My uncle always thought that I went to Cal Tech, but he was not working in the academic world. My professors knew the difference between Cal Poly and Cal Tech, and commented on Cal Poly’s human powered aircraft attempts at the time I was applying http://articles.latimes.com/1989-12-07/news/ve-378_1_cal-poly
Also, if my professors thought I said I got into CalTech, they would have just laughed!