<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 740/800/730 V/M/W
[</em>]SAT II: Math2C 800, Chem 800
[<em>]ACT: 35
[</em>]GPA: 3.9989, school does not weight
[<em>]Rank: School does not rank
[</em>]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP 5's: Chem, Calc BC, Phys C:Mech, US History
[/ul] Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: Very individual and "exciting"
[</em>]Teacher Recs: Should have been ok
[<em>]Counselor Rec: I see her almost every day
[</em>]Supplementary Material: Research papers, abstracts, proof of publications, letter from club advisor
[<em>]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): Publications in international journals?[/ul] Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: Midwest
[<em>]High School Type: Public 2200 students
[</em>]Ethnicity: Asian (Chinese)
[<em>]Gender: Male
[</em>]Applied for Financial Aid: Y[/ul] Other[ul]
[<em>]Extracurriculars: President of BPA, FIRST Robotics, Quiz Bowl, ACSL, USACO, Piano (14 years)
[</em>]Awards: 3rd, 8th, 10th nationally in digital media/software engineering/web app development competition, and more
[<em>]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: Since my sophomore year, I've taken 7 or 8 college classes in computer science, physics, and math. It's a really fun experience.[/ul] Senior Year Schedule[ul]
[</em>]MTH 285 Honors Calculus III
[<em>]MTH 410 Linear Algebra
[</em>]PHY 370 Intro to Modern Physics
[<em>]COSC 511 Analysis of Computer Algorithms
[</em>]AP English
[<em>]AP European History
[</em>]German
[li]P.E./Sports credit for graduation[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Got deferred by MIT minutes before getting accepted by caltech, so I didn't know what to think at the time O_o.</p>
<p>Lol at planning all-nighters in advance. I guess it depends on the group of people you end up working with. I have never pulled an all-nighter as a ChE. I have stayed up to 3/4 AM working a few times (more like a few times a term). I think this all-nighter business occurs because everyone saves the hard problems until the end and then they realize it's really freaken' hard. And then they spend all night struggling while their efficiency only goes down. The solution is to work steadily (you usually get at least a week to work on ur sets) and go to office hours with questions after trying the problems out.</p>
<p>I've pulled all-nighters regularly this last term, often with 10 or so people. If I really didn't enjoy them, I'm sure I'd find away to get my work done ahead of time. I've noticed that I work on sets really inefficiently until the day before they're due, and if I have many to do in one day, I end up working overnight and through the next day. If you have really good time-management skills, and don't rely on other people too much to help you with your sets, you can definitely avoid all-nighters. Regardless, yes, you're going to be studying damn hard.</p>
<p>I'm an upperclassman, jdhutchin! All-nighters where people actually work a lot do suck though. I didn't even pull any academic all-nighters when I was a frosh. O, Ye wondrous lack of ACM 95.</p>
<p>You know, every school I visited with rigorous science and engineering programs had kids that told me about pulling all nighters. This is not just a Caltech thing, it's more of a time management thing. And when it comes down to it, I'd rather give up sleep time than time for fun stuff (like changing a certain letter on top of Millikan to a much better letter and color...). And some weeks, no matter where you go to school (well, you know what I mean), there will be times where you will need to get a lot of work done in a relatively short amount of time, and you will have to sacrifice sleep to get it done.</p>
<p>As a frosh, I've never had to pull an all-nighter for any reason.</p>
<p>And I'm sure there's other people who'd much rather give up time for sleep to change certain letters even further and turn Christmas trees right-side up, but that's besides the point.</p>
<p>Well, I was accepted, but I just got my financial aid estimation letter and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to afford it. Anyone else in the same predicament?</p>
<p>If you have real problems with the financial aid offered and don't think you'll be able to attend because you can't afford it, give the financial aid office a call (they're closed until January 2, so call after that). You may be able to work something out with them.</p>
<p>Whoa you guys got fin aid already? Hmm I am in MA so it will probably be a while... didn't know they came this early though! <em>want to know mine</em></p>
<p>I'll post my stats to help those applying to Caltech in the future. </p>
<p>Rejected</p>
<p>Stats:</p>
<pre><code>* SAT: Math - 780, Verbal - 650, Writing - 590
* SAT II: Chemistry - 740, Math IIC - 800
* ACT: n/a
* GPA: 3.96 UW, 5.59 W (This is based on the school's system anyways)
* Rank: 8/1272
* Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP Government - 3, AP Literature and Composition - 3, AP Psychology - 4, IB Math SL - 7, IB Chemistry SL - 5
</code></pre>
<p>Subjective</p>
<pre><code>* Essays: I thought it was good. I wrote about how being an extremely low income family has made me who I am today. However, I didn't write about creating anything or any additional information because I didn't think anything I had stood out, now I regret that.
