Caltech (2022-2023)

[gritty harness]

kinda cool

[lament dew]

caltech is my #1

[versed field]

page icons on notion

my no. 2

[gritty harness]

ohhh ok

[versed field]

but still very good

[languid musk]

Mit Caltech Stanny are my top 3 too

[lament dew]

🧍‍♀️i’m delusional

[versed field]

cuz I know my number 1 gonna rescind me

[versed field]

yooooo

[languid musk]

Lets all be delusional together

[versed field]

nah too much false hope

for me

imma pass

[lament dew]

caltech > mit > princeton = harvard for me rn

[languid musk]

I think after my top 3 you just get an amalgamation of #4 so basically like harvard yale princeton etc

[lament dew]

it’s like

C > HYPM > else

[buoyant grail]

if i got into caltech or stanford i would be fucking ecstatic but i'm also not putting any faith in it happening to prevent myself from being disappointed

[versed field]

1. MIT
2. Caltech & Stanny
3. UC Berk & CMU
4. Harvard
   7 Princeton, Cornell
   9 UChicago
   10 Columbia

(Keep in mind though, this my initial list. For example harvard is prolly a 4 as well now and 10 is yale now not columbia)

[languid musk]

M>C>S>HYP>else

nice

I mean (after I get into literally every school duh) I'm gonna tour etc and make my decision there

[versed field]

I'm too far away from these schools to tour everyone of them lol

then again, not like I will be lucky enough to have a choice

[languid musk]

Yeah caltech is like a 2 hour drive from me lmao

[versed field]

i just need one decision lol

😭

[languid musk]

SD babyy

[versed field]

one acceptance thats not safety and not conditional 😭

[languid musk]

I mean the conditionals were like 90% tho so you should be fine right?

trust it'll be ok

[versed field]

homie hasn't seen the indian education system

[languid musk]

nope lmao

[versed field]

our final grade depends on one single exam

single exam

and I fucked up chem very bad

[languid musk]

bro what

damn

[versed field]

for some context, I find AP Physics C: Mech and AP Physics C: E & M very easy comparatively 😭

[languid musk]

Thats me and bio

[versed field]

Like studying 2 weeks vs. 1 day level of difference

[languid musk]

I can do chem and phys well but holy fuck bio makes me wanna die

[versed field]

Study 2 weeks for the Physics and math exam here, study 1 day before AP there (slightly exxageration but you get my point)

[versed field]

I don't have bio

and never will

[languid musk]

LUCKY

[versed field]

I had chem a while ago and never will

[languid musk]

(comparatively)

[versed field]

lemme send you my question paper, then call me lucky

[languid musk]

ofc I'd rather suck it up in bio than have classes depend on one exam

[versed field]

The MCQs are the easier part of the question paper

What I think the answers are
||1b, , 2d, 3d, 4c, 5c, 6a, 7a, 8a, 9d, 10b, 11a, 12c, 13b, 14d, 15a, 16c, 17a, 18b||

(yes we get to keep our question papers unlike american schools, I aint leaking anything don't worry)

[lament dew]

o c h e m

i thought i didn’t have to do it until i looked at the IB chem book and we’re just criminally behind

we start ochem friday

😕

[rain rivet]

suicidal thoughts are common after a rejection

I remember thinking "i hope i dont wake up"

and waking up and punching my pillow

[versed field]

thats the easy questions of OChem

I fucked it all up 😭

MCQ was the easiest section in my test set

(For context this aint a school level exam but an exam everyone in 12th grade has to take. And our grades are given by this exam not by our schools)

[versed field]

(Common app college info)

[floral silo]

I wish, I'd just autoreject anyone on the A2C discord /s

Anyways best of luck to y'all

[empty wagon]

this isn't that bad

but it's weird bec some of your chem qs aren't in my syllabus but in the bio syllabus

like the alpha glucose bonds

hated that

[versed field]

yes but when I tell you its the easiest part of the exam, I mean the easiest

I think I got 18/18 here

[empty wagon]

show some of the harder ones

[versed field]

but in total I got 45/70 😭

[empty wagon]

this is interesting

[versed field]

Ill have to find my q paper again

[empty wagon]

what board are you doing

[versed field]

let me just send you the sample question paper that they posted online before the exams instead

much easier to show that

[empty wagon]

oks

[versed field]

https://cbseacademic.nic.in/web_material/SQP/ClassXII_2022_23/Chemistry-SQP.pdf

[versed field]

CBSE

[empty wagon]

ahhh

man this month is gonna suck

[versed field]

lol

[empty wagon]

i get back all the actual unis i want to go to now

[versed field]

we have biomolecules in our syllabus for chem

hence

[empty wagon]

yeah i deduced

i dropped bio it was disgusting

[tall fable]

Ig the paper overall is very easy. What they're testing is the breadth of the syllabus you can rote memorize.

[empty wagon]

took up cs instead

[tall fable]

Same

[empty wagon]

i also then regretted taking up cs

had the worst teacher

• all of the theory is genuinely boring

[versed field]

well then I suck at rote memorizing (which probably explains why I do better in physics and maths)

[tall fable]

Ahh yes, I just self studied

[tall fable]

Same lol

[fading harbor]

CS in which board?

[empty wagon]

caie a levels

[fading harbor]

Ohh kk

[finite oriole]

so hmmm guys idk so i have a blog, it isnt very popular or insane or anything and i put a link to that on my common app additional section

today i opened my blog dashboard and

[dense portal]

did berkeley results already come out?? how are you 2027?

[finite oriole]

they release early for people they want to interview for regents

[dense portal]

ahhhh icic

[finite oriole]

I got 7 reads today

unless my blog has secretly been getting popular

someone saw the link on my common app and read it ?

[limber kayak]

HOW DID YOU CHECK THIS @amber flame

was it on slate somewhere ??

[finite oriole]

nah substack

[lament dew]

sounds like me 🤩

[buoyant grail]

naviance, if ur school uses it

if they dont i think nothing happens

[nova dragon]

Not Caltech being extra with the ideal gas law

[tall fable]

What was it last year?

