Caltech (2024-2025)

[thorn otter]

Unless my djmbass has said it publicly before

[rugged geyser]

Ohhh ok ok

[boreal pelican]

Congratulations!!! @late ore

Making caltech is absolutely wild

You should INSANELY proud

[lavish crown]

caltech rejects/defer. Let us rise

which essays to other schools are similar to the caltech ones

[worldly anvil]

Sorry for this as I am but a humble child of the Pacific isles, where English is not the tongue of my birth, I find myself less skilled and fluent in its ways. Pray forgive my stumblings, for it is a language I am still learning to master. And, though strange it may sound to some ears, in my homeland, we do partake in the eating of dogs, as is our custom and sustenance.

Pray, is this document crafted by the esteemed minds of NASA a fitting tome from which I might pluck a topic most worthy for my research studies?

[open rivet]

MIT

At least for me

[hollow bobcat]

Thank you for providing hope ❤️

[turbid mason]

Brother speak English

[hardy dagger]

u deserve it bro, congrats on the acceptance

[hollow bobcat]

Lol, Howard

[late ore]

if you like aerospace, yes

[worldly anvil]

It is such a grand delight that a most brilliant and learned scholar from Caltech hath graced me with his presence. I am most humbly grateful for thy wise counsel.

[late ore]

😭

[boreal pelican]

Nah guys I slaughtered my first interview😭😭😭

Absolutely failed

If caltech doesn’t give me some good news later

😭😭😭

[boreal pelican]

Yes but opening it after my second interview

In 1 hour

[boreal pelican]

Reject😭

Sadly

[lavish crown]

which ones? I don't really see many similarities

[late ore]

😔

Intls get the short end of the stick fr

Smh

[boreal pelican]

No good no good

Time to get writing

[late ore]

how did ur second interview go

[boreal pelican]

Much better than the first

[late ore]

massive w

[boreal pelican]

The number theory question saved me

Ong

[late ore]

fr!!! math interviews have to be so insane so i commend you

[boreal pelican]

Bro ur at caltech shut up😭😭😭

[late ore]

im in calc bc 😭
i score 50/130 on the amc 😭
i cant number like that

[boreal pelican]

😬😬😬

I hope I get to do a caltech exchange year

No matter which uni I end up at

Or mby come for PhD

But that’s kinda not the same

😭😭

[late ore]

fire

[hollow bobcat]

50? srs?
I scored 72

[late ore]

yeah i scored 52 it was so bad

part of the reason i never even TOUCHED comp math

[hollow bobcat]

Damn but u good in math no cap
To be able to solve imo p4 i think

[late ore]

nahh that was NOT me that was @boreal pelican

[hollow bobcat]

Oh lol

[boreal pelican]

IMO p4 this year was kinda troll

Tho

[hollow bobcat]

Lol

Beast

[boreal pelican]

Guys u know that p4 is the easiest question on the test right

[late ore]

every year?

[boreal pelican]

No like

P4 and p1

Are the easiest

[late ore]

oh huh

i never knew that

[boreal pelican]

Yh

[late ore]

then again i've never seen imo problems really so idk the patterns

[boreal pelican]

IMO is over 2 days

3 per day

And first is always easiest

[hollow bobcat]

Wait, @boreal pelican you wrote the imo?\

[boreal pelican]

Nono ahah

Got 8th in nationals

Barely didn’t qual

[hollow bobcat]

Damn

No wonder

Which country tho

I can bet you'll get into cal

[boreal pelican]

U mean Berkeley

?

[hollow bobcat]

Lol

I mean caltech

[boreal pelican]

💀💀💀

Bro I got rejected

Wdym

[hollow bobcat]

Damn

That's cold

[boreal pelican]

Yeah sad

[hollow bobcat]

Wait, that's acc cold

[sudden vessel]

Hello Caltech goats I am applying RD

[hollow bobcat]

Just prepare your mind for the worst but hope for the best

That's my advice

[sudden vessel]

I am honestly not worried about apps anymore now that I’ve gone through opening the portal once

Like obv it’s unlikely that I’ll get in anywhere but we oughta try

[hollow bobcat]

Yh, that's the spirit tbh

Where did you apply early to if I may ask

[sudden vessel]

Princeton

Already overperforming my expectations tbh

I feel good that I’ll get a shot somewhere eventually

[hollow bobcat]

Nice

[lavish crown]

@fathom flame What was the REA acceptance count from cuc

[fathom flame]

ummm

6

[lavish crown]

out of 6 applicants?

or were there more

[fathom flame]

15 or something

[lavish crown]

is that a higher or lower count of acceptance than expected?

or u predict i guess

[fleet violet]

btw if you get in and go on the discord server... do not play league no matter who says what 😭

[late ore]

what 😭

why not...

[glacial dock]

bro

you're not gonna believe this

I wrote an essay abt league

[lusty belfry]

blud how addicted did u get

[fleet violet]

Not me, a friend did

[lusty belfry]

join in!

[lavish crown]

did this person get in

3/0/0 is crazy work

[fathom flame]

idts

[late ore]

no clue

[lavish crown]

tragic

a2c = applying to caltech

[worldly anvil]

a2c = App-to-App Conversion

a2c = Acquisition-to-Completion

a2c = Account-to-Contact

a2c = add to cart

[forest plume]

is caltech self-report

[crisp iris]

https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/apply/first-year-applicants/standardized-tests

Yes

[forest plume]

Thank yo

[sudden vessel]

Im coming to get you caltech kids

Teehee

[rotund needle]

If I take chemistry over the summer through a community college (which starts in May), will that meet the requirement of Physics, Caluclus, and Chemistry?

[late ore]

if its on your transcript, yes

oh you mean this upcoming may

hmmmm

[rotund needle]

Yeah

[late ore]

im not sure, you'd have to ask your region's admissions officer

[rotund needle]

Ok, I’ll do that

[white mauve]

even if they allow it i cant imagine it's a good look

[rotund needle]

Maybe I should just take it next semester

[late ore]

they require a year of chemistry

so iirc you'd need to take it for 2 semesters

[rotund needle]

But it's the same curriculum as HS Chemistry, just shortened into 1 semester

So it would be the equivalent to taking 1 hs year of chemistry

[late ore]

this is what's on their website abt it

[rotund needle]

hmm I'll look into it a little more, do they specifically mention one full year anywhere?

