<p>One of the observations I've made about these discussion boards is the large density of people making unjustified claims about Caltech. I'm not going to name names, but there have been prefrosh talking about the ratio and high schoolers giving admissions advice. Usually they're giving out second-hand information obtained from CC or from talking to actual Techers. If you're new to CC, then it might be hard to tell which people * know * what they're talking about and which people don't.</p>
<p>So be warned: when you start a thread about your chances or the admissions requirements, a lot of people [admittedly, I'm probably one of them] will respond with bad adivce or false statements. Don't take everything at face value.</p>
<p>Yeah ok, I'm guilty.</p>
<p>If that's a crime.
While I admit that someone going to Caltech has far more valid to say about the life there, I don't think that (excluding Ben) they're much more qualified to talk about chances to get in- necessarily. Some random high schooler who just found cc- Absolutely. I agree. But I think that the (no doubt surprisingly large) group that have read lots of material and cc posts on Caltech are at least reasonably qualified to make guesses. Because its just that. No one can say for sure what'll happen. And anyone who reads a post expecting it to be absolute truth, just because they were yet to read your disclaimer...well...</p>
<p>I have to agree with neapol1s here. If you haven't even finished the admissions process then you, quite frankly, are in no position to give others advice. Reading CC for any amount of time doesn't really increase your knowledge much, if at all. It make even make you stupider. By contrast, being at Caltech gives you a much more vivid idea of what it's about, even if you don't still think a whole lot about admissions.
So don't stop giving your opinions - but be very careful when giving facts or advice. At best, you're regurgitating what someone more qualified than you has already said (so why not just let them say it themselves?), at worst you're just spreading rumors that you have no basis to judge the veracity of.</p>
<p>I want to register my disagreement with this flavor of advice. I think middle schoolers are just as qualified to voice opinions on this forum as anyone else, including people who have served on admissions commitees. It goes without saying that not everyone's advice will be valued equally, but often people with no "formal" qualifications can say very wise and encouraging things that admissions people or Caltech students or whoever are too jaded or tired or bored to say.</p>
<p>The basic advice "think about whether what you are hearing makes sense" always applies, but everyone knows that. As far as segregating people into cognoscenti and ignorant proles, I think that is not so useful.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The basic advice "think about whether what you are hearing makes sense" always applies, but everyone knows that.
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<p>By some loose definition of the word everyone.</p>
<p>Anyone who doesn't know it is unlikely to be awoken by neapol1s' wisdom!</p>
<p>:-)</p>
<p><em>snuggle</em></p>