<p>For what it's worth...my scores may not be as high as many caltech applicants (idk), but I have significant research experience.</p>
<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.86-3.9 (somewhere in this range)
Weighted GPA: ~4.52</p>
<p>Top 1-2% or so</p>
<p>ACT scores
Comp - 33
English - 34
Math - 32
Reading - 35
Science - 30</p>
<p>SAT II Scores
-Math IIC: 760
-Physics: 720</p>
<p>AP's:
-World History
-Stats
-Calc BC
-Physics C: Mech
-English Lang & Comp.
-U.S. History
(All 4's and 5's)
-Psychology (Senior year)
-English Lit & Comp (Senior year)</p>
<p>Major: Electrical Engineering most likely</p>
<p>EC's
-Independent Research (since 8th grade). (This is comp sci./engineering research that, for the most part, I have done by myself: no mentors, etc).
-Competitive Fencing
-I am part of a group which is a youth subdivision of our county board of supervisors.
<em>these are the main ones and though there are onlly 3, they are very time consuming</em></p>
<p>Any other significant accomplishments in a specific field
-ISEF x2
-Siemens Regional Finalist
-Davidson Fellow Honorable Mention
-1st place Winner of local sci fair x2
-Many more research awards
-Hope to get a publication soon</p>
<p>College Classes:
Java - A
Linear Algebra - A
Physics: E/M - Taking right now...will be an A
Introduction to Electrical Circuits and Devices - Spring
Introduction to Logic Design - Spring (maybe)
I wanted to take calc III and diff. eq but due to scheduling conflicts with high school I couldn't</p>
<p>I don't know, but I would expect you to get in - no chance of improving the science ACT score, or replacing it with the SAT?</p>
<p>Other than the low math/science score on the ACT, it seems to me you'd have really good chances.</p>
<p>I was in about the same boat as you are, with bottom-ish scores by Tech standards but research experience and demonstrable interest in math and science. Just make sure that you get good teacher recs and submit your research papers with your app and you should have a good chance.</p>
<p>thanks for the replies. I probably could have retaken the ACT at some point but didn't really want to...I think I'm going to talk in my essays a lot about my research and future goals/plans with research and such</p>
<p>Good luck - I hope you get in; the world should do a better job of rewarding people who focus on actually doing something rather than obsessing about test scores.</p>
<p>i agree! i totally hate SAT1s...</p>
<p>SAT2s are a lot more legit... but still annoying</p>
<p>I agree. ACT and SAT scores are a joke. Two of the three people I know personally who got 2300+ spent a ridiculous amount of time studying JUST FOR THE TEST. I'm not sure about the 3rd. I'd like to know how well they would have done with no preparation. I think most people would agree that their time woudl have been spent more valuably doing something else, like reserach as the person who posted this thread has done. And yes they do look better to adcoms because of the scores, but do college admissions counselors really just want someone who has 10 hours a week to spend studying for a test? I'm not saying that everyone who scores really high scores that high JSUT because they study, but I have yet to meet anyone who scored amazing without studying at all. I thought the tests are supposed to gauge how much you know/how smart you are, not how much time you have to spend studying for them. So not only does the test encourage people to spend their time ineffectively, it seems to me that they are more a measure of how much time you spend studying for them (of course some poeple are just plain smart).</p>
<p>You should realize that 2 "you have a good chance" responses is the same as 5 "you have a good chance" responses and is the same as 100, and 1000, and 100000000000. This number does not increase your probability of admission (if there actually IS such thing) as it is not related to your real application. So there is no point of bumping unless positive replies somehow increase your self-esteem or reduce stress or bring up your hopes, etc, in which case it's understandable :)</p>