I mean it's possible but the second semester (chemistry 2) would be over the summer

Maybe I should email them and ask to be sure

[rose moon]

r u 100% sure u can't take it at ur school

cuz if u can and don't want to cuz it's "inconvenient" that's not going to slide

cuz the wording sounds like they want you to take it if it's possible

[rotund needle]

I did not know it was an academic requirement until midway through my first semester, and my hs only offers it as a year long class so it was kinda too late. I have taken several courses through a community college that were only a semester long, but counted as a year long course in terms of credits (I.E. I took college writing my sophomore year and was able get the equivalent credits to a year-long english course through my hs)

[rotund needle]

I mean the content is the same so I feel that it would satisfy this criteria 🤷‍♂️

[rose moon]

so you're a junior rn?

or senior

[rotund needle]

senior

[rose moon]

unsure tbh

r u 100% sure u can't take it at ur local CC 2nd semester and get it count for yearlong credit?

cuz if u take it in may that's too late

[late ore]

it seems like a complex question tbh, so I'd legit just reach out to the admissions office
their definition of a 'year' is probably something specific they don't mention on their website

[rotund needle]

Yeah that's what I was saying earlier, it should count as a yearlong credit no? My cc offers chemistry 2nd semester for 5 credits

[late ore]

they tend to respond within a couple days

[rotund needle]

Might just do this, probably safest option tbh. Thanks anyway

[late ore]

yeah ofc

[rose moon]

It's possible. Email their admissions office

[rugged geyser]

has anyone done remote caltech research here😳

[late ore]

i dont think anyone has
unless they're already attending the uni or smth

[rugged geyser]

hmmm ive only heard stories abt local hs ppl doing smth there

https://tenor.com/view/cat-thousand-yard-stare-thousand-yard-stare-cat-ptsd-cat-soldier-cat-war-gif-9110270742088459827

time to move to LA

[rose moon]

probably family is on faculty or smth

that's usually the case for kids doing research at stanford here in palo alto

or "return offer" after summer program

[rugged geyser]

return offer💀

WWW

[rose moon]

i mean some caltech professors may teach in some summer programs idk

[late ore]

oh yeah caltech up close acceptance rate is fairly high

[rose moon]

i did nto get into caltech up close

[late ore]

oh no sorry i meant of those who get in the acceptance rate is high

[rose moon]

yea ik

how do ppl get in lmao

[late ore]

i didnt get in either ngl

i have no clue how people do

[rose moon]

whatever we ball on caltech RD decisions

[late ore]

gl

just know your chances for ea and rd are around the same 💪🏿

[quasi root]

mostly underprivileged ppl iirc

[sudden vessel]

Im gonna slay on Caltech RD

they will view my expansive yet incomplete astronomical logs and go “we need YOU”

[quasi root]

they will view my PL specification without a compiler and descend in awe

[sudden vessel]

🔥 🗣️ I don’t know what the fuck that is RAHHHHH

[worldly anvil]

should I ea or rd caltech?

[sudden vessel]

Dude you’re a freshman chill cuh

Your interests will change drastically

[worldly anvil]

nawh

locked in

https://tenor.com/view/avatar-the-last-airbender-avatar-legend-of-korra-avatar-korra-blood-bending-gif-9867430568155605347

medicine is cool but engineering is also cool

can I do both?

[rose moon]

bro

chill out

[quartz knoll]

THIS FELLAS A FRESHMAN?

when i was a freshman i wasnt even alive

ion have a single extracurricular from that time

u will be fine chao '32

[late ore]

fr

i basically coasted freshman year if im honest 😭
you'll be chill dw

[worldly anvil]

LOOK AT THIS GUY

holy

CHATTT

[hollow bobcat]

You so happy lol

[worldly anvil]

It's gonna be such a great opportunity to see the planets

they are all neat

[hollow bobcat]

Very clear?

[worldly anvil]

yeaa most planets will be present at the same time at the night sky which is neattt

[sudden vessel]

That happened a few years ago too

[worldly anvil]

was probably still in my dad's balls so

[worldly anvil]

It happened this year too 😭

next one is in 2040

better savor it

[opal moth]

Anyone is writing all of the 3 optional essays?

Would it be ok not doing any of the optional ones ?

[sudden vessel]

Im doing them because I have more stuff to tell Caltech

[pliant sorrel]

hiii @ qb/early admits are any of ygs going to the office hour thingy? :0

[late ore]

yep

[pliant sorrel]

omg YIPPEE

[late ore]

are you admitted too?

[pliant sorrel]

yep!!

[late ore]

ohh did you get the discord link

[pliant sorrel]

ohh no i dont think so :0

[late ore]

its on your acceptance page

[pliant sorrel]

ooopp i did not read that carefully enough i think

[late ore]

they have a class of 2029 discord with a bunch of AOs and stuff

oh its not the letter sorry its uh

[pliant sorrel]

WOWIE

[late ore]

beaver breakroom

[pliant sorrel]

omg SLAY tysm 🙏

[late ore]

np! cya in the server

[forest plume]

wanted to submit a research portfolio just for fun but when's the latest I should submit my commonapp? afak my mentor can't upload a lor until after I submit

with holidays and everything its probably by next week right

[late ore]

January 3rd

your supplemental materials for RD are due on the 8th at the latest

stuff like your research, research lor, stem and non-stem portfolio, things like that

[worldly anvil]

hi arch, sorry for the ping can I ask a question?

did u do any research?

and how did u go about making that research?

[late ore]

yeah so I've done research
I cold emailed a local uni professor who I worked remotely with for 10th grade, did an independent project in 11th, and was able to secure a research opportunity at an astrophysics institute at a t10 university this year

its a lot of cold emailing

if you don't want a mentor you can try smth independent, but you NEED to know what you're doing

i did several months of work and prep for my 11th grade project

thats it

[worldly anvil]

that's awesome, thank you

[rugged geyser]

did use the t10 prof for LOR? or was it ur local one since uve been with them longer

[late ore]

t10

[rugged geyser]

interesting

remote tho

right?

