Caltech chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
1

I am an Egyptian student, and my class will the second graduate from my school ( I am applying with just one friend and we will be the first applicants from our school)
Class rank First, and best achiever in many subjects
Taking highest course load in my entire school system (nationally)
GPA 4.0
extracurriculars:
Molecular biology exchange program at university of California SandDiego (I was offered an internship at the institute but my exchange was sponsored by Egypt cancer network USA and they already booked my tickets)

Working on a molecular biology research and I will try to publish it

Won two first place award at the school science fair

won first place award and another special award by the sponsor of another competition called Ideation camp (across the Cairo, the capital of Egypt)

won the second place in another national competition called ericsson smart school competition

going to participate at isef this year

co-founder of an Arabic literature blog
I was chosen to present samples of my literature at the global Arabic day ceremony.

assistant teacher for math and chemistry 11th grade and 12th grade

volunteered as private tutor in my school 10th and 11th grades

a tutor at Quash (A tutoring institute that aims to provide a more interactive and captivating learning experience)

going to found a high school students science journal

member of the competitive college club (CCC) at education USA

going to found a wikipedia editing club

starting a website that will contain all the opportunities for Egyptian high school student (scholarships, exchanges, competitions… etc)

scores:
ACT scores not out yet lets assume it is 33
taking sat subjects chemistry, math and biology molecular (hopefully they will be 770+)

I will have relatively good recommendations (one of them will be from the consultant of the Egyptian president; she is in charge of our school system)
I will get another from the principle and another teachers (including the math teacher that I am his assistant)

I can’t pay more than 7000$ dollars and Caltech is need aware for international applicants

2

You should really wait until you get your ACT scores. If you score a 33, that will put CalTech out of reach, as such a score would put you outside the middle 50% of accepted students. The fact that you need financial aid is another big negative as you are an international student. If you were “full pay,” then you’d have a better shot. I hate to say it, but unless you have a 35 or 36 on your ACT, or don’t need financial aid, you have no shot.

3

So assuming that I got a 35 do I have a shot ?

4

I would say yes, but at the same time, that score just gives you a shot. International students in need of significant aid are in a tough situation, I’m sorry to say.