<p>To the best of my knowledge, Caltech has never practiced affirmative action, whether on the basis of gender or race. If it ever did, the Caltech community would, in all likelihood, grab pitchforks and torches and chase that particular incarnation of the admissions committee out of town. </p>
<p>College Confidential is an extremely limited sample size. 795 people applied EA this year, most of the posts in the EA decisions thread actually aren’t decisions, but instead, other remarks.</p>
<p>There’s no formula into Caltech, just like what the admissions website says. Your stats are good, but so are those of nearly everyone else applying and certainly those who get in. While the Caltech supplement doesn’t ask it, why do you want to go to Caltech? For the nice shiny name? For its quality? For something else?</p>