Don’t they prioritise the top students or smth?
How many MIT undergrads have a DARPA Research grant?
Zero. DARPA regulations require a proposal’s Principal Investigator to hold a permanent or tenure-track faculty position, or a senior research appointment. They, not you, get the grant.
1 Like
No. Good manners. Positive attitude. Low ego. And sometimes weird things- like being proficient programming in a statistical package that the other four students applied had to say “I don’t know it but I know I can learn it in ten minutes”. Or being available late Sunday nights when the others aren’t. Or having Aced your poli sci class last semester where you wrote a paper on a topic that the PI found fascinating and decided he wanted to have you around. You have no control over what the interview questions will be. Maybe the head of the lab loves music and when she asks “what do you do to relax” and you tell her you’re in an informal ensemble which plays Bach and Handel she decides “you’re in”. Or you bond over your skill at trivia competitions.
They are building a team, not racking and stacking.
Noice. If I get in, I will decide the curve, not get decided by the curve.
The funding hasn’t come thru yet, has it? And you are part of a team, it’s not you as an individual. Get this right on your app. I can not stress that enough.
Further, you don’t know if the funding comes thru whether you will meet the security clearance hurdles that the entire team may have to abide by. Internationals fall off these teams all the time because of security clearance issues. I do wish you good luck, and I hope things turn out the way you want them to. I am also out of this thread now too.
Let’s hope your recommendations use the words “humility” a lot. Because when you are at a university where the LITERAL inscriptions at the top of a building include Galileo and Sir Isaac Newton, you’d better believe they are screening for the recognition that you are standing on the shoulders of giants.
2 Likes
I think this is a very nice post. It’s related to someone dreaming of Cal Tech. MIT has tye apply sideways blog. This is similar.
Anyway nothing is being accomplished here. Please come back after you get your decisions and let us know how you did.
Dear @bookgnome:
I’m glad that youre enthusiastic about what you’re learning in high school but you also need to have a good perspective about who you are
The reason @tsbna44 and @DadOfJerseyGirl have tagged me is because my son applied and was admitted to Caltech.
He was admitted to every school he applied to but I don’t remember him ever being in any STEM competitions.
The first thing I want to tell you is that Caltech is a research institution. I don’t know if you understand what that means right now.
Students who go to Caltech tend to have a goal of conducting research in a specific area of expertise.
It is not a regular university setting. Every year Caltech selects and admits about 200+ students and all of those students are unique in every study. area that you can imagine, but they plan on continuing their careers into their PhD’s and RESEARCH.
It is a research institution.
The professors lecture the course material and that’s it. They go back to their offices and labs and conduct research.
Your freshman classes are taught by graduate students. Your grades are scored by graduate students.
Your research is conducted in your room or your space in a library. These are focused students that are doing research nonstop.
Your weekends are spent doing homework for your courses. One math problem can take nine hours.The students order from DoorDash and Uber eats because they don’t have time to go to school eateries. They have to finish their work.
So what did our son do to get into Caltech,
besides the perfect SAT score and the perfect great point average?
He loved being a high school student.
He had fun and enjoyed his time there! He is an avid reader and writer in all genres.
Took courses that he was required to take but also took “fun” classes.
He was respectful and kind to everyone he met (per staff, student and parent feedback).
He participated in multiple sports and was selected as team captain by his teams several years in a row.
He entered Boy Scouts in first grade and became an Eagle Scout while in high school school. (He designed and built a storage shed, with advice from 3 contractor uncles, for the HS Tennis team.)
He followed his elder sisters on Saturdays to their violin lessons, and he picked up a violin, eventually, started attending classes in violin.
He helped his classmates with their “new” clubs when they needed staffing.
Bought lunch for new students, who had transferred into the school, and continued lunches with them because he didn’t want them to “feel differently” and then he introduced them to other trusted friends and students.
(Leads came from the Principal and staff)
He was never president or an officer in a club.
He worked as a busboy at the local zoo during his summers.
He volunteered at the food bank since middle school and learned how to use a pallet jack.
Liked riding a bike.
Mostly, he just followed what his sisters did and enjoyed being a kid.
Majored in CS Engineering. Works for a large corporation and is young but extremely well respected per his work group and bosses I’ve met at social functions.
My advice: please don’t burn out.
You only live once and do HS once.
You need to have non academic activities to help you balance your life when hard times happen.
Caltech is tough. What happens when you don’t get in? It is very expensive to attend.
3 Likes
You mean when you get in. Be positive.
2 Likes
Prithee.
Kinda says that in my rec letter from the PI.
Your recommenders shared their letters with you?
1 Like
Yes. Or at least, what they would say.
Since it appears nothing new can come of this conversation, this thread will automatically close in 30 minutes.
8 Likes
I am named after one of them funnily enough.
Kinda hoping its Isaac and not a part of this one: Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de’ Galilei
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 31 minutes. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.