[late ore]

bit of both

mostly remote now

[worldly anvil]

does caltech send out packages?

[late ore]

wdym

[worldly anvil]

like duke's acceptance package

[late ore]

i think so

[worldly anvil]

have u recieved yours?

[late ore]

It's on its way i think
Not exactly sure

[quasi root]

is foreign language good for the humanities rec

[rose moon]

not allowed

[severe bay]

guys you have to take calculus to be able to apply to caltech right

[rotund needle]

Yes, that along with Physics and Chemistry

[quasi root]

i emailed admissions and they didn’t get back to me yet

i’ll ask my gov teacher for a rec but i saw online that caltech took FL and even band recs

[rose moon]

policy probably changed

[quasi root]

from two years ago so

i’ll check way back machine rq

[severe bay]

damn

what happens if a school's highest class is ap pre-calc

[rotund needle]

They understand if your school doesn’t offer calc but they seem to want exam scores that indicate knowledge in the subject

[severe bay]

ohh ok

just askin lol

not planning to apply to caltech

[rotund needle]

Ah I see

[severe bay]

caltech is my least favorite t20 😭

[rotund needle]

What do they mean by “We must be able to review semester or in-progress grades for first-time courses by the application deadline”? What happens if you take a required course in the second semester of your senior year, which starts after the deadline? Do they not consider that?

[crisp iris]

Alright caltech has convinced me to apply now

Way more interesting than I initially gave it credit for

[late ore]

💖

[sudden vessel]

That’s what I’m saying!!!!

Probably won’t get in but it’s a cool school, I’ll help them keep their admit rate low

[quasi root]

they let you use khan academy to satisfy it

[native carbon]

I had a question about two of the Caltech essay prompts. I've pasted them below.

1. Why did you choose your proposed area of interest? If you selected ‘other’, what topics are you interested in pursuing? (200 words)*

2. Tell us how you initially found your interest and passion for science or any STEM topic and how you have pursued or developed this interest or passion. (200 words)

I interpreted both of these to be really similar (different variations of a why major essay) and was wondering what exactly they're looking for from each prompt. Should I also make my response to the first prompt a bit of a "Why Caltech" essay ?

[sudden vessel]

I would say no

The first one is why major

The second one is how you found interest in anything stem you’ve done

[late ore]

No.
The first prompt is asking why you're interested in your major, and the second one is asking HOW you got interested in anything stem related and how you've taken it further

[native carbon]

Does it matter if the two essays talk about interests in different scientific fields or should they ideally be the same?

[late ore]

they can be different, but they can also have some overlap
I wrote mine abt the same topic but you don't necessarily need to

only because I wanted to weave my area of interest (astrophys) as the primary thread throughout my essays since there's so many of them

[steady willow]

what's the defer to acceptance rate for caltech usually?

[late ore]

i think <5% of applicants get deferred, and ~3% get accepted

[viscid socket]

first prompt is like a “why major” so why you want to study a specific area and how you plan to apply what you learn to your career, second one is how you first became interested in anything STEM-related and how that passion has grown

[viscid socket]

there isn’t a published figure, everything is pretty much speculation

caltech defers very few people

[rose moon]

btw does anyone have a reliable-ish source/person for this?

[late ore]

the acceptance rate is pretty widely known but the deferral number is a general guess

all I know is the latter is very low

[jagged parrot]

how do you submit a confirmation of attendence from a summer program that didnt give me post attendence feedback?

like can I submit the acceptance email instead for the verification

[late ore]

I believe so? But if the question is really bothering you I'd reach out to the admissions office

[sudden vessel]

Caltech profs gonna let out the biggest belly laugh ever seeing my app

[indigo glacier]

From qora. This is crazy lol

[jagged parrot]

Bro I’m literally gonna get my science portfolio clowned on bc my quantum computing intern was literally just a PhD level class

[rotund needle]

This is my type of economics class

[sudden vessel]

Mine are backyard astronomy logs you are definitely fine

[late ore]

Sometimes it's like that fr
I put some of my old notes from academic papers in my academic portfolio and they liked it

[quasi root]

i have to turn a coding project into notes lmao

[late ore]

have you tried smth like jupyter notebook

it has a text interface as well as a coding interface

I used it and google colab to illustrate all my code for my portfolio

[quasi root]

ive had...bad experiences with jupyter but i'll give it a shot! really im just trying to describe my PL, compiler, etc. in the notes, so just tex with code blocks would work i. think?

[late ore]

oh yeah that'd be totally cool

i didnt know if you needed smth interactive on your end or not

[quasi root]

its jsut for the portfolio so it doesnt need to be dynamic

[late ore]

true

[quasi root]

its a specification document

[late ore]

im so mad i discovered overleaf after i had all my supps done

they could've been so aesthetic

[quasi root]

lol

overleaf is great but its outlived its usefulness for me 😭

ive had to split up files and stuff

[late ore]

i feel that

i take most of my notes in obsidian

[quasi root]

i wish i took notes lol

[late ore]

stuff like overleaf is just wayy too bulky for me

[quasi root]

oh fs

[rugged geyser]

lemme see how prtty ur maps r

[quasi root]

i meant using tex to make the portfolio rather than actually taking notes. though i rememebr i did do like 3 chapters worth of Axler exercises in tex bc i wanted to feel cool

[rugged geyser]

oh wait i think u sent a pic of it earliner

💀

[quasi root]

https://castel.dev/post/lecture-notes-1/ inspired by this guy

[late ore]

yeah i think you asked me already

[rugged geyser]

ya im cooked

[late ore]

ohhhh yeah

obsidian has a latex plugin so I use that most of the time

[quasi root]

astrophysicists when they realize that all stars are just projections on the firmament that covers the earth

[late ore]

its less clean but it's basically the same thing

[late ore]

shhhh don't spill our secrets

[quasi root]

one thing i cant get enough of is how tex handles diachritics

very useful for linguistics!

