<p>Calling anyone applying to Caltech for class of 2018~!</p>
<p>I EA'd along with MIT, what about you guys? Any thoughts on admissions/yourself/essays/whatever? Favorite color? xD</p>
<p>Hello, fellow applicants! I also EA’d to both Caltech and MIT. I’m pretty apprehensive about the whole process because I’ve never done any research, which I’m concerned will especially hurt my chances for Caltech. I’ve done stuff with robotics, luthiery, and other engineering-type stuff in high school and have been really involved with that.</p>
<p>Favorite color? ~445nm. :)</p>
<p>Best of luck to everyone who applied Early Action! (hopefully more will join in on this thread)</p>
<p>I EA’d to both. I figure most people here will have that in common. </p>
<p>I’m a bit worried that I’ll get deferred because I sent them my November SAT subject test scores and I just found out that they wanted anything before that sitting. </p>
<p>I think I remember reading that the percentage of people that have and haven’t done research is something like 50-50 so while it may “hurt” you I wouldn’t be too worried as long as you’ve done other stuff.</p>
<p>I don’t think research will help/hurt that much, as long as you have the proper ECs/scores. I did research but didn’t submit my paper because…it’s really bad… xD.</p>
<p>What topics did you guys write for the essays? I was dreading the one about “Why Caltech?” at first because it was 500 words, but I think I liked mine for that one the most! :D</p>
<p>I EA’d to both as well. </p>
<p>A lot of applicant to MIT and Caltech who I’ve talked to have done science summer camps. I haven’t done any of these but I’ve done independent research and submitted that. Do you think that is any worse than some sort of science summer program? Sort of freaking out about it…</p>
<p>Definitely not.</p>
<p>Sometimes, I think that TOO MANY small programs, overly mentioned in the application are actually detrimental because the college just thinks you went to them for the sake of apps. And many do. Personally, I just went to 2 camps (not prestigious or well-known ones), and I had a great time, not doing hardcore research but having fun while learning at the same time.</p>
<p>…if you know what I mean. Read that again and it was confusing lol</p>
<p>Would MIT > Caltech for you guys? or vice versa?</p>
<p>Anyone know when Caltech admissions decisions come out? Last year it was the 8th… That’s a week from today!</p>
<p>I wish I had known more about summer camps. I found out that there were serious summer camps for high schoolers last year, about a week before application deadlines. I applied to RSI and HSHSP but didn’t make it, of course.</p>
<p>Also, Caltech vs. MIT would be a hard choice. For now, though, I’m thinking Caltech > MIT. I’d have to visit both to be sure, as I’ve never been to MIT. I don’t expect I’ll have to make that choice, though.</p>
<p>I applied EA to Caltech and MIT. I have a feeling Caltech results will be posted 12/7, this coming Saturday, but we’ll see!</p>
<p>Wow, is anyone here not doing EA?.. I’m planning to apply regular for both Caltech and MIT, although I’m nowhere near as far as I should be with my essays. And for me, it’s MIT>Caltech as of now. I haven’t visited either one, my parents will only allow me to visit schools that accept me. So, my preferences are just based on the opinions of others. But if someone’s visited Caltech and/or MIT, share your opinions and comparisons!</p>
<p>I’ve visited both; both give different vibes.</p>
<p>I went to Caltech on one of its visitation days for prospective freshmen; bright and sunny, with a remarkable misrepresentation of tour guides (too many Caucasian females as opposed to their proportion in the school), but otherwise, the location was absolutely beautiful. Houses are sorta small-ish, but that’s expected given the tiny population.</p>
<p>(actually when I think about it, I don’t think I saw ANY Asian males there to represent Caltech…lol…)</p>
<p>Went to MIT and it was pretty rainy. Rain cleared up right before the tour so it was all good. Our guide (another Caucasian female… -.-) was pretty bad tbh since she kept saying that everything “was really fun” and that she “had a lot of fun” like everywhere on the tour. It was an OK place, I prefer the HYPS campuses.</p>
<p>imo the weather, Caltech > MIT hands down, but campus itself, I’d say MIT just because it’s bigger and offers more because Boston. Not to say Pasadena doesn’t offer anything but…it doesn’t. >.<</p>
<p>Also sports at MIT are at least acceptable. Abysmal at Caltech. Pretty much ditto with social life I think. Either way I get my decisions to both within about 2 weeks :3 so we’ll see. gl to all!</p>
<p>PS @ivanov: MIT/Caltech essays weren’t that bad actually. I’m having a much tougher time with the Stanford supplement :(</p>
<p>I’m interested in any more reviews of Caltech after a visit. I’ve only been to MIT and:</p>
<p>At MIT most of the admissions people were also white females. (@paragonz I think we may have had the same guide). My guide was quite, uh, alternative which I think garnered a few disapproving looks from parents. </p>
<p>Boston was still cold when I visited during spring break. However, I liked some parts of MIT’s campus, but others were not the best. The Gehry architecture is pretty hit-or-miss in that it looks good at some places but pretty ugly at others. Not a lot of green. I honestly don’t care too much about the campuses so perhaps I should not continue to pretend that I do.</p>
<p>The applicants to MIT seemed to represent what you would stereotype as an MIT student. There was some awkward showing off disguised in questions, some kids were really shy, some were obviously on the autism spectrum, etc. Not that there is anything wrong with any of that (except the showing off). However, all of the students and faculty with which I came into contact were socially capable. I’m not sure if this is just MIT trying to project a good image or if all of the geek-types get screened out (or were just not out and about).</p>
