My chances of transferring into caltech

[tamakee]

Hi, I wanted to know what were my chances of getting into caltech as a transfer student.

High school GPA: 3.5
SAT 1600 (math 700)
AP Bio: 4
College GPA: 3.9
Dean's list from 2012

Internships: I been in 3 internship programs within my cc. Each being a semester long. They were chem,chem,micro concentrated projects.

Clubs:
Honor society (Phi theta kappa)
Art club
HOSA
PPHC as vice president for 2 years (club for students with career interest in the medical field)

Extracurricular:
Traditional Japanese fan dancing for 4 years and ongoing.

Work experience:
Math tutor at my cc for 3 years

My high school GPA and SAT is low because I immigrated from a different country to the US in my sophomore year. Langauge barrier was the main reason for the low numbers.

In college I studied 1 years general chem, 2 year physics, 2 year calculus, 1 year A&P, 1 semester micro. I took most of the core science classes what my cc can offer.

Because of the limited sources, I made a club, PPHC, with my peers to help ourselves and our cc students who are interested in going into the medical field. We try to be active by volunteering in health/medical related community events and host workshops within the college.

Currently I have my associates in liberal arts and finishing up one for natural sciences. I am in a position where I must transfer to progress further.

I wish to major in chemical or biological engineering and get involved in the medical field.


I'd like to know what my chances are and what I should work on more to get in.
Thank you for taking your time reading this and I appreciate the help.

 

[DEvens]

You should contact somebody at Caltech admissions to find out. Google up their web site. Find out which particular part of the school has the program you are most interested in. Ask them what their admission requirements are.

Anybody who isn't actually working for Caltech admissions is probably going to give you no better than a guess.

 

[IGU]

I would say that at this point you are ready to enter Caltech as a freshman. Your physics and math courses at your CC would be considered good prep but not a replacement for the Caltech first two years. Take a look at their first two years of required courses to get an idea what they would expect of a transfer student. They tell you a little http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/content/how-apply-transfer-student, and if you follow the link to the transfer exams they tell you a bit more about some books to look at to prepare for physics and math. Beware! They teach math and science at a much more serious level than you are probably used to at a CC.

Of course I'm just giving my best guess here, from some experience with Caltech as an undergrad (long ago) and looking at it for my kid (more recently). You'll do best to talk to admissions there. Please post here to let us know what they say.

 

[playoff]

Caltech has a distinguished transfer process, which requires you to take their own math/physics admission tests. The tests are notorious for their low pass rate (forgot the numbers, but it was around like 5% I think. You can check for yourself on the website). I don't know what would prepare you for them, but you should definitely check the website out.

 

[jack476]

Well, you seem like a reasonably high-caliber student. But just keep in mind, it's CalTech, and they accept something like 5 transfers a year so don't beat yourself up if you don't get in. Pick a few safety schools like Stanford or UC Berkeley.

And yes, if you're the sort of student who is seriously gunning for CalTech, those are absolutely safeties.

 

[IGU]

But just keep in mind, it's CalTech...

No. It's Caltech. :)