<p>Depends on which majors- eg. biomed engineering at UofT and CS at Waterloo require mid to high 90's. </p>
<p>Chicago doesn't offer aid to internationals. That's the problem. If you don't need aid, you have a good shot</p>
<p>From Chicago's site:
"Chicago offers financial support to a number of its most highly qualified international applicants who have demonstrated financial need. In most cases, if you apply for financial aid and you are offered admission to Chicago, you will receive a financial award that meets your full demonstrated need."
however chicago does only offer aid to 43 international students thus if i apply would i still have a chance?because i always thought the best int'l students with IxO medals apply to the ivies and the competition for internationals is relatively less intense at u of chicago.</p>
<p>Yea,the people i mentioned applied to math major at uw and eletrical engineering at ut,both got in with low 80s.you are probably right in that some majors require higher marks</p>
<p>Caltech is my dream school,and like Olo,i'll probably apply knowing that I will be rejected. I think it's better to have tried and fail then not try at all.</p>
<p>Some pretty long shots have gotten in. Most of the things Timur said on this thread have been right -- I haven't much to add. Make up for your suboptimal grades with passion and interest in Caltech. You might be very glad you did.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Ah the long awaited reply by Ben!thanks so much for the encouragement,I'll try my best.Also thanks for Olo and dooit,the best of luck for ur apps as well!</p>
<p>I'm glad to hear that Ben mentions that longshots are accepted occasionally. Certainly gives me some hope. :P</p>
<p>Anyways, regarding Princeton, I really don't think they give as much concern toward SAT's as they do other things such as EC's, Evals, and your Personal Statement. At my high school, last year's Valedictorian received an abysmal 1280 on the SAT I and still got in (with a full ride). That said, she was a minority, she's the first in her family to go to college, she did a TON of stuff outside of school, and she must have received phenomenal recommendations from teachers and staff.</p>
<p>Anyways, if you only provide the schools with grades and test scores and leave them with that, you probably wouldn't do super hot (especially with the situation you described). If you gave them other things to look at and mull over, then they probably won't give quite as much concern towards your test scores (considering the extra stuff such as EC's are impressive).</p>
<p>Take this with a grain of salt, as I'm in the applications process too. This is what I assume is the case, for most schools, but especially the higher tiered universities in the country.</p>
<p>Jared</p>
<p>Hmm, from reports I've seen from high schools, Princeton seems to place a heavy emphasis on SATs/GPA whereas Yale is more lenient towards stats.</p>
<p>Hmm.. interesting. Well, either way, I do know for sure that our valedictorian last year (and a good friend of mine) did get into Princeton with a sub-1300 on the old SAT.</p>
<p>Jared</p>
<p>Guys this is from collegeboard (it's for princeton):</p>
<p>Admission Policies and Factors</p>
<p>Admission requirements: </p>
<p>Very important admission factors:
Character/Personal Qualities
Class Rank
Application Essay
Extracurricular Activities
Recommendations
Rigor of secondary school record
Standardized Test Scores
Talent/Ability </p>
<p>Important admission factors:
Alumni Relation
Geographical Residence
Volunteer Work
Work Experience </p>
<p>Considered:
Interview
Racial/Ethnic Status </p>
<p>So princeton probably is not that lenient toward a low SAT score, however the applicant sadoian mentioned who got into princeton had outstanding ecs and recs which made up for her low sat.Yea,but look at how circumspect Princeton's evaluation of an applicant is,they look at everything as very important or important(provided the info from collegeboard is accurate).</p>
<p>This is the info on caltech:</p>
<p>Admission Policies and Factors</p>
<p>Very important admission factors:
Character/Personal Qualities
Application Essay
Recommendations
Rigor of secondary school record
Standardized Test Scores </p>
<p>Considered:
Class Rank
Extracurricular Activities
Racial/Ethnic Status
Talent/Ability
Volunteer Work
Work Experience </p>
<p>Ben if you read this, could you please comment on the accuracy of this and how much more important are the "very important factors" compared to the "considered" factors?Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>Honestly, those lists mean almost nothing. I'd agree that character is very important; we look for resilience and ability to take intense work; science extracurricalrs, though, are also very very important, as is "talent/ability" for science/mathematics. The accurate part is that class rank, racial/ethnic status, volunteer work, and work experience, don't matter that much at all.</p>
<p>These are just opinions gathered from working with lots of applications, and certainly not any official list. But then there is no official list of "very important" versus "considered" factors. As for my resorting above, I'd say my revised "very important" factors make or break 85% of cases, and the remaining ones tip the scale in the other 15%.</p>
<p>Thanks Ben,that was really helpful:)</p>