\' \m \n \~ etc

[late ore]

oh wow i didn't even know of that use case

thats so cool

[tired hamlet]

For the Prompts, I have a major stem project, is it fine If i kinda talk about it in all the prompts?
Ill have a brief overview in most of the prompts but in one of them it will go in depth

[late ore]

Yep! I don't know if you want to talk about it in every prompt, but somethimg like that would definitely work in many of them

[tired hamlet]

alright thank you

caltech prompts took me like 6 hours

😭

[quasi root]

caltech has so many essays lol

[regal perch]

me when one of my caltech supps is about #1317287827922354228

Are the optional essays worth it?

[late ore]

I'd do them

its extra work but it couldn't hurt yk

[regal perch]

alr

[late ore]

I think mine provided some important information abt me
if you don't think that'll apply for you though, no use doing them

[sudden vessel]

same

[tired hamlet]

Can someone please check my caltech prompts

[tired hamlet]

wait we have to sumbit all AP scores to caltech?!

[late ore]

AP has withdrawing/withholding forms for individual AP scores

you can fill those out as you wish

[sudden vessel]

ouhgirwhutguthb5eubv

caltech staff laughing at me rn

[tired hamlet]

ah alright I got a 4 on AP csp and 3 on AP World which i do not wanna sumbit

[tired hamlet]

wait how does sumbitting scores to caltech even work? on commonapp I only asked to send the APs that I took this year which don't have scores

didnt put down the ones I got 4 and 3 on

[late ore]

afaik you submit official scores through AP and only self-report them on common app

its not an online thing by the way, you usually have to get them mailed or faxed

[late ore]

fwiw by the way, these are probably fine scores
you can make your own judgements though

[tired hamlet]

Oh alright, do I sent the scores when I get caltech portal?

[tired hamlet]

Yep thank you

[warped trench]

wait caltech requires official score send when applying?

[late ore]

don't ask me, consult their website
I don't know the exact policy, I'm going from what was in my Beaver Breakroom

[sudden vessel]

@late ore i uploaded my logs to the portfolio and when i click continue, it asks for a research recommendation, but i havent done one. So when i click continue without adding a research recommender, it takes me back to the portfolio. Is it broken or am i completely done with applying?

[late ore]

if you chance the url back to /status from /ptf then it should take you back to the breakroom

it gets trapped in that loop iirc

[sudden vessel]

me when the California Institute of Technology has a broken website

[late ore]

i think its a great filter tbh 😭
if you cant get past it you're cooked by default

but i dont think they know about it, and everyone who gets accepted has circumvented it

so they dont know abt it

[sudden vessel]

lol its making me do the portfolio page again

once the things are uploaded I am good, yes?

theres no further action required

zamn this is confusing

[late ore]

yes

there's no confirmation or anything

just make sure you add the necessary information

[sudden vessel]

okay cool

[loud coyote]

can i self report and send official scores later?

[late ore]

contact the admissions office about this

[rugged geyser]

💀

[warped trench]

isn't caltech a self report school?

[loud coyote]

Idk is it?

[short ingot]

0/9 essays done rn. gon speed run this shit and see how many essays i can copy paste.

also im looking into caltech is it true that its more research-oriented and better if u wanna pursue a phd? bc im rly only considering caltech bc 1. I'm 99% sure i wanna do smth STEM and 2. i thought it had nice job/industry prospects but from what im hearing its kinda too theoretical

[sudden vessel]

Caltech undergrads are treated like grad students badicslly

[short ingot]

also u think it'd look bad if i said i wanna apply for computational linguistics (under "other") even if caltech doesnt necessarily have that great specializations/proffessors for nlp or comp ling (they seem to have a good amount of cs + x programs but not linguistics)

[sudden vessel]

idk

[late ore]

job/industry prospects arent bad by any means but yeah its very theoretical

[late ore]

I mean? They offer what they offer tbh
I'm really not sure if they can offer something like that outside of their Interdisciplinary Studies Program, so you might want to highlight an interest in that and why you'd choose caltech over a school like MIT or something, esp for comp ling

I don't know if the comparison is particularly important to bring up but if you dont want to go through that trouble I'd just pick smth they have
it seems like the safest solution

[short ingot]

yh true ngl i was js tryna reuse some of my other essays

[late ore]

thats difficult for caltech since all the essays are highly stem-oriented

[sudden vessel]

I wrote all new essays for caltech

Put in loads of effort

Please caltech accept me I love you

[quasi root]

i used my non-stem hobby to talk about linguistics lmao!!

[late ore]

oh same
thats sick

[quasi root]

tbh idt im going to apply to caltech

its just not compelling to me

i still have until friday to change my mind tho

i gotta work on harvard princeton yale cmu 😭

and then stanny mit

if we can fit caltech in thats gigabased

[late ore]

honestly thats real
gl with everything man 🫡

[short ingot]

Lmao me exactly

[glacial dock]

why are the caltech supps actually demonic

[sudden vessel]

To weed out the weak

[tired hamlet]

how does sending scores work to caltech

AP scores

[warped trench]

?? isnt it self report or am i cooked...

[tired hamlet]

i got no clue

I dont wanna sumbit two of my ap scores

[forest plume]

i dont think you need to submit official ap scores

Only students who matriculate to Caltech are required to submit official exam scores. When a student applies, they will be asked to submit all of their test scores, at which point Caltech will create a superscore to review the applicant. If a student is admitted and chooses to matriculate, the student will be asked to send official exam scores at that time.

@tired hamlet @warped trench

this is for ACT and SAT i'd assume the same for AP as most schools don't require reported ap scores

[tired hamlet]

Alright great

Thank you

[forest plume]

make sure you putn thjem in commonapp if u want them to look at it tho

[tired hamlet]

I don’t want them to lmfao

Thanks

[warped trench]

thanks i was p sure j saw ppl ask abt submitting and got worried 😭

[loud coyote]

Wait so is it self report?

[tired hamlet]

Anyone mind checking my supplements please?

[keen fable]

one late lor is fine?

a few days after deadline?

[snow kiln]

when are stem supps (like the portfolio or research papers) due?

9 essays...

[late ore]

have you looked this up

[snow kiln]

oh cooked

[indigo briar]

guys is the deadline for Caltech's portfolio the same as the app deadline?

google is freaking me out with ai-generated answes

[loud coyote]

Check the website

[edgy socket]

Have you had any extenuating circumstances (such as limited course selection, inconsistent grades, or disruptions), that have affected your coursework, but that are not described elsewhere in your application? If so, tell us about them here.

in this question, if i've already explained everything in the additional info section?

