Chance me: Mixed Asian/Caucasian for Caltech REA [CO resident, ~3.85 GPA]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics: Female/Gender apathetic, Half white, half south asian , Colorado, Queer,

Hooks: Founded non profit to teach self defense on reservations, Waldorf High School (my graduating class is 7 kids), perfect pitch, Electrical engineering research

Major: Astrophysics,

Stats: 3.8/4.0 for 9-10th grade and 3.95/4.0 for junior and senior, school doesnt do weighted, School doesnt have APs.

Coursework: No APs, but I did independent studies in calc 2, and college level physics my junior year, and Linear Algebra, Astrometry and more in independent study senior year.

Awards: Presidential Volunteer Service Award x2
Questbridge College Prep Scholar
Hershey’s Heartwarming Grant
Mines Medal of Achievement in Math and Science
Fein Fellow
National Waldorf Gold Scholar
Waldorf ambassador

Extracurriculars:
Electrical engineering research project with retired MIT prof
Founded non profit teaching self defense

Spanish Club- President and Secretary

Neurodiversity Club- Co-founder and President

Guitar Studio lessons 14+ years

Guitar Ensemble- First Chair Guitar,

Volunteering on native reservations,

Boxing- Pugilist

Teaching accessible ski lessons to ppl with disabilities

Jazz non profit- Board member and Instrumentalis

Rugby Football Club, Team Captain, 2017-2020

LOR: my councilor adores me and has made it really clear she believes that I can go to a top school and that she wants me to.

My math teacher has been my mentor in my independent studies, and also wants me to be able to attend a top school, I am sure this will be glowing

Language Arts Teacher is my favorite teacher, I am really close with this teacher and I know he wrote me an amazing rec.

Essays:

Main essay is ab boxing math and music and how they taught me skills that allowed me to escape attempted rpe, and how I created my non profit to share skills with other women.

Second essay for app is about my love of cassettes and acoustics and my research project on acoustics and applications of acoustics in astrophysics

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Congratulations on your achievements. You have a strong profile, and are a competitive candidate. But as I’m sure you know, Caltech is a hard admit for everyone.

These are extracurricular activities, not hooks.

Good luck!

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Have you taken the SAT or ACT? That’s a huge indicator for Caltech.

Hooks are generally something where you have limited control and something that the university needs. They include: URM status, legacy, national/international artist/musician/olympian/celebrity.
(note: in Standard American English the term “councilor” is written as “counselor”)

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According to Caltech’s own website, they do not even look at test scores.

Standardized Tests - Test-Free Through 2025 | Undergraduate Admissions.

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I am basing it on my son’s experience with Caltech. Given this student’s small school experience, it would help to gauge strengths and areas for other schools.

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For other schools, sure. But it won’t matter for Caltech specifically.

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where did u get this info? caltech is test blind!

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ur right ab hooks in terms of the non profit, but i stand by waldorf, and perfect pitch being hooks

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Perfect pitch is a cool party trick…It gives absolutely no admissions advantage, however (and in your case is actually fairly irrelevant to your application as you are not applying as a music major). Nor does attending Waldorf automatically give an advantage, although school context is always considered in admissions.

I think you’re misunderstanding what a hook is - a hook is something like being a recruitable athlete, a legacy, or better yet, the child of a major donor to the university. It’s not about cool ECs - lots of applicants have those and, while they’re an important part of your application package for some colleges (especially those that practice holistic review), they don’t put the applicant in an advantaged category - which is what a hook does.

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Caltech is now SAT and ACT blind. But they presumably look for indicators of academic strength that go well beyond the ceiling of SAT or ACT scores.

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You can consider them to be hooks if you like. Caltech and other schools won’t.

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