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I'm not sure if I should apply for Caltech. I heard that it's a very good college/university but it seems that it wouldn't be good enough to be compared to MIT, Standford, Princeton, or Harvard. Please tell me if Caltech is good enough.

By Thisistrue (Thisistrue) on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - 08:50 pm: Edit

LOL Average SAT score for Caltech students is higher than any other universities in the United States. It's higher than harvard, Yale, Princeton and MIT. You might get into Harvard, but more or likely, you will be rejected from CalTech. It's much harder to get in. I can almost guarantee that you will not get into Caltech. So innocent and dumb.

By Nocalguy (Nocalguy) on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - 09:07 pm: Edit

Caltech is probably a better value than any of them since its engineering program is so good, yet its costs are relatively low. Good luck getting in since they accept so few students.

By Brd (Brd) on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - 10:34 pm: Edit

A better reason you should not be sure if you want to apply to CalTech is because you don't want to likely waste the application fee on a school you won't get into.

Just to give you some more info to chew on (from my persepective), this year about 770 people applied to the CalTech graduate physics program, and they accepted about 30. Their *average* physics GRE subject test score is 890 (out of 900).

I wouldn't worry too much about "slumming" at CalTech -- I'd worry about keeping up with the crowd if by some miracle you did get in.

By Kyle (Kyle) on Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 02:52 am: Edit

I also heard that Cal Tech's undergraduate programs are exremely difficult, and grading is ridiculous. I know someone who was top of his class, went to Cal Tech, and said he doesn't know ANYONE who has a GPA above 3.5. Compare that to Harvard or Stanford where half its student population has a 3.5+ GPA, and MIT where they brag about having an average GPA of 3.0.

Cal Tech may have a higher acceptance rate than Harvard or Stanford, but only the very very top students even apply.

By Gih (Gih) on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 03:50 am: Edit

I'd say Caltech is as "good" as those schools, though it is markedly different. Of course I go there are I'm probably biased.

Also, there are a number of people who do very well at Caltech, having GPAs around or above 4 (A+ grades count as 4.3 or something).

I think (know) the average GPA for all students is 3.0. For people who graduate it is 3.2. I also know lots of people with GPAs in the 2s.

I would apply if you want to major in a science, particularly a hard science or mathematics.