<p>I am posting this because I am extremely grateful to this community for helping me as I stressed over college apps for the past year.</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted </p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2280
[</em>] ACT (breakdown): 35
[<em>] SAT II: 800 Math, 800 Physics
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.95 (even one B :O)
[<em>] Weighted GPA: 4.7
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10% (probably top 1-2%)
[<em>] AP (place score in parentheses): US History, World History, English Comp, Calc BC, Physics, Computer Science (all 5s)
[</em>] IB (place score in parentheses):
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load: MultiVar Calc at community college and a bunch of APs
[</em>] Number of other applicants in your school: 11
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): published paper in my major at a major conference
[/ul]
Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): die-hard CS commitment, a lot of CS competitions, research over the summer at a university, soccer and other sports since I was really young, a lot of other activities which are less important by I love doing
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: programming job at small local company during my senior year while I was taking college classes, studying for SATs, and writing far too many college apps
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: over 125 hours (experiences shaped who I am and tied in well with what I want to do in the future with CS to not just make cool products, but improve lives)
[/ul]
Writing:[ul]
[<em>] Essays (Include Subjects): 9/10 all about different aspects of CS that I love and how CS has shaped the person that I have become and the person that I aspire to be.
[</em>] Common App Main: 10/10 I wrote about a specific CS idea that I have become inspired to spend my life creating after I did service abroad over last summer. (To future applicants, I think that it is extremely important that you are specific about how what you have done in high school connects to the person that you want to become with the help of a Caltech education.)
[<em>] EC Short Answer: 9/10 about how I have failed countless times in my life, but that I have been determined to turn each of these failures into a success.
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation #1: History Teacher 9/10 (It showed that I was more than the mindless robot that my CS-focused ECs might suggest I am. He told me he talked a lot about our inside jokes and how I had the potential to become a great leader with interpersonal skills.)
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation #2: 8/10 Math Teacher (He thought I was smart, but I am by no means the best math student at my school.)
[</em>] Counselor Rec: 7/10 (He told me Im one of the top kids at my school, but he doesnt know about much of the CS stuff I do outside of school)
[<em>] Additional Rec: 10/10 Professor I did research with (Over the summer, I was determined to be the last person to leave her lab every night. She knows that I was able to get where Im at because I work my butt off, not because Im wildly brilliant.)
[</em>] 2nd Additional Rec: 10/10 CS mentor (told me that I was one of the best students he’s ever had and knew that I was determined to do something great with my life) P.S. Don’t be afraid to turn in additional recs if they show something different about you. I turned in 5 recs total and it worked out fine.
[<em>] Art Supplement:
[</em>] Research Supplement: my Siemens paper, which ironically got denied from Siemens 
(every failure can become a success)[/ul]</p>
<p>Other[ul]
[<em>] Date Submitted App: Last day possible
[</em>] State (if domestic applicant): AZ
[<em>] Country (if international applicant):
[</em>] School Type: Large Public
[<em>] Ethnicity: White
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>] Income Bracket: 100k
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none at all
[/ul]</p>
<p>Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: strong CS focus, recs showed I was determined and a person not a robot
[</em>] Weaknesses: SATs and stats
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I showed that I am passionate about using my strengths to make the world a far better place and that Im willing to work damn hard to get there.
[</em>] Where else have you been accepted/deferred/rejected: Berkeley
[li] What would you have done differently?: nothing at all… except probably not stressed so much for 30 minutes before nervously opening up my decision.</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Other Factors:
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations, etc: I am confident that the reason I got in to Caltech is that I have spent my life doing what I absolutely love–computer science–not what my parents or others have told me I needed to do to get into a great college. I hope that any future applicants reading this will see that you do not need to get a perfect SAT score or spend your entire life studying for tests to get into a great school like Caltech. Just spend your time doing what you absolutely love and success will soon follow. Congrats to everyone else who got in, and with any financial aid luck, maybe Ill be joining you next year :)))))).</p>