Caltech Requirements

<p>We require a high school physics course. If your school offered it and you will not have taken it by the time you graduate, you will be at a disadvantage. I recommend strongly that you take it next year. If you really can't, include an explanation of why in your application, but you will be at a disadvantage compared to similarly qualified students who have physics.</p>

<p>how good does nasa sharp look?</p>

<p>Better than most summer programs, not as good as RSI. Worth doing.</p>

<p>Is it okay to take physics at a local community college this fall (I checked and the summer registration is already over)?</p>

<p>Yes, that would fulfill our requirement.</p>

<p>hey Ben!
you say that grades by itself don't mean a lot
what's the other thing that does?</p>

<p>Interest in science</p>

<p>Correct. Demonstrated interest, activities in science that take a lot of your time -- competitions, research, anything of that nature.</p>

<p>Ben, is math instead of science ok or you prefer science more?
Is there any chance to get in CalTech with only 5 AP classes?
No first-second-third places in math/science competitions?</p>

<p>(these are not my stats, but i'm just wondering...heh)</p>

<p>Oh, yeah, one more thing- what do you mean by "demonstrated"?</p>

<p>Ben, is math instead of science ok or you prefer science more? Both are great. No preference.</p>

<p>Is there any chance to get in CalTech with only 5 AP classes? Yes. People do it all the time.</p>

<p>No first-second-third places in math/science competitions? Eh. Try to get such an award. But we've admitted people without.</p>

<p>Demonstrated means there's evidence we can see. If you say you love math in all your essays but your application indicates no serious time investment in math activities to prove it, we won't believe you. : )</p>

<p>How about reading math/science books, not required by classes, to show demonstrated interest?</p>

<p>That's a tough one. I'd love to say that this is just as serious an indicator of interest as participating in research projects and science contests, and for many kids it is. The trouble is that some students panic at the end of junior year, realize they don't have any demonstrated involvement in organized math-science extracurriculars, and decide that the books they read on the side will have to do. In other words, that sort of "demonstrated interest" is often there because people have nothing better to put (and they want to put down something) --- even though the reading did not take anywhere near the astronomical devotion exhibited by some applicants for their math/science extracurricular activity of choice.</p>

<p>So, out of fairness to the people who actually have something tangible to show for their effort (like tournament placements, research projects, etc.) we can't just automatically give the same sort of deference to someone's say-so that he read books. After all, in many cases the reported devotion to reading about science is truth-stretching. However, if the student submits exerpts from a journal or some essays -- some concrete record of the reading and the student's responses -- then independent reading reaches the level of many other extracurricular activities.</p>

<p>The bottom line is that it's easy to exaggerate about a private activity like reading, and we're not so naive that we think people will be brutally honest to the detriment of their chances. Thus, the more concrete evidence we can see of your devotion to X, the more seriously we'll take X as a part of your application. If the concrete evidence is 0, that is probably close to how much consideration it'll get. (Obviously, participation in organized activities counts as concrete evidence by itself, without extra submissions, because activities require an enforced time investment.)</p>

<p>Hmm....
i'd like to major in physics, but the only available research for this summer is in biochemistry (i'm a HS sophmore-->junior)
will it somehow hurt my application
i mean, should i do this research or should i just do some self-study and take some classes at university?</p>

<p>Research never hurts; it always helps as long as you do some genuine work. We understand the difficulty of getting research in your exact field, especially if the background requirements are as intensive as the ones in physics. Just do the research : )</p>

<p>Hriundeli, may I ask where you are doing your research?</p>

<p>yeah, sure thing!</p>

<p>this is in New York
the web site is <a href="http://www.harlemchildrensociety.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.harlemchildrensociety.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>this research is not that famous (like RSI, i mean), but it's also all right
besides, you get the scholarship :)</p>

<p>if you are interested in it-go ahead :)</p>

<p>I previously heard that Non-international medal is virtually meaningless. Is it possible that national honor would be of important factor? And I cannot believe that they do not care much about SAT verbal..</p>

<p>hey ben, could you look at this and tell me my chances and what I can do to help them? thanks a bunch</p>

<p>I go to Phillips Academy, Andover, just finished my sophmore year.</p>

<p>Grades-</p>

<p>9th grade - went to Lynnfield High, ranked 1/~130 with GPA of 4.518</p>

<p>10th grade @ PA-</p>

<p>Grades on a 0-6 scale, 6 being 93-100, 5 is 85 - 92, 4 is 78 - 84
*5 is an honors grade, 4 is good, 3 is "satisfactory"</p>

<p>Fall Term-
English- 6
2nd year French- 5
Honors BC Calc-6
AP Chem - 5
History- 4</p>

<p>Winter-
English - 5
2nd year French - 6
Honors BC Calc - 5
AP chem - 5
Philosophy - 4</p>

<p>Spring -
English - 5
2nd year French - 6
Honors BC Calc - 6
Ap chem - 6
PE (pass/fail course) - P
Intro to Java programinng - 6 (this is an elective leading up to Ap Comp)</p>

<p>EC's-
Cross County, Indoor and Outdoor Track
Math Club-
score of 113.5 on AMC 10
85 on olympiad
4/8 on individual round at ARML (<a href="http://www.arml.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.arml.com&lt;/a&gt;)
29 total on NEML
Andover Astronomy Society
Science Bowl - 1st place
i've already registered at my school to start a mock trial club next year
planning to go to either NASA Sharp or SSP next year</p>

<p>took 2 APs, bc calc and chem, pretty sure I got a 5 on both
taking SAT II math IIC and chem
I got 800 and 730, respectively, on my practice tests </p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>Stats are acceptable, put you in the admittable range. Don't get any more 4's, one in a science/math class will pretty much kill you, or at least make you marginal. What's your SAT score? Try to get above 750/750/700 (V/M/W).</p>

<p>Those are just the bare bones stats, so it's hard to say tooooo much more, other than if you have those stats you'll keep yourself in the running. It seems like you're interested in math and CS. Do activities and write essays to make those interests shine through. Focus your last semesters (from now on, that is) in high school on emphasizing those strengths. Write essays and fill the "put something interesting here" box with things that emphasize your passions.</p>

<p>The key is to convey a burning passion for math and/or science and/or engineering (if you lack this quality, you probably shouldn't be applying to Caltech) and have a high school career which bears this out, as well as teacher recommendations that make it clear you're not faking it. (I.e., if you've been passionate "for real" it will show through in those recs.)</p>

<p>Bottom line, your stats are quite acceptable at a good school. Now it's up to you to present yourself in such a way that makes it clear your passion and motivation would add to the community here.</p>