<p>@cerritoskid I don’t think anyone on these boards will be able to offer insight into your situation because 1) we don’t know exactly what the admissions office looks for and 2) whatever they saw is unlikely to be reflected in the very short descriptions of the subjective parts of your application.</p>
<p>I think multiracial could be a factor. I went through the thread and found it seemed that Hispanic or female had better chances.</p>
<p>That would be something very new for Caltech. I’m ambivalent about that, for sure. My son has extremely strong stats but he is also URM and was definitely contacted multiple times by the coach. It would be nice to know he got in on merit and strength of application.</p>
<p>Accepted! 2400 SAT, NMF, perfect scores on a bunch of SAT 2s and APs, 4.0 UW GPA, but very average EC’s. I think my essays and recommendations may have set me apart from the rest of the people with good numbers. Also, I don’t think Caltech practices race-based affirmative action, although I think girls have a better chance than boys do.</p>
<p>caltech does admit a few based on race. However, since it is a such a small school, admitted URMs being qualified enough for several other schools and not showing up at Caltech reflects as Caltech not performing affirmative action.</p>
<p>Caltech does try to encourage people to apply by inviting them for overnight trips and through YESS summer program.</p>
<p>If Caltech considers race at all that would be a change from its previous policies. The Price of Admission, which was written a number of years ago features a chapter on Caltech which presented Caltech’s admission policies as strictly meritocratic with no consideration of race or gender whatsoever. Since then Caltech’s demographics have significantly changed [one year Caltech had zero black Freshmen] which I suspect is probably due to affirmative action being implemented to some degree [although considerably less than many other top schools].</p>
<p>Accepted</p>
<p>link to stats:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-institute-technology/1255385-official-caltech-class-2016-ea-rd-decisions-thread-5.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-institute-technology/1255385-official-caltech-class-2016-ea-rd-decisions-thread-5.html</a></p>
<p>Caltech minority recruitment efforts</p>
<p>[Hurdle</a> #1: Getting in the Door](<a href=“http://diverseeducation.com/article/8451c8/hurdle-1-getting-in-the-door.html]Hurdle”>http://diverseeducation.com/article/8451c8/hurdle-1-getting-in-the-door.html)
"One of Caltech’s biggest problems seems to be convincing a greater percentage of the African American students who are accepted to enroll.</p>
<p>Despite its image as one of the nation’s most prestigious science and technology institutions, Caltech appears to lack the added-value attributes that competitive African American students look for when selecting an undergraduate school. If, for example, they had been able to enroll all nine of the applicants they accepted in 1997, Black representation in the freshman class would have jumped to as much as 4 percent."</p>
<p>web1.johnshopkins.edu/stirm/JMR<em>CV</em>May_11.doc </p>
<p>"Caltech Diversity Retreat (2005)
Education and Training Subcommittee Member
Participated in meetings for several months to generate educational program recommendations for the President of Caltech. "</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/documents/46-caltech_up_close_invite.pdf[/url]”>http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/documents/46-caltech_up_close_invite.pdf</a></p>
<p>ACCEPTED! We are so proud of him…</p>
<p>SAT
Math:800
Reading:740
Writing:790
Weighted GPA: 4.3</p>
<p>ACT
Composite: 35</p>
<p>Subject SAT tests:
800 on Physics and Math II</p>
<p>Rank:
50 out of 1330 in a very competitive school</p>
<p>AP:
5 on all taken so far</p>
<p>Essays:
Very good essays, witty and smart - hey we are his parents :)</p>
<p>Extracurricular:
Band: All-state band and all-region multiple times
Volunteering: In state and international volunteering</p>
<p>Rejected</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2320
[</em>]SAT II: 800 Math 800 Phy 780 Chem
[<em>]ACT: 35
[</em>]GPA: 4.54
[<em>]Rank: 2/600
[</em>]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): 12 APs all 5’s
[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: Pretty bad. I’m a terrible writer in general.
[</em>]Teacher Recs: Read them, generic mad libs.
[<em>]Counselor Rec: Didn’t see, also generic probably.
[</em>]Supplementary Material: None
[<em>]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, International Olympiads): None
[/ul]Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: US
[<em>]High School Type: Public
[</em>]Ethnicity: Asian
[<em>]Gender: Male
[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>]Extracurriculars: None
[<em>]Awards: None
[</em>]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: Uh, do something outside of school that isn’t starcraft for your high school life. Hahahaha… Also I got anti-hooked with my race/gender too. Meh~
[li] Where else have you been accepted/rejected? All rejections :P[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>Test Scores:
SAT: 2070, R: 610, M: 800, W: 660
ACT: 32, R: 31, W: 30, M: 36, S: 30, Essay: none
SAT Subject Tests: Math II: 800, Physics: 740
AP Calculus AB, BC, Physics C: 5, Language, Lit: 2</p>
<p>Class Rank: 1/45</p>
<p>Awards, Extracurriculars, Volunteer, Work:
USAMO qualifier
Two-time Natl. “Who Wants to Be a Mathematician” qualifier
1st place at Natl. Scrabble Championship (Div. 2)
Yale Science and Engineering Award
FIRST Robotics
Volunteer at church
NHS
Part-time math tutor</p>
<p>Essays: Meh</p>
<p>Recommendations: Pretty good overall. Including one from the college counselor whom I’ve known for 6 years.</p>
<p>My test scores were pretty dismal (esp. AP Lang/Lit and SAT Reading). Still got admitted into MIT (the rival school btw) and I’ll probably be going there next year.</p>