[upper crater]

Yall what time is it

[finite oriole]

dk for sure but most likely bet is 8:31 am pst

[upper crater]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786573863361839115/1082643442410209320/image0.jpg

[lament dew]

its probably either 8:31 or 8:20

everything else makes no sense

[versed field]

the first one is the omst common value

[buoyant grail]

it's 2:30 am because I said so tbh

R = 2:30 now

[lament dew]

true

cant wait

[buoyant grail]

setting my nonexistent alarm to wake up at like 5

[lament dew]

um actually its 10:73 am

[tiny wyvern]

12.08 noon

[amber flame]

naviance

[tall fable]

Late me just realized that 8:314 also embodies pi so Caltech didn't choose chem over math. It chose both

[lament dew]

🥰

[finite oriole]

stop dont make me get attached to caltech, then my rejection will just hit harder

[versed field]

🤨

[tall fable]

I try to avoid it but caltech simping is addictive and contagious ngl

[meager bison]

very much so

[fading harbor]

Caltech 💔

[south junco]

Did everyone get the email

Or is it accepted

[amber flame]

nah

only a select few

[south junco]

So did those ppl get in

[lament dew]

everyone got it

lol

[south junco]

Bro

I didn’t get it

[lament dew]

the release date?

check ur spam

[amber flame]

yeah i'm jp, everyone got it

[south junco]

It’s not in spam

[amber flame]

if you didn't, you should soon

[south junco]

Ok

[full moat]

Was in promotions for me

[lament dew]

the lego essay

[tall fable]

were you deferred rea?

[quiet gorge]

what considers as pity? I have read essays about bullying and low self esteem and if these are things that shape your personality or things that have affected you then you cant just not write about them in your "personal essay" or "tell me about a challenge you have faced" when one the main challenges in your life has been to survive each day at school.

And arent like the whole minority admission based on literally "my life has been sad and hard pls admit me" or just immigrants from war zones etc

[meager bison]

i personally dont think so,
many minority kids, including the ones who flee countries aged 13 or so, sustained some kind of abuse etc should really be looked at and evaluated in a different light, (and no, many minority kids have done great even by objective standards )

[finite oriole]

yo that lego essay is a call out

[lament dew]

targeted at all of the caltech kids

i wanted to write about legos 😭

[finite oriole]

i wrote about paper planes

[lament dew]

that is cool tho tbh even the lego essay is cool

i guess its just rlly common

[quiet gorge]

it's just wack to say that you cant write about what shapes you because it's sad

[lament dew]

110% agree they wouldnt have the challenge prompt if you werent allowed to discuss pity, however it should show reflection and growth

[meager bison]

I just rambled about how i have always wanted to do side gigs as a comedian and ended with " couldnt caltech use a comedian too?"

[lament dew]

like you cant write your ps on how your mom got cancer and never mention yourself at all other than "i was sad" because its genuinely a tragedy but it doesnt show how youll do in college

i think thats more of what they mean

[finite oriole]

i think that once enough people are disengenious about it , it becomes a cliche but yh if it really shaped ur personality your essay would usually stand out

[lament dew]

i definitely put some pity in there

i mentioned how i come from an immigrant family and my mom coped through the cold war by experimenting with soup and then talked about my comforts and vulnerabilities

[quiet gorge]

i literally ended it with ".....if it wasnt for that i would have not have such a low self-esteem" call it pity if you want, it's true accordring to the therapist

[lament dew]

and experimentalism

[finite oriole]

yoo ngl sick move, they look out of their window they see yet another guy crack some math joke amd go yh this plays needs some good humour

[lament dew]

gollum ur a gigachad

they couldnt resist admitting you

but yeah my personal statement was very much so not stem

idrc atp

my app was heavy stem but also i made sure to demonstrate heavy humanities

[quiet gorge]

Just watch me when MIT comes out

[finite oriole]

i was scared this wud make me auto reject

[lament dew]

ur telling me they havent sent ur likely letter yet?

i couldve sworn i emailed mit admissions to autoadmit you

[lament dew]

not at all

on commonapp their slogan is

research driven, change motivated, well rounded, sleep deprived

they have heavy humanities reqs

you have to take x amount of humanities per semester

[quiet gorge]

does MIT even send those mails

[lament dew]

no lol

they dont need to send likelies to get people to come to mit

i dont think caltech does either

[finite oriole]

but they scream STEM

[finite oriole]

gollum gonn reject caltech for mit

[quiet gorge]

me taking philosophy 101 just to qualify for IPO

[lament dew]

no obviously if your app isnt heavy heavy stem tho they will go meh

however you can also have heavy humanitites

it contextualizes you

[tall fable]

sadge

[quiet gorge]

i have better leadership position in political stuff than STEM, red flag

[finite oriole]

my personal statement is not stemmy, but the rest of my app is so STEMMY

[lament dew]

for example i have a shit ton of math classes and astro research, but i also like policy

and art and music

being well rounded is good

you just still have to have the stem there

caltech has polisci

[finite oriole]

my biggest spike is debate but i did a good enough job of linking it back to stem

[tall fable]

my app just had some art portraits in the supplementals. Other than that it was all STEM 😭

[finite oriole]

yoo isnt this like perfect fo you, iirc, you wanted to do astro pol

[lament dew]

yep

[finite oriole]

username checks out

[lament dew]

i did astrophysics + eaps but might switch to astrophysics + polisci

i might do eaps minor

but again also gotta get into caltech first

[quiet gorge]

i just got home from a science fair thingy and 7 of 8 prizes went to biology and medicine

[lament dew]

yeah biochem is heavily represented in science fairs

[finite oriole]

yh bio op ❤️

[quiet gorge]

like literally nobody cares about your proteins just get out

[lament dew]

TRUE

increase astro representation!!!

