<p>I hear lots of people being admitted based on their scientific research during high school.</p>
<p>Is it so important? Is it a must-have in your application?</p>
<p>The impression I get is that they're looking for strong interest in math/science, and research is one way to show that. I did send in a research paper; it was nothing earth-shattering (at all), but it was detailed, well-written ;-), and rigorous. Maybe that's why I got in; maybe it was that essay about the PDE I solved before I had even taken any calculus courses (long story short, I worked my way through a large portion of calc I-III and some vector calc from on-line lecture notes - spent a summer trying to figure out what "divergence" was - this was all well before I started aspiring to Caltech), and there are a couple other things I could name which might have "done it." However - just from myself and the other admits in my region - I don't think there's one thing that gets you in (unless you have some amazing national/international award(s) - which I most certainly do not); rather it's the commitment and interest demonstrated consistently over a long period of time. There's lots of talk on CC about "hooks" but I'm not sure "hooks" are all that relevant, because the word kind of implies that just the right EC or award will automatically get you admitted.</p>
<p>You might be interested in this if you haven't read it already:</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>By the way, should my research be definitely strongly-related to the science I plan to major or can it be any research in any science?</p>
<p>I doubt that it matters very much. I mean, the option/major you put on the app is not binding.</p>
<p>That's somehow good news. Thanks again, Perplexitudinous.</p>
<p>It's not a must-have. I chose to shadow a doctor for a year in place of research and I still got into CalTech.</p>
<p>I did no research. I know a lot of people who haven't done research. It's certainly helpful but is by no means required.</p>
<p>38% of current Freshman at Caltech participated in "Scientific Research" before Tech.</p>