<p>According to this <a href=“http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/documents/73-fact_sheet_2011-2012.pdf[/url]”>http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/documents/73-fact_sheet_2011-2012.pdf</a>, this recent trend of increasing gender balance seems to have somewhat reversed itself. Previously, the school was 60/40 male/female but the incoming freshmen class was 64/36. Granted Caltech is small and so it may just be fluctuations but that doesn’t really suggest gender based preferences. Interestingly, the same source gives the incoming freshmen class as 16% underrepresented which is much more than it was previously. Although 16% is still less than most other elite schools it is considerably more than it was in the past.</p>