[quiet gorge]

someone trying to investigate our perception of reality and someone just spits in a petri dish like bruh

[finite oriole]

ouch lol, but tbh i am ver confused i love astro,math,phys,bio everything but chem

[lament dew]

ugh bro caltech needs me on their puzzle team

[quiet gorge]

tbh that's also heavily represented, i saw 5 people doing galaxy stuff

[lament dew]

GALAXY stuff

represent niche astro

[finite oriole]

chem is shit , even the reaction names are shit

[quiet gorge]

it feels like science fairs now days are meant to promote science than actually value it. i saw a sick invention today, he had developed a new water cleaning system and he didnt even quality for Stockholm junior water prize even tho he had won the young innovator of the year because his system was new, good, cheap and sponsored by huge ass companies. The water prize went to someone who had measured how salt affects crops

[lament dew]

cringe

[lament dew]

that is also cringe

[meager bison]

i mean competitive chem is mostly based around learning stuff, but actually chem academia is more significantly more aptitude and logic oriented

[lament dew]

i dont want to simp for caltech harder but like...

their polisci + astrophysics is perfect for me

[versed field]

[edited - redacted]

[edited - redacted]

[lament dew]

i think thats 110% fine to put in additional info

[versed field]

[edited - redacted]

[edited - redacted]

[lament dew]

like theyre talking about personal statements

[versed field]

oh

ohh

my bad

but question still stands

[edited - redacted]

[lament dew]

not unless you significantly significantly dropped

[versed field]

grades in India depend on a single exam but I have a very reasonable explanation (not going in detail but family health crisis)

[lament dew]

like did you go from a 99 to a 50

[versed field]

90s kid to a 80s kid

[lament dew]

ur fine

[versed field]

(could also be 75-80)

[lament dew]

110% fine

[versed field]

for context passing grade in India is a 33%

[lament dew]

yeah ur good

[versed field]

ok cool 👍

[lament dew]

explain that tho

like for me ill probably get all As

[versed field]

my predicted grades say 92-97% 💀

[lament dew]

but theres a chance i could end with a B

and thats fine

[versed field]

But I fucked up my chem exam enough to drop that to 80s

[lament dew]

cus its in art

[versed field]

and if I fuck up another exam its in the early 80s instead of late 80s

[lament dew]

i think youre still fine

[meager bison]

you'll do great dw

[versed field]

coolio

I eidted my messages btw

since I already got a response and dont need too many people to know about whats happening in my irl life atm

incase ur wondering where it went

[finite oriole]

you are fine , my friend knows someone who got 85% in boards despite predicted was 97% dartmouth congratulated him on a strong final year

[versed field]

thank you for having fate in me

[versed field]

💀

I want to see the expression on my chem and physics teachers faces

when they see my high af physics score

[finite oriole]

lol

[versed field]

but equally low chem score

for an avg. over all result

lmfao

[finite oriole]

JEE mains summed up for me in 3 sentences

[versed field]

Lmfaooooo

If I ever gave JEE that would be me

(I think?)

[meager bison]

frfr, mains chem is a hell hole

[versed field]

Its been 2 days since my last high school physics exam but I still remember all of physics

[lament dew]

https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/apply/what-we-look-for

if you can look at your app and check off all of these, youre good

[versed field]

I forgot all of chem in like a day after my exam tho

[versed field]

*if you can check it off + you displayed those traits in your application (displayed them in a good, non egoistic manner, might I add)

Chemistry......

I like chemistry as a subject, it explains alot of things

as an academic subject though.....

[meager bison]

• you clicked with the ao who'll decide if you have the traits

[versed field]

tru

Whats a Techers

oh wait

I am dumb

yeah nah nvm got it

Tech students

[finite oriole]

lol i used it in my essay

[meager bison]

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH3p4vVP8P4eR5mAicuUuC3OIqXG14pbq
out of context but here's a chem playlist i genuinely found helpful

[lament dew]

you can look at your ao's experiences but you wont ever know if you clicked

[versed field]

I literally forgot how it was a part of our of essay prompts lmfao

[versed field]

tbh I don't think its like I suck at chem, but more like chem takes mroe time for me to process than physics

I began speedrunning the entirity of 12th grade curriculumn from 10th january

the exams began at 24 feb

in physics and maths my (relatively higher aptitude for these subjects) helped me understand the concepts fast and revise em multiple times

especially cuz you can derive any formulae in physics you forget

[meager bison]

i speedran the entirety of 11th and 12th chem for jee mains and it still didnt help

[versed field]

in chem there is (relatively) much more memorization

[versed field]

cuz its jee

and its chem

[finite oriole]

fair enough, i was so relieved after harvard interview that i basically only started physics prep the night before, couldnt revise 3 chapters before boards but i still think i will get 98+

[buoyant grail]

me

[finite oriole]

physics is intuitive

[finite oriole]

chem has too many exceptions

[versed field]

I assume you still touched those subjects once or twice before exam days lol

[lament dew]

yall think this is fine too?

[versed field]

like maybe for school mock exams

[versed field]

or listening in class

and stuff

[finite oriole]

yh for jee

[lament dew]

i didnt really mention it anywhere else in my app

but i take care of my sister (make dinner, etc)

[meager bison]

not necessarily tho, most "exceptions" are usually just outliers whose causation lies beyond our curriculum,

[versed field]

I never understood anything in class due to amazing teachers, I only understand shit from teaching it to myself

[versed field]

^^^

[lament dew]

and also feed my cats and let them in/out

[finite oriole]

yes but still

[versed field]

but I hate that we have to understand them as "exceptions"

like just don't include them then 💀

or explain it to us

explain the logic

[lament dew]

do u think theyre going to call bs on me for saying i spend 8h/w on pets and siblings

[versed field]

unless ofc we haven't discovered the logic for some of them yet

[versed field]

depends

[meager bison]

had a super cool teacher for inorgo this year, he genuinely explained everything, it was sooo coooool

[versed field]

I wouldn't

[versed field]

nice

[lament dew]

i said both of my parents work, i also had a fee waiver and applied for finaid, i live in a rural low income area

so it makes sense yea?

