<p>From the note scrawled on my acceptance letter noting "your research is impressive" to the phone call from an admissions councilor this afternoon to the email I just received mentioning that he enjoyed speaking with me this afternoon and encouraging me to contact him, Caltech's admission's process seems quite personal. Not going to lie, but I was so excited when I received the phone call. I must say that I am really impressed by Caltech's admissions office. </p>
<p>Question for techies: Is caltech really that personal of a school, or does the admissions committee just do an amazing job?</p>
<p>"Once the letters do go out, Admissions plans to keep in contact with accepted students. In past years, a less coordinated effort went into sustaining contact with accepted students from when they were accepted and they chose to matriculate. Last year marked the first time in which accepted students more frequently received information or were directly contacted."</p>
<p>Caltech really is that personal of a school in many significant ways. Why just last week, the Caltech President (Jean-Lou Chameau) cooked omelettes for the undergraduate student body. They were delicious.</p>
<p>Caltech is a very personal school. We can be because we're not too big (nor are we too small). I believe admissions is just trying to emphasis that, not create the "personal" feeling in some artificial fashion.</p>
<p>I agree with the OP. I was pretty excited when a Caltech admissions officer called me on my cell phone last night and said he read my application was very impressed by it. That, and numerous other little things, have put Caltech in good contention with MIT. My choice is harder than ever. I was probably more excited about getting into MIT before, but now it's about evened out with Caltech...</p>
<p>As a parent, I can honestly say that I continue to be pleased with how recepetive everyone is at Caltech. If I call Bursar's office, I get a response that very day.</p>
<p>yeah, I've had several questions for the Caltech admissions office and they'd always get back to me right away. I got a response in 1 hour once! that was exciting, especially since some other schools took up to half a week to get back to me!</p>
<p>From my years at Caltech, I can attest to the fact that they are way overstaffed in many departments. That doesn't always automatically translate into them being helpful, but it does mean that if you approach any office on campus in the right way, you are surprisingly likely to be taken seriously.</p>
<p>Caltech has explicitly put the "personal touch" on high octane this year -- see another letter to the editor from Bischoff that deals with their plans. The</a> California Tech
We know of a number of Siemens regional finalists who got a personal letter from Bishoff within three days of the finalists' announcement.</p>