Chance me Caltech?

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
1

My biggest worry is that I have no research because it’s just not a thing in my school - I only found out about it through CC. I also have kinda bland ECs and academic awards. I do have a ton of support from the tennis coach though, but from what I’ve seen on here, that won’t really help much.

[ b]Stats:**
[ list]
[]SAT: (not sending)
[]SAT II: Math II (780), Physics (780)
[]ACT: Composite (35), Math (35), Science (36), English (35), Reading (33)
[]GPA: my school doesn’t do GPA’s but I had a 96% avg in Gr 11 w/ heavy courseload if that means anything
[]Rank: 9/~350 (unweighted - probably higher weighted)
[]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): nada (school doesn’t offer it)
[/list][ b]Subjective**
[ list]
[]Essays: I think this is my strong point, as the coach, English teacher and parents helped me a ton with brainstorming ideas and polishing them up. I really like my topics and they let my personality and passion for STEM shine through pretty well.
[]Teacher Recs: Math: amazing, I had a really strong relationship with her. 10/10 English: Pretty good, I was very active in her class so she definitely had good stuff to write about. Probably 8.5/10
[]Counselor Rec: No idea Probably pretty generic. 7/10
[]Supplementary Material: I might do a supplementary of a game I made in Python that’s like a spoof of the impossible test
[]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): top recruited athlete
[/list]
[ b]Personal:**
[ list]
[]Location: ON, Canada
[]High School Type: Regular old public school
[]Ethnicity: White
[]Gender Female
[/list]
[ b]Other:**
[ list]
[]Extracurriculars: Computer Science Club (founder), Math & Science club, Ski Team, X-Country Team, joined DECA this year, math & science tutoring at lunch, competing in math & CS competitions, tennis (it’s been my life since I was 5 so I never really got into anything else till recently)
[*]Awards: Non-academic: Won Nationals twice in tennis, won some international tournaments, played on the Junior World Cup, etc. Academic: Honour role grade 7-11, qualified for DECA provincials this year (top 10 exam mark and team role play), came top 10 in my city for the Waterloo Chem competition, I can’t think of much else :confused:

2

It is very difficult to guess without your grades from grades 9 and 10. I would guess (only a guess) that your chances are reasonable, but way less than 50%. You certainly need to have reasonable backups. However, assuming that grade 10 was about the same as 11, and that 12 will be similar, with your stats and coming from Ontario you should be close to a certain admit at any top university in Canada (or at least the English language ones).

I assume that you are aware of the difference in price between US and Canadian schools. You should also be aware that getting a degree from a university in the US does not allow you the right to work in the US, and that Canadian employers prefer to hire from Canadian universities. This can be a bit of a shock for Canadians graduating from top US schools who find that they can’t get a job – I ran into this personally many years ago. Waterloo has a very strong reputation among US employers if your goal is to get a degree that is respected, for example, in Silicon Valley.

3

@DadTwoGirls Thanks so much! My gr 9 and 10 grades were similar but I’m too lazy to calculate the average right now XD The second half is actually super helpful… I’ll probably just apply to Caltech and MIT (I love them both so much going to either is worth anything) and then some Canadian schools like UofT and Waterloo :slight_smile:

4

Talk to the tennis coach - I give you 95% if that works out. Caltech DOES recruit, and this has been going on for the past two years.

5

@Permaban wait, really? I contacted the coach a while ago and she’s already helping me a ton. I’ve heard that Caltech doesn’t care about athletes but some current students have mentioned that the teams are improving so I don’t know… What makes you say that anyways?

6

(comment from another thread reposted here for future readers)
@vik0likes0cs see http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21017494/#Comment_21017494 for more information.