[versed field]

in that context definitely

[finite oriole]

8hours a week is very reasonable

[lament dew]

kk

[versed field]

https://tenor.com/view/cat-shake-head-sicko-mode-orange-tw-aesthetic-gif-22443433

[lament dew]

i have 3 cats LMAO

theyre a handful

[meager bison]

speaking of pets, I really wanna get a turtle in freshman year

[lament dew]

kidnap one

from caltech pool

[quiet gorge]

me who have to get +90% for a B lol

[versed field]

https://tenor.com/view/tortoise-dance-toothbrush-turtle-throwing-it-back-gif-23483886

[versed field]

our grades depend on ranks, not percentages

[lament dew]

gollum is an 100 an A

and a 99 is a B

[versed field]

top 1/8th = A1
next 1/8th = A2
next 1/8th = B1

so on and so forth till D2

and E for failed candidates

[meager bison]

well it also varies,
the 33% here is when you have to sit for 1 exam that'd decide 70-80% of your senior year grades, ig that recontextualizes it

[versed field]

I might end up with a A1-B1 in most subjects

(CBSE grading is unpredictable in terms of theory, since its subjective to the examinor often)

[meager bison]

I'm genuinely just concerned over p.e. i'll do fine in everything else

[versed field]

in Chem it can even be C1 though 😭

[finite oriole]

the math aint mathing d2 covers all students so if someone gets less than 33% but is in bottom eighth do they got d2 or E

[versed field]

cool

[versed field]

Top 1/8th
next 1/8th

not top 2/8th

next

[versed field]

oh less than 33$

sorry I missread it

correction, top 1/8th of passing kids

33% below = E

[finite oriole]

makes sense but also wtf, if only 3 kids pass 2 get 100 arent u fricked

[versed field]

lmfaoo

[lament dew]

this is IB without the 1/2

thats how our theory of knowledge and extended essay is structured

[versed field]

Keep in mind though, 10th and 12th grade exams are conducted on a national level basis on the same day for each student of the same education board

[lament dew]

A
B
C
D
E

[versed field]

so the number of students is very high

[lament dew]

we dont have F

[versed field]

and you are ranked among all in the country, not ur school

[finite oriole]

why do i fee;l like caltech is throwing shade

[lament dew]

(rock climbing?)

[buoyant grail]

tbh i think my chances r just negative for caltech because i have never done anything stem heavy enough

other than an environmental club

[finite oriole]

ahh right u taking bout boards i thouught ur school

[versed field]

however, positional grades also apply to the individual school if they choose to have so. Since my school has a tiny student size they didn't do positional grades though (except for me)

I literally begged them for positional grades

[lament dew]

would you enjoy a school where you are living and breathing stem?

[buoyant grail]

i'm literally written as a humanities major atp

[versed field]

cuz 11th grade has HEAVY deflation here

[buoyant grail]

yes

[meager bison]

half the admits dont do research, the rest of your app is pretty cool imo

[versed field]

my rankings are very high

[finite oriole]

yh boards correction is wack

[versed field]

but percetnage is 73%

[buoyant grail]

i would love to do stem @lament dew

[lament dew]

like be honest--would you be prepared to be neck deep in math you cant even begin to comprehend

[finite oriole]

my friend got 98 in french gets B1

[buoyant grail]

physics is just so Quaint

yes

i love calc

[versed field]

so after begging they are like - for u will make an exception and give you positional grades (I am A1 in each subject)

[versed field]

yeah

[lament dew]

not even talking about calc i mean like way beyond

[buoyant grail]

not the algebra part bc i get confuzzled sometimes on basic operations but

[versed field]

💀

[buoyant grail]

ya

i want to learn it all

[lament dew]

your first class is calc with analysis

[buoyant grail]

😇

[finite oriole]

harvard AO in his admission report wrote, he got a B in 10th tho

[lament dew]

based

then ur fit for caltech

[buoyant grail]

i wouldn't be mad if i was like a C average student at all

[lament dew]

make sure you conveyed that in ur essays

[finite oriole]

he checked after he got in lol

[versed field]

If I get in I aint checking my admissions file

like idk but I see no point

[finite oriole]

bro i 100% am

if you get in it is gonna be positive

[meager bison]

i will too fr

[lament dew]

file reads like: mid as fuck. but we need someone to admit in case our superstars yield

[versed field]

If I already got into the university, then idk why I would be interested to see how I got in.

[buoyant grail]

i wrote about my first ap chem titration lab and developing on roblox 😇

[lament dew]

baseed

[versed field]

Unless I had a sibling or friend to help with admissions advice

then I would make an exception and read it

[finite oriole]

did u do kmno4 ?

[versed field]

ong if I get in anywhere

[lament dew]

i think this was my best (collaborative?) essay

[buoyant grail]

pretty certain i did

it's the pink one right

[finite oriole]

and write about the moment it turnd pale pink was so exciting it shook my world

[buoyant grail]

i wrote ab how my first ap chem lab was a competition and how i won it and it made me want to learn more and strive more 😊😊

[finite oriole]

ohk shit i aint that guy

[buoyant grail]

it was just like

[finite oriole]

thought i cud sherlock this

[buoyant grail]

LOL

[versed field]

Whats your best community essay

[buoyant grail]

what were u trying tocdo????

[lament dew]

community

hmm

i have a few

[versed field]

I think thats my best essay anywhere I applied (that had a prompt for it)

[finite oriole]

guess ur esay off of you saying u wrote on titration

[buoyant grail]

my common app essay you mean?

[lament dew]

this was one

[buoyant grail]

i wrote my common app essay on being deaf

[lament dew]

but i revised it a million times

[versed field]

I think I ruined it with the last sentence - makes it seem toooo egoistic (I was tryna write it in a different tone than it came off but oh well)

[attachment redacted]

[lament dew]

my community essay like my actual one

was

[versed field]

Caltech didn't exactly ask for a community essay but it was loosely tangential to the topic and I had nothing else to write about so I copy pasted my NYU community essay

[finite oriole]

wtaf that first line i used in one of my essays wtaf wtaf

like word for word

[versed field]

LMFAO

[versed field]

lemme readd

one sec

[lament dew]

that one wasnt rlly community in the traditional sense

[buoyant grail]

what's ur guys extra hobby

[lament dew]

none of mine are pure community, my 2 stem ec ones both incorporated different communities

[finite oriole]

you guys are brave my essays are so trash i am scared of sharing them

[versed field]

ok

this is actually retty good

*pretty

[lament dew]

nah lmfao imo my essays couldbe used a lot more work

that one got revised like 100 times

[buoyant grail]

my creativity essay was by far the weakest tbh

[lament dew]

by the time i applied to mit it was actually half decent

[versed field]

what do you guys think of this one (and lmk when ur done reading so I can delete this one, since its not something I want out there in the public lol)

[finite oriole]

this is my paper plane essay

[lament dew]

bruh

your guys' essays are so good

[finite oriole]

the first line is poetry

lol

it rhymes

[lament dew]

im just hoping i get in for some geographical diversity bs

like i have nothing yall have

[versed field]

@lament dew read the last line that sounds egoistic before calling it good 😭

[versed field]

am I overthinking or is it truly egoistic-ish

[buoyant grail]

both of these were ab being deaf!

