Accepted
Stats:
SAT:2380 (one sitting)
SAT II: 800 Math 2, 800 Chemistry, 750 Physics
ACT: N/A
GPA: 4.523 weighted
Rank: 2
Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP Chemistry (5), AP Statistics (5), AP English Lang (5), AP US History (5), AP World History (4)
Subjective
Essays: Just tried to be really honest about love for competition and science and pursuit of knowledge. The “three STEM experiences” short answer and the “how will Caltech help you realize your dreams” were probably the clincher for me. And I joked a bit!
Teacher Recs: My physics teacher gave me a pretty solid rec, I think. My APUSH teacher told me he went all out though!
Counselor Rec: My counselor wrote a really long recommendation. I think it was good.
Supplementary Material: N/A
Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): Student from disadvantaged region of US
Personal
Location: GA
High School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: F
Other
Extracurriculars: Aquarium volunteer, math tutor, leadership positions in NHS, Student Gov, Academic Decathlon. Did a lot of State Science Fair stuff and research on my own!
Awards: State Science Fair Fourth Honors, regional Science Fair best in categories in computer science, AP Scholar, just a lot of regional/state small things
Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: Definitely with the essays, I wished I’d taken more time to write them, because I could’ve developed them further. And I’d only take up until precalculus when I applied, so I thought I was pretty much done for. But the main thing is to give admissions a clear idea of the person you are. Talk about your passion for science, talk about what makes you geeky and nerdy and be completely unabashed. Congratulations to all who got in, and may everyone else get into other great schools!