[short ingot]

does caltech not accept cs or world language teacher recs? i thought they would count for stem + humanities rec or is my portal just lagging behind

[snow kiln]

cs doesn't count

i asked

i had to find another rec like 2 days before break

i think its the only school that doesnt take cs bruh

[indigo briar]

thank you so much

[short ingot]

bruh

whoops ig i js wasted another $75

[snow kiln]

if you already submitted maybe itll be okay?

idk how strict they'll be

oh yeah they'll def download it if you sent it

[edgy socket]

What the fuck, I'm gonna have to ask for another one??????

[snow kiln]

well thats j what i was told 😭 i could be wrong

i mean atp its kinda too late

so id j submit what you have

[edgy socket]

I have cs and MATH

Unless they consider cs as humanities

I'm cooked

Thankfully got a waiver 😭

[late ore]

gl guys

lock in for 11:59 PT 🧡

[snow kiln]

how much timeanyoen know when teh mentor rec for supplements is due

is it also the 8th:

[honest linden]

yo what is up with caltech's prompts

[late ore]

wdym
they're wondrous 🤩

[honest linden]

STFUU

its chill tho

im making it

[late ore]

real

[snow kiln]

😭 slogging through it rn

[snow kiln]

yo how'd you answer the

diversity one

Caltech Values Question: Caltech’s values include respect for a diversity of thoughts and ideas. How have you cultivated this value in your own life? (50-200 words)

like

idek ik whats it asking but i also cant 💀

i cant tell if they expect a diveristy prompt or like. how you'd been around diverse ppl...

[late ore]

I wrote abt my experience with racism in prestigious science competitions and how that tied into my philosophy of working towards better outcomes on the policy side of things as well as the science side

[snow kiln]

hmm

[rugged geyser]

woah

[snow kiln]

do you think i could like

[rugged geyser]

what type of comps we talking abt

[snow kiln]

act idk

[rugged geyser]

😭

[snow kiln]

i was thinking of talking about how i promote inclusiviy

[rugged geyser]

AHAHHAHA

😂

[late ore]

what does this mean

[rugged geyser]

hopefully its better at isef

✊

[late ore]

can you give some examples about how you 'promote inclusivity'

[snow kiln]

scratch that lmao

[rugged geyser]

https://tenor.com/view/wingedmonkey-monkey-shame-tired-drunk-gif-26760253

[snow kiln]

janutis not related 😭

[late ore]

what is janutis 😭

[rugged geyser]

when is the caltech stuf due btw

for rd

[late ore]

the RD deadline is today at 11:59 PM

[snow kiln]

jaunt is*

[rugged geyser]

LMAOAOAO

bro windbloom

[snow kiln]

ugh my caltech friends r busy 😭

[rugged geyser]

u gotta lock in

[snow kiln]

LMAOOO

i was lowk not sure if i was applying

cuz i didnt get a stem rec until like

rlly recently

cuz cs didnt count

[late ore]

im the closest thing you're gonna get then 😭 im just a prefrosh bro i barely know how these things work

[snow kiln]

LMAOOO i have a few but theyve vanished 💔

alas

its okay

POWER THROUGh

okay bye see you on the other side maybe LOL

[late ore]

in that case gl, you got this

[late ore]

oh btw man your bio is doxxing your name 😭
just so yk

[honest linden]

that was acc one of the easier ones for me

cuz i did the same for a LOT of schols

[honest linden]

ahh fuck it

[snow kiln]

i thought this was j the diversity prompt

but its worded differently

[late ore]

alr then

[honest linden]

lol thanks tho i removed it

[late ore]

np

just trying to look out

[honest linden]

so you done w all your apps?

[late ore]

yep

i got into caltech rea

[honest linden]

OH NICE!

thats great man

committed there or nah?

[late ore]

once I get finaid stuff back most likely yep

[honest linden]

amazing bro

thanks for the motivation ima be back once i finish my supps 😈

[quasi root]

u shd change ur name to arch2caltech

like

ur literally a2c

[late ore]

ofc! good luck

[late ore]

[rugged geyser]

is oos caltech fin aid good?

like compared to princeton or mit

[honest linden]

your state residency doesnt matter its a private school

[honest linden]

DONEEEE

ngl i cooked on those essays

[rugged geyser]

oh right i forgot

[junior spindle]

For the proposed area of interest, is it a rule of thumb to choose an actual major or is it fine if I choose “Other?”

I’m interested in ECE/EECS or a combination of EE and CS but it seems like they don’t have that

[quasi root]

dont they have primary and secondary majors

just do EE then CS

and mention abt wanting to do both

[sterile plank]

2.5 hrs left to finish this thing

admittedly less time than i would like

i might be cooked.

[honest linden]

Uhh you got this it's chill

[opal moth]

For the stem award verification, do we need to upload all stem award ?

[sterile plank]

just submitted:D

also your pfp is cool asf

i actually wrote about meeting dr. bouman in my caltech essays

[junior spindle]

Submitted 🗿

It’s so bad I’m submitting just to get the rejection

[honest linden]

Yeah how tf am I gonna compete w that lmao

That's crazy tho how'd that come about

[sterile plank]

i did all my essays today lol you’re probably in a better position than i am

[sterile plank]

she did a lecture at stanford in ~2019 around spring break time and i happened to be near campus for that week

[silk tendon]

im prolly gonna email about the letter of rec thing

i just realized thats requirement, anyone know how strict they are about it?

[honest linden]

ahh nice

[snow kiln]

yo how can i add the stem ortfolio, i accidentally only request the resarch supp one

[late ore]

follow the stem portfolio directions and add the files

[snow kiln]

but I don't see somewhere on the portal to get access to it?

i didn't request in commonapp*

should I email

[late ore]

oh you didn't request it? email then yeah

[junior spindle]

Is the stem portfolio and stem award verification email different from the account activation email?

I haven’t received anything besides the activation one

[late ore]

no

they're all through beaver breakroom

you can access everything there

[native carbon]

I submitted on time but haven’t gotten the portal yet

Is that the case for anyone else?

