Official Caltech Class of 2016 EA/RD Decisions Thread

eeforme
Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:17:39 +0000

Accepted

Stats:[ul]
[]SAT: 2250 (did not send)
[]SAT II: 800 MII, 800 Physics
[]ACT: 35C 36E 35M 34R 36S 11W
[]GPA: 4.0 UW
[]Rank: 1/29
[]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP Comp. Sci. A 5 (self-study)
[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[]Essays: Probably 2nd- or 3rd-best of all the colleges I applied to. Common App main: insights on my rural upbringing. Additional Common App: ISEF abstract & coding project URL. Wrote a poem for the “keywords” short answer. Ethical dilemma was on a schedule conflict between track and science fair.
[]Teacher Recs: A+, both of them. At a small school, your teachers know you really well.
[]Counselor Rec: ^same. Talked about how I’ve taken initiative through the local junior college to make up for my school’s complete lack of AP/IB/etc.
[]Supplementary Material: Sent one additional LoR from the chair of the recycling nonprofit I cofounded.
[]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, International Olympiads): I’d be fairly competitive on Caltech’s track team, lol. Rural area? Neither is really a hook.
[/ul]Personal[ul]
[]Location: Mountain plains region
[]High School Type: Small public
[]Ethnicity: White
[]Gender: Male
[/ul]Other[ul]
[]Extracurriculars: Varsity football 9th-11th, basketball 9th-11th, track 9th-12th. Worked at an ag. research center 9th-11th. Cofounded recycling nonprofit. Computer & tech support volunteer. Various other things.
[]Awards: NMF, Coca-Cola Scholar, ISEF Finalist, 2nd & 3rd place state Quiz Bowl, state track (800m & 800m relay).
[]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: From the Caltech tour I attended, the words of a senior adcom: “We want the best brains.” Caltech’s admissions process is more meritocratic than virtually every other college’s. Be sure to read Michael Woods’s thread in this forum if you haven’t already.
[li] Where else have you been accepted/rejected?: In at MIT and my four in-state picks. Still waiting on word from Harvard, Stanford, and Berkeley.[/li][/ul]