This California university is the hardest school to get into in America

[sopas ej]

From SF Gate:

This California university is the hardest school to get into in America

Move over, Harvard

By Farley Elliott, SoCal Bureau Chief
Aug 30, 2024


A campus scene at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., on Feb. 28, 2013.
Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

This year’s winner for most selective private doctoral-level school in America is right here on the West Coast. The California Institute of Technology (more commonly known as Caltech) in Pasadena has eclipsed the traditionally stringent East Coast and Ivy League schools to become the hardest-to-get-into university in the country.

The narrow new distinction, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, was revealed in this year’s Almanac of Higher Education, put out annually by the Chronicle of Higher Education. The 128-page report outlines a plethora of stats and figures about colleges and universities nationwide, from admissions rates to student body growth to cost. The report found Caltech’s acceptance rate last year was a slim 2.7%, while Harvard came in at 3.2%.

On the public school side, the University of California system also landed prominently on the list of most selective institutions. To little surprise, UCLA and UC Berkeley nabbed the No. 1 and No. 2 slots for low admissions acceptance rates, with UC Irvine in Orange County landing at No. 7.

[...]

[Docere]

The Einstein Papers Project is at Caltech: https://www.einstein.caltech.edu/

[Gordo]

Caltech has been harder to get into than Harvard for at least 40 years. Acceptance rates mean nothing.

[Crawford]

I'd wager Caltech is (slightly) less selective than a few schools.

Caltech does not meaningfully restrict applications. Harvard, Stanford and a few others have single choice early action policies. This obviously limits the early application pool, when a big share of accepted students are selected.

[iheartthed]

This isn't new? Caltech was harder to get into than Harvard when I was applying to college 20+ years ago.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

This isn't new? Caltech was harder to get into than Harvard when I was applying to college 20+ years ago.

It's new. Caltech this year is the #1 hardest school to get into.

Top 10 2024 hard schools ():

1. Caltech
2. Harvard
3. Stanford
4. Columbia
5. MIT
6. Yale
7. Brown
8. U. of Chicago
9. Princeton
10. Duke


This was 2023:

1. Harvard
2. Stanford
3. Princeton
4. Caltech
5. Yale
6. MIT
7. U. of Chicago
8. Columbia
9. Duke
10. Brown

[pj3000]

Why is this college ranking crap in City Discussions?

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

It's new. Caltech this year is the #1 hardest school to get into.

Top 10 2024 hard schools ():

1. Caltech
2. Harvard
3. Stanford
4. Columbia
5. MIT
6. Yale
7. Brown
8. U. of Chicago
9. Princeton
10. Duke


This was 2023:

1. Harvard
2. Stanford
3. Princeton
4. Caltech
5. Yale
6. MIT
7. U. of Chicago
8. Columbia
9. Duke
10. Brown

I think the ordering is always pretty fluid from year to year, but I'm almost certain that Caltech has been the most selective before this year. Personally, I've always perceived Caltech and MIT to be harder to get into than Harvard.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Why is this college ranking crap in City Discussions?

I wasn't sure where to put this, but I figured if people can start threads in City Discussions on the lumber business, or a list of most billionaires, an article about a school that for the first time has become the hardest to get into in the US was alright.

But fine, let's move this or delete it entirely.

[Steely Dan]

^ this thread is fine here.

Discussions about universities have LONG been a part of the CD sub-forum.

[homebucket]

How are they defining "hardest school to get into" here? I would venture that schools like Cal and UCLA and UCSD are actually harder to get into compared to schools like Harvard and Stanford, when you consider the socioeconomic background of the students they accept.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by homebucket

How are they defining "hardest school to get into" here? I would venture that schools like Cal and UCLA and UCSD are actually harder to get into compared to schools like Harvard and Stanford, when you consider the socioeconomic background of the students they accept.

I think it's based on acceptance rate. Good time to bring up that the "selective" schools juice their stats by encouraging far too many prospective students to apply than should realistically be applying.

[homebucket]

To illustrate:

College attendance: How family income impacts who goes to Stanford vs. UCLA and UC Berkeley
By Nami Sumida, Data Visualization Developer
Updated Sep 18, 2023 6:49 a.m.

