<p>My question is why arent there that many applicants to caltech as to other top sschools. Is there something wrong wwith the schoool that I should know lol?</p>
<p>Huh? Caltech is very selective – only 15.2% of applicants were accepted this year.</p>
<p>If you mean why it doesn’t receive the same raw number of applications as some other schools, that’s because it’s a rather small school that focuses on math and science; it’s not going to receive as many applications as a large university that offers many majors, has separate schools, etc.</p>
<p>thats what I meant absent thanks for the reply</p>
<p>It has under a thousand kids. How do you expect it to compete with a school like Harvard with over 6k students in terms of raw applications? Schools don’t have unlimited resources. Caltech is a great school that just happens to be rather small.</p>
<p>It’s also because many are afraid to apply. Not only is it hard to get in, the curriculum is extremely difficult.</p>
<p>^well so iss the curriculum at MIT, yale and other top schools</p>
<p>Caltech is apparently much harder than every other school save maybe Harvey Mudd and Deep springs. Also, I bet a lot of people are too intimidated by Caltech’s numbers. Its math SAT 25/75 is 770-800, whereas MIT’s is 720-800.
That’s just what I think.</p>
<p>I love math and science and do well in both subjects, but I would never apply to CT. My reason has nothing to do with the curriculum. I’ve visited CT twice and there is enough support for anyone to manage the curriculum. My problem is the boys all seem the same. I like nerds and all, but I can’t imagine hanging around nothing but nerds for four years. When I visited MIT, there were many different types of boys. Harvard even more so.</p>
<p>its all about fit. some people dont like that environment. i certainly would like caltech and respect it, but its not a school i want to consider just because of its… quirks. it appeals to some people but not others, and so not a lot of people apply. nothing wrong.</p>
<p>A few reasons why Caltech may not be as popular as other top schools</p>
<ul>
<li>Extremely small class (as in freshman class, sophomore class) sizes - most HS classes are probably bigger</li>
<li>Extremely small campus</li>
<li>Much narrower range of students</li>
<li>Weaker in the humanities than other top schools</li>
<li>Does not practice AA AFAIK so that might discourage a lot of minority applicants</li>
<li>Pasadena is a nice town, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Boston/Cambridge, NYC, etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>Yeah, what’s been said is nice, but the answer lies in the application itself.</p>
<p>Have you ever looked at it? It’s ridiculous.</p>
<p>I was planning to apply to Caltech, but after reading their application, I really questioned whether I would be able to answer all of it, much less answer it in a way that would make me happy.</p>
<p>It’s a lot like the University of Chicago in this sense. It weeds out a lot of potential applicants, but it allows the university to select from a group of kids who are much better suited to the environment the university provides.</p>
<p>“much harder than every other school save maybe Harvey Mudd and Deep springs.”. LOL. </p>
<p>Also, MIT has an extensive AA / diversity program. approx 25% of the class are black/hispanic minorities. CalTech says it does not practice AA.</p>