<p>Quote:
I was about as eager to do all the busy-work like 'bring papertowels to school for points' and 'do this crossword puzzle as part of your final exam' </p>
<p>Quote:
such a personality is a significant plus in applying to Caltech. obviously we think this stuff is ridiculous too, and if you have the appropriate disdain for nonsense, then you are likely to be a Techer at heart.</p>
<p>So if i do the busy work so to speak , how do I show the colleges I am like that?</p>
<p>No particular way. Sometimes it shows through ;-). In your essays mostly, if you can reveal kind of a free spirit, that would help. But you have a while before you have to worry about that, so yay.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
reading Calculus Vol. 1 by Apostol was because I wanted to
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>Why would you possibly want to read Apostol?? I admire your work ethic and dedication to completing arduous tasks, but there's no reason to abuse yourself like that.</p>
<p>
[quote]
What did you do to get in?
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</p>
<p>I dated Ben.</p>
<p>"I dated Ben."</p>
<p>How do you know that's what actually got you into Caltech? Couldn't some other factor(s) have been rather more important? :-)</p>
<p>Perplex- Absolutely not! If I were polytheistic Ben would be one of my minor deities hahaha</p>
<p>New Caltech application question:</p>
<p>"What is your religious preference?</p>
<p>"a. Benism</p>
<p>"b. Other"</p>
<p>Well im going to my hs counseler tommorow. For ap im thinking this. European history ap (sophmore), Bio Ap (sophmore) , US history ap (junior) , Spanish 4 ap ( senior) and calculus ap ( senior) . Would this be good ? Im planning on having 80 hours of community service at the end of my stay in high school (10 per semester) but could go for more. As a club , Im thinking of starting a collection club. We'd meet every week and we would form bonds with collection services such as make a wish , toys for tos , and food share and raise the desired item through the community and school . this would help me for my other club as well (csf the one i mentioned earlier) as I need 10 hours of cs a semester in it. Would this look good? Im am in the aceademy program at my school ( it focuses your classes on your desired subject) and I am specifically in the computer enginering academy. Supposively this looks great on college apps . By the way , I am one of those busy work guys that does the stuff like running too my pe teachers office to get his pencil , or bringing a pencil sharpner to my math class. If on top of all this I keep at LEAST a non weighted gpa of 3.75 what do you think my chances are? And IF I DONT take the AP courses at all (well Im already in the first 2) WHAT are my chances (I mean no AP at all dont count the ones I have this year) ?</p>
<p>
[quote]
By the way , I am one of those busy work guys that does the stuff like running too my pe teachers office to get his pencil , or bringing a pencil sharpner to my math class.
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</p>
<p>Try hard to extinguish this feature. It will dull your mind and make you odious to those around you.</p>
<p>With AP classes, your chances look better, but another AP science would be good. Your chances would be infinitesimal with two AP classes, neither of them math or science. Don't go that route if you are interested in Caltech.</p>
<p>Your focus on community service is not so useful. You seem like you are doing it to fulfill requirements/help get into college. You should know that community service is pretty useless for Caltech, i.e. you get no boost from the mere fact of having done some community service. If your heart is truly in it, and we can see this shows your passion and devotion, of course that would help, but you would need to be a lot more serious about it, and frankly this doesn't make sense if you don't have some very serious intrinsic motivation.</p>
<p>Short version is that community service is overdone, looks like a bald attempt to help your chances, and doesn't help you stand out. If you have some real interest in science or mathematics beyond what your school offers, try to start or join a club with that as a focus. You need to show passion for math and science, in and out of the classroom. If you can't think of a good way to do this, then maybe you should reconsider your college choice.</p>
<p>To get into Caltech, you would need an unweighted GPA pretty close to 4.0 in math and science; a few B's in the humanities would be okay (not great) but science needs to be top notch.</p>
<p>In general, relax a little. Stop running to get other people's pencils and think about what you love and what you want out of life and how to show your passion for whatever that is. Don't focus so much on what to do to get into college -- when you do that so explicitly, it's obvious and colleges will punish you for it.</p>
<p>well the coomunity service is for my csf club so i cant help that. maybe a differnt club though, somehing technology base , such as a video game creation club. in other words , something id love to be a part of , that I do already , but can only get better at. </p>
<p>so you think i should take another ap science class?