[lament dew]

no olympiads ok essays literally nothing good that screams caltech

[finite oriole]

ok presenting idea for senate gal

[lament dew]

bruh

[buoyant grail]

i feel like most caltech apps don't have olympiads

[lament dew]

thats not caltech

[versed field]

cuz I think I fucked up and it comes off more egoistic than humble

someone pls reaffirm my belief or tell me I am wrong

[lament dew]

not egotistival

[lament dew]

im just hoping my research comes in clutch and maybe they take me for diversity

[pseudo kelp]

No point in analyzing your essays now, don’t understand why people do that

[versed field]

lets hope thats what the caltech AOs think as well 💀

[finite oriole]

threw shade on cbse lol

[lament dew]

maybe they want a policy artsy girly

💀

[versed field]

Im doing it for future reference to adhere to my tone

not analysing my chances but more like my writing style

and if it needs change or Im overthinking

[versed field]

oo

[buoyant grail]

i'm hoping they admit me on basis of considering my disability and contextualizing it for my entire app if that makes sense

[finite oriole]

feedback for transfer essays ?

[buoyant grail]

i've done alot of humanities too 😇

[versed field]

I also made a creative video for caltech btw

I am hoping it comes in clutch

[buoyant grail]

wtf is a creative video for caltech

[versed field]

lemme explain

one second

[lament dew]

i almost submitted an arts portfolio but didnt :9

[pseudo kelp]

You got into cal, why would you want to transfer?

[lament dew]

it actually goes so hard too

i have a full 15 piece portfolio now

[finite oriole]

what if the revolution happens

[versed field]

https://youtu.be/XvHb6YXjbT0

the video in context

[quiet gorge]

do you live in India

[versed field]

yeah

\

[quiet gorge]

then that screams rich

[versed field]

Instead of showing one hobby, I just made an edit of everything about me

[versed field]

💀

[lament dew]

i think its cool

also nice on the beatsaber

[versed field]

lets hope the AOs think the same lol

[finite oriole]

wait vijit do you go to Doon ?

[lament dew]

do you like camellia

[versed field]

Nope

[lament dew]

i like camellia

[versed field]

I dont live anywhere close

[finite oriole]

did i get the state wrong

[versed field]

TRAUMA

T R A U M A

[lament dew]

:) i am a rhythm gamer too

[versed field]

T R A U M A

[lament dew]

LOL

[versed field]

HEARING THAT NAME GIVES ME MUSCLE CRAMPS

NO

lol

[lament dew]

ghoossst

i love ghost

[versed field]

lol

[quiet gorge]

i just sent some papers and presentation slides, literally my caltech "portfolio" 🥹

[versed field]

my marker portfolio is a ppt in a pdf format

not even videos of the app working

[lament dew]

crystallized is hella good too

[versed field]

just photos of it in the pdf with an explanation of the coding

[versed field]

agreed

you on quest or pc vr?

[lament dew]

quest

[versed field]

modded?

[lament dew]

nope it came with the package

[buoyant grail]

i did not send any extra supplemental things in because i didn't think it helps at all

[lament dew]

idk how to mod it lmfao

[versed field]

You should mod ur quest with BMBF

[lament dew]

id have to try

[versed field]

and add noodle extensions and all

[versed field]

I can explain it to you but after my exams lmfao

[lament dew]

kk yeah i havent picked up beat saber in a few montsh

[buoyant grail]

it's fun

[lament dew]

i used to do roblox rhythm stuff then osu mania then went to beat saber

played probably for 3y but never mentioned it

[buoyant grail]

i had a friend who became an english major harshly criticize my essay last night and it was so funny

"aww ok this is kind of cute"

[lament dew]

i do a lot of stuff which i shouldve at least mentioned somewhere

[versed field]

oh also, how did the edit transition look to you guys lol

the color grading vs. not color graded part

this was one of my first few color *correction projects in a while

not grading, I meant correction

grading and correction are slightly different

bro wtf @lament dew

[buoyant grail]

thoughts 😇

[lament dew]

leave me be

[buoyant grail]

i'll take a look when my internet isn't limited by data

[versed field]

Its funny how caltech (which doesn't even ask for a creative video porfolio) got such a good project from me and then UChicago, which heavily recommends one, got the shittiest thing I could make in 2 hours: https://youtu.be/SUlM5s1Sj7o

shows just how much I care about UChicago

my UChicago rejection aint gonna be a surprise 💀

[buoyant grail]

uchicago wanted one????

[versed field]

💀 yes

[buoyant grail]

i got nothing ab that ever

[versed field]

its on their portal

not on common app

[buoyant grail]

oh well that's def a rejection now 😭

[finite oriole]

brother what the hell is this shit, this makes my brown video portfolio look like a butt dial

[versed field]

ik some kids who got in without one

[versed field]

I am confused if you are saying my portfolio is shit or if it is good

[finite oriole]

its way too good man

[versed field]

idk if my UChicago portfolio is shit or good but it is DEFINITELY VERY SHIT in comparision to my Caltech one

which is, as I said, ironic considerin caltech doesn't even ask for one 😭

I totally care about UChicago as much as I care about Caltech

[lament dew]

fun stuff I couldve mentioned

• co-owned and managed $500/month in promotions for a 125k community server
• achieved top 25,000 out of 3 million on OSU mania, top 25 on robeats out of 40,000
• ~$100 profit off of fiverr and ebay selling modified pokemon and animal crossing items pokehex (idk if this is the same software) and code I wrote and onloaded onto arduinos questionably black hat
• upkept a wildflower and vegetable garden for ~5 years? donated all of the vegetables

but i dont think its all that relevant now

[versed field]

totally!!!!

