<p>OP. whatever you do, LISTEN TO hadsed! No matter where you go you will have to do the work- no matter how trivial it seems. You may find yourself needing to do college work at the only place that will take you- get the grades for a ticket to where you want to be.</p>
<p>hadsed- so good of you to post. If this OP doesn’t learn from you others may. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>The entrance exam for Caltech is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. You don’t need to just know multivariable calculus, you’ll need to know how to prove the theorems. You need to know how to derive formulas for mechanics and e&m problems, you need to know modern physics, etc. Everyone I’ve talked to that’s had experience with that has said it was one of the most difficult exams they’ve had (apart from qualifier exams in grad school). The good thing about that is that most people crap themselves on it, so if you do well you’ll stand out and you might have a shot. It’s a small school to begin with, less than 10 get in on transfer every year. Good luck with that… but if you don’t make it, it’s entirely possible to go to a Caltech-like school for graduate school (the point of my gigantor post earlier).</p>
<p>Also, you mention JPL is nearby and that’s good for undergraduate research. Well, I don’t go to Caltech but I was offered by a JPL scientist this summer to write a program for an experiment he was doing. This was through me putting my application on the NASA SOLAR thing, and I suppose he was browsing for people with good programming skills and sent me an email. In the end it didn’t work out (I suspect he got someone who’s research experience was more relevant to his project, it was a solid state experiment and I’ve only worked on theoretical models in galactic dynamics, plus I was just a freshman), but just because you don’t go to Caltech or MIT or some other place that doesn’t have an amazing lab nearby doesn’t mean that you can’t work at those labs, nor does it mean that you can’t have a good research experience.</p>
<p>It’s fine to have dreams and all, but eventually you have to question if your rigid plan of transferring to a better school is actually benefiting you or hurting you. In my case, when I wanted to transfer to Georgia Tech, I finally decided that since I was publishing papers at my current school I didn’t need to. If you go to whatever school you’ll be attending and start out strong like I did, you might find that the school you’re at is better for you than a Caltech for your undergraduate years and can actually help you get into a UChicago, MIT, Caltech, or a Princeton. I’ve seen Caltech students who grind through, make a 3.5, have good research experience, and be rejected from their own graduate program as well as maybe MIT and another good school (though eventually they went to a decent school because of the prestige of their alma mater). So just because you go to GT or Caltech or MIT doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be going there for your Ph.D, and that’s what really matters.</p>
<p>You’ll figure it out. I was just like you are now a year and a half ago, so I think you’ll be okay. Just remember, don’t discount anything, keep an open mind and make sure that you think about it all (I mean, it’s only your life).</p>
<p>Woah, woah, what a shocker. 1870.
Math: 650 (seems like I got more than couple wrong… I did worse this time around)
CR: 620 (Better than last time)
Writing: 600 (same)</p>
<p>This blows my mind. Absolutely terrible for any standards. </p>
<p>Anyways. I live for the proofs. I mean what is the fun part of knowing bunch of equations without being able to derive it or know the relationship it has with other equations. It gives you a bigger insight on things. I am just caught up on my SAT Score.</p>
<p>Anyways, one thing I find disturbing about my school is that all you need to know is the formulas… They don’t care if you know how to derive it or how is works in relation to others… Just memorize and fill in the numbers. I am appalled by the fact that even kids getting like straight A’s don’t care how the equation works or how to prove it when I offer to tell them and explain. They are like “Oh David, I don’t want you to confuse me, I just want to know the formula and plug in numbers…” Appalling.</p>
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<p>What’s appalling is that you could do work with one hand tied beyond your back and you didn’t.</p>
<p>I didn’t do that well on the SAT either (similar to your scores the first time), so I took the ACT and did pretty well (equivalent to over a 2000 on the SAT). So you should try that, and since you’re from the west coast it makes more sense anyway.</p>
<p>I agree with your sentiment. I’ve found that this is the mark of people who do well in science. Having that burning feeling that you need to know what’s actually going on is good.</p>
<p>Well, usually: </p>
<p>high SAT + low GPA = brilliant but lazy
low SAT + high GPA = dumb but hardworking</p>
<p>low SAT + low GPA = understands the equations better than everyone else?</p>
<p>I doubt it.</p>
<p>Maybe I wasn’t clear enough before. Time for some blunt truths that david doesn’t want to hear.</p>
<p>He starts off by informing us that he has the right to walk around with his nose up in the air because he has a 130 IQ.</p>
<p>Big deal. Another example of why kids should never be told that number.</p>
<p>He tells us that he is the programmer for the robotics team.</p>
<p>Big deal. There is one in every high school that has such a team in the country and we don’t even know that the best programmers even wanted to be on the team.</p>
<p>He likes doing proofs and is (we can assume) pretty good at it.</p>
<p>Big deal. There are tens of thousands of kids who can say the same thing.</p>
<p>Here’s the point. The accomplishments of hadsed are admirable, but for every kid like him there are literally thousands of kids who think they are special and intellectually superior who are really quite ordinary. Its like basketball; every high school has a star player, but only a small percentage are good enough to be college players at all, and a much smaller percentage are good enough to play at Division I. And none of the numbers even suggest that david has the stuff to compete at the academic equivalent of Division I.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that the world is littered with people like him who think they are better than everyone else and when they see others who are more successful console themselves by saying to themselves that if they had really tried they too could be at least as successful.</p>
<p>Sad and pathetic.</p>
<p>davidthefat, will you entertain the notion that perhaps you aren’t the unsung genius you thought you were?</p>
<p>All limits are self imposed; perhaps, you have not considered the fact the success is not a destination. Success is a journey. Already assuming the end while just looking at the first legs of the journey. Perhaps, I did stumble here and there, but does that automatically nullify my accomplishments up to this point? Or limit my potentials? SAT does not fully reflect one’s intelligence. Perhaps, it does reflect the person’s ability to take tests, but not their potential. Consider the fact that 650 is around only 7 questions wrong. Yes, I got 2 more questions wrong than last time, but does that reflect my ability compute and obtain the right answer? Perhaps, this is why engineering and programming attracts me so much. Engineering is an iterative process; so is life. You learn from mistakes and reiterate based upon the data acquired from previous attempts. Why do I beat myself for getting only 7 questions wrong? Because society tells me that if I do not get a 2400, I am a failure? No.</p>
<p>This is starting to smell like a ■■■■■. The thread title says he wants advice, but in spite of already having been given all sorts of good answers and advice he keeps saying ridiculous things just to rile people up and keep it all going. The OP is NOT seeking advice.</p>
<p>Don’t feed the ■■■■■.</p>
<p>Oh, I am a ■■■■■ now? Perhaps, nonconformists are ■■■■■■ of society. I see myself as a nonconformist. I have been asked a direct question and I am merely answering it.