* Teacher Recs: My Spanish teacher one was awesome, but I never saw my Math teacher's. I've known both these teachers for two years though.
* Counselor Rec: Really good. I know my counselor really well and she strongly admires me.
* Supplementary Material: None unfortunately.
* Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): None.
</code></pre>
<p>Personal</p>
<pre><code>* Location: Miami, FL
* High School Type: Huge public school, not competitive at all.
* Ethnicity: Asian (Chinese)
* Gender: Male
* Applied for Financial Aid: Y
</code></pre>
<p>Other</p>
<pre><code>* Extracurriculars: Member of Mu Alpha Theta, Phi Beta Chi, NHS, EHS, Asian Culture Club, and Anime Club. I was also in orchestra and played viola from 9th-10th grade. I volunteered all summer of junior and senior year at a retirement home.
* Awards: Math Award for every math class since 6th grade, Questbridge Finalist, AP Scholar Award, and most recently I got 2nd place at some regional math competition.
* Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I'm just your stereotypical Asian . My SAT's are pretty low because I never really cared about Reading and Writing. I didn't study at all and the only thing I ever cared about my entire high school life was getting an 800 in Math. Oh well, this rejection has helped me realize a few things about what I want in a college. Good luck to all you CCer's out there.
</code></pre>
<p>ACADEMICS
High School: Very competitive public (74% Asian)
GPA: UW: 3.96 (1 B T_T )W: 4.3 something
Class Rank: n/a
AP/IB [5]:Calc BC ,chem stats all 5
SR YR AP/IB:BIo CS and physics and math at CC (3 other normal classes)
SAT I: bad 780 M, 650 R, 670W
ACT: 33
SAT IIs: IIC:800 CHEM: 800
OTHER:</p>
<p>EC
Key ECs:Robotics , Math, JETS,Science</p>
<p>Leadership positions:Robotics Co-prez, math secretary (our school math is ranked really high and all the prez and vp i know all got into both MIT and Caltech)</p>
<p>Athletic Status:n/a
Volunteer/Service Work: taught middle schoolers robotics at a summer program
HONORS AND AWARDS
4x AIME
2nd place Stanford math
first tier mandelbrot score
other random JETS , math robotics things that i can't remember atm</p>
<p>APP
INTERVIEW: ... har har</p>
<p>Essays: robotics: getting grant and making opportunities for the team</p>
<p>Reccs:should be fairly good</p>
<p>Hooks:girl? haha </p>
<p>OTHER:</p>
<p>WHY YOU BELIEVE IT TURNED OUT THE WAY IT DID: cuz i really don't have anything special, but i showed some leadership and interest in math and science</p>
<p>I was accepted early action to Caltech, but I feel like people should not rely too much on this site. I created an account just to get this point across (as you can tell by my only 2 wall posts). You can ask people why they think they were accepted or why they think they were not, but in the end it is up to the admissions officers. If someone could tell you why they were not accepted, why wouldn't they try to change that reason before sending in the application. I do not mean to hurt or insult anyone, so I guess I am just ranting. But to those who were deferred, just go out there, finish the rest of your apps (I applied to 9 other schools even after I found out I was accepted), and do something in the next month so that you can send a nice letter to Caltech Admissions that shows them your dedicated commitment to the school, and then you will be able to be accepted in the spring : )</p>
<p>metaldragon2400, I see that you are a QB Finalist. so did you not go through with teh match process and just did Caltech EA? and plus you can apply for lots of great QB scores for free!! so cheers :)</p>
<p>also, it seems like most of the accepted kids had research or other supplements. are those things what caltech really look for?</p>