<p>I'm not sure how accurate this source was, but I read somewhere that Caltech doesn't practice affirmative action. That being said, would it be easier for Asian and white students to get accepted than to the Ivies/Stanford/MIT?</p>
<p>It’s true that you won’t be bumped out of a spot because of race there because they don’t have affirmative action. Only perceived merit decides admission. In the absolute sense, no, it is not necessarily easier for majority race candidates to get in Caltech. </p>
<p>But we’re talking apples and oranges here. For one, Caltech admits for a class of 200, compared with 1000 at MIT and 1600 at Harvard. This, in itself, suggest selectivity. Caltech’s class is more self-selective, meaning people only apply if they were highly qualified. </p>
<p>Also, since Caltech cares about academic prowess and work ethic related to academic pursuits, it’s probably easier for an academic star to get in than it would be at the ivies or even MIT. For someone who is a very good high school student but whose “hook” is in sports or community service or something, the ivies are easier to get in and Caltech is impossible.</p>
<p>So, in short, it depends on what your strengths are.</p>
<p>I personally think Caltech does have a policy similar to AA:admission officers sometimes turn down male applicants with stellar stats and admit female applicants with comparatively not so outstanding stats…this year, assuming I remember rightly, the admission rate of female students is thrice as that of male students! Sometimes I wonder, whether I can still get into Caltech, if not owing to my gender…</p>
<p>But Caltech definitely does not practise AA.No. Most Techers are either Caucasian or Asian, you can hardly see any African American here-but some Hispanics I suppose.</p>
<p>I heard that at there was only one black female in all of caltech’s student body?</p>
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<p>No, Caltech doesn’t have AA, gender-based or otherwise. Less unqualified females apply to Caltech than unqualified males. Hence, the term “self-selective”. Admission rate is misleading. Caltech doesn’t have the same cache’ among females as an ivy would IMO, and as a result the only ones that bother applying are supremely qualified.</p>
<p>^ I’d be interested in average GPA, average SAT etc. differences between genders purely from a curiosity point of view.</p>
<p>Exactly how much self selection is evident and what form does it take are pretty interesting questions.</p>
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<p>Equivalence of GPA and SAT between males and female admits would affirm that self-selection is causing the different admission rates, but its absence wouldn’t rule out that self-selection is the sole driving force behind the admission rate differences. </p>
<p>Let’s imagine that Caltech takes 200 candidates and only considers merit. The top 150 are male and all have 800 SAT scores. The next 50 are women and have SAT scores of 750. The average male admit has 800 SAT, and the average female admit would have 750. These statistics look like affirmative action must have taken place, but in fact none did in this scenario. </p>
<p>If I was to take a guess, I think probably all admits are probably heavily clustered within 20-30 points of 800 on all the SAT’s and that they have perfect grades. So I guess you’re right; that might quiet some of the grumbling about affirmative action at Caltech.</p>
<p>^^BTW, the above scenario is only hypothetical, just meant to show that there are lots of situations in which statistics don’t say what people think they say.</p>
<p>I’m surprised Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the NAACP haven’t raised hell about this.</p>