<p>Waitlisted Woot. Too lazy to put stats down.</p>
<p>Rejected</p>
<p>Stats:
SAT: 2130
SAT II: Math II 800, Physics 720
ACT: N/A
GPA: 3.97
Rank: 16/586
Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB):
IB Diploma Candidate
Math SL: 7
Chem SL: 7</p>
<p>Subjective
Essays: Not great
Teacher Recs: OK
Counselor Rec: Principal…
Supplementary Material: N/A
Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): None? </p>
<p>Personal
Location: WA
High School Type: Magnet Program
Ethnicity: W
Gender: XY
Other[ list][li]Extracurriculars: Piano, Soccer, MUN, Class Officers, DECA, Eagle Scout[/li]Awards: School Awards and student of the month
Advice? Commiserations?
Feel like bragging?: I didn’t show my passion for math/science
Accepted: Cal Poly SLO Waitlisted: Olin</p>
<p>for those on the wating list, this is from the 2010-11 Caltech Common Data Set for the Class of 2014:</p>
<p><a href=“http://finance.caltech.edu/budget/cds2011.pdf[/url]”>http://finance.caltech.edu/budget/cds2011.pdf</a></p>
<p>529 - Number of qualified applicants offered a placed on waiting list
337 - Number accepting a place on the waiting list
7 — Number of wait‐listed students admitted</p>
<p>Looks like those who got admitted all of course had very good scores/GPA but also have some distinct accomplishment in math/science, which of course is the focus of Cal Tech. I am hoping MIT and certainly other top schools will be little more lenient.</p>
<p>Accepted</p>
<p>Stats:
SAT: 2170 (not sent)
SAT II: 740 chem, 800 math 2
ACT: 34 (36 math and 36 science, can’t remember others)
GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 4.6 weighted
Rank: 2/~150
Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB):5 AP Chem, 5 AP Comp Sci A, 5 AP Calc AB (as freshman), 5 AP Calc BC (as sophomore), 5 AP US History, 4 AP World History 100.5 AMC12
Subjective
Essays: Pretty good, about tutoring in math via a community service program at my school.
Teacher Recs: Very good. My math rec explained how my math curriculum is more advanced than anyone else’s in my school’s history (including Calc 1-3, Linear Algebra, Proof, and Differential Equations). Apparently, my history rec was also very good (my college counselor called Caltech and they said it was exceptional).
Counselor Rec: Probably good.
Supplementary Material: A letter of recommendation from my boss as a genetic research intern at a local university this past summer. This was probably also strong, considering that I was offered to co-author a publication on my research.
Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): None, although I am not sure how many east coast applicants there are.
Personal
Location: MD
High School Type: Private
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Other
Extracurriculars: Robotics, Rocketry, Spanish Club tutoring, Computer Consultants, It’s Academic quiz show
Awards: AP Scholar With Distinction, Cum Laude, School Math and Chemistry awards</p>
<p>Accepted</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 800 CR, 770 M, 800 W
[</em>]SAT II: 770 Math II, 760 Bio M
[<em>]ACT: 35, math 36, science 32 :[
[</em>]GPA: Weighted funny. Around 5.3?
[<em>]Rank: 3/270
[</em>]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): 5 AP Calc AB and BC (BC independent study), 4 AP Stats independent study, 6 IB German, failed at the AMC. Really. Didn’t even make top ten in my school.
[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: Good I guess. I didn’t know Caltech was so hardcore Scimath, so my essays were actually quite frivolous. Wrote about being rebellious, webcomics, and how much I love engineering.
[</em>]Teacher Recs: Didn’t read
[<em>]Counselor Rec: Didn’t read
[</em>]Supplementary Material: One letter from a robotics mentor
[<em>]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): None. No hooks. No significant prizes in science or math. Never past a state level.
[/ul]Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: SC
[<em>]High School Type: Public, ghetto school with IB program instated to keep it from failing
[</em>]Ethnicity: Asian
[<em>]Gender: female
[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>]Extracurriculars: Robotics captain, piano, math team, academic challenge/quiz bowl, swim team, newspaper editor in chief, SNHS president
[<em>]Awards: Regional science fair 3rd engineering in 10th grade, short story and poetry contests, piano state awards, physics camp
[</em>]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:[/ul] I really didn’t expect to get in, especially with my lack of ISEF or Siemens or perfect math scores (I’m quite terrible at math competitions). I applied because I thought they were just like MIT, and turns out they’re vastly different. I want to do engineering and application, so I’m not sure if this is right for me, but I’d be glad to go here.
