<p>I'm currently in my first year of high school in France, I have always loved sciences and I'd like to get into Caltech. I'm in an International Section, this means that I learn English Litterature and American history ( 9 hours of English per week instead of 3 for the other students ). These are very demanding classes and I had only As for the moment. I've always had good grades in Maths and Physics ( only As ) and for my second and last year of high school I'm going to choose sciences as a speciality. So what are my chances to get into Caltech ? What do I have to do to increase my chances to be admitted ? </p>
<p>CalTech does not have financial aid for international students, so regardless of grades, if your parents don’t have the money, you’re out of luck.
Now, imagining your parents have $50,000 a year for your education, you not only need excellent grades, but also 1° participation in olympiads, “kangourou des maths” (ask your math teacher), concours général nomination in 1e, etc 2° science activities outside of school where you are in a leadership role or win awards.
Of course, you’ll need to take the SAT and score almost perfectly on the math section, and take SAT2 subjects in Math2 (easy), physics, chemistry, biology (at least 1 of the three) and, depending on college, either another science or another subject, such as Spanish or German or Latin or Chinese.
It’d be a good idea if you found a way to get “advanced” classes so that you’re doing the first semester of maths sup over the Terminale year, because the first year at CalTech is <em>that</em> rigorous. (Quite a few students will arrive with multivariable calculus and more, and most will have completed Calc BC, which is like TS spé math + math sup 1st semester.)
If you’re good enough for CalTech, you may have a shot at HarveyMudd, which is a top engineering school but, being private, has financial aid for internationals. In that league, you have Stanford and MIT, but I assume you know about them. If money is not a problem, a bit easier to get into than CalTech, you have CalPoly San Luis Obispo.
Be aware that outside of CalTech, MIT, Stanford, and HarveyMudd, the engineering curriculum in the US isn’t like that in “prépa ingénieurs” in France and closer to 4 years of super hard IUT classes. If you’re looking for a “prépa” type experience in the US, you need to look at National Liberal Arts colleges and look at their science offerings. The distribution requirements or core curriculum (depending on school) will be the closest to what prépa + école d’ingés is in France.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for responding !!
Well in fact I don’t really want to study engineering ( maybe it’ll change ). Also, there is no sciences activities in my city for kids of my age, only for 10 year old children. I heard also that the admission test is really hard. Do you know more about it ?</p>
<p>Have you researched CalTech AT ALL if you don’t want to study STEM fields? o_O
How did you hear about it and what do you like about it?</p>
<p>Science activities: ask your math, pc, svt, mps teachers if there are science competitions. There are LOTS of them. Kangourou is one of the easiest to get into, but a teacher has to be willing to organize the basic school-wide competition for 2e. </p>
<p>You should probably prepare the ACT since it matches the French curriculum and tests better than the SAT. The test isn’t very difficult, but you need to go very fast and to be very accurate. It’s very very different from tests in French schools. You need to really train for it. The math for example is 1/3 6e5e, 1/3 4e-3e, 1/3 2e. But you need to be very fast - you have between 30 seconds and 1mn per question and you have to keep that pace for45mn. The Reading section is similar to the bac English written exam… except you have 10mn to do what for the bac you have 1h for.
Then you need to take SAT Subjects to strengthen your application (or for schools that require them in addition to the ACT - not many, but it actually helps). You can take math2, which is math from 3e, 2e, and 1S; physics, or chemistry, which is 1S; and the easiest for European applicants, a foreign language other than English, since it’s tested at CEF A2 level.</p>
<p>I want to study physics or mathematics. I heard of the concours kangourou ( I did it at 11, teacher never gave us the results o_O ) when I said that there isn ´t scientific activities in my city I meant that there is no clubs or things like that. And for the ACT, what is the nevel ( I mean if we compare to the french school system ) ?</p>
<p>The ACT is the same level as the SAT. Some questions are more advanced and it tests more subjects.
You can work with NUmber2 - it’s like a free, electronic tutor. It’ll show you at what level you are right now, and you can try taking it in June this year since you won’t have class. It’ll be a good baseline since hopefully during your 1e year you’ll do better. Cracking the ACT by Princeton Review, gives you the basics of the test. Even if it’s closer to what you’re used to, it’s still a very particular format that you need to master.
<a href=“https://www.number2.com/exams/act/companion/[/url]”>https://www.number2.com/exams/act/companion/</a></p>
<p>Okay, so it’s just engineering that doesn’t interest you, not STEM. And you haven’t looked into the pr</p>
<p>If I’m not mistaken, French undergraduate programs in physics (and, to the best of my knowledge, engineering as well) seem to focus more on the mathematical aspect of either field. Perhaps you would want to apply the physics better, or otherwise gain more physical intuition…</p>
<p>Then again, I know this from someone who chose to pursue a physics degree in Quebec over another one in her hometown Toulouse.</p>