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Chip Fixes

Mon Aug 29 2011, 02:00AM

Registered Member #3781 Joined: Sat Mar 26 2011, 02:25AM
Location:
Posts: 701

I have not taken the SAT because I have not needed it for any colleges I am planning to apply to but an old teacher of mine told me about Caltech and said I should consider applying there because I build cool electronics projects etc etc etc. After looking at the website and talking to some people who have gone there in the past I figured that it would be a really cool college to go to. But my grades are lacking, I only got a 24 on my act and I have 3.3 gpa, so is it worth even considering? I just wanted to get some more opinions before I spend $100+ on the SAT and application

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Turkey9

Mon Aug 29 2011, 03:52AM

Registered Member #1451 Joined: Wed Apr 23 2008, 03:48AM
Location: Boulder, Co
Posts: 661

I have heard form some pretty reputable people that schools such as Caltech are not worth going to for undergrad work. The reasoning is that even if you are the valedictorian of your high school and used to being the smartest person around, you will suddenly be just average or even below average. The course work will also be extremely difficult. In the end, there is not really much difference between a top end school like that and a middle to high middle end school such as a lot of the state universities. What make the difference is the graduate studies. I would take care of your BS at a solid state school and then if you are still interested apply for graduate school at Caltech. Also, the majority of Caltech students have an ACT composite above 34.

Hope this info helps!

Chip Fixes

Mon Aug 29 2011, 05:05AM

Registered Member #3781 Joined: Sat Mar 26 2011, 02:25AM
Location:
Posts: 701

Ok thanks! that actually helps a lot

Patrick

Mon Aug 29 2011, 05:09AM

Registered Member #2431 Joined: Tue Oct 13 2009, 09:47PM
Location: Chico, CA. USA
Posts: 5639

First, get most of your stuff done cheap at a community college.
Then, get your BS at a state school. (so you can get a job in this sh*tty economy)
Finnally, get your MA or PhD at Caltech, Berkely... or where ever.

At a community college you can get 90% of the education (or more) for 10% of the cost (or less).

Carbon_Rod

Mon Aug 29 2011, 07:00AM

Registered Member #65 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:43AM
Location:
Posts: 1155

Actually, statistics in North America state one should only do their first year at college.
The chance of graduating with a degree falls by 20% per year of your stay (typically 30%-50% failure rates are common, and increases for sciences.)

It is also advisable people take this time to focus on common weaknesses like physics, chemistry, calculus and linear algebra. The credits with long lab reports will almost certainly drag down your GPA later, so it is better to get them out of the way prior to attending a University (your GPA will reset for graduate programs, but will still exclude you from scholarships if it below the expected performance levels.)

You must also be careful to make 100% sure the college credits you earn will transfer to an assigned university credit. Note the generic credits are a huge waste of money, and will only slow your progress through the institutions. The college offices will try to sell you on these, but it is often better to simply audit the "prerequisites", and get an override to enter the actual university credit courses.

Unfortunately, if your family does not have an upper middle class income your grades will typically be quite a bit lower. According to several studies, by the time students reach university the learning gap averages above a 1.5 year difference.

Oh, note co-op work programs are good for getting a job later. However, people on average see a 15% cut in their GPA the following semester. I would suggest you choose a summer internship option instead if you plan to do post graduate work.

Cheers,

magnet18

Tue Aug 30 2011, 12:32AM

Registered Member #3766 Joined: Sun Mar 20 2011, 05:39AM
Location:

Posts: 624

My dads general saying is "go to the best college you can afford, and get as much degree as you can"
For this reason, I plan on attending purdue next year, and when all is said and done I will at least have a masters
[EDIT]
One thing that's always a good option is to undergrad at a state school, then transfer wherever you want for grad school.

Also, 34 composite on the ACT, 2020 on the SAT, heck yea!

I'm surprised at how little the SAT is used in other states, here, most people consider the SAT first, the ACT is only looked at by the really big engineering schools (Purdue, Rose-Hulman)

...

Tue Aug 30 2011, 12:57AM

Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445

I just wanted to chime in once more and say to not worry about getting into caltech, it won't help you much for undergrad, and is one of those schools where most parents start sending their kids to tutoring at age 4 to prepare them to get in (exaggerated of course). Going there for grad school is a completely different story, and in that case if they have research which interests you, by all means go for it.

I am not sure where else you are planning to attend, but if you are considering other california school, UCSD, UCSB, and cal poly SLO all have very active IEEE chapters on campus, which do a lot of interesting electronics projects.
I am currently the chair of the student chapter of IEEE at UCSB, and we have an audio modulated tesla coil, spark gap tesla coil, a variety of lasers, autonomous vehicles, etc in our lab that we tinker with.

Chip Fixes

Tue Aug 30 2011, 05:30AM

Registered Member #3781 Joined: Sat Mar 26 2011, 02:25AM
Location:
Posts: 701

Alright thanks for the suggestions! I crossed Caltech off my list of colleges I am going to apply for this year. I decided that I am either going to attend the college in my town (UWRF) to get my generals out of the way, then I will transfer to a more engineering oriented school. Thus it will be really cheap and even though I'll live with my parents it won't be too bad because I will have access to all my electronics stuff, etc. And I can still have fun the last 2 years
My other option would be to go to a more engineering oriented school right away and just stay there for 4 years. I may not be able to bring all my 'toys' but I will get to fully experience college life and I will make a lot better friends than if I was to transfer from a different school

Turkey9

Tue Aug 30 2011, 10:18PM

Registered Member #1451 Joined: Wed Apr 23 2008, 03:48AM
Location: Boulder, Co
Posts: 661

I'd start out at the more engineering oriented one. Wait, I DID start out at a more engineering oriented one!

If you go to a school that has a great engineering program, you can get into different research projects and clubs right away. I started working on a satellite after two weeks into my freshman year! Also, you usually get started into in-depth engineering courses right away. We had one the first semester that we flew experiments to the edge of space on a weather balloon. The larger universities have funding for great classes like that.

Also, you don't HAVE to leave you electronics behind

! I crammed most of my components, soldering iron, oscilloscope, and function generator into my dorm with plenty of room to spare.

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