<p>I don’t think Caltech decisions are a good indicator for HYPSM decision either way. I was accepted to Caltech but rejected from Stanford, Harvard, and MIT (waitlisted at Yale). Caltech is VERY different in what it looks for–people they know can seriously succeed academically, or at least reasonably handle the workload. I don’t truly have a basis for this statement (except my own acceptance, and the fact that a lot of Caltech acceptees get rejected from MIT and others on CC), but I really feel Caltech cares much more about passion and potential than what students have already accomplished; it seems like they don’t really care much for other fluff stuff.</p>