<p>Hi, I was wondering what you all would think of my stats. I'm applying for Caltech/MIT early, results come out in mid-December. If I were to use the normal formatting for results, </p>
<p>Objective:[ul][<em>]
[</em>] SAT I(breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 770(LOL)/730/790, 2290 (taken once this October)
[<em>] ACT (breakdown): N/A
[</em>] ACT superscore (breakdown): N/A
[<em>] SAT II (subject, score): Math II: 800, Physics: 800
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.5
[<em>] Weighted GPA: 4.1
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn't rank
[<em>] AP (place score in parentheses): 9 AP's + Multivar calc (taken in 9th grade) taken by end of junior year, mostly 5's.
[</em>] IB (place score in parentheses):
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load:
[</em>] Number of other EA applicants in your school: 4? All of which have much better GPA, but less awards(?)
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): USAJMO Honorable Mention (top 24)/qualifier (2012/2011), USAMO qualifier, score: 14, submitted paper to Intel STS
[</em>] Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): NMS Commended, Academic Team, Math competition awards, etc.[/ul]</p>
<p>Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Quantum Algorithm/Physic intern at UCSD, badminton, Quizbowl for 2 years, Sci oly in 9th, math club, etc.
Alot of what I do involves reading higher math, physics, etc. at home too, which I talked about extensively.
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: N/A
[<em>] Volunteer/Community Service: 50 hours tutoring math students
[</em>] Summer Experience:N/A, spent most of time with mom[/ul]</p>
<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):[ul]
[<em>] Essays:[list]
[li] What You Do For Pleasure: 8, Chess, beating national masters[/li][</em>] Department at MIT: Mathematics
[<em>] Trait Most Proud Of: Playfulness at every game, jokes, etc.
[</em>] World You Come From: Significant lack of opportunities because of parents
[<em>] Significant Challenge: Coping with failure to make MOP both times, turning it into research experience
[</em>] Additional Essay/QB Essays: I explained my family situation in detail, please see below.
[<em>] Other (teacher's subject, 1-10 rating, details):[/ul][li] Teacher Recommendation #1: Math teacher, one of the best[/li][</em>] Teacher Recommendation #2: 9th grade English teacher, she likes me, but I didn't choose any others, see below
[<em>] Counselor Rec: I don't know, see below
[</em>] Additional Info/Rec: Research professor
[<em>] Interview: Pretty good
[</em>] Art Supplement:N/A[/list] </p>
<p>Other[ul]
[<em>] Date Submitted App: 10/31
[</em>] U.S. State/Territory or Country: CA
[<em>] School Type: Public, 2800+
[</em>] Ethnicity: Chinese
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>] Income Bracket Range: Because of separated parents/dysfunctional household. I don't know what my parents' incomes are, but most of the time no money is spent on me, except for food and housing.
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development):[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Math olympiad, see below
[</em>] Weaknesses: Significant weakness in grades, getting C's in some classes, see below
:[/ul]</p>
<p>Other Factors:
One of the things I pointed out in my essays is that because I live in a single parent household with my father, I've been home alone, etc. for most of my life, including early childhood. I don't have many opportunities as other people. Most of the time I'm not told about anything at all, while the norm here in San Diego is all about Asian/parental support. I grab rides from everyone else and etc. In addition to this, I've been physically abused alot, which caused me to have major social/anxiety/trauma issues for a very long time. I've shown my strength through olympiads in practices with an IMO medalist, and had I not been so anxious and stressed, I would've made MOP in 10th grade. </p>
<p>Seeing how I've blinded myself into a false security for so many years, and because of this failure, I crashed down and had to make sure I recover from all the abuse I've endured over the past years. Hence, I took many many absences (~70/180) during the school years, partly because school administration (such as counselors, etc.) wanted to do many crazy things, like bring in CPS and foster care, which I adamantly refused, but was sometimes forced anyways. This is why I couldn't do well on the USAMO or Physics Oly 11th grade either, having the (expected?) goal of Blue MOP.</p>
<p>I've explained all of this in detail and with alot of powerful feeling in my essays, I guess, but I'm extremely insecure as to how this will play out. Could you guys please chance me?</p>
Just a warning if you expect great responses. Even if some others happen to read your whole post, which I (cynically) expect few people will…</p>