Honestly, if I was actually an internet ■■■■■, would I be investing so much time into this? Yes, I have read all the advice. Hadsed has some great advice.</p>
<p>I just sound like a ■■■■■ because I am that different from most people. Perhaps, I do not show my true insight on things through my posts, but the bottom line is: I am not a ■■■■■, but a real teen in dire danger.</p>
<p>Most of you still think I am delusional; I don’t blame you. I sound crazy at times too.</p>
<p>You seem to have an unending ability to explain away your own shortcomings (hey, everyone makes mistakes!), and yet others that make errors or don’t live up to your expectations are idiots and just not worth your time. Isn’t this your attitude towards teachers and fellow students? What makes you deserving of a break for less then perfection and not them? Do you see a double standard here?</p>
<p>Yes, double standards. I hold everyone, even me, to such of an high standard. Just a personality flaw I assume.</p>
<p>Look, the facts are – your GPA isn’t great, and a lot of that is explainable by your own laziness / failure to do required work because you’re apparently too good to jump through hoops to please those awful teachers. But yet your SAT’s aren’t great either, which means that maybe you aren’t the genius you thought you were.</p>
<p>Just think about this. What are the characteristics that make people successful? Do you have those characteristics? How can you demonstrate them? Because right now, you haven’t demonstrated the ability to buck up and just do what needs to be done, nor have you demonstrated the ability to actually, really listen to what other people are telling you. This thread is full of good advice, but you have determined that you are already oh-so-much-smarter and don’t need to listen to it. Let me spot you a clue. Those 2 things are NOT what smart people do. Smart people do what it takes, they aren’t arrogant over their supposed superiority and they listen and consider the thoughtful opinions of others. </p>
<p>Tell us one reason that one of the better schools that you dream of attending should admit you over someone who has far better SAT scores and a far better GPA.</p>
<p>No, that’s the point. You’re not holding yourself to these standards at all.</p>
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<p>Yes, that’s precisely what many ■■■■■■ do - invest bottomless energy in stringing along sincere, helpful people - asking for advice and then endlessly arguing with all the good advice that’s given.</p>
<p>Well, perhaps, I am just stubborn… I been getting the same advice since like what? 3rd grade? Just do my work. </p>
<p>Okay then.</p>
<p>davidthefat,</p>
<p>Smart people learn from their mistakes. It’s obvious you haven’t learned from yours.
Ipso facto, it’s obvious…you aren’t as smart as you give yourself credit for being.</p>
<p>What you’ve been doing obviously doesn’t work…a smart person would adopt a different game plan.</p>
<p>davidthefat,</p>
<p>Let me see. You believe you are brilliant but can’t perform in school or on your SATs. Did OK once on an IQ test (130 is OK, not brilliant in my book). You can rationalize all these failures. </p>
<p>Lets predict the future. Seen this type before. You’ll continue to rationalize your failures and accomplish NOTHING.</p>
<p>David, we are being hard on you because life is going to be hard on you.</p>
<p>IQ tests are but one indicator of intelligence…and tests can vary. You would receive a range of scores if you took and IQ test more than once, or took different IQ tests.</p>
<p>130 is a nice score.</p>
<p>But realize that in the realm of college kids, it’s nothing unusual…it’s, well…fairly average. Realize that most kids that go to good colleges qualify as “smart.” The kids with the sub-average IQs aren’t in the swimming pool any more.</p>
<p>In college, the competition moves up a level, or even more. When my son matriculated at Emory, the Dean made a comment in his welcoming speech that has stayed with me: “Look around you…more than 90% of you were in the top 10% of your high school graduating class. I can guarantee that 90% of you will not be graduating from here in the top 10% of the class.”</p>
<p>David, you are going to be competing with kids who are just as smart as you, or smarter, or even waaaay smarter, if you go by IQ as your measure…and they also will be smarter in that they have learned to work within the system to maximize the amount they are enabled to learn.</p>
<p>Instead of rationalizing your failures or your modus operandi, why don’t you rationalize why and how you should change?</p>