Prospective Applicant

<p>I am interested in hearing from current students or recently admitted students what types of summer activities you participated in during high school. Any particular STEM programs, classes or internships? Thanks!</p>

<p>If you are indeed a “west coast kid”, then I would recommend Univ of Wash’s 6 week free math program “SIMUW”. </p>

<p>There are many different programs, some are better than others, but none are needed.</p>

<p>If you are able to do an internship, particularly for a lengthy period of time, then that is good.</p>

<p>Take classes that interest you, but yes, you should take AP Calc BC.</p>

<p>Make sure your summers are meaningful (to you). That will be more impressive/important than saying “I went to XYZ camp this summer”. If you spend your summer teaching kids with physical disabilities how to ride horses (great occupational therapy!), then that is awesome, even to Caltech!</p>

<p>Try to participate in cybersecurity competitions (like DC3).</p>

<p>Also, participate in internships in areas which reinforce your interests. If you want to project strong interest in Physics, try to intern in areas related to Physics. You can approach local universities in case you are not able to land an internship at research institutes</p>

<p>My main summer activity was this cultural summer abroad trip for like two weeks that I did for the third year in a row. Other than that it was a political campaign internship. My STEM activities on my application weren’t as high as those of some other applicants, but I feel like my wider variety of interests and how I did stuff with them got me in (I did do math competitions and Math/Science honor societies and related volunteer work. Nothing overly elaborate however.)</p>

<p>I was strongly considering doing a summer STEM program but when MITES rejected me there were few last minute opportunities remaining, and many were simply too costly.</p>

<p>Hm…In the past years, I did internships at laboratories and attended AP/EA at Carnegie Mellon. Note that you don’t have to spend a penny sometimes for great opportunities; MITES is definitely an excellent program, and I had a full scholarship covering literally everything at AP/EA. Laboratories provide great experiences, and if you get lucky, you can be acknowledged in papers. My honest suggestion is that if a program requires you to pay thousands of dollars to participate in, chances are that it isn’t as good as some others.</p>

<p>research with a professor definitely helps a ton, especially if you can get it published and have the professor write you a letter of rec</p>

<p>The summer before senior year, I was involved in molecular biology research. I was pretty lucky in that my lab was involved with some really cutting edge cloning techniques that I mentioned in the abstract I submitted and probably won me some nerd cred haha.</p>

<p>The summer before junior year, I took a math class to skip precalculus. </p>

<p>Overall, my application was nothing outstanding compared to those of some other Techers. You don’t have to do anything spectacular with your summers to get into Caltech. I joked on my application that I spend most of my summers sitting at home reading Wikipedia, which probably made me sound like some socially deprived maniac. The main thing they care about is that you have a passion for whatever you do (though you should probably make sure it’s STEM related :P). For me, that was chemistry. I’m not sure what that is for you. But make whatever that is very clear, and you’re chances will be fine.</p>

<p>Hey :)</p>

<p>I went to the Stanford Summer High School Session senior year and interned at a biopharmaceutical company Junior year. </p>

<p>I have no idea how I got in. My essays were creative and almost completely not about academics. Just be yourself, focus on what you’re passionate about. No reason to sell someone else to the school of your dreams. Find what you care about most and choose an activity that showcases both your talent and your passion :D</p>

<p>For the supplement for CalTech it asks for you STEM related activities. But I already listed them in my common app activities! Do I list the same ones but in slightly more detail?</p>

<p>@cutiedida Yep, that’s what I did.</p>

<p>Hi guys, Is it true that Caltech will go easy on the Physics requirement for its Early Action? and which also has a much higher admission rate of 30% (instead of 10?) I’m curious.
Please help.</p>

<p>For class 2017 (last year), Caltech EA rate was 15% and RD rate was 8%. Overall, it was 10.55% (9th lowest in the country, excluding Juilliard, Cooper Union etc).
<a href=“2013 College Acceptance Rates - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com”>2013 College Acceptance Rates - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com;

<p>4Osure - my son and I visited Caltech over the summer. The admissions presenter commented that good candidates for early application are those who have taken AP Physics or equivalent. She also mentioned that students who were in the process of taking physics would most likely be deferred until the first semester physics grades were sent in. If you are interested in applying early, I would take physics by junior year. Good luck!</p>

<p>^ OH Thank you so much for posting that! I was worried about my deferral but that gives me hope that maybe they just wanted to see my grades. I haven’t had the chance to visit caltech yet. Hopefully my A in AP Physics C helps me seal the deal. Thank you again and I wish I had known about that earlier!</p>

<p>I went to promys at BU and had a great time doing number theory.
Five seniors that attended promys the past summer applied for Caltech EA and all got in. :D</p>

<p>huehuehue32 - also, be sure to send in any new activities, achievement info between Nov 1st (EA deadline) and Jan 3rd (reg deadline). Good luck on your application.</p>

<p>WestCoastKid101 ~ </p>

<p>This is too late to help you, but maybe it will help someone else reading this thread in the future. You ask what kind of “summer activities you participated in during high school”; my best advice, as the mother of a Caltech student, class of 2014, and a Stanford student, class of 2017, is that you need to do what interests YOU. Develop your passions, follow them as far as your current environment will allow - and let the chips fall where they may. </p>

<p>BTW neither of my children had a “hook”. They got in because they were A) lucky (I make no claims that they were superior to the rejected applicants, only that they were qualified.) and B) able to express their individual passions in their admission essays. Not fakey-fakey “make a good impression in the essay” stuff, but real passion. With regard to Caltech specifically, if you are not passionate about doing science and research, you won’t like it there; ignore the weather and go to Harvard instead. It is much less demanding for undergraduates. Only a person who actually likes to study and do homework - actually likes it - will be happy at Caltech.
Good luck!
P.S. Parents: I did not “help” either of my children with the admission process. If your child is able to thrive in a high quality institution, then they are able to apply on their own and write their own essays. That’s my opinion anyway. (I didn’t help them with their homework, either!) </p>

<p>NWParent, I’m glad you posted your comments. I have two kids, with the older one in second year at Stanford and the younger one just accepted early to Caltech. My sense is that Caltech would be much more of a stretch academically than Stanford or the UC’s. I’ve encouraged our son to visit all of the schools under consideration before making his final decision. So far, his heart is set on Caltech. My concern is there are alot more super smart genius types concentrated at Caltech. I’d like for him to have time to socialize and not be studying around the clock to keep up in his classes. What has been your experience? </p>

<p>I met regular kids at Caltech. Many get involved in sports or student council or House committees. Being a small school has a lot of advantages. My son did major ECs every year… He was definitely not a study all the time person. </p>