Caltech RD 2023 Applicants Results (+Deferred Applicants Results)

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
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This is the official 2023 RD and Deferred EA applicants results thread. Use this at your own discretion to only post results in the following template:

—TEMPLATE START—

Put your result, stats, ECs, etc. here to help future applicants. Use this format:

PLEASE REPLACE THE [* BELOW WITH JUST [ BEFORE POSTING
[B][size=4][color=#008000]Decision: Accepted[/color][/size][/b]
[B][size=4][color=#FFA500]Decision: Deferred[/color][/size][/b]
[B][size=4][color=#FF0000]Decision: Rejected[/color][/size][/b]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
Weighted GPA:
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details):
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details):

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?:
Intended Major:
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflections:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

General Comments (if any):

—TEMPLATE END—

Please keep the conversation strictly regarding results, or else there might be bans/timeouts (not from me).

Thanks!

Best of luck to everyone! Hope this Forum section is useful for the '23s

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Alright! Hope to see this spark up on 3/9 or 3/15 (mostly 3/9)!!!

(I’m not sure of the exact PT time).

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It is probably going to be 12pm PT on 3/9.

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@Tamarix Okay! Thanks for the heads up! Im guessing youre 100% confident in this?

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@TheGuy1 With my uncertain journey of an applicant’s father so far, I am not certain about anything with respect to US Uni application process. If someone asks me whether RD results of MIT are expected to be announced on Tau day at Pi time or on Pi day at Tau time, I would probably say it can be either one :wink:

I gathered from a rather small sample of data that Caltech announces the results on the Saturday before the results day of MIT. And results are usually announced at 12PT.

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@Tamarix Alright! But I’m pretty certain MIT releases it 3/14 6:28 PM EST, and according to your knowledge, Caltech would release it 3/9 12 PM PST.

So I guess the date’s settled!

1 Like
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No official hear though

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Clarification: Some people have preconceived notions on what hooks are.

Hooks includes URM status and whatnot, but it also includes IMO, a feature in your app that acc. to you made you stand out. Since its the apps who are posting here, its upto them to decide what the hooks are. If there are none, it doesnt matter. Dec.s arent made on possession of these hooks.

Hope this helps anyone who wants to post their result here, and is confused as to what to put regarding hooks.

Any questions regarding by someone else after the result posting shall follow later.

Thanks.

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Hooks are things separate from your accomplishments that put your application in a different pile. Academic achievements, creating something, or ECs are not hooks. Hooks are things like URM, recruited athlete, very large building is named after grandfather, etc. Some hooks are bigger than others of course.

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@AlwaysMoving Are you sure? I thought hooks include any unique aspects of your app.

SO by your saying either you’re born with those hooks, as most arent, or you cant control them?

Thats so scary

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According to Caltech’s President Rosenbaum:

https://www.caltech.edu/campus-life-events/campus-announcements/2018-19-academic-year-welcome

Good luck to everyone!

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@1NJParent So the only hooks can be any unique aspect of your app, if any. Otherwise, no hooks in context of Caltech.

I think MIT follows the same, except they value recruited athletes slightly (v. slightly) more than the avg. app.

Good luck!

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Rosenbaum is basically saying there’s no traditional hook at Caltech. Caltech places greater emphasis on academics in its holistic approach than any other college (even including MIT). However, academic achievements (winning competitions, etc.) are not hooks, even though they contribute materially to the overall academic picture of an applicant.

Also keep in mind that Caltech is one of the few colleges where faculty members are involved in the admission evaluation process.

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@1NJParent

So Caltech it trying to be very fair. No one would have hooks. Thats a good thing IMO, but its a controversial topic.

Do you include EC’s, essays and such in the ‘academic’ profile of the app? or is it just the numbers and scores? I highly think its the former.

THanks for the share though. So ideally no hooks on this thread as Caltech doesnt take them into consideration.

Explains why almost half the class is Asian (as stated in the Caltech CDS for class of '22), as there’s no ‘asian quota’ as the Ivies and other top schools are suspected of having.

But this begs the question regarding Caltech: Is race even considered to incorporate in the diversity of the class?

Idk about Caltech (i didnt check), but all other schools ‘consider’ race as stated in their CDS for the class of '22 (and earlier).

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There’s only one dedicated thread on race in college admission, so this is not an appropriate place to discuss race, unless you want this thread to be shutdown. BTW, CDSs are not always 100% accurate, and there’re known errors.

Admission evaluation, even the academic part of it, is much more than numbers and scores, which are far from sufficient to discriminate among Caltech’s potential admits.

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@1NJParent

Alright. Got your comment about race. I’ll stop discussing about it.

I thought CDSs were accurate since the respective colleges registrar issues one? I mean Ik they have some information based gaps on purpose which are meant to be kept secret, but i thought they were good otherwise.

THanks for the share on academic aspects.

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@TheGuy1 hooks happen behind the curtain, and at some schools they’re huge and at others they’re small. Hooks are mentioned on these results threads because they help people understand the process.

You mentioned athletic hooks, so let’s use that to explain. At MIT athletics are very important. 25% of their students play a sport, and they’re very good at some of those sports. A recruited athlete will be told by the coach where they fit on the coaches list he hands to admissions. If a kid is the number one recruit their chances of acceptance are very high. This doesn’t mean the kid is less academically, because the coaches only submit names with the academic chops to make it at MIT. That’s a hook because a regular qualified student would have a single digit chance of acceptance but that qualified athlete has above 50% chance. MIT has decided that a kid who spends their free time on the BB court, track, or swimming pool is just as valuable as a kid who spends their time at math competitions or volunteering.

None of us know for sure how impactful hooks are at Cal Tech, but they do have have some impact so we list them.

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@AlwaysMoving

Alright! I understood that, and thought all schools including caltech value hooks, but according to @1NJParent , caltech doesnt at all.

Hence I tried to give my thoughts on that.

This of course comes with the assumption that everything happening behind in the adcom’s rooms is transparent, which it is most certainly not.

So maybe we dont fully know due to the process being mostly a secret and mystery, but I commented based on what seems probable/theorized.

Thanks for your important comment. The shared info helps a huge aspect of distinction between MIT and Caltech, both rival tech and STEM schools.

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Athletics is one area that distinguishes between Caltech and MIT in their respective admission processes. At Caltech, athletics is a factor in the evaluation, but its significance doesn’t rise to the level of a hook, while at MIT, it is a hook.

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@1NJParent Alright! Thanks for the clarification.