Prospective Student

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
1

<p>Hi, I used to post here as adidasty, biomaster, etc. etc. and I'm applying EA to Caltech/MIT. I come from a school with terrible opportunities and I really just had to make the best of what was dished to me (I made a big point about this in my application.) I have medium/below-average SAT scores for Caltech and okay SAT 2 scores but my real question is about my AP exams.</p>

<p>There are only a few offered at my school and so I took the initiative (thinking it would be interesting to learn more about science) and self-studied a couple of AP tests. I included all scores on my application. Will this hurt me drastically?</p>

<p>I understand my stats are a little subpar but I really do have a passion for science. I actually did find a great research program this summer (I am very grateful) and got to do some medical research on magnesium testing. I hope that that will stand out on my application. I really hope my application will be taken in context and that they realize that going to the IMO or getting some fantastic MIT research opportunity would have been nearly impossible in my situation.</p>

<p>If anyone could evaluate how well prepared I am for Caltech and other opinions, here are my actual stats:</p>

<p>SAT I- 780M, 690V, 740W</p>

<p>SAT II- 800 IIC, 800 Bio M, 740 IC</p>

<p>AP Scores: </p>

<p>AP Biology- 5
AP Calculus BC- 5
AP Chemistry- 3
AP Psychology- 5
AP U.S. History- 3
AP English Language- 5
AP Environmental Science- 3
AP Spanish Language- 4</p>

<p>USABO Semifinalist
98.5 AMC, School Winner
Nat'l Merit Commended Scholar
Captain of Kerman High Math Team
4 year team member- KHS JV/Varsity Soccer
(Lots of volunteer hours at local hospital as a Spanish/English translator)</p>

<p>Taekwondo for 10 years- medals at state, nat'l levels </p>

<p>CSU Bakersfield Math Competition- 2nd Place Team, Hon. Ment. Individual, Hon. Ment. Proof Competition </p>

<p>AP Scholar With Distinction </p>

<p>Academic Decathlon team captain </p>

<p>Proficient jazz trombone/guitar/piano player- various soloing and improvisation awards, namely at University of Nevada, Reno Jazz Festival </p>

<p>Research (not including independent research projects):
"An Evaluation of the Clinical Appropriateness and Economic Costs of Routine Serum Magnesium Testing" </p>

<h2>with UCSF-Fresno Biodmedical Summer Program (I explained this in more detail and also my independent projects.)</h2>

<p>Other Info
AP Scores: </p>

<p>AP Biology- 5
AP Calculus BC- 5
AP Chemistry- 3
AP Psychology- 5
AP U.S. History- 3
AP English Language- 5
AP Environmental Science- 3
AP Spanish Language- 4</p>

<p>Any input appreciated! Thanks!</p>

2

<p>I'm just surfing around the different boards, but FWIW, read what Ben Golub wrote about AP scores in this</a> post. You might want to leave those 3's off of your application</p>

3

<p>In the little "comments" section at the end of the application, you may want to point out that your school has a limited science program and that you independently took your education farther. I also recommend leaving the 3's off, especially the chemistry one.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the input.</p>

<p>I already sent in my Part 2 application. I know my counselor is making sure that he mentions the weakness of our AP classes in the secondary school report. Would it be good if he mentioned the fact that only 3 students in the history of our school have passed the examination in chemistry?</p>

<p>I mean, understanding that Caltech routinely sees higher scores, I don't think I should be disappointed with my score of "3" coming from a school where people don't really pass AP exams. I feel confident that if I had an awesome chemistry teacher who covered all the subjects, I could do just as well in chemistry as anyone else, but that just wasn't the case. For me, the most nervewracking part about admissions is that I fear I will not get an opportunity to go to an awesome place like Caltech due to my sub-average scores when compared to the applicant pool. I feel that if I had been raised in a place that even knew what the AMC or USABO exam was (I started both of those programs at my school) then I'd be as competitive as anyone else.</p>

<p>It sometimes makes me chuckle: When I read about students' achievements from TJHSST and other more well-known schools, I don't feel as if I'm any less able or competent in the sciences than they are; I just have to accept that I landed at Kerman High School (where the opportunities simply don't exist) instead of TJHSST. I think I made the best of my opportunities here, and I guess, circumstantially, that's the best one can do, right?</p>

