Chances at Caltech

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
1

<p>I was wondering if you could tell me what you thought my chances of getting into Caltech are. I'm a rising senior at a public high school outside State College in rural central Pennsylvania.</p>

<p>Here’s my statistics:
Rank 1/355
GPA unweighted 4.0
GPA weighted 4.92 </p>

<p>SAT I: 2390 (from Sophomore year) 800 Math, 800 Writing, 790 Critical Reading
SAT II: After sophomore year: 800 Spanish, 800 Biology, 800 Math IIc
After junior year: 800 Chemistry, 800 US History, 750 Literature (should I retake the lit?)</p>

<p>Various math test scores
AMC 144
AIME 13
USAMO 24 (did not qualify me for the IMO unfortunately)</p>

<p>AP scores for sophomore and junior years
Exam score year
Biology 5 (sophomore)
Computer Science AB 5 (sophomore)
European History 4 (sophomore)
Spanish 5 (sophomore)
Calc AB 5 (sophomore)</p>

<p>Chemistry 5 (junior)
English Language 5 (junior)
Calc BC 5 (junior)
Statistics 5 (junior)
United States History 5 (junior)</p>

<p>*Getting at least a 4 on ten APs qualified me for a National AP Scholar. </p>

<p>My schedule for my senior year is AP Physics, AP Economics (prepares one for both the macro and micro APs), AP Psychology, AP French (I’ve taken two foreign languages in high school), AP Literature, AP US Government, and Multivariable Calculus (which I will be taking at Penn State this fall)</p>

<p>ECs:
Head Editor of Yearbook
School Newspaper Editor
Math Club (Captain)
Chess Club (Captain)
Varsity Baseball (Captain?) I’m a two year varsity letterman. Captains aren’t named till shortly before the season, but I think I have a chance.</p>

<p>Among the awards I’ve received:
National AP Scholar
National Honor Society
Pennsylvania's Mathematics League Certificate of Merit
Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of Mathematics Contest 1st Place Team
Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of Mathematics Contest 1st Place Individual
Numerous school awards for excellent academic achievement (I won’t waste your time with all of them) </p>

<p>Other relevant information:</p>

<p>I plan on majoring in electrical engineering. </p>

<p>I have no legacy or minority status (as I am a white male), so I won’t get any advantage from that. </p>

<p>This summer I've been doing electrical engineering related research at Penn State with my brother, who is a grad student there.</p>

<p>Right now I plan on applying EA to Caltech and applying regular to Stanford, Harvey Mudd, and Rice. I don’t want to apply to a bunch of places I’m almost certainly not going to go to, but I may apply to a few more. So while the main purpose of my post was to get an idea of my chances at Caltech, any recommendations about others you think I should consider applying to would be appreciated as well. </p>

<p>I know Caltech is the rare elite school that offers merit aid. My college counselor told me that he thought I might be a candidate for that. However, between you and me, I think he sometimes overestimates his students’ chances. Thus in addition to my chances at being admitted, it would be great if you could also comment on what you think my chances for a merit scholarship are. </p>

<p>Thanks for your time. Sorry for rambling on; I just wanted to make sure I gave you as much information as possible.</p>

2

<p>You have much better stats than my friend who was admitted (relatively close USAMO score). He sent in a "beastly proof" as his hook. Try to do the same.</p>

3

<p>A public, on-line forum probably isn't the best place to post a "between you and me" type of comment...</p>

<p>Anyway, I've not been admitted to a college yet, but I think it's still pretty obvious that you've got more than good enough stats; so I cannot help but be amused when I read "750 Literature (should I retake the lit?)".</p>

4

<p>If you're not "underrepresented" and you don't have an impressive research project under your belt (or IMO, IPO, etc. level credentials), your chances at non-need-based aid are limited regardless of your "stats."</p>

<p>However, the good news is that Caltech is perhaps the most generous school out there with need-based aid.</p>

<p>I think you will <em>most likely</em> get in everywhere you apply, but of course few things are certain in college admissions.</p>

5

<p>Your chances of getting in are high, and you have a chance of being looked at for merit aid, though that is an extremely competitive process. Make sure to send some concrete evidence of your research and your passion about science. That ups your chances in every part of the process.</p>

6

<p>I have a question about the research Caltech expects. I'm not sure the research I am doing is going to be a strong point on my application. What I am doing is not my own original type of research. I am helping my brother conduct his research, not for credit or for pay. How will this be viewed by Caltech? </p>