<p>I visited Caltech the summer after my sophomore year, so I’ll suppose I’ll share my impressions…</p>
<p>I thought the campus was very nice, myself. The buildings were reasonably nice, and there was plenty of greenery everywhere. The weather helped too, of course.</p>
<p>I got the impression that students were given more freedom than at nearly any other school. Students can take home almost all tests and have 24/7 access to almost all the labs. The Honor Code seems to really work.</p>
<p>The students that I met there were really very cool people. They were obviously very brilliant, but not arrogant at all. I felt like they really worked to follow the Caltech Honor Code. Overall I’d say they were the type of people that took their studies and research seriously, but didn’t take themselves too seriously (hence the prank culture). Now these were tour guides, so they probably represented the more socially well-adjusted section of the population, but they all seemed to be genuinely happy at Caltech.</p>
<p>I know people have commented that Caltech students don’t have social lives, but I’m not sure that’s true. It seemed like the social life at Caltech just revolves around a mutual enjoyment of math/science/engineering/“nerdy” things in general rather than sports/partying like at most schools. I mean, the photos of Caltech parties I’ve seen have been of ridiculously cool things students had built for them. I guess it takes a certain type of person to be happy in a culture like that. </p>
<p>So yeah, Caltech is pretty much my dream school. Let me know if you want any more information from my visits and I’ll see if there’s anything else relevant that I can remember.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, have all of you read Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman? or any of Feynman’s other books?</p>
<p>I applied to both MIT and CalTech as well!</p>
<p>Do we get an email notifying us when the results are coming out, or do we only get a notification when they actually come out?</p>
<p>not sure if I’d agree with the “there’s plenty of greenery everywhere”</p>
<p>remember, MIT is in the northeast, where like everything is green, and Caltech is in SoCal, where like everything is yellow (trust me, I lived in SoCal for 12 years, and when I visited Caltech I didn’t notice that much difference) although it definitely takes care to water its plants, and it’s probably one of the greener parts of CA. Basically what I mean is that non-green in Boston and green in CA might not be that different. I agree with evanatch on pretty much everything else. btw Stanford is definitely a lot greener, but Stanford is NorCal and that’s a different story.</p>
<p>What was the hardest essay for you guys? Mine was the diversity one, couldn’t really think of anything; I’d thought the why caltech or ethical dilemma would be really bad but I’m actually really proud of both of them.</p>
<p>Fair point about the greenery comment. I’ve lived in an area with a desert climate all my life and I’ve only ever been to the Northeast once when I was younger, so my perceptions of “plenty of greenery” for a college campus are probably pretty skewed.</p>
<p>Caltech was the first college I visited and I was pretty impressed when I saw this part of the campus:
<a href=“http://hometown-pasadena.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/caltech6.jpg[/url]”>http://hometown-pasadena.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/caltech6.jpg</a></p>
![http://hometown-pasadena.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/caltech6.jpg[/url]](http://hometown-pasadena.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/caltech6.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>Anyway, I think the ethical dilemma was probably my weakest. I couldn’t think of anything that great to write about, so I talked about collaborating on homework. I guess I hoped Caltech would appreciate it, with its emphasis on collaboration and all. I struggled at first with the diversity one too, but I ended just writing about a unique interest rather than cultural diversity or anything. I think it turned out alright. I was really proud of my “why Caltech” one, because I actually quoted something Feynman said about Caltech in it, haha.</p>
<p>I love that so many people have talked about their preference, Caltech>MIT, because of the climate and weather and environment. For me, it’s the exact opposite. I grew up in Russia, and lived in Michigan for the last few years, so the California weather seems like absolute torture to me. Honestly, I can’t even imagine living at a place where it never snows… But hey, for a school like Caltech, it’s definitely worth it. Or so it seems, as of right now.
Also, what do you guys think of the Caltech essays? I actually really like their format - several short essays, with interesting and unusual prompts which definitely leave a lot of room for creativity. I wish more schools had supplements similar to Caltech.</p>
<p>Interesting that you’re so attached to the cold winter… I’m up in northern MN and would give anything to get out of here. To each his own, I guess…</p>
<p>Anyway, @Paragonz, what do you mean that Caltech sports are abysmal? Do you mean that they hardly get any attention or are hardly a part of the atmosphere, or that Caltech as really poor quality teams? The latter would actually be a huge pro for me, because then I might be able to make varsity. Thinking of tennis in particular…</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone else who EA’d!</p>
<p>I think it’s a bit of both, jtg. It was a big deal a few years back when the basketball team won a game for the first time in like, ten years. They mentioned during the information session I went to that students with no experience playing the sport can oftentimes just walk on to varsity teams.</p>
<p>I think most students don’t take sports too seriously, and just play for fun and/or exercise…</p>
<p>^^ to quote the tour guide I had when I visited Caltech: nobody comes to Caltech for sports.</p>
<p>I’m claiming tennis, cross country, and track.</p>