What can I do?

Colleges & Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
1

<p>I'm a white male, both parents born in Iran.
I learned Farsi before English, but now my English is stronger.
I attend Phillips Academy, Andover as a new 10th grader. My previous school was Lynnfield High, where I was ranked 1 of ~130 with a GPA of 4.518.</p>

<p>My courses right now and my grades (on a 6-point scale):</p>

<p>........................................Fall...... Winter...Spring (What I currently have)
Honors AP BC Calculus............6...........5..........6
AP Chemistry.........................5..........5.... ......6
Second Year French...............5...........6..........6
English.................................6......... ..5.......(no grades yet)
(The Required Course
for 10th graders)
History.................................4......... ..-..........-
( A one term requirement
for 10th graders)
Human Nature.......................-.............4.........-
(Same as History)
P/E (Requirement)..................-............-..........P
Computer Programing
(1 term in Java).....................-............-...........6</p>

<p>My advisor told me after fall term that there were seven 10th graders (out of about 280) with a 6.0, unweighted (I had 5.5 unweighted).</p>

<p>Taking AP and SAT II's in both Math and Chemistry this year.</p>

<p>Next year I'm taking a six-course load with two AP's. I'm pretty much taking the toughest courses I can. My schedule next year looks like this:</p>

<p>Linear Algebra and Mutlivariable Calculus
AP Physics (W/ spring elective for Quatum Mechanics and Relativity)
Third Year French
English (The one for 11th graders)
AP Computer Programing
Molecular Biology Laboratory Research (Fall)
Molecular Biology Independent Research (Winter)</p>

<p>E.C.'s</p>

<p>Cross Country/Indoor Track/Outdoor Track (Not that good though)
Math Club (Got 106.5 and 113.5 on AMC 10, did well on other tests, too)
Chess Club
Ping Pong Club
Andover Astronomical Society (VERY small club)
Debate Team (Not a regular member though)</p>

<p>I like to program. I'm very good at QBasic, learning C++ outside school.</p>

<p>I'm currently working on a website for a small business
Preliminary Site at <a href="http://www.gis.net/%7Earash/Edge/%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.gis.net/~arash/Edge/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I'm hoping to enroll in the NASASHARP program next summer.
<a href="http://www.nasasharp.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.nasasharp.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I've haven't taken any real SAT's, but I did take a practice one on my computer a while back and got 790 math and ~630 verbal (I know I need to work on this).</p>

<p>I want to get accepted in Caltech. What do they look for?</p>

2

<p>Get some research going. The molecular bio stuff looks useful, as will NASA SHARP if you're accepted.</p>

<p>On a note completely unrelated to your chances of getting into Caltech but related to your chances of being killed and eaten if you ever visit, QBasic is not a programming language, and MS FrontPage is not an HTML editor. :P</p>

3

<p>
[quote]
I'm hoping to enroll in the NASASHARP program next summer.
<a href="http://www.nasasharp.com%5B/url%5D%5B/quote%5D"&gt;www.nasasharp.com

[/quote]
</a></p>

<p>Don't count on a NASA SHARP acceptance too much. Your status as a white male will really hurt you and NASA SHARP doesn't evaluate applicants solely on merit as I've seen stronger applicants rejected (even RSI acceptees) in favor of weaker ones. But there are plenty of other great ones: RSI, SSP, HSHSP, UFlorida SSTP, etc..</p>

<hr>

<p>Also, as you will be attending a prep school, your courses in multivariable calculus and linear algebra won't mean that much more than a person at a public school taking Calc BC (Caltech cares quite a lot about academic ambition and taking multivar when it's so easy to do so at a prep school won't mean that much). You'll have to show independence and passion in science that distinguishes you from other prep school applicants. Science competitions (especially the olympiads) and research should distinguish you.</p>

4

<p>yeah...i did sharp last year and it really was a mixed bag of students. all very good at the roles they were placed in, though, so...:)</p>

5

<p>I disagree with Simfish on his analysis that you taking mv calc/linear algebra only means as much as someone at public taking BC. Just the fact that you go to a very rigorous prep school, which I believe has merit based admissions, speaks highly to your academic qualifications. While it doesn't show the "going above and beyond" that someone who ahd to go to a local college to take those classes does, it does demonstrate strength in math, which is absolutely a good thing.</p>

<p>Just as everyone else said: do research. If you do it, and you like it, you're likely to like Caltech. If you do it and decide science isn't for you... well, it saves you a lot of time. If you don't do it, then we don't know which of the two groups you would fall in.</p>

<p>Galen</p>

6

<p>All of you say "do research" as if it were that simple. Well, is it?</p>

<p>I suppose when I think of research, I think of professors at a multi-million dollar facility working on projects that are at the very edge of their field—i.e., something that can't be done by somebody without the lab. Is this the correct, or is there also a more basic aspect to research? I suppose an example of this would be "data mining," or using already published textbooks and sources to compile a collaborative paper. I can read through ArVix for hours at a time, so I really hope it is the latter. :)</p>

<p>I suppose I'm somewhat confused about what research actually is, and how I would get started. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.</p>

7

<p>I thought up and executed a research project completely on my own, and I almost went to ISEF. My state fair only sends 2 people. Both had worked with professors in labs, and one had just followed a professor's instructions. So yeah, I have some grievances about what it takes to do good research. From what I've seen, it seems to be mostly about getting connections with the right people.</p>

<p>However, getting those connections usually involves merit. For example, I can now probably use my independent project to get connections. </p>

<p>Note: I was waitlisted by Caltech.</p>

8

<p>Oh, so going to private prep schools does really help. I always thought that "going above and beyond" was Caltech's primary factor in admissions, provided that the applicant was academically qualified and that more was expected out of prep school applicants (true to some extent, but not overly so). On the other hand however, it's probably less of a factor for prep schools because it's much harder to go above and beyond in prep school with more homework and advanced courses.</p>

<p>Getting started on research almost always involves the help of a professor and is usually easiest with a summer program such as HSHSP/UFlorida SSTP. If you're really really into a particular topic and know enough about it to suggest a novel but not overambitious idea such as one Siemens semifinalist I know, then it involves getting started and e-mailing a professor primarily for the lab space.</p>

9

<p>So how exactly did you get the bio. research? Is there any chance of such a thing around the Chicago area?</p>