<p>I am going to be a physicist. No wonder, Caltech is the only place I want to go ;) I understand that my profile isn't the best to get me in.
How much can the Admission Supplement (essays and answers there) help me to increase my chance?</p>
<p>International Male
Need financial assistance</p>
<p>SAT I SAT II
CR-620 Maths II: 800
M-800 Physics: 800
W-650 Chemistry: 800</p>
<p>A-Level Grades:
Physics: A (Component Grades: AAAAA)
Chemistry: B (AABBB)
Maths: A(AAAAA)
Further Maths: B(BB)
General Paper: b</p>
<p>AP (Self Study)
Calculus BC: 4 (Subgrade:3)
Physics C Mec: 4
Physics C EM: 5
Chemistry: 4</p>
<p>Course description: Most Rigor; I took the APs independently</p>
<p>No Basis to Calculate GPA
Rank: Top 25 percentile (my high-school is nation's top most and most difficult to get in
though)</p>
<p>Leadership: Science Club President</p>
<p>Awards:
1st for a research in Physics in International Student Science Fair (Held in India; I'm not from there)
Other awards from inside my country. You will not know them, so I don't bother to write them</p>
<p>Research and Projects:
Made an EV (I didn't count hours but it took my whole year)
Made a Robot (didn't count hours again, took few months)
Made a Software (in VB, this one took a week and sleepless nights; I loved it; people were ready to pay for it but I made it Open-Source)</p>
<p>Current Research:
Working on parallels of modern mathematical ways of calculating solar eclipse and the ancient Indian method to do that. I think it will be complete by the time I apply for RD.</p>
<p>Thanks, Please answer the question I asked in the beginning.</p>
<p>To be honest, while your extracurriculars and outside projects look quite impressive (I certainly didn't do that much), the AP test scores and Further Maths and Chemistry grades are probably going to hurt your chances.(BTW, what exactly is "Further Maths", calculus, linear algebra, or a pre-calc sort of class?) </p>
<p>A good Admissions Supplement will obviously increase your chances, but I think your grades and test scores is probably your most pressing issue.</p>
<p>In your supplement, just try to show how interested you are in math & science and if there is some external reason (e.g., illness, etc.) you should mention it in the appropriate place. One other thing, from the way you phrased your post, you seem to believe that the supplement is optional; it isn't. It's a required addition to the Common App.</p>
<p>Thanks, btarlinian
It is clear to me that my test scores and grades are not very impressive (not impressive at all for Caltech!), but I don't think that they tell much about my ability to succeed as a physicist. My ECs that are mostly my independent research and projects tells more about my love and ability in physics. Truth is, in my country there is no summer holidays or any other long holidays fit for research, so I had to choose between either a rat race of grades or a nirvana like walk of research.
The reason for my poor grades in Chemistry and Further Maths is that my teachers had quite less ability and interest in what they were teaching. With such teachers I consider my Bs a triumph. ;) And for SAT I, I don't quite clearly understand how well it correlates with my ability of critically reading "Lectures on Physics" or "Emperor's New Mind". </p>
<p>Of course I didn't think that Admissions Supplement is optional, in fact after looking at it I had an instant feeling, like a lightening struck, and I was sure that it is only to Caltech I will not regret going to.</p>
<p>Further Maths is a mixed pack of Pure Maths (Advanced Calculus, Linear Algebra, other pure stuffs like Vectors, Complex Numbers and so on), Mechanics (This one was much advanced than AP Physics C Mech, one of my senior said me that it was a clear substitution for introductory mechanics classes at Princeton (but Princeton << Caltech) and Further Statistics (Hypothesis tests and all (z,t,ki square... bla bla))</p>
<p>While that may be true Prasanna, I am under the impression that to do well at Caltech one must have not only some amount of potential but also certain knowledge. The Calculus score (especially the subscore) is quite troubling, and the Chemistry and Physics scores seem to reinforce that it is not a fluke. Without a strong background in Calculus you will struggle here.</p>
<p>Especially given that you are applying from the more competitive international pool, you're going to be fighting an uphill battle. Good luck.
(By the way, it's Chi-square, not ki square)</p>
<p>lizzardfire,
Thanks for the Chi-square suggestion, I used the other symbol which can't type.
