP English Lit, Calculus III at NC State
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, AP Scholar (w/ Distinction & National)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): School CyberPatriots competition club (VP and P), NC Science Olympiad (Physics Captain), National Technical Honors Society, tutor @ high school
Job/Work Experience: Kumon Math & Reading Center TA since my freshman year
Volunteer/Community service: at least 100 hours in Cary Teen Council (volunteer organization), volunteer at state natural science museum
Summer Activities: did the AP/EA program at Carnegie Mellon, got an A in Principles of Imperative Computation and a B in Concepts of Math (Discrete Math), some Engineering/CS camps at my local college (NC State), a diversity program at UNC-Chapel Hill
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App: 7, wrote about how I eventually came to want to major and teach in CS
STEM experiences (7 overall):

  • a CS class I took at Carnegie Mellon (15-122) and got an A
  • how being president of school’s cybersecurity club made me more confident as a leader
  • how competing in NC Science Olympiad helped me gain more interest in STEM
    Hope to Explore: 8, combining psychology, biology, and CS to make AI that makes/chooses music that can help people with mental disorders/disabilities
    For fun: 8, wrote a fun essay about how I love to make puns
    Diversity: 6, wrote about being Filipino and sharing my culture

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 8, from an AP Physics teacher, I had to work really hard in that class for an A and I really loved the subject so I talked to her a lot
Teacher Rec #2: 7, from AP English Lang teacher, participated a lot in class
Counselor Rec: 6, only knew her for a year because the school kept switching

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: Computer Science
State (if domestic applicant): North Carolina
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Filipino and Chinese
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: $200,000+

Reflection

Strengths: female. leadership, grades
Weaknesses: not as much community service, no internships
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Female, leadership and already took college classes
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: CMU School of Computer Science (accepted ED)

General Comments:

9

Decision: Rejected

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1510 (780 M, 730 R&W)
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II: 780 Math II, 750 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
Weighted GPA: 99.26/100 - about 3.9
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5 APUSH, AP World, AP Chemistry; 4 AP Russian; 3 AP Lang
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics C, AP Calc AB, AP Literature, AP Macroeconomics, Financial Management
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Commended Scholar, AP Scholar, NHS

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

  • Autism Awareness Club (President, 11 - Present)
  • Women in STEM (Vice President, 12)
  • Varsity Softball (10 - 12)
  • Robotics Club (9, closed due to budget)

Job/Work Experience:

Volunteer/Community service:

  • Volunteered with kids with autism

Summer Activities:

  • NYU engineering course

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
5/10 pretty average, wrote them last minute

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 9/10 chemistry teacher who I had for two years in a row; I did pretty well in his class and I would come during lunch to talk with him
Teacher Rec #2: 7/10 AP world teacher; extremely nice, so I’m sure it was great and I did well in her class
Counselor Rec: 6/10 idk her too well
Additional Rec: 10/10 my boss at my volunteering place, I read it and I loved it
Interview:

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Chemical Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): NY
Country (if international applicant): US
School Type: Specialized Public
Ethnicity: Indian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection

Strengths: well - rounded, good recs
Weaknesses: Test scores, not many engineering activities, essays
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: No one from my school has gotten in in the last few years and my test scores weren’t that great. I didn’t feel too hurt, because I wasn’t expecting to get in and it wasn’t my top school
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted UMich : )
Applied UC Berkeley, UCLA, Georgia Tech

10

Congrats on getting in! How did you fit so many extracurriculars on your app?