Michael Woods

yosephyoo,

It's possible that the math club doesn't publicize much anymore, but they definitely have connections to a large variety of math competitions. Some of those competitions just take place at West during lunch, and some of them are regional things.

Yeah, Ms Yoo was there when I was. She might even remember me.

I definitely did Academic Decathlon. Back when I was at West, I basically did every academic competition that the school had available, and started a few extras. I don't know how active the math/science clubs are anymore, but if you'd like to help make them more active, I can dig up all of the links to the different competition websites for you.

Acadec does take up a lot of time. It's very rewarding, but it can easily eat up 4-6 hours a day. Definitely worth it, though.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

yosephyoo

snowcapk: My current plan is to take Calc AB and Intro to Physics over the summer at Harvard. Then, I'm going to take Calc BC and Physics AP at school. (Would I be taking Physics twice then?) I'll take other math classes during my junior summer and senior year. Should there be any changes to my plans?

yosephyoo

Michael Woods: Could you tell me how acadec was worth it? I've been asking members of acadec and have heard good things. I just want to hear your opinion though. I'm leaning toward joining acadec at the moment. I'm haven't been able to look into math or science club because it's spirit week (and I'm in student council), but will make sure to do so.

Michael Woods

yoseph:

Acadec will push you to excell to a level quite unlike anything else you'll find at West. If you work hard enough to place as one of the county champions, then you'll end up finding your limit, and having had to push past it. You'll extend yourself, and what you're capable of. That, in and of itself, is a very valuable thing to do, and not something that you have the opportunity to try every day.

That will also help you decide whether or not Caltech is for you. Really, the only thing at West that even approaches Caltech in intensity is Acadec. The main difference is that Caltech is four years long without any real breaks. If you love Acadec (it's not enough just to like it, or to just be able to get by), and you truly feel alive in an irresistable way by pushing yourself to your limits and beyond, then you'll know that Caltech might be for you.

In any case, it's the sort of thing that leaves you with stories to tell years down the line, and those sorts of things are always worthwhile.

annah

that's not true, I'm a cheerleader and party ALOT, and I think I have a pretty good chance of getting in to Caltech

annah

I mean, in reply to whoever said caltechers were losers in high school

*Brahmin

Hey, I am an international student, who got waitlisted and I'm really hoping to get into Caltech.
But really how hard is Caltech? I know the students are like mini-geniuses. I really do want to go to Caltech but the academics do freak me out. In one side, I am absolutely excited that I will spend the next four years with people so smart for the next four years and teachers who do what they do with passion. And I am hungry to study engineering, math and science with rigor to the absolute level. But what if it just turns out to be hell? Struggling to attain even a B in the classes. Is the academics just gonna suck everything out of you. I am like one of the best two in my class for math physics and chem. And us two beat everyone else by far. I'm prolly like the best overall academic boy in my school. It's pretty big, the class of 2008 is like 100.
I'm just looking for first hand info, from someone who was really good at school and how he/she is doing at Caltech. And maybe a sentence or two about how good he/she were, like winning this competition or something? Thanks

fizix2

^Here are the problem sets for Math 1a and Phys 1a. If you can do these, you're in good shape. If you can't, remember they're designed to be done with collaboration.
[Ma1a - Fall 06-07] - Calculus of One and Several Variables
Physics 1A: Quiz Problems and Final Problems

Michael Woods

To be fair, Ph1a is pretty universally considered to be one of the easiest core classes.

Antiquark

Keep in mind that if you have a weaker science background than most Caltech freshmen, the first two terms (during which everyone will be taking close to the same schedule) are on pass/fail, which gives you time to even the playing field without a lot of stress over grades. I seriously struggled with passing Ch 1a, Ma 1a, and Ph 1b, and I'm now doing well in one of the harder majors here (physics) with a good GPA and cool research, looking to get into top grad schools. What's important is that you make sure that you *learn* the material reasonably well even when you're not getting a grade for a class. Also, absorbing the intelligence of your brilliant peers over the course of two terms helps a lot.

*Brahmin

Considering that gatech and Caltech are both in the top 5 US engineering universities, if someone is among the top in gatech, will he/she also be close to that type of standing in Caltech? Would it be fair to say that the academics and curriculum is equally difficult but it's a stronger student body your comparing youself with? Are the students in Caltech just way smarter than those in gatech?
Which would be better in the long run....being average in Caltech or among the best in gatech?

RacinReaver

You'd be better being at whichever school you fit in more at.

I also don't imagine you'd magically go from middle of the road at Caltech to top of the pile at GaTech. I'm sure you wouldn't be the only kid at Tech to turn to MIT/Stanford/Berkeley/Caltech/other big name school to go to somewhere not as well known so they can try to be top of the roost.

Antiquark

The best students at GaTech are no doubt just as good as Caltech students. That said, Caltech's baseline is pretty high, possibly the highest in the world in science fields. If you want to go by SATs, Caltech's 25th percentile in math is 770 while GaTech's 75th percentile is just 730. That said, you shouldn't really pick a school just because you think you'd get a higher GPA at it compared to another. Also, you would not have been admitted if someone didn't think you could succeed here.

The similarities between Caltech and GaTech end at them both being well-known tech schools. GaTech is huge, and has mostly students from Georgia. Caltech is tiny and has a lot of students from all over the country. Caltech has pretty unique undergraduate culture. Caltech is very science/theory focused, while GaTech is almost entirely engineering focused. Do you like science and math a lot in addition to engineering? Caltech might be better for you. All Caltech students have to take physics through quantum mechanics and math through differential equations. As an engineer, you're going to have to take three years of math past AP Calculus here as an undergraduate. Do you like the House system from what you've seen of it? If you don't want to take too much science or cost is a huge issue, GaTech might be a better.

*Brahmin

Antiquark, your name says it all, haha no Caltech has always been a dream, I do love science in addition to engineering, I'm just trying to put it in perspective.

sdkdol

I think Caltech's admission criteria are significantly different than that of HSPY and even MIT. They seem to look for the "potential genius" and passion for science/engineering. For example (just a basic one), if you look at their stats on US New, Caltech has the highest SAT scores, but compared to the other top schools, the percent in the top 10 percent in high school is much lower.

While high school GPA shows hard work and dedication, test scores show more of an person's potential. Like that slacker who has a 2.4 GPA but can get a 2399 on his SAT compared to the hard worker with a 4.0 GPA but only gets a 1001 on his SAT. These are highly exaggerated examples, but in this case, Caltech would be more likely to accept the slacker.