...

The admissions patterns at Stanford reflect one of the study’s main findings, which was first reported by the New York Times: After accounting for test scores, students from wealthy families are more likely than lower-income students to be admitted to a subset of elite private colleges analyzed in the paper. (Elite private colleges include the Ivy League colleges, Stanford, MIT, University of Chicago and Duke University.)

Students with parental incomes in the top 1%, for instance, have a 55% higher admissions rate at these schools than middle-income students with the same test scores. The paper finds that these differences at elite institutions are largely because wealthier students disproportionately benefit from legacy preferences, athletic recruitment and non-academic qualifications, such as extracurricular activities and letters of recommendation, in college admissions.

In contrast, admissions rates for selective public schools analyzed in the study are relatively flat across income. Students from high-income families are no more likely than others with similar test scores to gain admissions to competitive public universities.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/californ...a-18264392.php

[Crawford]

I agree that acceptance rate is far from perfect for measuring selectivity, but it's pretty good. Relative matriculation rate is pretty informative too.

Harvard and Stanford both have an 82% yield. Caltech's yield is 64%, among the lowest of top-ranked institutions. This tells me, all things equal, Harvard and Stanford (and likely a few others) are more desirable, which isn't exactly the same as selectivity, but gets closer to the point.

I also doubt there are many people deciding between (say) Harvard and Caltech, or even Stanford and Caltech. I bet it's MIT or Caltech. Harvard and Caltech share almost no strengths.

Size also matters. Caltech's freshman class seems to be about 1/8 the size of most Ivy schools or their equivalents. And Caltech doesn't have competitive sports, which takes about 20% of the slots in most of the elites.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I think it's based on acceptance rate. Good time to bring up that the "selective" schools juice their stats by encouraging far too many prospective students to apply than should realistically be applying.

Many schools now offer free applications to juice their selectivity numbers.

Tulane was caught targeting students they thought were most likely to not be accepted.

[hughfb3]

The mere fact that Harvard admits people on legacy and not just performance alone means its selectiveness might be greater, but selectivity doesn't mean better schools or programs or the most qualified being admitted. Caltech is a science and technology-focused Institution that; without the fluffier liberal arts-type programs, is a way more rigorous institution. Caltech is the most challenging place to be admitted to in the States because it is a small school with a specific focus in addition to it having one the best programs in those fields. Harvard; while selective, is a much bigger institution and can actually be more loose on how their selectivity is measured. With Caltech, there really is no budging from their qualifications and legacy will not help anyone if they are not among the best in Science, engineering, technology, or math.

Caltech student population 2,397 total while Harvard has 21,613. No matter what these studies say, Caltech filters out many people already just because of its strong focus and small school. I do wish for Caltech to expand to being a school capable of at least 10,000 students though.

[craigs]

This is also the first year that women constitute the majority of Caltech's freshman class.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by hughfb3

Caltech is a science and technology-focused Institution that; without the fluffier liberal arts-type programs, is a way more rigorous institution.

Your worldview is very common these days, but I find it sad. A comprehensive liberal arts education isn't automatically less rigorous than a STEM-focused education.

But this worldview has become so common that even liberal artsy-grounded institutions are now hugely STEM-focused. Even Harvard now has as many CS majors as social science majors. Even Zuck was a Psych major at Harvard, but such majors have plummeting appeal.

A lot of of the less selective institutions are already mass-eliminating social science departments. I think this will be a long-term mistake for national competitiveness. The importance of hard sciences does not eliminate the importance of a classical well-rounded education.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by hughfb3

Caltech is a science and technology-focused Institution that; without the fluffier liberal arts-type programs, is a way more rigorous institution.

I dunno, philosophy isn't exactly a "fluffy" major.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ this thread is fine here.

Discussions about universities have LONG been a part of the CD sub-forum.

But those discussions have generally been about cities with the most/best/top/etc. universities... which make sense for the subforum. Not simply, "this college is the hardest to get into".

Caltech - 2.7% acceptance rate
Harvard - 3.2% acceptance rate

Might as well have a CD thread titled, "Coke is better than Pepsi".

Coke - 19.2% market share
Pepsi - 8.3% market share