Caltech/MIT, what are my chances and what can I do to improve?

<p>So, err, yeah, I may only be in 10th grade but I've been getting really stressed lately about these 2 colleges and other big tech/engineering schools like WPI and CMU, mainly because I come from a small town public school where we don't have a lot of the extracurriculars (ie. science/math olympiads) that these universities look for, so here's how things look now for me, and what can I do to improve?</p>

<p>GPA: 4.2
Class rank: 35 (or so)
PSAT: 2140 (Reading 690, writing 700, math 750)
Schedule:
AP world history
AP english language/comp
DE psychology
DE trig/college algebra
Guitar ensemble
Chem honors (our school doesn't offer AP of any science)
School newspaper</p>

<p>ECs: 3rd in state Academic challege team (pretty much the equivalent of quiz bowl), president of philosophy club</p>

<p>The issues that I'm having are the fact that my GPA/class rank are relatively low due to variety of reasons, including the fact that I take a lot of electives that are unweighted and perform a bit subpar in english/history. However, I've never gotten below an A in any science class and, outside of 7th grade algebra, any math class.</p>

<p>I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to ace the SAT subject tests and get an 800 on the math section, but I'm really stressing out about the lack of extra math/science activities I'm capable of taking part in, so what can I do to up my chances at any major science/engineering focused university?</p>

<p>My son is a senior, and his biggest <em>apparent</em> problem is that he is very light on the ECs. That being said, <em>as I understand it</em>, schools don’t care much WHAT you do, just that you do something and do it consistently. I guess the specialty schools (engineering, leadership, whatever) want your ECs to be more focused, though. But you’re so young - you have time to fix things. You can start something if nothing exists - ask the elementary school if you can help tutor younger kids in math and science. Start a science club for other high school students. Volunteer your time teaching nursing-home residents how to email their grandchildren. Volunteer to help schools with their tech needs after school.</p>

<p>If you can afford it, go to math-related summer camps - HCSSiM, MathCamp, Ross, Operation Catapult, Promys - most of these are heavily subsidized. </p>

<p>Everyone says that if you don’t have APs offered, schools won’t look down on you for not having taken AP tests. OTOH, GPA seems to be very important. I wouldn’t imagine that your 4.2 instead of 4.8 because you took non-honors classes would hurt you, especially if you squeeze in a statement somewhere mentioning that. I’ve heard that some schools calculate the GPA themselves for “academic” classes only, but I don’t know about that.</p>

<p>impossible to tell b/c youre in 10th grade. As of now, it will hurt becuase you took a lot of electives. And a lack of ECs will also hurt since you dont seem to have a passion.</p>

<p>Chance back?</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/804723-chances-ed-dartmouth.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/804723-chances-ed-dartmouth.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Try doing the AMC and other math comps</p>