<p>Thanks again for the advice.</p>

5

<p>"It sometimes makes me chuckle: When I read about students' achievements from TJHSST and other more well-known schools, I don't feel as if I'm any less able or competent in the sciences than they are; I just have to accept that I landed at Kerman High School (where the opportunities simply don't exist) instead of TJHSST. I think I made the best of my opportunities here, and I guess, circumstantially, that's the best one can do, right?"</p>

<p>Though it doesn't really make me chuckle, I do feel your pain. Even though my school is moderately sized (1700, up from 1400 when I was frosh), there is virtually no easily accessible opportunities. I keep hitting myself over the head for not thinking of the college search process any earlier, but over here the mantra is to wait until the end of Junior year to really start thinking about college. I had never even heard of the International [subject] Olympiads, RSI, AMCs, AIMEs... etc until this year, when I noticed them listed on Caltech's and MIT's web pages.</p>

<p>Thankfully I was able to accelerate my math earlier, and so I am sitting decently at the moment (though I'd say horribly compared to some of the listings I'm seeing here).</p>

<p>If anyone wouldn't mind, perhaps evaluating my chances for a school like Caltech? I don't mind if you're brutally honest and say I won't get in. After browsing these forums, I do have to say that I'm not as optimistic as I once was. :P</p>

<p>GPA: 4.2 Weighted, 4.0 Unweighted (straight A's/A+'s)
Class Rank: 1 (no ties) out of roughly 340 (declining steadily from 450 freshman year)
SAT I - 760 Math, 770 Crit Reading, 650 Writing/12 Essay (New SAT) | 750 Math, 660 Verbal (old SAT)
SAT II- 800 Math IIC, 740 Bio M, 710 Literature</p>

<p>AP Scores (all tested May 2005)
AP Biology - 5
AP Calculus AB - 5
AP English Language- 5</p>

<p>Full list of AP courses offered at school:
AP English Language (taken)
AP English Literature (cannot take during scheduled time, instead is enrolling in a similar college course at a local JC)
AP French Language (only did two years of French, stopped to further pursue math courses)
AP Spanish Language (never taken a Spanish class)
AP Biology (taken)
AP Calculus AB (taken; course is hit or miss, depending on demand (very limited); hadn't been offered for 5+ years prior to my Junior year, and isn't offered this year. I consider myself lucky I was able to take it)
AP Statistics (same situation as Calc, hasn't been offered since my Freshman year (obviously couldn't handle it at that time), and hit or miss prior to that)</p>

<p>Activities/EC's:
2006 ASB Director of Finance
President of Madrigals Choir (top tier ensemble), 8 years total in program (5th-6th, Junior High (2), and High School (4); two years in Madrigals)
Founding member of The Silhouettes, and independent Male A Cappella Quartet.
Co-Captain of Dinuba High Mathematics Team 2005 (assume 2006)
4 year Varsity Tennis player (up to #2), 6 years of total playing
-Co-instructed a summer tennis 'camp' for 140+ kids and a handful of adults through a USTA grant and the City of Dinuba Parks and Rec
-Assist in coaching and mentoring the Jr. High tennis team (of which I was an alumnus). Same coach.
-Give private lessons on the weekends for those who desire extra practice.
Certified AVID Tutor, I specialize in mathematics for 11th and 12th graders (typically Algebra II and Trig, though occasionally I'll be working with 9th and 10th in Geometry and Algebra) Tutor daily for an hour and a half in small groups.
Involved in the following clubs: Interact, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Christian Youth Club, Chess Club, Table Tennis Club (Founding member, Treasurer)
Took 5 years of piano lessons from 4th to 8th grade, still play and learn on my own, occasionally playing for our choir.</p>

