<p>I was accepted EA to Caltech this year, and my research paper was around 18 pages long (double-spaced). You have to realize that they look at it more for your scientific potential...</p>
<p>were we supposed to double space it? because mine was double spaced but then i saw the linked research papers so I changed it :(</p>
<p>mine was single spaced....really i think they care more about content than format, although the easier to read the better.</p>
<p>I had this whole debate about double spacing/single spacing my college essays because I was the only person that I knew who had double-spaced. I had submitted several applications (and already gotten into Caltech) before I switched to single. When I called the schools where I had sent in double-spaced essays, the admissions officers said that they do not care as long as the essay is cut off, so I would not worry. On my Caltech supplement, I did a double-spaced page for that Feynman essay, while I am guessing that some people did a whole page single-spaced, and I obviously had no trouble with that. Like GleasSpty said, they look at the paper to see your potential as a scientist because you are only in high school and they can teach you the right format if you go there. Besides, professional journals are single-spaced, while science competition papers are double-spaced, so you need not worry...</p>