<p>My friend insists that Caltech is harder to get into than Stanford, but i say no way. Who is correct?</p>
<p>for a guy, i would say caltech is harder. for a girl its way easier. but overall stanford.</p>
<p>I'd say Stanford. Sure, Caltech's average SAT scores are higher, but there's much, much more that goes into both of their admissions processes than numbers. On the whole, Stanford seems harder to get into.</p>
<p>If you're URM, athletes, etc... Caltech is a lot harder to get into.
If you're white/asian kids with 2200 SATs and 4.0UW, Stanford is a lot harder to get into.</p>
<p>There are people who apply to both who are accepted at Stanford and rejected at Cal Tech, and there are others who are rejected at Stanford and accepted at Cal Tech. </p>
<p>A high percentage of the people at Stanford are focused on the humanities, and wouldn't even consider applying to Cal Tech. </p>
<p>I have a history degree from Stanford. Given that I last enrolled in a math class in the tenth grade, I'm certain that Cal Tech would have rejected me had I taken sufficient leave of my senses to apply there.</p>
<p>Caltech has a minimalistic view on URM/female admits. So Stanford would be more difficult for guys to get into and easier for females, but only if we are talking about engineering/science related stuff.</p>
<p>Caltech does not practice AA in admissions, so there is no difference in difficulty for males vs. females.</p>
<p>Anyway, to answer the question, Caltech has higher academic standards. They are looking for academic superstars. Stanford has vastly different priorities--even when choosing its science and engineering majors. Probably 90% of the people who go to Stanford would have zero chance to get into Caltech. Everyone who goes to Caltech would have a chance to get into Stanford, but many would be rejected anyway. </p>
<p>So how hard it is to get into Caltech depends on what record you have. If you got a "B" in math or science or got below 750 on the math SAT or your SATII's, then Caltech admission is extremely unlikely. If you have perfect stats and grades, phenomenal recommendations, and many impressive math/science awards (Intel, USAMO, etc.), then Stanford is harder.</p>
<p>I don't want to imply that just having perfect stats is sufficient to get into Caltech. Let me just say that if you are safely in the top 300 or so math or science candidates in the country, you will probably get into Caltech. Stanford would still be a big question mark.</p>
<p>cal tech practices aa in employment. i found that very funny because they write it on their website very openly and honestly.</p>