<p>So i'm sure i'm the millionth "Stanford or Caltech" person on here, but here goes.</p>
<p>As far as my research has gone the education at Stanford is in some respects superior to that of Caltech, but the education at Caltech is very heavy on research, which is hands on and good experience for future careers.</p>
<p>My question is if i aspire to be getting paid to sit in a laboratory where I find solution to particle physics or mechanical physics problems, etc, should i be more concerned with applying to Calctech or Stanford?</p>
<p>Does it really matter? Both are high reaches no matter how strong your record is. Apply to both and if you get accepted to both then you can compare their strengths.</p>
<p>The odds of you getting the “golden winning lotto ticket” from Stanford is extremely low for you and anyone applying…so the odds of you having a “choice” between the two is extremely extremely low. But, over the years, I have noticed that most choose Stanford over Caltech…if they had the choice. This is all moot…until next April…when reality will hit you like a ton of bricks. Just apply and see where you get in.</p>
<p>“But, over the years, I have noticed that most choose Stanford over Caltech…if they had the choice.” </p>
<p>OP, don’t underestimate the “if they had the choice” part. Probably the vast majority of the people who have trouble choosing between Stanford and Caltech in October find themselves happy to be at Berkeley the following fall because after a late-March admissions bloodbath, that’s the best place that actually accepted them. People seem to think “Oh, Stanford/Caltech accepts 8% of applicants, and I’m clearly in the top 1% of my high school class and top 1% of everybody who took the SAT/ACT, so no sweat.” They fail to see the full painful reality that such schools are taking 8% of the applicants, and almost all of the applicants are top 1%. And double that painful reality if you’re Asian.</p>
<p>I agree with the others. Don’t drive yourself crazy with “what ifs”. See where you get in, see what you can afford and take it from there. If you have two schools you can’t choose between (whatever they are), try to visit them once again and that may help you to decide.</p>
<p>There is no need to fret over something like this for now. Visit both campuses and decide if you should apply to both schools. If you apply to both, you will four possible results, 1. you will get rejected by both schools; 2. you get accepted to Stanford “only”; 3. you get accepted by Caltech “only”; 4. you get accepted by both schools. Your good problem will occur only with Scenario #4. When that happens, come back and post the question again and I am quite sure a lot of good people in the forum will try to help you from there, I promise.</p>
<p>But if he is looking for advises for which one to apply early then it is a different story since Stanford is SCEA. Will you wise people advise on this?</p>
<p>And, I basically agree with this: “They fail to see the full painful reality that such schools are taking 8% of the applicants, and almost all of the applicants are top 1%. And double that painful reality if you’re Asian.”
However I think the 1% should be changed to 10% because Stanford’s Common Data Set has it: “Percent in top tenth of high school graduating class: 94” We don’t know how many applicants are in top 1%.</p>