<p>how competitive is caltech? more so than MIT? give me a typical accepted student profile... (average)</p>
<p>You could check US News for average test scores and whatnot.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/t1natudoc_brief.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/t1natudoc_brief.php</a> You have to pay for the details. But as you can see Caltech and MIT are tied for fourth place. There's not alot of difference. Caltech has the reputation for caring a little more about GPA and SATs, MIT a little more about diversity and ECs. I think the caliber of the students and the teaching are similar. But obviously there are some big differences between the two schools - starting with size.</p>
<p>Are you asking how competitive it is to get in, or how competitive the atmosphere is in the classes? Because those are two very different answers.</p>
<p>Both... I more meant admissions competitivness but now that you mention the other kind im curious of that as well</p>
<p>It's very hard to get in. A huge fraction of the applicants have near-4 GPA's and very high SAT's, so other accomplishments and evidence of promise often plays a key role.</p>
<p>Once you get in, the enviroment is very friendly and anti-competitive -- people work together all the time and there's no feeling that the goal is to beat the other guy. It's more like everyone vs. the problem sets.</p>
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It's more like everyone vs. the problem sets.
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<p>That's exactly how it should be. I seriously dislike the academic competitiveness at my High school. No one seems to want anyone else to do well because it means a lower class rank for them.</p>
<p>Good luck, nobodyknows! Caltech is on par with MIT for competitiveness. The reason MIT rates are at 12% and Caltech rates are at like 20% is because more less qualified people apply to MIT just because of the name. Caltech is less well known, so the pool is more self-selective.</p>
<p>Also, test scores matter more to Caltech admissions than MIT admissions, so you tend to see higher average test scores at Caltech.</p>
<p>Or as I like to look at it, Caltech judges based on more objective measures, while MIT judges more on subjective measures, along with a greater desire for diversity, especially for double x chromosomes.</p>
<p>It depends a lot on what type of person you are and/or prefer to be with.</p>