[late ore]

sometimes it takes a bit iirc

[native carbon]

can my researcher recommender see my research submission

[late ore]

I don't know? but it shouldn't really matter

if they're your recommender then they should be familiar with everything already

[native carbon]

yeah ik

its just that he gave me some feedback on my paper

and i have 0 time to implement it 💀

so i dont want him to feel bad or anything lmaoo

[late ore]

I'm sure he'll understand
seniors are super busy

can't expect to be perfect yk

[native carbon]

fair

[late ore]

trust me there were super obvious typos and errors in some of the stuff i submitted
it could be worse

[glacial dock]

lmao at least you have research

I have some useless pile of code

[native carbon]

is there supposed to be a summer program verification section in the beaver breakroom?

i only see one for awards/honors

[snow kiln]

yo can I submit two research papers if they're both under the same topic for one submission 💀

[late ore]

its all under the same thing iirc

[late ore]

💀 i dont think so
if you want to add anything else stem related you can add it to the STEM portfolio though

[junior spindle]

Is the first two paragraphs for the portfolio just a general description for your projects or just a specific one?

Like the very beginning when you click on STEM portfolio

[snow kiln]

😭 they let you submit multiple things and btoh entries r gonna be super similar 💀 but i dont wanna copy paste...

alas

#suffering

[late ore]

very general description of your projects i think

[native carbon]

is it like this for anyone else with the awards/summer program reporting 💀

like all the files under every section

[snow kiln]

yeah lol

bro i cant find where to add the

stem portfolio

im so cooked

i should've checked yes on the commonapp 😭

[native carbon]

should be right here if you said yes/unsure

[junior spindle]

For the STEM award verification thing, if my verification is just a pdf of results is that fine?

Or should I just not do it then

[native carbon]

also does everyone have this additional test score thing

[native carbon]

that should be fine i think

[junior spindle]

I just checked no additional test scores to report

It took a while for it to become a check though

[native carbon]

https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/apply/first-year-applicants/verification-of-stem-activities-and-awards this outlines the guidelines

[native carbon]

its ok if im not reporting some scores tho right

its from an ap test i took without taking the class so i did bad

and my bad SATs

[junior spindle]

Honestly idk

When I sent my official score it told me cal tech requires all sat scores

[native carbon]

caltech allows self reporting tho right

[junior spindle]

I don’t know if they need the official ones, I just still sent them to everywhere to feel safe

Probably not

I’m assuming if they need it like Princeton I’d hear people asking about it

[native carbon]

oh wait 💀

[late ore]

yes

[late ore]

I'd assume they mean all major awards in your application, so yes

[snow kiln]

i accidentally said no 💀

[late ore]

note how they say "such as"
they used them as primary examples but im sure they meant a wider range of honors/awards
if you've already submitted it then oh well, but if you haven't I'd keep that in mind

If that's the case then I wouldn't really worry about it unless you feel a need to indicate in a .txt file that it came from your teacher or smth
I really wasn't sure how major of an award that was for you so I just assumed it was given you brought it up here

they have areas where you can include a description iirc

uhhh
there should be a paragraph abt the portfolio where you can explain what its about? you could give some of that information there

but if you have that many then yeah there's no reason to caption each and every one

at least, imo

oooh okay

for the important/cryptic ones I'd caption those
just anything reasonable yk

uhhh hold on let me just see how i set up my portfolio rq

this is how it should show up

oh yeah ofc you can
a pdf might work better for you since you have so many but you can upload various kinds of media

i uploaded some python in a pdf and it just worked better since it was 12 pgs

no clue

[junior spindle]

Wait has it not been due yet

[late ore]

probably portal astrologying
dw too much abt it

[viscid socket]

please share sources with announcements like this

[glacial dock]

edited out my name

commonapp itself might still be open

[viscid socket]

there’s a difference between having an extension given to you by an admissions counselor and the school actually announcing an extension

[glacial dock]

ah fair

but I think the entire commonapp will be open

there's no way I'm the only one that has commonapp open

[viscid socket]

they are at liberty to not review applications submitted after the deadline by people without extensions

[glacial dock]

fair

[glacial dock]

it wouldn't be in their best interest not to tho

like you literally either get a better class or you get another rejection to pad your stats

[viscid socket]

they can do whatever they want lmfao

[glacial dock]

yea fair

[viscid socket]

if a student submits an application several days after the deadline it’s not a good look

[glacial dock]

nah I genuinely think they don't care

[viscid socket]

this is a very big assumption lol

[glacial dock]

I'm doing some very hasty extrapolation

I mean if you have nothing to do

aight bet

9 essays tho

😭

commonapp runs on est

maybe its easier that way

yea but like

they're probably connected

as a cs kid I know how lazy devs are

If I had to take a stab at it probably

dn't trust me

AO is probably your best bet

[late ore]

you can email undergraduate admissions

i mean it just depends on how much you want answers, idk

[glacial dock]

lowkey after thinking about it this is kind overanalyzing

[viscid socket]

they’re there to answer questions. they’re not going to reject you because you email them

the people answering your emails are likely not going to be reviewing your application

[short ingot]

is it possible to get a refund for my app fee 😭 caltech wont accept my rec letters

[viscid socket]

application fees are non-refundable, it tells you that when you submit your application

[short ingot]

😭 that’s acc dumb

Imma refute this charge

This is acc robbery

[viscid socket]

…you agreed to it

[late ore]

yeah lwk you should've read the terms abt everything more deeply

from now on i'd make that the first thing you do

[glacial dock]

lowkey there is a legal defense for this

you could say

"no reasonable person would read the ToS, therefore it isn't legally binding'

[viscid socket]

that is not a legal defense in any way

[glacial dock]

its been used before

I think

[viscid socket]

you are explicitly told that application fees are non-refundable several times lmfao

there’s no legal grounds

[glacial dock]

there's no such thing as no legal grounds

its just called a price tag

[viscid socket]

nobody is going to court over $75

[steady willow]

how probable is it to get in after being deferred REA? There is no data online

[rugged geyser]

https://tenor.com/view/nonioona-wolf-nonchalant-wolf-gif-26373656

[rose moon]

nobody knows lol

[glacial dock]

Ye

Fuck it's all over

Fuck

[glacial dock]

where caltech portal 😭

[edgy socket]

Wiat

Wait

Caltech had an extension?

