<p>Wow. It’s quite a thread. But I still have several questions bugging me. I’m a student from South-East Asia (typical Asian, mind you), and the education system here works different. Would anyone enlighten me on what does it means by weighted or unweighted CGPA? My country is not famous for sending out students to the US, and I had to take the SAT tests on my own. Like most Asians, I flunked my SAT 1 with 680 in CR, 650 in writing and 780 in Maths (I can’t believe it’s a deduction of 20 marks for one mere mistake in it!). However, I did represent my country to participate in the World Robotic Olympiad which was held in Japan and won the bronze medal. Would that augur in favor of me? All that I could see what everyone mentioned is Physics or Mathematics or Chemistry Olympiad. Is Robotic Olympiad taken into consideration?</p>
<p>“However, I did represent my country to participate in the World Robotic Olympiad which was held in Japan and won the bronze medal. Would that augur in favor of me?”
Yes, I hope</p>
<p>^dont listen to him, hes an idiot</p>
<p>bumpity bump</p>
<p>Great post! I was wondering whether I should apply or not, and this post did more than simply answer; it kind of lets you get a feel for CalTech.</p>
<p>Caltech threads are dead in these days</p>
<p>The frosh just arrived last week. Techers are busy with rotation.</p>
<p>Oh ye I forgot, Caltech school year starts around Sept.</p>
<p>Wow–post #1 worries me a bit,I just don’t get that warm fuzzy feeling hahaha! So how is CalTech different from MIT? Obviously both schools are amazing at math/science but are the students similar? Is there anything that would make a student fit better at one over the other (given that they could be accepted at both and weather wasn’t a factor)? Do the schools look for the exact same thing?</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>well… post #1 is rather frank, so don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>MIT practises affirmative action, and aims for a diverse class, so it would be looking for applicants with a unique touch/something to add to their cohort. Caltech doesn’t, and is probably more stats/grades/research portfolios based than MIT. That being said, however, there is still a great deal of overlap between the application pools of Caltech and MIT.</p>
<p>There is something that I’ve seen over at these boards, that the typical MIT student looks towards Bill Gates/Mark Zuckerberg as their role models, while the typical Caltech student looks towards Stephen Hawking/Edward Witten as their role models. There might be some truth to that, but it definitely cannot be said of the entire population at each institute.</p>
<p>You def should never compare MIT students or Caltech students to Bill Mark or Stephen… You are thinking Harvard haha</p>
<p>Yes, I realize that No One, not even you, can accurately chance me, however some suggestions or advice would be appreciated.</p>
<p>SAT I : (700CR, 630M, 680W)
SAT II: 730 Math II, 700 Phys</p>
<p>GPA: 3.82
Ranking: 1/1
School: Home-school
Essay: Great, wrote about living in a large family (7 siblings) and about my love of computer science.
Senior Course Load: Linear Algebra, Honors Philosophy, Honors US I, Fencing, Fundamentals of Chem, Introduction to SQL.
Recommendations: Incredible, got three from my CS professor, and two humanities professors
Counselor Rec: Also Incredible, from my father (homeschool, after all)</p>
<p>ECs:
Heavy Involvement in Church, including hosting a five week sermon series
Designed Alpha Website for Employer
Study of AI Theory Philosophy
Extra-Curricular Study of Python Language
Community Parkour Group
Study of Science Fiction works
Heavy Involvement in Theater, including a nationally recognized AV design.
Work as cashier for four years
Political Volunteer Time</p>
<p>Hook: Home-schooled, 100+ College Credits (w/3.6 GPA)</p>
<p>Things working against me:
Low GPA for College classes
- Due to three Cs into Pre-Calc, Calc I, and Phys 101 (addressed in essay, due to under-estimation of the difficulty of the courses)
Low SAT Scores</p>
<p>Things Working For Me:
- Mathematics through Calc 2 & Linear Algebra
- Well over 30 credits of humanities
- Started College Classes at 13
- Got AS Degree in CS at 17
- Member of College Honors Society & PTK</p>
<p>Applying to:
MIT - Reach
Caltech - Major Reach (Worth it, or not?)
Worcester Poly - Fit
Carnegie Mellon SCS - Fit/Reach</p>
<p>I was just wondering…
Does Caltech place more weight on the SAT I Math or the math subject test score? For me, my SAT I Math is 740 (I only missed 2 questions, I think I got a hard curve), outside of the middle 50%, but my Math II is 800. Will the Math II score make up for the low(ish) SAT math?</p>
<p>@davidi, I would think that they would place far more weight on the SAT II because it has more difficult math on it and is a better indicator of how good you are at math since it is all content based and there aren’t really any “tricks” for it. Plus, 740 is really good, it seems you got quite a harsh curve too since I got 780 and missed 1, which kinda sucks. :D</p>
<p>I was wondering, since my school only offers IB Chem at SL, should I take<br>
O Chem (I, II, and III with Lab I and II) over the summer to show that I have a passion for chemistry? It seems like a really cool subject, but it will cost a fair amount to do so I’m not sure if it is worth it. Alternatively, I could just do
O Chem I and O Chem Lab I since it would give me more time to focus on my essays and research/job shadowing as well as other stuff, but would that just be a waste of time? Just wondering, I still have a fair amount of time before I have to decide.</p>
<p>Almost always, especially for Caltech, research > classes AS LONG AS your course load is still rigorous.</p>
<p>International student from the UAE.Intended major is Electrical and Computer engineering.</p>
<p>SAT 1 : Superscore CR 740, Math 760, Writing 700 - 2200
SAT subject tests : Math level 2 800, Physics 750
TOEFL : 113
Essays : Good
Extracurriculars : Quite a few but nothing extraordinary.
Recommendations : Very good</p>
<p>I have still not decided whether I should apply to Caltech because I don’t know what my chances are.A reply would be of massive help!</p>
<p>If you are asking for financial aid, your chances are extremely low. If you do not need aid, you should give it a try, though your chances are a little slim.</p>
<p>bumping this thread again</p>
<p>So I gather that there’s no real way of knowing what your chances are and that there are always many exeptions, and colleges look for special kids and all. But I just want to know what you guys think or what opinions you have about my case:</p>
<p>I’m a girl and I go to the North Carolina School of Science and Math (elite publi cboarding school for 11/12th graders with a tough selection process). This past year, I made a B- in AP Calc BC with topics (harder than AP Calc) but made a B+ in Modelling with Differntial Eq and next year (senior year) I’m taking graph theory, math modelling, and multi var calc (in which I hope to make As and maybe B in multi). I’m overloading first trimester with graph theory and math mod…other than that my SAT II are 750 in math and 800 chem. SAT is 2250 (760 in math but I can bring it up). I’ve qualified for AIME for 3 years, did really well on the AMC, will get great recs, have good essays, tons of ECs in math/sciene (Math Prize for Girls, tons of math club activities, Conrad), and ECs/leadership in other areas as well. Point is: I am very passionate about math/science, I have the competitions, ECs, SAT, AMC/AIME scores to prove it, and my teachers and mentors can tell you that. The only thing holding me back is that bad grade in Calc BC (I made an A and a 5 on the AB exam). How do you think admissions officers will respond to this?</p>
<p>Very helpful in my opinion, thank you very much Michael</p>