[versed field]

thank you but fuck UChicago tell me if you think my caltech one is good

cuz caltech is what matters more to me 😔

the only university that I would attend over caltech is MIT

[finite oriole]

dw my best essays were for autoreject places like MIT but more reasonable places i gave shit essays

[versed field]

and I have a feeling being a non oly Indian kid = 100% rejection from MIT lmfaoo

[finite oriole]

both were great man

[versed field]

same shit here xD

thank you :D

editing experience from owning a youtube channel I suppose haha

[lament dew]

arguably my best essays were for mit too 💀

[versed field]

I think mine were my best EA essays

but not the best essays in english

however content wise they are still the best

[lament dew]

i didnt have good ea essays

[finite oriole]

yh lol I hate princeton for rejecting me that hard but i see where they were coming from

[versed field]

if you read my caltech or Princeton or any essays - you will find out like 1/2 or 3/4th about my personality. If you read my MIT essay you will know almost every thing about me there is to know. From the fact my brother is a role model to when I began coding and why to even my school life or family life and ECs

like they asked me the perfect prompts I could ask for

[lament dew]

ur ea essays should arguably be for safeties

teaches you how to write essays

[finite oriole]

same i loved the optional essays, i tink my MIT optional essays were better than my most other actual essays

[lament dew]

i dont think i wouldve attended gt had i gotten in :/

[versed field]

I only had one safety and even their common app essay was optional lmfao

(Utah)

[versed field]

ikr?

[lament dew]

ah

same

i only have uofa as a safety

except maybe NEU community college

[versed field]

like combine MIT essays with Caltech and you will know EVERYTHING about me (everything relevant to an AO alteast)

[finite oriole]

T10 astro iirc

[lament dew]

yep

[versed field]

MIT = all of my personality with all of my CS interest

Caltech = much greater detail about my CS experience and projects

[lament dew]

i would be fine going to uofa

id just prefer somewhere i applied rd

[lament dew]

but again like if i cant afford it i cant attend anyway

[versed field]

if only I knew calculus when I was attempting the second project (I was in early 11th grade then I recon), I would just simply do some simple rates of change of curve instead of a quadratic equation

much more accurate and smooth

instead of jumping coordinates

[lament dew]

i cant pay more than 30k a year except for caltech

i would take out loans

but if caltech is more than 45k i cant pay either

hope theyre not double my efc

[versed field]

:(

cost shit is always fucking annoying

yay you got into your dream school but its not affordable

[lament dew]

wait are you an astro major too?

[versed field]

much more soul crushing than a rejection ngl

[versed field]

nah CS

but I really love physics too

[lament dew]

oh ok ok

ik idk_man is astro

idk who else here is

the competition is fierce for astrophys tho

ik a lot of very talented people applying

[versed field]

astro is usually the most fierce in competition

after CS

not talking about difficulty, just enterance competition

difficultly wise its subjective but I see astro as harder

[lament dew]

like not even just "oh ISEF" i mean like fantastic essays, fantastic personality, fantastic accomplishments

im nothin compared to them

and theyre all domestic

[tiny wyvern]

Me but applied phy+ math

[lament dew]

nice nice

[meager bison]

fr, plus no one gets into astro in the spur of the moment so every app has some deep resonance with the major

[lament dew]

yep

you cant accidentally get interested in astrophysics lol

i mean maybe

i technically did

i wanted to do AE until I got into a program

which i found through a video

[meager bison]

i mean the first encounter is always accidental but building upon that does require actively pursuing it

[lament dew]

found it through a youtube video, applied, and here i am

yep

true

gollum have you heard of ISSYP

[quiet gorge]

Oui

[lament dew]

do you know how hard it is to actually get in

i want to apply this year

my physics teacher and i are rocky rn because i havent finished my chem ia and forgot my homework today

for physics

so idk how that rec is going to be

she told me i need to get my life together 💀

[versed field]

is there a webpage to know how many kids from India get into caltech

I know total int'l is 20 but what is it per country?

[meager bison]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpU6F5oo8bP/
here's another something yall can apply to (i wont out of personal factors)

[lament dew]

can you link the program's website link

i cant open it on school wifi

[meager bison]

sure, lemme see

[lament dew]

only 20 total intl for caltech????

WHAT

lol

[versed field]

yeah I recon

it was 20-40

[lament dew]

do yk how many intls apply

[versed field]

Going with the lower part of the range to not get my hopes high

[meager bison]

cern.ch/solvay-camp
@lament dew

[versed field]

do you know how large the total class is?

[quiet gorge]

I did It 2019 and since it's online I don't think it's that hard you should definitely apply

[versed field]

this thread has more people than their total admitted size

230 kids total each year

give or take 20

💀

so intl being 20-40 is already very generous (percentage wise)

[lament dew]

is intl numbers on cds

[versed field]

which year is this

[lament dew]

21-22

[versed field]

270 seems higher than I recall reading

huh

oh yeah they got a higher yield that year or smth innit?

[lament dew]

ye

[versed field]

higher yield than expected

[meager bison]

they admit a lot more, boils down to yield

[lament dew]

they normally admit 500

[versed field]

true, I forgot to include total admitted than just enrolled

but still, 500 is also very less

well then 20-40 is also incorrect since than was enrolled not admitted

idk how many total int'l admits there are each year

[lament dew]

im banking on female admit rates too 💀

woman in stem + domestic + geographical hook

[finite oriole]

how dos one find stuff like this

[quiet gorge]

oh yeaaahh this!!!! APPLY APPLY APPLY APPLY APPLY!!!!

