<p>It seems that Caltech gives out merit based scholarships. Can someone give me an example of a person who received this?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Some of the guys I know who got them were:</p>
<p>IMO gold medalist, 42/42 on USAMO </p>
<p>14 on AIME, went to really good tech high school</p>
<p>Did research, 2 on AIME, won (so he claims) engineering competition thing at Olin for the final round of admissions.</p>
<p>15 on AIME, went to really good tech high school, turned axline scholarship down for MIT.</p>
<p>Did research at Tech for ~3 years in high school, (I think she got merit stuff, not sure though).</p>
<p>(these are the people I've heard of. stats or details might be off slightly, due to the effects of rumor passing and whatnot)</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Usually, they're really accomplished and ridiculously smart, and a lot of the time choosing between Caltech, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, etc. There are probably some less ridiculous people that got merit money, but I don't know of any at the moment.</p>
<p>I wish I had gotten money :(</p>
<p>I got Lingle this year.</p>
<p>Stats: 4.0 GPA, 2390, rank 1/300something, 7th best high school in nation according to Newsweek, SAT IIs 800/800/780. Took interesting math classes. AIME 7, USPhO semifinalist, USChO semifinalist, Siemens AP Scholar, National AP Scholar, published a paper in the journal Science, dropped out of high school after junior year.</p>
<p>Also, I kick butt at NetHack (read: have ascended 13 times), and enjoy making highly realistic drawings of Nate Lewis whacking small furry animals with flyswatters. And I like pie. Especially Oreo pie.</p>
<p>What a Siemens AP Scholar? What math classes did you take?</p>
<p>The Siemens AP awards are given to the one boy and girl from each state who gets the most 5s on science and math AP exams.</p>
<p>I've taken diffeq, linear algebra, multivariable calc, discrete math, and graph theory [1]. Which, now that I think about it, actually aren't that interesting admissionswise, but meh.</p>
<p><a href="And%20abstract%20algebra%20independent%20study,%20which%20I%20failed%20and%20didn't%20mention%20on%20my%20application.%20%20Ah,%20the%20joys%20of%20distance-learning.%20%20I%20blame%20NetHack.">1</a></p>
<p>Hmm, do I have a chance for a scholarship?</p>
<p>3.95, 2350, SAT II 800/800/780, USAMO Qualifier, USNCO Qualifier, 06 Siemens Regional, 07 Siemens Semi, NMSF, National AP Scholar, several 1st places at state math contests, and Intel STS results in January. I might have a paper published as a coauthor in Journal of Statistical Physics by the end of this year, but that might be too late.</p>
<p>Cure cancer during your time in high school and maybe you'll get one. I'm not sure why we offer merit scholarships, particularly when you see comparisons between the yield of non-recipients versus scholarship recipients. Perhaps it would be better to just adopt the philosophy of that other institute of technology: Your admittance is your scholarship.</p>
<p>Did you apply early? My D has similar stats with yours. She though caltech is not good as MIT in computer science. She has been admitted by MIT. Do you know anything about Caltech computer science?</p>
<p>Here is her stats:
Siemens AP Scholar
USACO Gold, her ranking in the top 20 in US
USAPhO Semifinalist
USABO Semifinalist
National AP Scholar
GPA 4.0/4.0 non weighted, School no ranking, top school in USA according to US news and world report
SAT I 2350
SAT II 800 math II, bio 800, chemistry 800</p>
<p>What you think her chance for scholarship? And what is Caltech's culture?</p>
<p>Thanks a lot,
TGdad</p>
<p>Wow. Seems like the people listed who got these scholarships also went to the best schools in the country. That's interesting. I know my high GPA doesn't mean much compared to theirs, but I think people from worse schools who do not have scientists in their families usually have to work harder to find out about research, math competitions, math classes beyond calculus etc (well, I'd never even heard of academic research until I met a professor in ninth grade, though since then I've done some research; math competitions weren't offered at my school - I heard about them from friends who go to MUCH RICHER schools and started them at my school, though nobody has qualified for AIME yet...). So... I don't know. That definition of "merit" seems very elitist, no? All of the best high schools that I know of are in VERY RICH cities, or cost a lot of money, except Boston Latin. Maybe this is not true in other areas of the country, though I suspect it is. Does Caltech ever give merit scholarship to people who did NOT go to a top school or come from a particularly rich background, but who had amazing stats (perhaps taken in context) just the same? (Not that I think I'd ever qualify; I'm just curious as to whether this has ever happened)</p>
<p>lalaloo6 - son went to a magnet program in a public high school, (free education) that could be considered inner-city, at least in it's demographics. I think alot of Caltech students are the products of public education, not many from expensive private/boarding schools.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Hmm, do I have a chance for a scholarship?</p>
<p>3.95, 2350, SAT II 800/800/780, USAMO Qualifier, USNCO Qualifier, 06 Siemens Regional, 07 Siemens Semi, NMSF, National AP Scholar, several 1st places at state math contests, and Intel STS results in January. I might have a paper published as a coauthor in Journal of Statistical Physics by the end of this year, but that might be too late.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Let's see your Nethack credentials.</p>
<p>My year, I think most of the Axlines did not go to "top" high schools. A few of them did, but no... I think most did not. I think most just went to their local public high schools.</p>
<p>lalaloo--there's a fairly strong bias in who posts on CC, too.</p>
<p>A lot of people at my high school are surprised that I'm at Caltech--they really thought I could have gone to a four-year school. I tell them the financial aid is very generous and they smile knowingly and tell me I will be a great tradeswoman.</p>
<p>"they really thought I could have gone to a four-year school"</p>
<p>Sorry - but what does this mean?</p>
<p>LOL, Lots of people when they hear Caltech, think the tech part refers to a technical 2 year school. (i.e. like an auto mechanics school.) I've also had 2 people in the past month ask if my son goes to Cal Poly! Arrghhhhh!</p>
<p>USPhO Finalist
USChO Finalist
USABO Semi-finalist
2nd Place on one competition in National Science Olympiad</p>
<p>I have people ask me what state Caltech is in, and this is when I say long name as well as nickname.</p>
<p>I'm fairly sure you're going to need research or an international math or science award (IMO comes to mind) in order to get a scholarship.</p>
<p>A perhaps more comprehensive explanation than our collection of examples is at <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-institute-technology/37378-axline-scholarship.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-institute-technology/37378-axline-scholarship.html</a>.</p>
<p>weird becoz i thought caltech doesnt give scholarships 0.o</p>