Cal Tech Young Engineering & Science Scholars Program

taffy · 02-09-2005, 02:55 AM

Hey,
I'm planning on applying to the Cal Tech Summer Program. Has anybody gone?

how did you like it?
whats it take to get in?
do you felt your time was was spent?
what did you do in your free time?
was it pretty much all minorities or were there white kids there too?
what were the other students like, were they open and friendly?

simfish · 02-10-2005, 08:56 PM

Yeah, I'd like to know if it's minority-exclusive or if any non-monorities are allowed under extremely competitive admission as well.

taffy · 02-11-2005, 01:19 AM

the website says they accept all races, but im just wondering if its looked down on, like a white kid stole an underpriveledged kids spot kinda thing.

alleya · 02-11-2005, 01:36 AM

I don't know anything about the YESS program itself, but it looks like you live in the houses during the program. Over the summer, the houses are filled with current Caltech students, students from other universities and even some high school students. So, whether or not they're a part of the same program, you'll be surrounded by students of all races (especially including Caucasians and Asians which are the most well represented groups here).

simfish · 02-11-2005, 08:30 PM

OK. SO I'm a CHinese, both of my parents hold graduate degrees, but I'm still disadvantaged in one way: I have Asperger's Syndrome. If this program wants to recruit students who could benefit, could one group be students with disabilities like Asperger's? If I mention Asperger's, do I need to include the diagnosis letter?

alleya · 02-11-2005, 10:31 PM

By the lack of responses it sounds like no one else surfing this board knows much about this program. You all might want to direct questions to the people listed on the program's contact website:
http://yess.caltech.edu/YESScontact.html

wishful_thinker · 02-13-2005, 11:43 PM

i'm applying to this. i'm wondering if it's even worth my time b/c usually caltech's a "SAT stats" type of place. and if they want a good SAT score above anything else, i'm out.

altairaqua · 02-13-2005, 11:48 PM

I'm applying too... I searched the web (specifically, xanga) for journals and whatnot to read people's thoughts about it; it didn't sound like they thought YESS was a waste of time.

Anyway, the people on the High School Life forum might know more about YESS than the people on this forum.

In any case, good luck with your apps!

djcapelis · 02-14-2005, 04:37 AM

From what I know caltech rejects people with 800s in all sections of their SAT scores all the time.

Caltech is not just about SAT scores. I think the opinion is mostly that you should be able to pass a quiz like the SATs... not that passing it will help you, as much as not passing it is going to hurt.

Don't sweat the SATs, do your best on them, the other stuff is what really matters. There have been plenty of people who have gotten in with lower SAT scores too, so no worries, the average is only about 1500 or so. And seeing as there are plenty of 1600s in that average, then you've got some outliers in the opposite direction as well.

kyshantry · 02-14-2005, 06:02 PM

On the minority front, everyone I know who has done YESS is a minority, but I only know about a half dozen folks who were in it, and then later came to Caltech.

Galen

simfish · 02-14-2005, 07:42 PM

Well - I don't think you necessarily need superior test scores to get into this. From what I see, what you need is to be minority, female, or disadvantaged. If you're none of these... well, I guess you need to be even better than RSI level. MIT MITES (a similar program), which is composed very heavily of women and minorities, does not have people with exceptional test scores - the averages are only in the 600's!

For one thing, all of the program coordinators are minorities, which says something.

I think my only hope is by playing off my Asperger's SYndrome disability and even that may not work. But the application is easy to fill out so why not anyways...

wishful_thinker · 02-14-2005, 10:29 PM

yea i'm a female so that and my classes/grades/awards are all i have going for me. i'm not going to comment on the SAT part of it because i haven't really taken it yet. but i'll probably get a 2000-2100 if i'm lucky. blah.

btw i'm applying to: rsi, yess, nasasharp, ysp (young scholars program at fsu...it's more of a last resort than anything else). i missed mites but that's okay.

altairaqua · 02-15-2005, 04:35 PM

So how are everyone's apps coming along? I'm just waiting for 1 more rec...

taffy · 02-15-2005, 08:00 PM

looks like im not applying... im white... theyre always puttin the white man down

wishful_thinker · 02-15-2005, 08:28 PM

lol don't let that get you down! what's the harm in writing up an appl? i dunno, it'd bug me more if i didn't apply at all than if i got rejected.

appl? lol, i'll be doing that...later.... not yet. i need one more rec anyway. i wonder what he's going to write about me. grrr darn the whole "waive your permission to read" rules.