[versed field]

https://tenor.com/view/xqc-spin-gif-21121522

[meager bison]

i just follow cern on ig

[lament dew]

it says 4% but im also a hs senior with 300h of astrophysics research now so i hope i should be good?

i rlly want to apply

[quiet gorge]

yes

[versed field]

inch resting

[lament dew]

im gonna have to bribe my physics teacher tho

pls pls pls write me a good rec

i didnt use a physics rec or a chem rec for caltech

i used a math, english, and employer

[meager bison]

the other day i saw someone on reddit who was applying to grad school and asked their prof for 13 rec letters 💀

[lament dew]

LMAO

i mean i dont think theres a grad program interface

which SUCKS

there should be a commonapp for grad students

[meager bison]

even the timeline's are messy, many candidates wait for say 5-6 months before even knowing when the decisions are

and some get their offer/rejection within a couple of months

[lament dew]

wait

We only accept applications made through our online application form. You can only access the application form once you obtain a digital certificate after completing the online course of the CERN-Solvay Education Programme. Please note that you have to be logged-in with the same account you created for the online course.

whats the education programme>

how long is it?

[meager bison]

i didnt go that deep since i couldnt have applied anyways but ig its just an online course worth a few hours at best

[lament dew]

oh cool

if its a few hours im good

[tall fable]

Will you be applying? Also do uk if this is the first year they're doing this?

[quiet gorge]

I have done the similar thing at CERN before the pandemic but i might apply to this too idk. Not sure if it's the first year

[tall fable]

Dope!

[meager bison]

you're 17 right?

[quiet gorge]

18

[versed field]

I just looked at my Caltech AOs linkedin and saw she used to be heavy on peer tutoring

EC pls help me click with my AO

[meager bison]

so the before the pandemic equals.....14-15?
15 year old working at cern is....cool

[quiet gorge]

didnt really work, someone who went to my school is doing her PhD at CERN so i spammed her and she invited me to visit the project she works on. She is now hired at CERN working full time on the Atlas project

[tall fable]

Which subfield were you working on?

Or interning/assisting

[quiet gorge]

in general, ISEF, IYPT or CERN?

[tall fable]

CERN

[quiet gorge]

quantum simulations

[tall fable]

I see, that sounds really interesting

[versed field]

ngl I would actually laugh at that (in a good way)

lol

mine are too nerdy

then this and the rest are too private to share

honors

in other words Im a nerd

atleast my application looks nerdy

[versed field]

Why did I not give actual olys instead of these private olys

😭

the reason Im not getting into MIT 🤓

or any of the HYPSM for that matter

[meager bison]

petition to change hypsm to chypsm

[buoyant grail]

i think you people worry way too much about olympiads or competitions like these

[lament dew]

^

[versed field]

MIT

has

literally

not admitted a single

non oly kid

actually no they have

but only 1

out of 7-20 indians

each year

💀

rest are all oly kids

[meager bison]

......mit takes 20 indians every year?

[versed field]

7-20

in some years its been high

[meager bison]

afaik its around 5 ig

[versed field]

usually its in the lower range

https://registrar.mit.edu/statistics-reports/geographic-distribution

you are correct

its a total of 23 atm

not 23 each year

I was wrong as fuck

forgive me lol

[quiet gorge]

the spreadsheet of my life is now updated, i can finally eat my chocolate pudding

[lament dew]

spreadsheet of ur life?

[quiet gorge]

yes, i have a spreadsheet of everyday of my life each page is a year, and a box is a day

[meager bison]

• intensified sheldon noises

[versed field]

cal stop listening to camelia 24/7

how do you not feel traumatized

[quiet gorge]

my MIT interviewer actually spent 10 minutes to read what i need in april 2019

[meager bison]

i didnt get an interview from mit.....
(prolly bc i didnt apply but are we really fixating over minor details?)

[lament dew]

my headphones arent even on rn

lol

[tall fable]

Caltech thread hasn't been this active in weeks

[versed field]

lmao

[meager bison]

pv=nrt stirring people up fr

[tall fable]

Lmaoo

PV=ZnRT
Let's get it real

[quiet gorge]

wow harsh i might have OCD, take it ez (jkjk)

[amber flame]

😭

[lament dew]

aight bruh i’m about to not pass

chemistry

because i’ve had 4 different drafts rejected

for my ia

[quiet gorge]

chemistry is wack, just drop it

[lament dew]

and my teacher gets more mad at me every time i submit a new draft she rejects

like she told me i need to get my shit together

she said i’m piecemealing my life together and it’s not going to work now nor in college

🗿

[amber flame]

Can't wait for this Saturday

[unreal kettle]

me too

[lament dew]

i passed my math EE!

yippee

[true ginkgo]

hello everyone, is CNS at Caltech particularly difficult to get into Caltech with? I'm quite worried about accidentally fumbling my chances (the little to no chance I already have)

[mild wave]

its all the same

[true ginkgo]

they don't consider intended interest?

[mild wave]

no

[true ginkgo]

ah i see

[mild wave]

u wont have much success trying to game the majors

[true ginkgo]

godspeed everyone

[warm zodiac]

oh my fckng god guys i just realized I royally fucked up

I picked the wrong academic interest

[lament dew]

what’s up

ur fine

[buoyant grail]

u can prolly swap

[lament dew]

how wrong was it

you don’t declare a major until soph year

[warm zodiac]

i was supposd to choose cs and maths but i chose computation and neural systms

[lament dew]

ur fine

[warm zodiac]

i thought that was machine learningg stuff turns our its friggin biology

you think so?

i see i see thank you this is really reassuring i deadass dont even pick biology for ib

like none of my ecs has the word biology in it

[versed field]

what about faculty review?

[lament dew]

they don’t care

[versed field]

no like

if you are into cs

and ur essays are on cs

then you want a cs faculty to review it

not make the faculty reviewer be a bio proff.

[lament dew]

they typically only do faculty review for research supplementals

[versed field]

isn' the facultly reviewer based on what academic interest you selected?

[lament dew]

or if ur ecs look off

[lament dew]

no

[versed field]

their admissions webpage says every candidate goes through faculty (unless the AO wanted to reject them before hand)

https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/apply/what-we-look-for/faculty-the-admissions-process

what is this weird designing

oh wait ur right

I prove myself wrong

only the most competitive

[lament dew]

yes

lol

[versed field]

I missread it, it looks like

[peak fulcrum]

how many ppl go to faculty?

