What does Caltech look for? The description on the website was pretty vague and I can’t really get anything out from it. Showing passion in sciences is an obvious factor but how does the actual admission process lay itself out?
First and foremost, admissions is looking at a demonstrated passion for science. This means something you have done outside of your high school curriculum. They also want a high GPA, especially in math and science, and high test scores. They are also trying to discern, through your essays, that you would be a good fit and would be happy with the school itself. They don’t want people that will want to transfer out. There are student readers of your essays and they do have influence. They know what it is like to be a students there so you need to show them somehow that you belong. There is a push to have students do year-round research, not just during the summer, so if you have done research already you have a great advantage. When my brother was accepted there was a handwritten letter from his admission counselor saying, “Your research will really take off here”. I’m sure what got him admitted was the fact that he did research and co-wrote a research paper with a UCLA professor, otherwise he would have been just another high-stats kid.
They want to know you’ll be able to survive their academics and still have the energy, curiosity, and passion to pursue research and/or other intellectual pursuits. I’m sure you have heard the analogy that the workload at Caltech is “Like trying to drink from a fire hose”.
It depends on the level fo your smartness, if you are very smart, the work load is not a problem, I have a friend’s friend who took 3 years to graduate, if you work very hard in high school, spend a lot of time in studying in order to get good grade to get in, you may feel the work load is heavy
“It depends on the level fo your smartness, if you are very smart, the work load is not a problem”. What does that mean?
TOP SAT/ACT scores. Top GPA in AP classes and similar.
Multiple outside activities that are similar in a passionate drive.
Not just good writing skills, but GREAT written language, as a research-based institution writes a ton of research driven projects.
Ability to work hard and do well in every subject.
I mean if you are very smart, you understand the lectures in classes and do not need to spend a lot of time studying, you figure out homework problems quickly, then the workload is not heavy to you.
With many majors it would be highly unlikely or near impossible to graduate in 3 years. Readers of that post may be mislead.
Keep in mind they accept NO AP credits.