<p>ha well that sucks :(</p>
<p>^^HMPH I don’t believe you. I still have faith. So there >=[</p>
<p>I just got an email – I got in to Caltech off the wait list! Wahoo!</p>
<p>
what good news! CONGRATS!! are you coming then?
this sounds sort of weird though. I thought the school has overmatriculated. Yield rate seems to be high this year. anyway, Congrats again!</p>
<p>darn I didn’t get any emails. i thought they had overmatriculated as well. anyone else get in? congrats the boy.</p>
<p>We did not, as far as I know, overmatriculate. However, the number of freshman seems to have already been decided, as TeslasGhost pointed out, so I would not expect that we will accept any more people off the waitlist. I could be wrong. If we undermatriculated we could still know the number of freshmen without having decided who will fill those extra spots (as in, we may know how many people we will accept off the waitlist but do not yet know who these people are). I would expect this is what happened in the boy’s case. Honestly, I would just call admissions if it’s important to you. However, you may want to try calling them on Tuesday, as they are currently relocating to a new building.</p>
<p>What we were told was that the target was between 220-230 (around 225 essentially). So if 228 was the number that had accepted, there could be some summer melt (students getting off the wait list at other colleges and going there or dropping out for some other reason). In that case they might take a few off the W/L to stay within the range. </p>
<p>I would have expected that most of people on the W/L would have been informed one way or the other by now. As IMSAgeek suggests, call the admissions office as there should be no reason to be kept in suspense for long time.</p>
<p>My daughter received email May 20 offering admission to Caltech from waitlist. Very unexpected. She has been planning to attend Harvey Mudd. Caltech or Harvey Mudd?</p>
<p>@gipsygirl: when two similar schools are in question, it’s always better to consult a coin–head represents Caltech, tail represents Harvey Mudd, and then, TOSS! Let the Lord make the decision for you, if you yourself cannot. 
</p>
<p>btw, personally I do recommend Caltech. :)</p>
<p>@gipsygirl: I visited both in close succession last August. While I liked Caltech (and obviously it has the prestige factor), Harvey Mudd seemed like a more closely knit community: they had posters detailing current student research on the walls, and my tour guide was personable and had close relationships with his professors. Ultimately, Mudd left a better impression, but maybe they’re just more assiduous about creating a good visiting experience because they’re not as well known.</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd and Caltech are very similar yet very different. Both of have similar emphasis on STEM, both will provide reserach opportunities (in different ways), both are close knit communities. Caltech on the other hand has more facilities while Harvey Mudd has the consortium and hence students can take a much wider variety of classes when compared to Caltech.</p>
<p>Your daughter cannot go wrong with either school, so ask her to go with her gut. My S had that choice too, but went with Caltech.</p>
<p>I’ve never been to Harvey Mudd nor do I know a ton about the school, however, the community at Caltech is amazing. The unity of the houses with all of their activities and eating dinner together every night is just incredible!</p>
<p>
Great choices! My son was also fortunate enough to be accepted to both and chose Mudd for the reasons mentioned above. He visited both schools a year ago and a couple months ago. He really liked the faculty involvement and emphasis on teaching at Mudd; according to many Techers he spoke to, the teaching at Caltech is less-than-stellar. OTOH, while both schools have incredible research opportunities, Caltech would have better-funded ones in many cases.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. Both schools would be very challenging for her (her scores, etc. are on the lower end of the averages and she is a slow reader). I’m wondering which school provides the best support for the students who may struggle? I’ve read elsewhere that it’s common for Caltech undergrads to skip class and pick up the material from each other. Is that true? Thanks again, must decide by June 1.</p>
<p>gipsygirl: May be some current students can answer the question. I would suggest that you call up both the schools and find out the office that deals with student support for learning issues (possibly the counseling center) and ask them what services they provide.</p>
<p>Is there any possibility that your D can visit both the schools? I think that would be the best. As I understand your D has accepted Harvey Mudd and is considering CalTech? If your daughter has already moved on and is comfortable with Mudd, you may want to stay there rather than second guess yourself.</p>
<p>It is the decision you or your D feel is best, there are no real right and wrong answers in this case. I am assuming that FA is not significantly different in the two cases, as that could be another factor.</p>
<p>It’s fairly common for Caltech undergrads to skip class and pick up the material from each other. </p>
<p>Caltech does offer tutoring services for struggling students. As a struggling student myself, I’ve never used those services (probably because they’re not really available for higher level classes in my major) but I’ve heard they are very helpful. Also, a big part of Caltech is learning the material with your classmates. </p>
<p>A word of advice though. Caltech’s Core Curriculum is very science (especially physics) and math based. If you feel your daughter doesn’t really enjoy those subjects much, or would hate to spend a lot of time on them, then she should probably look somewhere else. </p>
<p>Techers have to be sure to really enjoy science, math, and learning, because for almost all students, once they get here classes will be much more difficult than they’re used to. If you didn’t love science to start out with, you’ll hate it taking classes here. </p>
<p>There’s no math and science class where the instructor just gives you interesting stuff that you can immediately process and discuss like in a humanities class. You have to read through derivations and proofs and then try to formulate your own for the problem sets. Don’t expect to be able to sit in class while the professor expands your knowledge. It requires a lot of hard work. So if your D wants to come to Tech, make sure she understands and wants what it entails.</p>