<p>^Did the Mudd Scholarship change? There was one they offered that was $10k/year and it was guaranteed to anyone with certain numbers (that I would assume almost all qualified applicants could meet). Caltech also offered a few scholarships, but there were only a handful of spots available.</p>
<p>“^Did the Mudd Scholarship change?” - Yes, it did change just this year. But even before that I think only 25% of the students received it. </p>
<p>Mudd claimed the change would allow some wiggle room for outstanding canditates (example - 11% rank in a math/science magnet school). But it seems they added other unpublished criteria too. </p>
<p>Colorado_kid was accepted at Mudd, but with no merit $ or FA (except unsub Stafford loans). He had 2390 SAT, 800 Math2 SAT, 800 Physics SAT, 5% class rank (USN&WR top-200 school), rigorous IB courseload, and tons of interesting EC and awards. We knew admission was subjective and only a maybe, but we thought if accepted surely he would get the merit scholarship. In the end we opted for a full tuition NMF scholarship elsewhere. </p>
<p>For those families considering MIT, those stats did not get him into MIT. (That was OK because due to CC research we knew it was a long shot anyway. And by the time March rolled around he was more interested in other schools.)</p>
<p>Caltech no longer offer merit scholarship to freshmen (starting with class of 2013). But their FA package is fairly decent.</p>
<p>This forum is just amazing!</p>
<p>Mathmom - that arts and crafts house is on the to visit list now. Both DH and myself love that style, our own house is a little like that! But when my 13 year old, who is going on the trip as well, peeked through my arm, she said - yikes, another house we have to visit - gotta love the kids, right? :)</p>
<p>To answer some of your questions :
My son is a rising sophomore. He has no idea what his major might be. He is a math whiz, but also loves moviemaking, music, literature. I call him a renaissance kid. I do not know if he will like Caltech. He keeps saying MIT (why???)
We are visiting because Caltech is fairly close ( 12 hour drive but we will stop at Luxor 
And the younger one wants to see San Diego Zoo . She is my vet in the making:)
And now there is that Gamble house I just have to see…</p>
<p>Colorado Mom - did you son have any math or physics olympiads under his belt?</p>
<p>Will try to feet HM inn, but son has to make the call…</p>
<p>"I call him a renaissance kid. " - Mudd (and Claremont Colleges, maybe even Pomona) might be a better fit than CalTech. And LOTS of other great schools too when he starts looking more seriously. </p>
<p>“Colorado Mom - did you son have any math or physics olympiads under his belt?” - Nope. It’s something I’d never heard of until reading CC. Not sure it is even done in our area. Our high school does have a Math Team, but he opted to do Knowledge Bowl Team instead (where he had lots of fun and got some awards too). </p>
<p>“And the younger one wants to see San Diego Zoo .” - Yes, do see the zoo! Before our 2009 college tour we spent a few days in San Diego. The zoo was great! Beware there is lots of walking and hills. The deluxe ticket including the tram is I think another $8, but if you google around you may be able to print out a coupon that makes the price same and regular ticket. We spent 4 hours there because we had to get on the road, but some families fill the whole day. Balboa Park is also very interesting - if you go, try to take the ranger tour.</p>
<p>Mudd was on my daughter’s list-- but not anywhere near the top until she visited. It definitely “shows well.” I agree with coloradomom, he should stop by and take a look.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=kelowna]
My son is a rising sophomore. He has no idea what his major might be. He is a math whiz, but also loves moviemaking, music, literature. I call him a renaissance kid. I do not know if he will like Caltech. He keeps saying MIT (why???)
[quote]
</p>
<p>I would strongly recommend that you check HMC as it looks like a better fit, in fact the Claremont colleges may be a better way to go than CalTech in your sons case. moviemaking, music, literature are not CalTech’s forte -
or even close to being an area of much interest.</p>
<p>However visit both especially if you are in that area.</p>
<p>I agree with mazewanderer, renaissance kid also a math whiz, sounds more like Harvey Mudd than Caltech.</p>
<p>Note that if son is a rising sophomore it is not critical which schools you see. Early on you’ll want to see what attributes are appealing (big vs small, rural vs city, intense vs mellow, etc). And it is great if the ideas have time to marinate over a few years.</p>
<p>Your son will likely need to visit (or revisit) top choices senior year.</p>
<p>Kelowna, I largely agree with colorado_mom.