<p>Employment:
-Summer Job at local cold storage operation (owned by my uncle), anywhere from 30-60 hours a week, performing general palletizing work, as well as some inventory of product, setting up and handling fumigation of stone fruits, and handling paperwork for the shipping of fruit to Mexico and abroad.
-Student Computer Technician for Dinuba Unified School District. During an off-period and after school, I do general servicing of the on-campus computers, as well as assemble new systems for teachers and classrooms. Learning networking while I'm at it, as well.
-Website design. This is kind of a flaky deal, where most of my 'clients' are friends of mine or local organizations, but regardless I do make a little bit of spare cash (what was once my 'gas money', which has now been transformed into 'part-of-my-gas money'). Learning HTML, CSS, Flash, PHP, MySQL along the way.</p>

<p>Academic Distinctions:
-1st in class (undisputed, no ties) for 9, 10, 11 grades (projecting graduating as single Valedictorian)
-California Mathematics Council Recognition for 'Excellence in Mathematics' (I've taken twice as many math courses as my peers, and three times the school requirement, and according to my AP Calc teacher, I make math look 'easy'... haha)
-East Sequoia League Academic All-League team (9, 10, 11, assuming 12th) for Varsity Tennis
-5 Term "White Chevron" receipient (requires 4.0+ GPA) (assuming 7 after I graduate, with an Academic Letter first term for a 4.0+, to make a total of 8, one for every term of my high school career)
-4th Place in top division at Fresno State Mathematics Field Day. Team did not place.</p>

<p>-----THE "NO" SECTION-----
No formal research experience. (I suppose with the Fresno Biomedical Research program just 45 minutes away, I have no excuse, but I really needed the money from a longer lasting and higher paying summer job) Applied half-heartedly to RSI 2005, was denied (didn't have the money to get to MIT, so I just kinda did it to see what would happen, and the results didn't surprise me)</p>

<p>No International anything, no AMC, no AIME... as it happens, I had never heard of them at all until about a month ago (after I had started applying to Caltech and MIT). Our school NEVER has anyone interested (seriously), so naturally they don't promote. In fact, I inquired with my counselor about the AMC's, and she didn't know what they were.
-----END EMBARASSING SECTION-----</p>

<p>Other weird facts that may or may not come in handy:
2002 National Spelling Bee Participant (Tulare County Spelling Bee Champion)
28th place at 2004 National Yo-Yo Contest (32nd at 2003, 72nd at 2002)</p>

<p>About the school: <a href="http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/ca/7437%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/ca/7437&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Most students end up either going to a local community college or not going to college at all. Those that do go to college usually end up at a UC or a CSU here in California. A select few are accepted out-of-state, last year being unusually bright (1 Princeton, 1 Notre Dame, both full rides) If admitted to Caltech, AFAIK, I would be the 2nd person in the history of the school (100+ years) to attend (the first dropped out after frosh year, according to my Algebra II teacher, because of the rigor of the coursework. She did mention to me that I am far more prepared than he was).</p>

<p>The majority of students are on the lower end of the scale as far as academics go. The courses at the school are therefore catered in that direction, with more remedial courses and "college prep" courses offered than Honors and AP courses. The 'Honors' kids (all students that took and passed at least one Honors or AP class with a 'C' or above) make up roughly 3-5% of the student body (my best estimate).</p>

<p>Required Courses for graduation at my high school (I've listed the important ones) are:
Math: 3 courses (must include Algebra II), one must be taken Junior or Senior year. [general route is Algebra I-->Geometry-->Algebra II]
Science: 3 courses - Conceptual Physics-->Chemistry-->Biology
English: 4 years
Fine Arts: 1 year
Social Science: 3 courses - World History-->US History-->Government/Econ</p>

<p>My math courses went as follows:
7th: Honors Pre-Algebra
8th: Honors Algebra I
9th: Geometry P
10th: Algebra II and Functions, Statistics, and Trigonometry
11th: Pre-Calculus and AP Calculus
12th: Independent Study (read: staying sharp) and Calculus II (at local JC)</p>

<p>I took Conceptual Physics in 9th grade, which to me hardly constituted 'physics'. Next semester I'm signed up to take Engineering Physics I (at local JC), which I'm hoping will better prepare me for something like Caltech or MIT. Taking this course meant dropping AP English Lit, which I suppose was ok (admissions at Caltech and MIT both said the same).</p>

<p>Well, I guess that's me, in context as best as I can briefly represent. Thanks to any that respond.</p>

<p>Jared</p>