I’m a Brazilian Girl. I love computer science (and thats what I want to major at). I’m in an American high school since beginning of my junior year. I came here mostly because I want better opportunities to study CS than I had in Brazil. I have 5 or 6 games in App Store, including one I worked on for over a year just because I wanted to make it and I really enjoy working on it. I like challenges in general, my favorite classes are usually the most difficult ones I’m taking (the easy ones tend to be boring and repetitive). I enjoy school (at least the most part of it).
Why would/wouldn’t Caltech be a good choice for me? (apart from their great rank)
Caltech is an incredibly hard, zero bs school. It takes seriously superior brains, incredible work ethic, sweat (and maybe a few tears) do well there. The people admitted are usually very dedicated STEM students, most of them bonafide geniuses. Pursuing a STEM major in any top college is a challenging path and you will have to work super hard, but i have always thought Caltech is a notch up in terms of how challenging it is and the sheer level of intellect of the students. If you are truly exceptional and seriously up for the challenge than Caltech would be a great option for you.
What are the best opportunities for this areas? What specific programs?
First, you have to get in. Caltech’s acceptance rate is less than 10%.
Second, you have to be able to afford it. The full sticker price is over $60K/year.
Admission is need-aware for international students. For 2014-15, only 21 international Caltech students received financial aid. I believe that number was for all undergrads, not just entering freshmen.
You also probably would want to be fully committed to a STEM major. Although Caltech does offer a few humanities/social science majors, it’s a STEM-focused institution. Your classmates won’t have as great a variety of academic interests as you’d find at most research universities or LACs that are equally (or nearly as) selective. The CS department at Caltech won’t necessarily be stronger than it is at some of those schools.
If you can get in, afford the net price, know what you want, can handle the work, and would enjoy such a small STEM-focused environment, then it could be a great choice.
You’re not getting into Cal with those scores.
OP, it’s obvious that you’re a good student. But I agree with @“Erin’s Dad” - you won’t get into Caltech. The average SAT math score for Caltech is 800. It’s just super selective. But the good news is that for CS you have plenty of other excellent options - I wouldn’t say Caltech is the best place to go for CS anyway.
The list you posted elsewhere, including Caltech, is very reach-driven.
@Penn95 is absolutely correct.
Not only that, you do realize that it is a very small school? The students are driven, and the campus looks empty because everyone is in their rooms or labs studying or researching something.
If you want any kind of a social life, that aint happening at Caltech.
Because Caltech does not provide "meals"on the weekends, you will be walking to Lake Avenue every Saturday and Sunday to get your meals. That’s about it for social life.
Oh, and with your SAT scores, you are NOT getting in.
The Tech’ers are borderline geniuses.