[lament dew]

if u pass through faculty ur guaranteed admit or waitlist probably

[versed field]

idk if this means only the most competitive people of the applicants or the most competitive admitted kids

in other words, idk if this means everyone accepted goes through it or a select few

they use the term most competitive everywhere as if its a way to narrow down the candidates, not to say "most competitive of everyone admitted" but more like "we narrowed down our pool to these competitve applicants who all god admitted"

fuck it, whatever it means. All of the accepted kids or some of it

lets just wait for saturday

[lament dew]

yep

[quiet gorge]

lol i cant imagine people sitting and reading my bullshit papers i wrote while overdozing on coffee and kitkat and then voting about it hahaha

[lament dew]

nah gollum you were autoadmit fr

im thinking i probably didn’t pass first read

[quiet gorge]

if they actually have read my papers before acceptance i truly question if the AO knew anything about QC because i really didnt have a big break through or something

[quiet gorge]

bro gets admitted soon

[buoyant grail]

i feel as if i were probably maybe autoreject because of lack of great ecs or any substantial strong stem experience (esp considering no standardized testing scores)

[lament dew]

it would be hilarious

if i got admitted

[quiet gorge]

like the imaginary MIT acceptance for me

[lament dew]

gollum they had 6k less applicants this yr

no wonder they extended rd

[quiet gorge]

bruh i told you i applied without SAT they aint gonna get to IMO, IPho, IPO and IYPT before im rejected

[lament dew]

nah ur good

[warm zodiac]

do you think my dumbass still gets to have my file read when the phrasing is so ‘everyone admitted had their files read by faculty’

[buoyant grail]

probably yeah

[lament dew]

i think you’re good

[warm zodiac]

thank youu literally 😭

[lament dew]

counselor email from MIT

[steel falcon]

They compensating fr

[next fossil]

Hot take: If they wanted more applications, should’ve kept test optional policy.

[steel falcon]

“Dw we’re still competitive!!!”

[full moat]

i dont think they do

[lament dew]

they didn’t

and they don’t care

[next fossil]

hmmm yeah i see

[steel falcon]

Yeah isn’t it still like a 5% acceptance rate

[lament dew]

Yes

[amber flame]

Yeah lol

[hardy solar]

6000 less ppl to compete with

nice

[swift acorn]

well tbh those 6k weren't the ones you were probably competing with anyways

[next fossil]

LET THE GUY ENJOY THE MOMENT LMAO

[floral silo]

Do we though

[buoyant grail]

idk, do you?

[floral silo]

I mean, nominally yes, but it's a tiny department and not necessarily that great

It's also highly focused on STEM based applications of polisci

[buoyant grail]

that makes a lot of sense tbh

how much do you think caltech truly cares of humanities though? are their humanities & social science departments good at caltech? @floral silo

[floral silo]

It's pretty variable

[buoyant grail]

im curious since it emphasized having humanities in the application

does some of it suck LOL

[floral silo]

We do have to take a lot of hums, and there's definitely lots of great classes, but departments on the whole tend to be small and have limited offerings

[buoyant grail]

tbh considering how small caltech is i'm not remotely surprised at all

[floral silo]

Like if you major in a hum/social science, you're probably going to take like 75%< of the courses in the department

[buoyant grail]

i'd imagine everyone going to caltech is going solely for stem and not necessarily the humanities experience anyways

imagine trying to do grad school for humanities at caltech

[floral silo]

There are also grad students in social sciences though

It's actually kinda decent

We have a few profs that do pretty hardcore work in their fields, but the problem is we don't have the space to have a lot of great profs

In the humanities*

But the grad students seem like they're having fun

Most of them are interdisciplinary

[buoyant grail]

it does seem like caltech is a very great school, but it is also limited by the fact it is so small and exclusive

for some parts of it

[buoyant grail]

i can't imagine someone not being interdisciplinary tbh, why major solely in humanities if you're going to one of the best stem schools?

[floral silo]

Yeah exactly

[floral silo]

Yep, which is why our yield is really low

A lot of people don't actually want this type of experience

It's pretty great for me personally, but definitely not for everyone

[buoyant grail]

oh btw, does caltech require a foreign language as part of its core curriculum?

[floral silo]

Not during your time here, might be required for admission tho?

We offer it, but not super in depth

[buoyant grail]

that's safd

i was looking into my schools to see which ones offer ASL as a class

because i would love to learn it (shocking, a deaf person who doesn't know asl)

[buoyant grail]

what is caltech's yield rate anyways?

i have no idea and i'm kinda curious now

oh WTF

50%

[true ginkgo]

they offer ASL at the community college nearby

:D

it's like a block away lol

[buoyant grail]

ok this is actually amazing

maybe even poggers

[true ginkgo]

i would say it is

pasadena community college is a pretty cool school in general

[lament dew]

yep, I intend on going into space policy

hence why i’m still doing astrophysics, but thinking about polisci double

[acoustic parrot]

When are caltech admissions releasing?

Seeing the PV=nRT makes me assume that it's 8:31 PST

[lament dew]

8:31am pst!

[acoustic parrot]

Ah am

Thanks!

[lament dew]

https://open.spotify.com/track/4GTptBsjztXkBBUEPjbZCR?si=885errGcTMWBej14acDq6A&context=spotify%3Asearch%3Acaltech

caltech soundtrack

[lament dew]

think i screwed up

i didn’t submit college transcripts anywhere

since they showed up on my high school transcript

except for 1 class

[swift acorn]

did your checklist show missing?

[lament dew]

No

[swift acorn]

well then you're fine

mine showed misssing

and I had to send mine in

[lament dew]

wait actually?

like did it update to say it was required

[swift acorn]

yes mine said my application was incomplete

[lament dew]

did it show your transcript for your hs

and then required a transcript for x college?

[swift acorn]

yes

[lament dew]

i see

yeah mine never did that

so do you think i’m fine or just got rejected early 💀

[swift acorn]

lmao you're looking into it too much

you're fine

[lament dew]

kk

[swift acorn]

and they also sent emails for missing things

[meager bison]

as long as its listed on an officially recognized doc from any institution, you're fine

[lament dew]

kk

[livid shuttle]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1068814960437764157/1082544334483771482/a2caltech.png

[lament dew]

UES

[livid shuttle]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1068814960437764157/1082554373353250887/a2caltech3.jpg

this one by our buddy omega

[tall fable]

ay thanks for sharing