<p>What do you think was the most important aspect of your app?</p>
<p>I couldn't afford heroin that year, so I had to sleep with the admissions board.</p>
<p>Seriously? The research. My application was probably about average in grades/scores, but I submitted my paper too.</p>
<p>I like SteelPangolins answer.</p>
<p>u too, steelpangolins???</p>
<p>I ditto Tencia. My test scores weren't too impressive, and I didn't win any national or international awards. However, I participated in research/summer programs for both 10th and 11th grade and submitted a research paper. I also worked on a research project this year (12th grade), but I don't think they knew about that. Another factor for me, I believe, was my high amount of AP classes. Because my school's structure limited me to taking only 3 APs total during my 10th and 11th grade years, I was taking 6 APs this year which was reflected on my transcript.</p>
<p>Corresponding with other people, Caltech admissions definitely looks for your scientific endeavors and achievements.</p>
<p>Oh snap steelpangolin, now everyone knows the secret of getting into Caltech.</p>
<p>snap, indeed.</p>
<p>I think I just bought my way in. I kind of suck, so the only explanation is that there weren't a lot of international students who could pay a lot of their tuition and weren't complete morons. Fairness takes another body blow. <em>shrug</em></p>
<p>We denied full-paying IMO contestants, yojimbo3k, so you can't suck that much. :)</p>
<p>My essays and the creative section. I loved the creative section :) I think I had by far the most fun completing that section compared to any other section on all of my applications.</p>
<p>I don't know if that's what got me in, though.</p>
<p>I think the reason I got in was a combination of doing research in science and engineering during high school (I also submitted a pretty good research paper), getting a 1600 on the SAT, doing well in a lot of AP classes, and being 1st in my class. I also put a bit of humor and other personality-related things to my essays.</p>
<p>Ben:</p>
<p>Heh, well then there's no explanation at all. :)</p>
<p>I always planned to do all that "resume building" that everyone seems to be doing to make their apps look incredible, but it seemed like a huge hassle so I never got around to it. I just spent a lot of my free time programming, and joined a couple of clubs because my friends were in them... maybe it was my recs, I'm told they were pretty good.</p>
<p>Everyone and their dog gets 1600 on their SATs, perfect grades, piles of 5s on the AP tests, and graduates first in their class. The hard part is distinguishing yourself from the rest of the pool with the same base qualifications, because not everyone gets into Caltech. (Unfortunately for everyone's dog, the pet policy precludes accepting canines, no matter how qualified.) That's where the research, hobbies, and other activities come in.</p>
<p>yojimbo3k: programming what?</p>
<p>Nothing earth shattering; a bunch of small video games, some experiments with AI, and at some point I started a 3D renderer but had to give it up when my computer died and was replaced with a laptop that overheats at the slightest sign of animation. =(</p>
<p>I don't have a dog, but my cat did pretty well on the verbal section when I gave him a sample test.</p>
<p>Bean: wat did u do for the creative section?? thnx,.......</p>
<p>Teacher recommendations. I did no real research, no olympiads, and no contests higher than the AIME. Didn't even do USAMTS, since I'm a lazy bastard.</p>