To those waitlisted or rejected: You’re still here, and you’re still amazing, and you’re going to have fun and change the world no matter where you spend four years of your life. Never give up! To prospectives: This, I guess, is proof that you don’t have to win >9000 awards in STEM to get into nerdy places. Be yourself, and you’ll be happy with where you end up.</p>
<p>[size=+1]Rejected<a href=“Deferred%20EA”>/size</a></p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2330 (800 Math, 790 Writing, 740 CR)
[</em>]SAT II: Math 780, Physics 770, Chemistry 800, Biology 800, Chinese 770, USH 780
[<em>]ACT: Didn’t take
[</em>]GPA: 4.73 W, 3.93 UW [Or something close to that]
[<em>]Rank: Officially top 10% (school uses decile system) Top 30 in a class of about 600
[</em>]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): Euro 4, Physics C M (independent study) 4, Calc BC 5, AB subscore 5, USH 5, ES 5, Bio 5, CS A 5, Eng lang 5
[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: Now that I look back on it, they could have been better…
[</em>]Teacher Recs: Okay, though probably not anything special. I got two science teacher recs.
[<em>]Counselor Rec: Again, probably something generic.
[</em>]Supplementary Material: Sent in a research paper
[<em>]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): nope
[/ul]Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: SoCal
[<em>]High School Type: Public, magnet, competitive
[</em>]Ethnicity: Asian
[<em>]Gender: Female
[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>]Extracurriculars: Independent research throughout high school; eventually placed at science fair at the state level, along with a bunch of awards from private organizations; other non science stuff like FBLA was national level. Took the AMC, never got the scores 
A lot of volunteer work, instruments, etc…
[<em>]Awards: See above. National Merit Semifinalist, National AP Scholar, some school level academic awards
[</em>]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:[/ul]
Disappointed, but not heartbroken. I think being deferred first round prepared me for rejection. I put EE as my major, and my relatively weak (as in B+ -_-) math+physics grades sure didn’t help me.</p>
<p>i am confused about the above two decisions. looks like stripebread has more going for her than Helenxrobot! anyone can shed light or it’s just, “admissions is a crap shoot!” i would like to think caltech cares more about tangibles than most other schools.</p>
<p>Yeah… But ALOT of it comes down to whether the applicant can successfully convey his or her passion for science, engineering in words. I.e the essays. They’re the X-factor that makes college admissions such a tough business to predict</p>
<p>Stevierimbaud has it correct, which is why chance threads are pretty useless.</p>
<p>Also, non-A grades in math/physics (as stripebread said she had) will make the adcomm think twice about your application. Yes, it is that harsh.</p>
<p>Waitlisted</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2190 - 720 Math, 730 Writing, 740 CR
[</em>]SAT II: 790 Math, 800 Chem, 670 Bio (didn’t send)
[<em>]ACT: 33
[</em>]GPA: 5.13 Weighted, 3.9 UW
[<em>]Rank: 2/396
[</em>]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB):
Only AP exams, didn’t take any other tests:
Chem - 5
US History - 4
World History - 4
Psychology - 5
Calc BC/AB subscore - 5/5
English Language and Composition - 4
Environmental Science - 5
[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: Meh. I dunno. I’ve always been a fairly poor writer. I don’t feel like my essays were any big deal to be honest. But I can’t say for sure.
[</em>]Teacher Recs: Good I hope. None of my teachers hated me (as far as I can tell) and there wasn’t any clear sign that any of the recommendations were bad. I’m fairly certain they were the same boring recommendations everyone gets that never helps to really make you stand apart from anyone else.
[<em>]Counselor Rec: (see above: Teacher Recs)
[</em>]Supplementary Material: I sent in a recommendation from one of the professors at Summer Science Program (SSP) - NM 2010
[<em>]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): None
[/ul]Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: NC
[<em>]High School Type: Average-slightly below average Public High School
[</em>]Ethnicity: Bengali
[<em>]Gender: Male
[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>]Extracurriculars: Meh. Not nearly as good as many people but I don’t think it was a huge weakness. Or at least I hope it wasn’t.
[<em>]Awards: I listed a few minor ones in my app but nothing groundbreaking to speak off (nothing National)
[</em>]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:
I just wonder how many people ever make it off Caltech’s waitlist? In addition, be careful if you also decide to share with the world that you’ve been waitlisted. If there’s only one applicant from the waitlist left alive come May, it’ll be a much easier decision for Caltech to make.[/ul]</p>
<p>Last year 7 students were taken off the wait list. The previous year, none. Hence not too many make it off the wait list.</p>
<p>I still haven’t gotten my decision yet…should I e-mail them?</p>
<p>Yes, or call the admissions office.</p>
<p>Itsme123, and stevierimbaud, I know, I really didn’t expect to get in, not after a friend told me only ISEF and Siemens winners get to go there.
But I’m fairly good at writing essays, and I love robotics and building things. I think my essays were unwittingly nerdy, and though I didn’t have many HUGE science achievements, I’m pretty steady in my community involvement and science events every year. I’ve had 99 or 100 in all of my science and math classes, IB or honors or AP Calc (except a really bad 93 in Alg 2 XD).
