<p>What major(s) is your son considering? </p>
<p>We visited CalTech and Mudd (and Pomona) spring break of junior year. My son/engineering seemed to like CalTech ok until he visited Mudd. He liked the undergrad emphasis and Claremont consortium (Mudd, Pomona, Scripps, Pitzer, CMC). Mudd became one of his favorite schools. He didn’t apply to CalTech. But other students may like the grad school atmosphere. </p>
<p>Note that Stanford, CalTech, and Mudd are all “lottery schools”. There is almost no resume that will guarantee acceptance since there are many qualified applicants and a lot of subjectivity in selection. It does no harm to visit. And it makes sense to work diligently on the application if it is the right fit and the student is up for incredibly intense academics. But students need to have a level set that acceptance is a bit of a crap shoot. </p>
<p>Also know that these schools have FA but not merit $ (except for a $10K scholarship at Mudd that is verrrrrrry hard to get). If your budget is limited, make sure you student know that he/she can’t go if they’ll need family to pay more than $xx,xxx/year.</p>