<p>Tiffany, I think that's a little bit of an exaggeration, but I believe that the core behind your statement is true. In my words, I'd say that anyone who is strongly considering going here should be passionate about math/science/engineering. That may mean you dream in numbers, or symbols, or circuit diagrams. Or it may mean you dream about fanciful unicorns but when you're awake you really like these things :P</p>
<p>Far too many of our prospective students assume that going to Caltech is not so different from going to any other top ten / twenty institution and majoring in a technical field. This is a gross misunderstanding. While I believe you CAN work as hard at any institution as students do here, I really believe that there is no other place where you MUST work as hard. I've had too many friends come here because they applied down the list of US News Top Ranked Schools (and wanted to major in some technical field of course) and this was the highest ranked school they got into. In many of these cases, those students would have been happier/done better academically at a school farther down the "list". </p>
<p>Caltech has a lot of incredible opportunities that are simply not available anywhere else, and for the right type of student, there is no better place on earth (in my opinion). I love it here. That being said, it's not for everyone or even most people. It's four years of incredibly tough work, and if you don't know what you're getting into it can crush you. </p>
<p>The reason the passion is so vitally important is because it motivates you to continue working even when you may not be getting great grades or the work is overwhelming you. It allows you to do problem set after problem set and still want to learn more. People who come here without passion often end up leaving here bitter and disappointed. Admissions does a pretty good job of not accepting people who aren't passionate, I think, but for some students it's very hard to tell the difference between "I do it because I love it" and "I love it because I'm good at it". </p>
<p>(I go into this in a little more detail in the letter stickied on the top of this forum, if you're curious.)</p>
<p>I hope I don't come off as too harsh, because that's not my goal. My goal is to educate people about the true nature of Caltech so they make an informed decision about attending here. I can't even tell you how many techers approached me after reading the letter posted in this forum; the most often response was "I wish I had read that before coming here". That's not to say that I am the most accurate source of information, but at the very least I hope what I write encourages you to learn more about us.</p>