<p>“Stop trying to maintain super high A’s, and focus on exploring other things. You’re just setting yourself up to get knocked down really really hard if you come to MIT/Caltech (unless you are the rare diamond-in-the-rough IMO Gold Medalist type”</p>
<p>I disagree with this. The best strategy for doing well at MIT/Caltech would be to get super-high A’s and try to get some other enrichment in math/physics (summer programs, math/physics team competitions.) I knew a guy who is now a member of the Advanced Institute of Study that did every problem in the calculus book in high school (as well as all problems in the abstract algebra book.) He probably would have gotten 100% anyway in his high school classes, but he did it to solidify his fundamentals even further. </p>
<p>If you’re applying to MIT and Caltech, probably math and physics come easily to you. However, the more automatic things become through practice, the easier high level thinking will be.</p>