Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
1

<p>*What are some other good safeties and matches??</p>

<p>Asian Male (Indian) in Texas</p>

<p>Freshman/Sophomore rank was 20/975 (not that good i guess)
Junior GPA - 4.0 unweighted (we don't have ranking)
*Freshman/Sophomore spent at a competitive public school and Junior and Senior year spent at a competitive magnet school</p>

<p>ACT-34 (retaking)</p>

<ul>
<li>Scored a 5 on the Human Geography AP Exam</li>
<li>Scored a 5 on the World History AP Exam</li>
</ul>

<p>*We only take college courses at my school, so no APs offered</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities (keeping it nice and short)</p>

<p>Research Organization President (9-12)</p>

<p>Invisible Children Co-Founder and Vice-President (10-12)
-raised $2000 for Ugandan children</p>

<p>Band (9-12)
-First Chair
-Section leader
-Squad leader</p>

<p>Engineering Club (9-12)
-Was President of the equivalent club in 10th grade, but we are limited to only one position at my new school and so I chose Research Organization President</p>

<p>Science Bowl (11-12)
-Might be captain next year
-Part of the Varsity Team
-Received 2nd place at Regionals/ missed nationals by one spot :-(</p>

<p>Math Club (9-12)
-First Tier Mandelbrot Team</p>

<p>Academic
Senior Year Schedule
Fall Semester</p>

<p>-Physics 1710 (lecture), Physics 1730 (lab)
-English 2210
-History 2610
-Calculus 3
-Discrete Math
-Differential equations 1 or Linear Algebra or perhaps nothing</p>

<p>Spring Semester (TENTATIVE)–</p>

<p>Physics 2220 (lecture), Physics 2240 (lab)
English 2220
History 2620
Differential Equations 1
Vector Calculus
Computer Science 2</p>

<p>Summer Activites</p>

<p>Research
- I am attending the Simons Summer Research Program this summer
-I have been doing research every summer since 9th grade working 50 hr/wk for 9 weeks</p>

<p>MAIN Awards</p>

<p>International BioGENEius Finalist
Lemelson/MIT InvenTeams Grant of $10,000
2nd Place Texas State Science Fair
2nd Place Texas Stockholm Junior Water Prize/ missed nationals by one spot :-(
Received Outstanding Soloist Award at American Classic Music Festival (3/~1000 people received this award)</p>

<p>*Entering Siemens, Intel, etc. next year</p>

<p>THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME</p>

2

<p>i think you pretty much win</p>

3

<p>Haha, thanks</p>

4

<p>anyone else? I’m planning to apply EA</p>

5

<p>any more ppl? Preferably Caltech students/alumni… thanks</p>

6

<p>You’re certainly qualified, but plenty of qualified people are rejected every year. Essays and how well you would fit in here are some pretty big factors, and a chances thread will never really reveal this. It appears you really like science, so you should certainly apply if you do, but unfortunately, the adcom makes these decisions, so opinions and guesses could be misleading. (not to sound pessimistic; you definitely have a nonzero probability of getting in, don’t get me wrong, but what that probability is doesn’t matter since this is a deterministic procedure decided by the admissions committee) Good luck.</p>

7

<p>from a Caltech student: “chances are meaningless”. Statistics wise, you’re in the range of people who have been admitted, but people from that range have also been denied. You already knew that, though, so I’m not telling you anything you don’t know.</p>

8

<p>Thanks. Yeah, honestly I don’t know why I made a chances thread. They’re pretty worthless…</p>

9

<p>Lizzard, would you not say Caltech is at least somewhat predictable in its admissions process? I don’t feel like it’s the same as other schools, where one can look at a wonderfully academically qualified candidate and say they have “just as good a shot as any” – at least, I’d hope one could say they have very good chances, something that cannot be said for many top schools.</p>

10

<p>That is true. I have heard that Caltech admissions is a little more predictable.</p>

11

<p>It’s certainly more predictable than your average Ivy (IMO) but only in the sense that Caltech doesn’t really accept people who have spotty grades/scores in math/science. But yeah, Caltech definitely rejects people with great scores in math/science because it comes down to the fact that we can only accept a limited number of people and a larger number of applicants than the number we can accept do have those stellar scores. I would imagine that this means more pressure is put on things like essays and recommendations, things that we don’t have access to here on CC (and even if we did I don’t know if our opinions would consistently match those of admissions). </p>

<p>Seriously, the procedure for chances is this: </p>

<p>Step 1: Check to make sure they have good grades and scores in their math and science classes.
Step 2: If there are no huge warning flags, they have as good a chance as anyone else with good scores. </p>

<p>There are enough people that pass step 1 that we can’t give any sort of meaningful response.</p>

<p>Translation: Hopin has “just a good a shot as any”.</p>

12

<p>I agree with lizzardfire. Admissions decisions are ultimately made on the question of whether or not the applicant will be a good “fit” for Caltech. This isn’t something that can be determined by looking at a list of scores and ECs. It’s hard enough to determine with the whole application. Scores are only important in that Caltech wants to make sure that anyone they accept will have the ability to make it through Core.</p>

13

<p>How do you guys find so much time to post on the forums?
Shouldn’t you be really busy?</p>

14

<p>I spend probably fifteen minutes on the forums a day, sometimes less. I just check it when I’m bored and have to wait for something, and I’ll throw off a quick reply.</p>

<p>Wouldn’t call it a huge time commitment.</p>

15

<p>Lolz. I’m def not getting on cc once I’m in college… at least not as frequently as I do now.</p>

16

<p>As for me, I’m on summer break after all (semester school), and ironically, the more busy I am, the more likely I am to be around the forums a little, because there comes a point when you’re really stuck on how to solve whatever problems you’re thinking about, and you might as well lighten your mood rather than exhausting your brain power in one go. </p>

<p>If you have a lot of work that involves, say, writing something up, or stuff like that, I’d stick to working consistently more often, but if half your time’s spent thinking, it’s most counter-productive to “work all the time” in my experience – cuz hey, if you don’t at least have a new idea or two when you’re thinking, that time just went whoosh. Probably something to think about for incoming Techers ;)</p>

<p>Anyway, I see - the soft factor is about gauging fit. That’s fine, I guess, given Caltech’s version of “fit” is much less wishy washy than that of other schools I think. I hope they don’t change too much.</p>

17

<p>hopin–that’s true of virtually everyone who ever posts on cc… but someone has to answer your questions. I’m not here because it’s my favorite activity but rather because someone needs to do it, and I care about it being done well.</p>

18

<p>True. I appreciate it.</p>

19

<p>lol i’m here because i don’t want to take my math final.</p>

20

<p>and i’m here because i’m currently taking a final.</p>

<p>=)</p>