[viscid socket]

you have to ask schools for an extension, they don’t just give them

[glacial dock]

its not like

I'm getting into caltech

lmao

[boreal pelican]

They had an extension because of the fire no?

[late ore]

yeah

check their insta/website for specifics

[glacial dock]

is a teacher vouching for you good enough for award verification

like just a screenshot

[glacial dock]

@late ore is legit submitting just a txt with a link sufficient for awards verification 😭

[late ore]

i mean 😭
it worked for me???? but you could probably be more official idk 😭
im just not adept at ALL and had a time crunch when i was submitting

[glacial dock]

Surely they aren't that anal about these things right

Low-key idt they use it during admission

[late ore]

i would assume not
i think it only exists there to make sure you aren't lying on your app

[glacial dock]

wait did you do a stem portfolio submission?

if so, how much did you write?

[late ore]

yeah

I submitted maybe 5 or 6 documents which were background research papers from ages ago, some python code, a summary of the research I was doing now, and uhhh some other stuff probably

[tired hamlet]

I also submitted mine and I tried to write 1.5 paragraph

[late ore]

least alive thread imaginable

[severe bay]

tiny ass school

i swear caltech does NOT seem real

so does the rest of socal

[fleet violet]

real

[late ore]

real

[viscid socket]

i go to usc and ive met someone from every surrounding school except for caltech

cal state la? check. cal state long beach? check. lmu? check. westwood high? check. pasadena city college? more than once surprisingly

not a single caltech student

[steady willow]

to people who've been deferred, how long are you making your deferral docs? in terms of words and pages? And what content are you submitting?

[steady willow]

please tell guys. a little lost here

[indigo briar]

guys my teacher emailed my lor like a week ago and in the portal it still shows up as pending

what do i do

[gilded flame]

email admissions

since it's been a week

ask if they received it

[indigo briar]

ok i’ll get on that thank you

[quasi root]

my friend had the same problem, he ended up calling admissions, and they basically said if the teacher emailed it, it's fine. they're taking a long time because LA was literally on fire two weeks ago lol

[indigo briar]

oh oh i see thank you

hope it gets better soon

[fathom flame]

dead chat xd

[rose moon]

i just submitted my updates and it got washed away

[fathom flame]

They have it

it’s empty in case u need to submit a new one

[rose moon]

oh

i accidentally double submitted then yesterday lol

idt it matters

[late ore]

this has your full name on it btw

jsyk

and your personal email

[rose moon]

oh rip

[late ore]

at least this is a dead thread

so hopefully nobody has seen it

[rose moon]

when did caltech RD come out last year?

[steady willow]

will we get a riddle for the RD release time like REA?

[indigo radish]

hey guys

[floral roost]

Hey

[loud coyote]

Hi

[indigo glacier]

Hi

[late ore]

hi

[sinful pecan]

hi

[outer relic]

hi

[fathom flame]

hi

[sharp oracle]

hi

I did my caltech essays in like 1 day at starbucks and they were lowk not even that bad

im manifesting

[sinful pecan]

wait literally same

[outer relic]

How’s it going girl

[sharp oracle]

i sent an application update 12 days ago and they have not responded cooked?

should i follow up or are they still busy w email backlog from fire

[true prism]

💀 I sent an application update like 10 mins ago

im extra cooked then

[sharp oracle]

ill follow up theyve been pretty responsive before

[true prism]

you sent the original update through email?

[sharp oracle]

yea howd you do it

[true prism]

Yep same, Caltech doesn't have any application id right?

[sharp oracle]

idts, just included commonapp id

[true prism]

Ah ic

[fathom flame]

caltech AOs are not in office rn iirc

[sharp oracle]

👍

[steady willow]

i went to the campus during mid jan and the admissions office was closed for some reason. It was not because of the fires though, because everything else was operational

[fathom flame]

I was admitted but having some things to work out with my AO, emailed like a week ago and no response so i wouldn’t worry

[late ore]

The turtles...

[muted portal]

TURTLE

[late ore]

turle

truue

urthe

turtle

they were very cool and the campus was very pretty

[pearl parcel]

Does caltech always release on 2nd sat in Mar?

[rose moon]

california is liveable during the winter

[pearl parcel]

Do we think it'll come out this sat , 8th?

[rose moon]

idk

they'll probably send out an email sometime this week

[split crater]

im nervous

[steady willow]

Playboi carti is dropping on the 7th (hopefully. Caltech dropping next day only makes sense 🙏🙏 (especially after their reels)

[muted leaf]

Wait what reels from caltech?

[steady willow]

No no, there was a reel where the caltech AO tessa tweet says random brainrot stuff. A playboi carti concert in caltech was something she joked about. Totally unrelated but something that needed to be said out loud 😂😂

[muted leaf]

Ohh

😭😭

[bronze horizon]

Does anyone know when they send out the email with the decision time riddle

Assuming the speculations are correct and RD comes out on 3/8

[pearl parcel]

If they were releasing on 8th it should have come out by now. I wonder if it's next week just because of the fire. They did push out the deadlines in Jan for doc submissions for those affected by the fires.

[floral roost]

Last year, they released the riddle 3 days before .

[shut marlin]

i applied REA and I got the eamil that they would release it a wekk before decisions

[floral roost]

Oh okay. So, you mean that for REA, they sent the riddle a week before decisions?

[muted leaf]

Came out march 6 for rd last year

The email

[pearl parcel]

Let's hope the riddle comes soon then.

[muted leaf]

Same

Well i mean yes

😭

[odd ember]

whens it coming out again

[floral roost]

Yes

[muted leaf]

Ppl say the 8th

[quasi root]

chuzztech dropping in 4 days

[floral roost]

What's chuzztech? 😅

[pearl parcel]

Status updated to : awaiting decision. It should be coming soon.

[muted leaf]

So this Saturday?

[pearl parcel]

Doesn't say.

[muted leaf]

Ah

[split crater]

pray for me chat

[bronze horizon]

So then hopefully we should be getting the email tomorrow

[rugged geyser]

gl guys!!!