<p>Ben, you mentioned I need "concrete evidence" of my research. By that do you mean a letter of recommendation from my brother or a lab report published by my brother which was merely assisted on by me? I can't see either looking too strong.</p>

<p>Moving on to a more general question, what type of research do most Caltech applicants have? Do most conduct some of their own original research? If so, how would one go about finding an opportunity to do so?</p>

<p>I have another 3-4 months before I apply to Caltech. I'm trying to do my best to fix the weak spots on my application. Are there any other potentially weak areas that you see? The general concensus seems to be that it is not worth retaking my disappointing literature SAT IIs. Anyone feel that it WOULD help my status to improve them? Any advice on the list of colleges to which I am applying or on other colleges I should look into? Thanks again.</p>

7

<p>Don't worry about the Lit score. That would be silly.</p>

<p>It would be best if you could do your own independent research project or one with a mentor (a high school teacher who is knowledgeable, or a faculty member at a nearby college). Maybe you could do an offshoot of your brother's research project. It is true that some work you added to your brother's project is probably not going to look great, so find a way to go in your own direction.</p>

<p>Finding opportunities to do this kind of thing is not always easy. Maybe you already have something you'd like to explore and can just go off on your own. If not, it's still worth asking around -- teachers and professors often have something you could do in a month or two which could produce a research report showing that you have some idea of what it means to "do science" yourself.</p>

8

<p>Thanks for your advice, Ben. I'm sure I'm not the first person to tell you so, but, as always, your advice is very insightful and very helpful. It's amazing how you always find time to respond to everyone's questions. With some luck, perhaps I might be fortunate enough to get into Caltech and meet you in person next year. Thanks again.</p>

9

<p>A 24 on the USAMO this year would qualify you for honorable mention, but I didn't see any names from central PA listed on the AMC site. I also checked the last two years, but no luck. Can you explain this please? (I was just curious to see who you were.)</p>

10

<p>24 USAMO is definitely an honorable mention, yet there are no names from central PA as durt stated. Also, there was only 1 score of 13 on the AIME from Pennsylvania, and it was earned by a 12th grader. I'm going to call BS.</p>

11

<p>For your information, I wasn't living in PA till this previous year school year. Not that it's anyone's business, but we didn't move to PA until last June when my parents got divorced and I moved with my mother to State College. (She chose there cause that's where my brother was at.)</p>

<p>By the way, what's with you people? All I wanted was a little bit of advice/help on my college situation. Is that too much to ask for? Instead I basically get called a liar and get ridiculed by everyone on a public message board. I didn't realize collegeconfidential was that type of place. Be rest assured, I'll steer clear of here from now on.</p>

12

<p>Hey, tlaker, ignore the sniping losers. I and most people here try hard to be helpful. I am sorry about the presence of less hospitable individuals.</p>

<p>Stay around. More nice and smart people are appreciated.</p>

13

<p>To reinforce Ben (who is a current Caltech student) rest assured that generally people at Caltech aren't like this, potential-Techer. Frankly, it's kind of creepy to jump on someone like that... and I do think you'll get in, if your application conveys the requisite passion for math, science, and engineering.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>P.S. "durt" said on another thread that his "ideal school" was Harvey Mudd, anyway... <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2288464#post2288464%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2288464#post2288464&lt;/a> and "Hazhulkhen" is still in high school as well. Neither of these guys are Techers.</p>

14

<p>Ok, jeez. I was wrong. I am sorry, tlaker.</p>

<p>There are so many trolls these days, it's hard to distinguish between actual people and those trying to be funny. What set off my "troll sensor" (which needs to be recalibrated) was the "(should I retake the lit)" because trolls tend to do stuff like that. But as we can see, you obviously have very high standards and were being sincere.</p>

<p>Anyway, I apologize again. Good luck with your Caltech application (but we know you'll be accepted).</p>

<p>And there's no need to jump all over people for making a mistake either, Techers. I took a risk by voicing what I thought and was wrong. You learn from failures.</p>

15

<p>Thanks for apologizing. (I really don't think you can claim you were unfairly "jumped on." You falsely accused someone of lying and, in all probability, drove him away from a useful source of advice in the application process. The fact that it was a "mistake" doesn't mean you should be immediately forgiven for foolish behavior.) But thanks for apologizing.</p>

16

<p>Alright. I will be a more conscientious poster from now on.</p>