My chances at Caltech

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I was wondering what people thought my chances were at Caltech, as well as Stanford and MIT (which I know are all probably reaches for me). I will also likely apply to Harvey Mudd among others.</p>

<p>I have a 3.86 UW GPA (all 6 B's are from 9th and 10th)
4.35 W GPA
and I'm not in the top 10% of my class.</p>

<p>SAT: 2130 (650 CR) (800 M) (680 W)
SATII: 800 M2 740 B(M)
ACT: 33 (34 E) (35 M) (30 R) (31 S) (8 W)</p>

<p>In 10th I was a member of a California State wide Youth and Government program.</p>

<p>Over that summer I also helped teach math to middle school students.</p>

<p>Then in my junior year when I realized I wanted to go to a big science and technology school, I joined my schools FIRST robotics team that I was the head strategist and highly involved member for and we won the regional and World championship.</p>

<p>My junior year I also did research at a hospital with their linear accelerator.</p>

<p>I also qualified for the AIME.</p>

<p>I also am the main soloist in Band and a few other things.</p>

<p>Outside of that I am also Native American, and a lot of my family has attended Caltech, including my dad and my moms dad, as well as a cousin who has won a alumni volunteer award there. I have read that Caltech does not care about legacy but I have also seen that in the past couple of years it has been added to their "Considered" factors on their Common Data Set, so I am unsure.</p>

<p>Also I am considering retaking the ACT as I know I can do much better.</p>

<p>What does everyone think?</p>

2

<p>You’re in. You’re a legacy. You’re NATIVE AMERICAN. You have pretty good stats and awards. You are IN. I wish I was you.</p>

3

<p>Caltech considers stats very heavily (at least this is what I’ve heard) and your math scores are outstanding, along wth your grades. Also, you’re a UUUUUURM so that will definitely help if your grades/scores don’t do it.</p>

<p>Congrats on the FIRST, btw. What was your AMC series?</p>

4

<p>You mean AMC12 or AMC10? I did AMC12</p>

<p>Thanks both of you!</p>

5

<p>Not guaranteed, but if you’re essay does a good job conveying your passion for math/science you’ll be a very strong candidate.</p>

6

<p>@light10491 and schee410: Caltech is one of the very, very few colleges that do not consider URM status at all.</p>

<p>@edwardp: You know you’ll need to take a couple of SATII subject tests, right?</p>

7

<p>That was something I am unsure about because recently alumni relation and ethnic status have both been added to their “Considered” factors, but I have seen the articles about their lack of AA and Legacies.</p>

<p>Yeah I took math 2 and got an 800 and I took Bio Molecular and got a 740</p>

8

<p>i love native americans…r u single…jk
you are prob in b/c you have great stats, are a minority(there r like no native americans), and you are a legacy</p>

9

<p>I just realized, can an admin or someone move this to What are My Chances?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

10

<p>Caltech may be tough, but you are a strong candidate at the top colleges (most) that strongly consider your Native American background like Stanford and the ivies.</p>

11

<p>Your SAT is on the low-side (for Ivies and Stanford). Grades are good? I’m not sure how you managed a 3.86 UW GPA with 6 B’s. You must have had a lot of classes or something. EC’s are good, but nothing schools like Caltech/MIT/Stanford haven’t seen before. Rank could be an issue, but you probably don’t have to worry about it.</p>

<p>Quite frankly (and I mean no offense by this), I think your URM status (Native American especially) is your strongest asset for these top schools. I mean sure, your EC’s are good, but they won’t set you apart as much as your URM status will.</p>

12

<p>TheAscendancy, I completely agree with you which is why I am particularly worried about Caltech as it is my top choice and I dont understand their legacy and AA policies.</p>

<p>That is also why I am considering retaking the ACT as I know I can get a 34 or 35, and bring math up to a 36 with a much better science score.</p>

<p>Also, my GPA 6 academic classes in 9th, 5 classes in 10th, 6 classes in 11th, 17 classes, with 34 semester grades, plus a semester of online health makes 35. One of the B’s was non academic… and the math comes out right I think. (It was done by my schools computer system.)</p>

13

<p>Anyone else?</p>

14

<p>for caltech retaking the sat would help, but for the ivies or stanford i dont think you should bother. I think your score is quite good and spend the time on writing the essays because that will make it break it for you. at the other schools the urm status will help, so keep your fingers crossed. For caltech, the best thing to do is to make a strong case for why i enjoy math and science.<br>
good luck
chance me back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/736306-chance-me-schools-1st-time.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/736306-chance-me-schools-1st-time.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

15

<p>I say you have a decent chance at getting into at least one of those schools, esp. with URM status. The only flaws I see are those SAT I’s and a lack of long term commitment to your ec’s…its generally not good to join a team just to improve your chances at a few specific colleges</p>

16

<p>I didn’t mean it that way, I meant more that I became interested in science and technology and it was fitting for me to do an EC like that and I also just needed more EC in general.</p>

17

<p>More opinions?</p>

18

<p>Bump this thread.</p>

19

<p>From my experience:
I got a
4 on the AP Calc AB test (messed up was lazy)
5 on the BC
4 on AP Chem
3 on Bio
780 on math 2 SAT
680 on Bio
680 on chem</p>

<p>i got in and when i chanced last year many people said that math is a big part on wether you make it or not, so i got chanced tht i wouldnt make it because i had gotten a 4 on my AP calc AB test and 680 on math 2 sat the first time i took it.</p>

20

<p>Likely you had a much higher GPA than I do though, without three B’s in math?</p>