<p>I'm sorry if I sounded harsh on the last post, what I wanted to say was not that being a Siemens Semifinalist was not a great accomplishment. It is something that you should be proud of- and something that you should definitely hold your head up high for. But- that it should not be the end all be all. Science is a journey, and you are just at the beginning. You have proved that you have potential to be fantastic and it's no time to rest on your laurels. </p>
<p>But- also people who are not Siemens Semifinalists, this does not mean that you also do not have the potential to be great. Follow your passion and see where it leads- and Caltech is a great place to allow you to follow that pursuit. </p>
<p>Remember that you guys are all people, not lists of awards, peoples with dreams and ambitions and desires and goals and all that warm and fuzzy stuff. And it's important to keep that in mind. </p>
<p>Best of luck to those applying. I hope you all get in.</p>
<p>One of the most successful people I knew at Caltech had rather unremarkable stats--he was even waitlisted. He is sort of my role model--anyway, he graduated last year and now he's at Stanford getting his PhD :)</p>
<p>I applied RD, but I was just wondering when prefrosh weekend was (of course this is assuming I'm accepted). Thanks, and congrats to all those who got in, and good luck to all those who were deferred/rejected!</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT:1970(M800,CR560,W610)
[</em>]SAT II:MII 800, Chem 800, Phy 770
[<em>]ACT:N/A
[</em>]GPA:4.1
[<em>]Rank:5
[</em>]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB):Physics B 5,Physics C M 5, Chem 5, Cal AB 5, Cal BC 5, Bio 4, Com AB 3.
[/ul] Subjective
[ul]
[<em>]Essays:Fine, discussed w/CalTech PhD
[</em>]Teacher Recs:One from school Science Department Chairman, One from CalTech PhD, who i worked on research with, one from my math teacher in China.
[<em>]Counselor Rec:Fine
[</em>]Supplementary Material:N/A
[<em>]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): N/A
[/ul] Personal
[ul]
[</em>]Location:LA, CA
[<em>]High School Type:Priavte
[</em>]Ethnicity:Asian
[<em>]Gender Male
[</em>]Applied for Financial Aid: N
[/ul] Other
[ul]
[<em>]Extracurriculars:2 Research Projects, work w/CalTech PhD.(one of which has paper unpublished) Science/Math Club President, Varsity Soccer Captain, School Forum Administrator, Etc..
[</em>]Awards: 1st Place Winner of California State/LA County Science Fair Senior Math/Software, 2nd 3rd Price for National Olympic of Informatic (China), and some Math Competitions (city)
[li]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: My SAT is .... too low .... haha...deferred.[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2390 (800 Math, 800 CR, 790 Writing)
[</em>]SAT II: 800 Biology M, 800 Math IIC, 770 Chinese w/listening (Lol 42nd percentile)
[<em>]ACT: N/A
[</em>]GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 4.54 weighted
[<em>]Rank: Top 10%
[</em>]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP US History: 5, AP Calc BC: 5, AP Phys. C: Mechanics 4, AP Phys. C: Magnetism and Electricity: 5. I took the AMC10 and 12 but I can't find a record of the scores. Told them that though. </p>
<p>[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: Decent. One was about a sickness that I had which lead to my love of science, and the other was about random things like helping to organize an LHC day.
[</em>]Teacher Recs: One was from my AP Calc/Phys teacher, and it was decent. The other was from my Lit. teacher, and I thought that was pretty good.
[<em>]Counselor Rec: Dunno, couldn't see it.
[</em>]Supplementary Material: I sent in an animation that I made.
[li]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): I have no clue...that I like science?</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Personal[ul]
[<em>]Location: Bay Area
[</em>]High School Type: Public
[<em>]Ethnicity: Chinese
[</em>]Gender: Female
[li]Applied for Financial Aid: Yes</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>]Extracurriculars: 2 years Science Bowl (1 year A team, 1 year B team), 3 years Math club, 2 years FNHS (1 year activities director), 3 years CSF (California Scholarship Foundation, it's like a volunteering thing), other misc. volunteering things.
[</em>]Awards: Random school awards + NMS semifinalist.
[li]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: Haha, this is so late. Also, I wish that they gave out the Presidential Scholarship notices earlier so I could have put that on my application...</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]</p>
<p>Anyways, banking on acceptance for regular right now. <em>crosses fingers</em></p>
<p>I applied RD, but I was just wondering when prefrosh weekend was (of course this is assuming I'm accepted). Thanks, and congrats to all those who got in, and good luck to all those who were deferred/rejected!
<p>hey, has anyone made reservations for the shuttle transportation to caltech if you're flying into california? i looked at the prices, and i'm thinking that getting taxi would be cheaper. any thoughts?</p>
<p>If you do get a shuttle service, make sure you check the prices at the different airports. You may think you are saving money to fly into one a little more remote than LAX, and find out you lose most or all of your airfare discount in the increased shuttle costs.</p>
<p>Wow you guys are superb! Even those who're rejected.
I live outside US and I haven't received anything for my RD yet.
I wasn't expecting much even though I worked real hard on my application since there are soooo many wowing people out there like you.
Guess I don't stand a chance =(</p>