just asked Caltech about the transfer exams...

Joe_Caltech_04
Thu, 05 Apr 2007 19:43:01 +0000

The way it was done during my time on the transfer admissions committee was that only the applications with acceptable test scores were even really looked at by the whole committee. However, this didn’t mean “perfect” test scores by any means, and once that hurdle was passed the actual admissions decision was basically made on the rest of the applicant’s application.

The chair of the committee my year (and several others) was a History prof, so I’m sure things are plenty holistic and not just looking at numbers.