<p>I'd like to know if I have a good chance of getting in EA. Caltech is my top choice, and I'd really like to attend. If anyone has any comments, that'd be great.
I'm positive I want to major in math.</p>
<p>I'm a male at a suburban public school.</p>
<p>-GPA: 4.0 unweighted
-SAT: 2250 (Math:800, Writing: 730, CR:720, 11 Essay)
-SAT II's: 800 Math IIc, 800 Math IC, 780 Chemistry, 760 Physics
-ACT: 34 (11 Essay)
-AP's: 11- E&M (5), Mechanics (5), Chem (5); 10- Stats (4) ; 9- Calc BC (4)
Calculus BC and Statistics were both self-studies. I'm taking Bio, Computer Science AB, and English Language this year.
-AMC: 126.5 (11th grade)
-AIME: 9 (11th grade)
-USAMTS Bronze Winner
-Top 50 in statewide math competition last year.
-Have taken college classes in Calc III (A), Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (A), Graph Theory (A), Number Theory (A), Complex Variables (B+), and Applied Statistics (A-), and taking Real Analysis now.
-President of Math Club in 11th and 12th grade
-Other activities (Science Olympiad, NHS, Varsity Tennis letterwinner 11th grade, etc.)
-I've written a research paper that is not very advanced or useful or anything; it just generalizes a contest problem I encountered last year and is only 4 pages long.</p>
<p>Potential for a very strong application. AMC and AIME are quite good... your advanced math courses are nifty. You need to come off as not a grind or a bore, so let your passion shine through. The research paper would be good to send along... it's hard to do EARTH SHATTERING FIELDS MEDAL research as a high school kid -- four pages generalizing a contest problem is pretty good ;-)</p>
<p>Yeah, if I were you, I'd feel okay about my chances. It's all a crap shoot in the big leagues, but you are clearly quite competent intellectually and if you don't phone in the essays and show that you have some creativity in you, you have a good shot EA.</p>
<p>I retook a 34 ACT (no studying the first time) and found out today I got a 35, which is a point lower than expected :). Should I just save $40 (5 colleges*$8) by not sending my scores or will the scores make a difference?</p>
<p>It's better, why not send it? If you don't get into your favorite college you will be kicking yourself that that one little thing might have made it a difference, even if it's probably not the tipping factor.</p>
<p>As long as the math and science sections were 36, I'd probably send it at least to Caltech and MIT. Can't hurt. I wouldn't bother to send it to your safety schools if you've already sent them the SAT, since the roughly 30 SAT point difference shouldn't matter there anyway (unless they're in the midwest and thus really used to ACT scores, or something).</p>