Some college admissions is, though, pretty weird. It boils down to whether or not the adcom wants to see you on campus each year, so make sure the essays have personality and the real you.</p>
<p>Also, leadership positions help.</p>
<p>I think someone from SC gets preference over So Cal because they want to get people from across the country and colleges do make a big deal about evaluating kids based on their environment and opportunities available.</p>
<p>Accepted</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2310 (800M/710CR/800WR)
[</em>]SAT II: 800 Math2, 800 Chem
[<em>]ACT: n/a
[</em>]GPA: 3.85/4.65 unweighted/weighted
[<em>]Rank: 27/~850
[</em>]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): ApUSH 5, CalcBC 5, LangComp 4, WorldH 4, Chem 5, AMC 2010 - 88.5, AIME 2010 - 4, AMC 2011 - 94.5 (didn’t qualify for AIME this year o.0)
[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: Above average
[</em>]Teacher Recs: Particularly good
[<em>]Counselor Rec: Average
[</em>]Supplementary Material: Presented a poster at AGU convention, on Water in Urban Vegas
[<em>]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): Long streak of Math/Science competitions: Participant in MathCounts National Competition 8th grade, 1st/3rd/3rd/1st in Geometry/Alg2/Comprehensive/Comprehensive in 2007/2008/2009/2010 for the SNSMC. District winner of the Nevada Prize Exam in 2010. National Qualifier for the Chemistry Olympiad 2010. Captain of the winning Nevada Science Bowl Team 2011.
[/ul]Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
[<em>]High School Type: Public
[</em>]Ethnicity: Asian (Chinese)
[<em>]Gender: Male
[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>]Extracurriculars: President of Mu Alpha Theta, Captain of Science Bowl, Co-Captain of Varsity Quiz, Treasurer of Key Club, Former Captain of Extemporaneous Speaking (Forensics) (Junior year), Starting Guard on the Football Team (Freshman year)
[<em>]Awards: National Merit Finalist, National AP Scholar
[</em>]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I think I got lucky, since my grades aren’t up to snuff. Don’t ever try to rely on EC’s/Competitions/Awards like I did. It’s not safe[/ul]</p>
<p>Deferred</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2210 (CR: 730, M: 800, W: 680)
[</em>]SAT II: 800 Chemistry, 780 Math II
[<em>]ACT: none
[</em>]GPA: 4.0 U
[<em>]Rank: 1/466
[</em>]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): 5s on Calc AB, Bio, Chem, US History, World History, 4 on English Lang
[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: I’m not the best writer, but they were decent
[</em>]Teacher Recs: pretty good
[<em>]Counselor Rec: probably good
[</em>]Supplementary Material: none
[<em>]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): none?
[/ul]Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: West coast
[<em>]High School Type: I’m in a magnet school (within a regular school), but the school as a whole: low-performing
[</em>]Ethnicity: Asian
[<em>]Gender: Female
[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>]Extracurriculars: math tutor, community service clubs, not much
[<em>]Awards: AP Scholar with Distinction
[</em>]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I’m actually really surprised I wasn’t flat out rejected, especially after reading everyone’s stats! I think my grades saved me because I don’t have many extracurriculars.
When I was filling out the application, I realized I don’t do a lot of math/science oriented activities although I am interested in studying science. </p>
<p>But congrats to everyone who was accepted!!
[/ul]</p>
<p>@g2pens: The cutoff for the AIME qualification through the AMC12 this year was 93.0. 94.5 should have definitely qualified you?</p>
<p>[ size=+1][ color=green][ b]Accepted[ /b][ /color]<a href=“early”> /size</a></p>
<p>[ b]Stats:[ /b][ list]
[ *]SAT: 2280
[ *]SAT II: Physics, Math 2: 800
[ *]ACT:36
[ *]GPA: UW: 4.0
[ *]Rank:1/150
[ *]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP US History-4, AP Lang-4, AP Calc AB-5, AP Calc BC-5, AP World History-5, AP Physics B-5, AP Government-5, AP Physics C (both-5), AP Chemistry: 5, AMC 10: 150, AIME: 8
[ /list][ b]Subjective[ /b][ list]
[ *]Essays: Pirating music, love of numbers, and a couplet poem about donuts. Good voice. Very real
[ *]Teacher Recs: Good
[ *]Counselor Rec: Good?
[ *]Supplementary Material: Letter of Rec. from principal, resume
[ *]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): athlete (talking with coach (I dont know if it matters at Caltech)), legacy
[ /list][ b]Personal[ /b][ list]
[ *]Location: SouthEast USA
[ *]High School Type: top 100 Public
[ *]Ethnicity: Caucasian
[ *]Gender: Male
[ /list][ b]Other[ /b][ list]
[ *]Extracurriculars: 4 Years Varsity Soccer (2 as captain), MAO, 4 years Academic Team (2 as captain), 3 years Debate Team (2 as captain), Volunteer MATHCOUNTS coach
[ *]Awards: Academic Team State Champ, 3-time all county academic team (2 years as captain of all-county team), NMF, USAPho Semifinalist: 3 times, Physics Bowl Winner, Tons of various math competition awards (including 3 years school winner: Mandelbrot and ■■■)
[ *]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:[ /list]</p>