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Originally Posted by simfish Caltech's admissions policy is meritocratic. It does the best it can for its curriculum. The only other step it can do is to make changes within the institution. The major change that it can make is to improve the student quality of life - especially for the unhappy students. Isn't there a minimum credit load that you have to take to stay within Caltech, for example? That minimum credit load could be relaxed for students under certain circumstances. |
I don't think that concern necessarily reflects reality. I think by far, the largest cause for people dropping out/transfering is a loss of interest in science, and there's not too much that Caltech can reaslistically do about that except to prioritize interest/passion/etc. in science in admissions first and foremost. That's why athletics and music and whatnot aren't given as much 'credit' per say as at other schools: it's not that we view them as lesser activities, but rather, it's more important for students to survive at Caltech to be exposed to honest science/math/engineering before enrolling. It's really not that complicated of an issue.
The second largest reason for people dropping out/transferring from Caltech is the difficulty of the core curriculum, particularly the second year of physics. No other school requires quantum mechanics and stat mech/thermo from all of its students, so Caltech has some pretty unique needs when it comes to admissions which again leads to emphasizing those activities which directly demonstrate aptitude in math and science.
As for underloading, I'm confident that anyone who feels an underload is necessary to pass would be granted one. A much bigger problem is students overloading and taking more units than they can handle - I wish there was a better solution for that than just trying to convince people that they should maybe ease into things slowly.