<p>Not all will take a spot on the waitlist.</p>
<p>I will. I'll take anything they give me. :D</p>
<p>I hope Caltech does not do what wash u did. Wash U waitlist many overqualified applicants.</p>
<p>EDIT: To mathwiz</p>
<p>True, but if they have potentially 576 + 315 matriculates (is there such a word?) for ~200 spots, that means ~700 students will not attend (either by free will or because they could not get off the W-list)
Nevertheless, I don't understand how can so many people turn down Caltech's offer? I would have given anything to get in (lol). Ah well, we'll see how it works out next week...</p>
<p>Good luck everyone, though!</p>
<p>Caltech's yield is about 40%. This makes for a class of 230, which is about right. Remember, not everyone on the waitlist ends up getting in!</p>
<p>Yeah, I'd take a waitlist spot with great joy. ;)</p>
<p>And how on earth could Caltech pull a Wash U? I don't think it's possible to be truly 'overqualified' for Caltech.</p>
<p>EDIT: To mathwiz</p>
<p>Exaaaactly! 40% is still too low! It should be 101%, nothing less than that! People should be picketing on Caltech's campus, pleading to get in! =)</p>
<p>Caltech isn't for everyone. They know that and the applicants know that. At their preview weekend, they're not trying to sell themselves like other schools (coughh..... MIT, Harvard... coughh). They warn people of what they'll be in for. Yield is not important for them, its match. Ben said somewhere on CC that he routinely advises people interested in CS or EE to go to Stanford or MIT. And its very rigorous too. That scares off a bunch of people.</p>
<p>mathwiz,
if people pursuing computer science or electrical engineering should go to Stanford/MIT, what's the best major for Caltech then? engineering science? systems engineering?</p>
<p>Pure sciences. Especially physics, astrophysics. Math too.</p>
<p>oh....
so i suppose it's not good for people who want to do engineering undergrad and eventually major in business
lol
but math/economics/business, that might work?</p>
<p>My recollection was that we didn't get the EA letter for 4 days.</p>
<p>Caltech Econ is pretty strong.</p>
<p>I don't know that I'd say yield is not important to Caltech. Caltech could certainly do a better job marketing itself to prospective students...</p>
<p>Although I don't disagree with you that fit is important, I would assume Caltech would not admit students they did not think would fit ;-)</p>
<p>When I said yield isn't important, I meant Caltech isn't actively trying to raise their yield.</p>
<p>Hmm I'm not sure that's true. In any case, if Caltech is not trying to raise their yield they certainly should be.</p>
<p>did anybody get their letter today?</p>
<p>i think 1 person
he posted on another thread</p>
<p>Caltech fits a more narrow personality type than most universities. Lot's of people would be unhappy here, while some people can be and are extremely happy (like me!) This is why it's so important to visit. If Caltech focused on trying to get as many accepted students are possible to enroll over ones that actually fit well, Caltech would lose a lot its unique personality. Hence, the low yield. As for the waitlist, I'm shocked by how large it is. I thought only 20 people got in off the waitlist last year? I assumed the only put on like 50 or so.</p>
<p>And I disagree that EE and CS are not considered good majors here. Caltech CS majors get snatched up by companies more quickly than any other major (with no grad school required!) and make more money with just a BS than anyone but ChemEs. It is also one of the less stressful majors here, so you can make it as hard or easy as you want, just be willing to take on the Caltech definition of "easy." :D EEs are badasses (this is a technical term) and are well-respected here. You're going to have to love EE to make it through sane though. Thankfully, Caltech lets you change your major with ease at pretty much any time. ;)</p>
<p>Replace the above text with ZOMG PREFROSHLING RUSH WE REQUIRE MORE VESPENE GAS.</p>
<p>(If my timing is juuuust right le prefroshlings will start posting with their wonderful, glorious, marshmallowy accceptances... NOW)</p>