also everyone says that summer activites are huge , so what should i do ?</p>
<p>Something involved with science and technology, that shows your passion for these things.</p>
<p>About the video game club, you got exactly the right idea. The goal of all this isn't to do some tiresome activity because you're forced to, but to do something you already love in a more serious and dedicated way. You are too eager to please others. Relax and focus on what you love. That is the true path to success.</p>
<p>Okay i went to my couciler. next year i will be starting a club (most likely a video game design club) .my schedule for my 4 years will look like this:</p>
<p>9th grade
English 9cp
Algebra 1cp
Spanish 1cp
Phy. Science 9cp
PE 9
Health/Carrers/Geography 9</p>
<p>I took World histoy over summer school (between 9-10) </p>
<p>10th grade
English 10cp
Geometry cp
Spanish 2cp
Biology AP
PE 10
Mass Media(art)10</p>
<p>11th grade
English 11cp/ap (not sure until grades come in)
Algerbra 2cp
Spanish 3cp
US history AP (if they accept my petition since I am not in H)
Chemisty 11 cp/ap (depending on grade)
Cisco networking 1 and 2 </p>
<p>12th grade<br>
English cp/ap (depending on grades)
Calculus AP (depending on grades and feelings towards it)
Spanish 4 cp/ap OR A+ PC repair (not sure which Id perfer)
Economics/American politics 12cp
Physics 12cp/ap
Cisco networking 3 and 4</p>
<p>Also all my math, english , and science classes that turn out to be non ap , will be academy classes : everything we do in there has a computer engineering basis. </p>
<p>So what can I do to improve? (ps if you wanna know more about the acedamy just ask.</p>
<p>What do you do in video game design? I've been mapping on UnrealEditor for UT2004 for a couple years now. Are you on unreal engine, or something annoying like radient? (:P)</p>
<p>I create maps and mods for half life 2 and counter strike source. over the summer I am planning on taking online courses for vg deging and programming, so with my club (if it happens) we can create everything from the physics to the levels.</p>
<p>Aww, even worse. :p I can't stand that level editor. Uengine is so smooth and streamlined once you figure out how to not make it crash. :)</p>
<p>Fyi about the club though, it's not likely. Level designers are very far between, it'll be extremely hard finding more than 2-3 people interested, and of those, it's very unlikely that they will have any design knowledge , or any knowledge of the programs or code.</p>
<p>And, for self-pimpage, if you're interested in any of the stuff I've done, here are some screenshots:</p>
<p>Images from an entirely self-made DM:
<a href="http://www.ucmappack.org/ucmpimages/screens/ucmp1/dmcont02.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://www.ucmappack.org/ucmpimages/screens/ucmp1/dmcont02.jpg</a></p>
<p>Images from a CTF/BR map I co-authored with someone on:
<a href="http://www.ucmappack.org/ucmpimages/screens/ucmp2/brsublimity02.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://www.ucmappack.org/ucmpimages/screens/ucmp2/brsublimity02.jpg</a>
<a href="http://www.ucmappack.org/ucmpimages/screens/ucmp2/ctfsub02.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://www.ucmappack.org/ucmpimages/screens/ucmp2/ctfsub02.jpg</a></p>
<p>Anyway, sorry for hijacking the thread. Good luck trying to get the club going.</p>
<p>nice maps. ya hammer O(the hl2 sdk) is very challenging. about the club, i actually know 3 people that would join the club (only 1 has had experience but the other 2 can figure out). I will probably be able to get the club running.</p>
<p>BTW heres a card I made using the sdk , as a get well soon card. its the only image of the maps i have made. </p>
<p>My whole set up is here (go 2 the my room album)</p>
<p>anythoughts? aka bump</p>
<p>built rockets/propulsion systems (rda). worked for jpl. toured with a music group for 2 months (dci). attended a math/science camp for 2 summers. awarded "best research project" (cosmos uci). won county science fair awhile ago. aiaa award. orchestral percussion section leader and in a drumline top 3 in the world (wgi). symphony orchestra/band forever. leader/soloist with western states marching band champion (wba). paid for rocket stuff by doing the videography for weddings. math/science AP's. love music, people, things, rockets, life. best of all.. a LOW SAT score. :)
oh yeah, i did boy scouts for several years but ended up giving them the finger (nearly literally) around the time of their "no-gays in scouting" rule.</p>
<p>most importantly, people need to stand up for what they believe in and what is right (by their standards). doing all the things i have done is great... but the important thing is being strong for other people. without compassion, we are not human.</p>
<p>anyways, i did not end up going to caltech. i let someone else have my spot (withdrew) as i concluded that i would not have been happy there. there's more girls at the claremont colleges anyway. (hmc)</p>
<p>What if I only take 3 ap courses?</p>
<p>if two of the courses are physics and calc bc then that might be enough, but unless you take those two (or IB/college equivalents) it's probably pretty hard to get into caltech.</p>
