<p>beerme,
While I don’t know here grades or scores, there is some other info that makes me think we’re not talking about humility. Her mother actually inquired after the acceptance as to whether they really thought her daughter would be able to handle the academics (the answer was yes, they wouldn’t admit anyone who couldn’t). Also, there is a Saturday program (Columbia Science Honors) that this girl was rejected by for 10th, 11th, 12th grades…admissions involve a multiple choice test, plus transcript and recommendation. (My son in comparison was rejected for 10th grade but accepted for 11th grade…he is strong but not a superstar in math/science…A in 9th gr science, A- in 10th, A- in math both years, high track courses, 790 math level II subject test, 770M SAT). OTOH, this girl is an athlete, but frankly not very good, even by Caltech standards, so I don’t think that helped much. She is from NY so that may have helped (she was rejected by 1st choice MIT). Anyway, all in all I think women applying to Caltech are advantaged over men. I believe the percentage of women there has increased significantly in recent years and the college says this is due to recruiting efforts rather than bias…but frankly I take that explanation with a grain of salt.</p>