What kind of student generally succeeds at Caltech? </p>
<p>(Just a friendly reminder: "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -A. Einstein)</p>
<p>There are many kinds of students that succeed at Caltech. </p>
<p>Thanks for the reminder, but you're missing the point of my post. I analyzed your chances from what I believe to be the perspective of admissions. Maybe they will think that the research (as you might say: imagination) is enough to override the scores, but I can guarantee you that those scores will make them cautious. </p>
<p>Don't think that I am in any way criticizing your achievements or attempting to judge anything about you other than your chances of being accepted to Caltech. As for that judgment, you asked for it. </p>
<p>Again, good luck.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: In case it was not clear I speak solely as a student. I am not in any way affiliated with or have special knowledge of Caltech admissions.</p>
<p>Thanks lizzardfire,
In any case, I'm going to try my chances at Caltech (and I know its choices and not chances that makes a man) and see if Caltech is what I think it is.</p>
<p>After knowing my interest in research and my achievements till now, could you please suggest me any other college. My guidance counselor couldn't suggest any to me or any of my friends :(. And I'm lost in college search.</p>
<p>Uh, I'm not a physicist (engineer here) so I'm not exactly sure about relative rankings of schools for physicists, but other top level schools are Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, MIT... I would guess other schools for you to apply to would include Harvey Mudd... not sure about other physics schools.</p>
<p>As for your "In any case, I'm going to try..." remark, please don't infer from my statement that I am saying you shouldn't apply or that you won't get in. I'm just saying you're not a shoe-in, that's all.</p>
<p>Thinking about what others have said, I think the main issue with your AP scores (Calc BC mostly) is that they are an indication that you might not be as on-the-ball as necessary to survive AND enjoy your time at Caltech, which is perhaps the most brutal education you can find. So if you arent able to nail the Calc BC exam with ease it just might be an indicator of trouble; but then again you did self study so who knows. </p>
<p>Also, your scores are indeed a bit sporadic. If you were non-international you would have solid shots everywhere, but international admissions is usually extra difficult and you could be seen as a more risky applicant. If I were you, I would definitely apply to:</p>
<p>Cornell
University of Chicago
UC Berkeley </p>
<p>as they are more stable for admissions, and offer great physics programs.</p>
<p>Basically I'm not weak in Calculus and I really love it; I have known its importance since Grade 9 after I attempted to prove E=mc^2. </p>
<p>You must have seen my Calculus AB sub-score is 3 and my overall score BC is 4 while my A-Levels Maths score is a perfect A. A-Level Maths\Calculus is somewhere between Calculus AB and BC (You can check the syllabus at cie.org.uk). The reason for this (as you call sporadic score) is quite shameful that is I wasn't too familiar with the syntax of my calculator. I always made it up to the end but when I pressed "=" I would get answers that were not in the options. If you remember your exam, BC portions have more logical questions and AB have more numerical questions. So, in total my Calculus AB portion was only an exam of probability and what I scored was from BC.</p>
<p>I see that this is not an excuse; I should have known to use my calculator. But then, I self prepared for all of my 4 AP exams in a period of 4 weeks, and it was then I learned to integrate for the first time. Trust me when I say that taking AP exams in my country, when your school doesn't support it (I had to take a 3 weeks leave) and the AP season is a month after your first years finals, is really difficult. </p>
<p>After all this, I still regret for crash landing an exam which I could easily fly well.</p>
<p>Seiken, are you at Harvey Mudd College? Its really a great place.</p>
<p>Yes I am and yes it is =), as a physics major in fact.</p>
<p>Anyways, it seems like a good lesson you learned there, and the difficulty you faced in that might make for a good topic of some of your admissions essays. *</p>
<p>Basically I'm not weak in Calculus and I really love it; I have known its importance since Grade 9 after I attempted to prove E=mc^2.*
I have to know, how that did this turn out?</p>
<p>The proof used no calculus so quite obviously it had a vague assumption (ie. momentum = E/c for photon). It was not the greatest proof, but still good enough to be published in my school magazine. And more than that, through this attempt I learned many stuffs (like conservation of linear momentum) prior to my class mates. ;) You can find a similar proof here: E</a> = mc2</p>
<p>BTW, what chances do I make at HMC?</p>
<p>PS:
I loved this from the web page of Harvey Mudd,</p>
<p>We dare professors to give us problems that they think we can’t solve. Then we stay up all night just to prove them wrong (and also because, secretly, we enjoy it).</p>
<p>Well I already knew that proof; its covered here in the first freshman physics class. Seeing it done with calculus is what interested me =P. </p>
<p>You would likely have a decent shot at Mudd. It might or it might not be easier than Caltech; I really wouldn't know since international data isnt published to my knowledge. </p>
<p>And regarding that quote....there is a professor at Mudd that thought it would be a good idea to put an impossible problem on his theoretical mechanics midterm, AND THEN say the students could have unlimited time to take it as so long as the students didnt leave the testing room. He figured that students would eventually come to terms with not being able to figure out that problem and leave with a lesson. He was horribly, horribly wrong.</p>