<p>Cal Tech was one of the places I was applying as a transfer, but I just read that they have their own entrance examination so I'm scrapping the application. They want transfers to write their own specialized seven hour exam on topics including classical mechanics, electromagnetism, linear algebra, and differential calculus. I could have likely done fine on the test if it weren't for the electromagnetism, which is a class I haven't taken in university. </p>
<p>Who does Cal Tech think they are? None of the other top schools do this, and if every school did this nobody could transfer anywhere. Does Cal Tech not realize that students are busy enough balancing university with SATs and dozens of college application essays? Also, why would anyone put themselves through a 7 hour exam for a 2% chance of getting admitted?</p>
<p>It sounds like the exam is doing exactly what it’s meant to do, weed out candidates who aren’t dead serious about attending Cal. There is a difference between a student who wants to attend a university because of its prestige and one who genuinely wants to attend. Those who want prestige wont do the exam and thus the pool in which they have to evaluate is dwindled to only the most serious candidates.</p>
<p>Im not saying that exam is not a pain in the ass, it sounds like the worst thing in a college applicant can dream of. But ranting about how unfair or dumb it is will not improve your station, although I completely sympathize with your plight. The only thing you can do is look inside and ask yourself “do I love Cal Tech so much I am willing to put this level of strain upon my psyche by taking this exam?” If no, that’s cool, plenty of other schools out their to transfer to. If yes, then godspeed to you, for you are a bigger man than I if you sit through that kind of hell.</p>
<p>Your assessment is not backed up by the numbers, because Cal Tech’s acceptance rate is still lower than Yale’s, even with the exam. As an econ major, I have to look at the opportunity cost of all that it would take to study for that 7 hour exam for a 2% chance of getting admitted. Anyone can see that it isn’t rational applying to Cal Tech no matter how good their program is. The best way I can describe the exam is an insult to transfer students.</p>
<p>Btw, prestige is not something that is on my mind when I apply to these places.</p>
<p>Okay… so where else are you applying then? From the tone of your posts, I would be surprised to hear a school outside of the top 15.</p>
<p>CalTech has enough workaholic geniuses. Unless you too are a child prodigy and spend a lot of time doing math and science, you aren’t getting in through normal admission or transfer.</p>
<p>Cal Tech has that exam to make dead certain that the students who are admitted as transfers truly are operating at the level of the current student body. Cal Tech is not interested in bringing anyone up to speed. The transfers have to step right into the program.</p>
<p>You’re greatly underestimating the rigor of the school. Like the poster said above, it’s to weed out weak applicants. It’s not an ivy or a top 5 school. Hell, a lot of people I talk to haven’t even heard of Caltech. I cannot think of any community college or lower division university that would prepare a student for the rigor at Caltech so the exam is well warranted.</p>
<p>I suppose you are right happymom. Is Cal Tech that much more rigorous than MIT, Stanford, or any of the other top schools that don’t have an entrance examination? Cal Tech appealed to me because of its strong focus on math. I do not come from a community college, and I am in a fairly rigorous program (though not Cal Tech calibre of course).</p>
<p>This is irrelevant to the thread, but what do you mean by top 15? If you are asking if I pulled up the top 15 name brand schools and sent applications to them, the answer is no. If you mean the top 15 US economics programs, however, most of them fall in that range. I believe a few are ranked 20-35th in terms of “name brand”, and the rest are top 20. This also has to do with affordability (lower tier universities won’t give any financial aid, which excludes me from applying to places like the University of Michigan).</p>
<p>Top 35 overall ranking then. Yes the most generous colleges give the most financial aid but in consequence they have another reason to reject you based on financial need. The need-blind ones already take in less than 5-10% of applicants. Community colleges and in-state universities are always options, but the people who apply to higher-tier universities want prestige. They want the name recognition. In whatever field you want to study, there exists a school ranking in the top 20, costing far less, and giving out enough money to help families pay. But their overall prestige is lacking so you want more, of course.</p>
<p>I wish more schools had entrance exams for transfer students to help dispel the myth that community colleges are easy and do not prepare you for a rigorous engineering program. In fact some, actually prepare you well…</p>
<p>“MC engineering students over the years have also transferred with great success to a wide variety of other well known institutions, both public and private. A partial list would include Cal. Tech, Cornell, Ga. Tech., MIT, Northwestern, Purdue, Stanford…”</p>
<p>If I were footloose and fancy free I’d apply to Caltech in a heartbeat. What’s solving a handful of math and physics problems compared to the chance of getting access to bleeding edge research and access to opportunities not every undergrad student can experience?</p>
<p>No, it’s just a different variant of English than you use. In some regions, “give an exam” is a common way of expressing that same concept (which I suspect you would phrase as “take an exam.”)</p>
<p>^^^ “give” an exam in that instance results from a semantic confusion whereby “to present” and “to give” are assumed to be fully synonymous. They aren’t. It would be better if English learner’s in the sub-continent were simply taught “take an exam” as an idiomatic expression. But that is a discussion for an entirely different web community. Sigh.</p>
<p>“give”, “write”, “take”, and “sit”, are examples of regional variations. We would all benefit by understanding and accepting differences versus trying to convert.</p>