<p>I am currently a junior and I was wondering how much does gpa take a part in admission to caltech? I have kind of messed up my gpa in pretty much all areas, but if I don't screw up anything from now on, my gpa will probably be 3.5/3.6 by the time I apply. I mostly got As, Bs, and like one C in Spanish.</p>
<p>By the time I apply my APs will hopefully look like this:
AP Physics C: 5
AP Physics B: 4
AP Calculus AB: 5
AP Biology: 5
AP U.S. History:3</p>
<p>As a senior I plan to take AP Micro/Macro econ and AP gov. I would also be taking calc based Micro/Macro at Iowa State University also. Also by the time I graduate I would have 5 years of science (2 at Iowa State) and I would be done with Diff Eq at Iowa State.<br>
ECs:
Varsity Tennis
Volleyball
Math League
Bio and Physics internships at Iowa State
Plus some summer research </p>
<p>SAT I: 2200
SAT II: Physics: 750
Biology: 750
Math II: 800</p>
<p>If you have a substantial number B's in math/science classes, the lack of anything else super-amazing in this profile would make your chances not so great. </p>
<p>That said, late grades matter much more than early ones. So if you can get A+'s in your college courses and advanced high school courses from now on, that would speak in your favor. Definitely do not apply early -- wait until the regular round so you can have everything at once (the more good grades your senior year 1st semester, the more they will outweigh the mediocre ones early).</p>
<p>So focus on the future, try to do as well as you possibly can in all your classes, and try to make some kind of meaningful contirbution to research in your internships to get a strong rec from your advisor in those internships. Then your chances would be better.</p>
<p>Thanks! I was already planning on applying during the regular round considering a lot of my classes during 1st semester of senior year would matter a great deal. I was hoping that AP scores for math and sciece could overcome the previous grades in my classes. I have more ECs but those are just the main ones up till now. Nothing too math and science related though except for internships. I guess it would help to have my professors write me reccommendations.</p>
<p>Yeah. Recs from profs would mean a lot, so get to know them as much as you can.</p>
<p>As for APs, most people admitted have top grades in science classes and almost straight 5's, so just the APs wouldn't help to differentiate you that much. Hence the need for doing the other things -- but getting to know your professors so they can write informative letters of recommendation would be a great start.</p>
<p>Yeah I'm reviewing/ helping to edit one of my profs book on evolution so that wont be a problem hopefully. Although I doubt there is much else I will be able to do in less than a year, if you think of anything else please let me know. Thanks a lot!</p>