<p>I apologize if I implied that ALL stats were so similar Hunt, I didn’t mean to. I simply meant that stats such as class rank and SAT score were very similar. There are “statistics” that differentiate students, but they are hard to compare: things like college courses taken (and of course there would be a higher weighting to something like quantum physics at UChicago vs. something like basket-weaving at a local community college), the amount and significance of research done, the quality of recommendations. Inherently, the judgment of these statistics is somewhat subjective, as is the entire admissions process. I personally believe that if it were possible to measure the quality of a student using only numbers, Caltech would be the first to do it. It’s not, though–Someone with a 4.0GPA but whose highest math course is AP Calc AB is not going to look impressive next to someone who is working on Partial Differential Equations but has a 3.6. </p>
<p>You’re certainly right that people can choose to believe any explanation that fits their worldview (although it’s worth noting that people can do this regardless of the strength of evidence). </p>
<p>Additionally, you’re absolutely right that “we are simply left with a school that says it makes no gender distinctions, but which accepts 17.5% of male applicants and 30% of female applicants.” So we’re left with two options: Either the school does or doesn’t make gender distinctions.</p>
<p>If the school does make gender distinctions, why would it hide this? If anything, this is hurtful, as almost every other school practices affirmative action. We are left to explain things like the fact that our student body is roughly 35% female, as opposed to MIT’s substantially better ratio, or that less than 1% of our students are African-American (I know that refers to race AA and not gender, but we claim not to practice either). </p>
<p>I also wonder why this fact would be so important that Caltech (and remember, the students, professors, AND admissions officers all have to be in on this) would create such a grand deception.</p>
<p>As I said previous, I don’t have any hard numbers to back up my position. All I can say is that I am personally confident that Caltech admissions does not practice AA, that the admissions office has stated this, and all I can do is attempt to support this with somewhat tenuous logical deductions and hope that you trust us.</p>
<p>mathmom: The main difference between Caltech and MIT’s admissions standpoints from a public point of view is that MIT claims to practice AA, and Caltech claims not to. I can’t claim it impossible for you to be correct, but I firmly believe (and hope) that you’re not. I trust our admissions committee not to be biased–knowingly or unknowingly.</p>