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<p>This is one of the reasons I once suggested candidates should be interviewed, and discuss with the interviewers with legitimate technical language what they enjoy thinking about. If you’re right about this, then plenty of people for whom there may not even be an enjoyable math/science EC to realistically do may be completely ignored by Caltech! That is, if an essay discussing their passions would not have credibility without ECs. </p>
<p>But I think you mean to say that if someone wrote in an essay explicitly about math and science topics they’ve enjoyed reading about, this would jive well.</p>