As a current Techer I’d like to inform you all that the statements above regarding athletics are bullshit.
In the past two years we have been admitting approx. 30% athletes as our student body due to the new athletics director (she has crazy, unchecked power). The administration's argument is that athletics pull alums -> pull donations -> good good moneys. Complete bullshit.
However, any smart athlete should know to capitalise on this fact!
This school is no longer the purely academic wonderland many describe it to be - coaches have enough pull to take an athlete over another student with similar or slightly higher qualifications. Based on my observations at athletics events, the kids in the teams are generally of lower academic calibre than the rest of the student body, some significantly so. Thank god we have no football team. Happy recruiting! You won't get in with a 30 ACT, but if you hold something near the bottom 25th percentile scores, you probably only stand a chance with athletics or some magical award.
Bonus fact: this school Does do gender-based affirmative action - how else are you going to get near 50-50 gender ratio when your applicants are largely male? I hope you didn't Really believe that Caltech was gender-blind; otherwise, you probably don't have the analytical skills to be here. If you get in and still wish to believe your fantasies of equality, perhaps you should go somewhere else. We don't need sheep who blindly believe in statements by higher powers here in science.
Bonus, bonus fact: this school is called “Caltech”, not some variation of that. Spelling it wrong will significantly decrease your chances of admission.