<p>I know many of you are busily finishing your applications, and the admissions committee is eager to read them. There are a few sentences worth of advice that is the most valuable thing anybody could have said to me when I was applying.</p>
<p>Remember that your application will be read by people. People like honesty, personality, and an exciting read. The most important suggestion I can make is -- make your application fun to go through. I can remember otherwise quite passable candidates who didn't get in because they came across as stuffy and generally lacking in vibrancy.</p>
<p>Be funny, if you can be (but don't force it). Be passionate, if you are. Don't force anything, in fact, but try very hard to treat the person on the other side of the process as someone you'd like to interest in a one-hour chat with you, as opposed to some sort of avatar of the academy who will judge your acheivements on an abstract scale of worthiness. Let your personality come through. It's one of your most valuable assets.</p>
<p>(Since we will be reading huge numbers of files, naturally you want to distinguish yourself from the rest in a way that will stick in the readers' minds. I assure you, despite what it may seem like in view of your high school/neighborhood/state, it is overwhelmingly unlikely that your grades/scores/activities/awards will be exceptional on their own. Unless you have placed or will place highly in an International Olympiad of some sort, you can be pretty sure that lots of people will have distinctions similar to yours. And -- this was weird for me to learn, way back when -- while a near-perfect GPA and a 1550+ SAT along with regional trophies may be extremely exceptional among the people you know of, this is approximately the <em>expectation</em> we have when opening every application. That this is the case in our applicant pool is mind-boggling, but true.</p>
<p>Don't let this intimidate you. We are favorably impressed with great scores, great grades, and awards. They do reflect well upon your drive and intellect. And not everyone who applies has great scores. But the previous paragraph was intended to make clear that those things typically don't <em>tip the scales</em>, since there are more people who have those qualities than people whom we can admit.)</p>
<p>The bottom line is, there are quite a few candidates for whom Caltech was numbers-wise a "reach" who will be here next year because the readers felt like this was someone they'd love to have a conversation with -- and hence would add a lot to the community. Let your application convey a person as opposed to a bundle of achievements. While you must have something to back up your enthusiasm for science and your shining personality (i.e. achievements) your qualities as a person usually tip the scales</p>
<p>As Galen said, in anything you do, always remember your audience.</p>
<p>:-) Good luck.</p>