[loud coyote]

Wait what riddle 😭

[bronze horizon]

Caltech sends you a riddle a few days before the decision date and if you solve it it tells you what time admissions come out

https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/apply/first-year-applicants/admissions-release-time-riddles

[bronze horizon]

Apparently last year the "awaiting decision" banner appeared around 3/4

So 5 days or so before

[muted leaf]

so either saturday or subday!!

[bronze horizon]

Caltech says they always release on a Saturday

[muted leaf]

I betting on saturday

[shut marlin]

hasn't it always been like this

or am i mistaken

[muted leaf]

It said application complete before

[shut marlin]

oh i see yea

[muted leaf]

ITS SATURDAY

[clear axle]

confirmed sat

[muted leaf]

riddle is out as well

[glacial dock]

releases 10am pst

[forest plume]

How do you do the is integral

[glacial dock]

I did the integral

[forest plume]

I’m getting du = pi t

[glacial dock]

uh

I just used a calculator

[forest plume]

Did you do by parts

[glacial dock]

it's a definite integral

[forest plume]

Oh

Bruh

[glacial dock]

just plug it into a calculator

also I don't think it can be integrated

[pearl parcel]

10:37 am pst?

[glacial dock]

I got 10 am sharp

[brave fiber]

Can you send the riddle

A pic of it

[shut marlin]

10:37 am

[brave fiber]

Or anyone can

I just need proof

[pearl parcel]

17 minors I think

[glacial dock]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_integral

yeah they don't have a real form

[glacial dock]

I got 32

https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/why-caltech/academics/majors-minors

here

[brave fiber]

Caltech RD Decision Date

Saturday, March 8
Figure out the time with this riddle!
@everyone

[glacial dock]

just count

[glacial dock]

I have a potential answer

[forest plume]

Oh so you can’t do it you have to use approximation

[glacial dock]

yea

like newton's approx or smth

and also

I got 20*C(32) = 9.99993815855

which is

really really close

[forest plume]

I think Taylor could work

[quaint elm]

I forgot I applied here 💀

[shut marlin]

just use wolframalpha lol

[brave fiber]

Skull

[bronze horizon]

I got 10:37

[carmine lark]

taylor gives u 10

[bronze horizon]

Yeah but why use taylor when you can use desmos

or any other definite integral solver

Wait nvm

Wait how should it be 2 sigfigs

Isnt 10 one sigfig

and 10.3 is three

[oblique ingot]

What’s the est time

Too lazy to do the math lmao

[bronze horizon]

add 3 hours

[brave fiber]

I was told “the solution to this is called a fresnel integral”

[glacial dock]

what'd you get for x

[bronze horizon]

17

[glacial dock]

huh

I counted 32

[bronze horizon]

"Caltech offers undergraduates 26 majors (called “options”) and 17 minors across the six academic divisions."

https://www.catalog.caltech.edu/current/general-information/education-and-research/#:~:text=Caltech offers undergraduates 26 majors,%2C mechanical engineering%2C and physics.

[bronze horizon]

doing the integral for 32 gives 16.87

[bright fjord]

Idk yall just tell me fr 😓

[brave fiber]

Just be ready by 10am PT

And we’ll be good

[bright fjord]

Real

[gentle tusk]

i think it comes out before noon

[bronze horizon]

Did you take the decimal as a fraction of the hour

When I did that I got 10:22

[glacial dock]

what

[bronze horizon]

oh ok

[hazy sorrel]

10:37am?

[quaint elm]

thats like 30 people in each major

[glacial dock]

💀 I counted 32 here
https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/why-caltech/academics/majors-minors

[hazy sorrel]

is x not 17

[brave fiber]

Caltech likes to release at funny times I’ve noticed so I’d be surprised if it’s 10am on the dot

[bronze horizon]

put \(20\cdot \int _{0}^{32}\textrm{cos}\left(\frac{\pi t^{2}}{2}\right)dt\) through any integral solver bruh

[glacial dock]

I did

it gave me

0.9999

9.9999 sorry

also it's not 17 because it's imaginary

[hazy sorrel]

oh wait i get what ur saying now lol

[bronze horizon]

What solver you using wtf

[hazy sorrel]

so around 10:30 🙏
im gonna be volunteering at that time so uh sucks for me

[glacial dock]

https://www.integral-calculator.com/

[gentle tusk]

oopsies

[gentle tusk]

guilt trip whoever youre volunteering with

mfw we're debating rounding instead of how to solve it

[bronze horizon]

I think theres smth wrong with that calculator

[glacial dock]

no

actually

hm

[gentle tusk]

what does our lord and savior wolphram alpha say

[hazy sorrel]

this is crazy

[glacial dock]

probably 10:37

if

we're taking the 17 figure to be correct

[brave fiber]

If we have to round then we have to get here 37 minutes earlier

[glacial dock]

2 sig figs is

11 then

[bronze horizon]

wait wolfram says its also 9.999999

tf

Is desmos wrong

That's it im coding a definite integral solver in python just for this

give me a minute

[open rivet]

Hello caltech thread

I haven’t been in here since December 💀

[strong warren]

ti nspire save meeee (i didn't even apply)

[glacial dock]

rounding would round up

can someone remove my red flag role

[bronze horizon]

Trapezoidal integration using scipy with 1000 intervals gives 10

[brave fiber]

So is it 10 or 11

[bronze horizon]

I ask forgiveness for my mistakes

Im never trusting desmos again

[glacial dock]

shrodingers decision date

we won't know until it drops

[strong warren]

so its 10

ain't it

[floral roost]

it's 10:00 a.m.

[strong warren]

i had to get hella hints to input allat in my calculator

how do you manually integrate

[vapid oasis]

I think the only way is to do it using taylor but that's cancer

[strong warren]

ah

i have not learned that

[floral roost]

you'll need to use a gaussian integral for that

can be done by complex numbers as well

[strong warren]

ti nspire autosolve my beloved ig

[past badger]

I could be wrong, but I believe the people saying Taylor series and Freshnel integral are correct and you can get the solution from tables of the normalized freshnel integral's values

[past badger]

How did you get the different values for these?

[past badger]

idk about you, but

Wolfram alpha & desmos gave ~10.37