I have the impression from other posts of yours that your son has exceptional talent in science/math.
If you have been reading the other college forums here, then you have probably already spotted a key difference between Caltech on the one hand and MIT, Stanford, and most other “top” colleges on the other hand: It appears to be possible for a student to earn his/her way into Caltech on the strength of academic qualifications. Of course, Caltech admissions people look for the signs of the creativity that is needed for significant work later on in science and math; and they also look for extra-curricular pursuits that are science/math related. It would be a mistake for a student who does not have an intense interest in science and/or math to go there. But their admissions decisions seem a good deal less random.</p>
<p>MIT admissions people are looking for something different, on top of the academic qualifications. They have the philosophy that no one is entitled to admission to MIT, and they seem to be going out of their way to prove it, with a few instances each year of USAMO qualifiers (with many other strong aspects of the application) whom they have declined to admit. I think the same holds of Siemens or Intel winners.</p>
<p>If a student is really incredible–on the order of Terence Tao–then I think the student can assume that he/she can pick the college. Otherwise, for an exceptionally strong student, but one who is still bound by the law of gravity, the student can often pick Caltech, but can’t count on the others.</p>
<p>So, (going along with a lot of the advice on the thread), I’d really advise visiting Caltech, and maybe more than once, for your son to see whether he thinks he would like it there. It would be good to visit it while classes are in session, if possible. The environment at Caltech is unique. It works well for some, but not for others, who may be equally gifted.</p>
<p>Incidentally, it looks as though Terence Tao is on the faculty at UCLA. Your son might not want to rule out a college that is not at the <em>very</em> top of the rankings, if they have a top professor in his area of interest. For a while, University of Texas grads have played a major role in topology in the U.S., due to the inspired teaching and mathematical insight of R. L. Moore, a mathematician there. Now gone, unfortunately–they’ve named a building after him. His teaching methods were legendary among mathematicians, though, and for a while, an unusually large fraction of the really good topologists happened to have Texas accents.</p>
<p>CalTech’s predictability comes from the fact that there is less emphasis on the euphemistic “holistic” criteria that many schools use and more emphasis on “passion for math and science”. As mentioned in another post,</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-institute-technology/442418-anyone-wanting-know-their-chances-getting-into-caltech.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-institute-technology/442418-anyone-wanting-know-their-chances-getting-into-caltech.html</a></p>
<p>*
The single most important thing for being admitted into Caltech is a passion for math and science. It’s so important, that I’ll say it a few more times-- passion for math and science, passion for math and science, passion for math and science. It doesn’t have a definition, but if you’ve got it, you know you’ve got it.*</p>
<p>Where things get complex is that the CalTech class is very small, just about 225 students per incoming class. So having a passion for math and science is not sufficient, you have to have a good academic record, in the very top of the applicant pool. This gives a certain measure of predictability, but as has been pointed out, the culture, the tough core, the emphasis on reserach, etc. appeal to only a limited number of people. So there is a lot more self selection in the applicant pool. Hence a visit is very important to make sure that you like it.</p>
<p>We visited CalTech & Stanford. We found the massive size of Stanford to be an issue for us (our kids have stamina issues & the campus is really sprawling). For CalTech, we liked the neighborhood, but D was very troubled by the vulgarity & crudeness of the graffetti she saw throughout the dorm area, as well as the rundown condition of their housing. It is good to be able to speak with students at the campuses and I suspect there are few there at CalTech during summer break.</p>
<p>^One of the dorms was just being completely renovated when we visited in 2007 and I believe the other oldest dorm was going to be up next. I don’t remember seeing any vulgar graffiti, but there is a tradition of painting the halls and I could easily have missed something off-color. I only remember a lot of geeky humor and nerdy art. We actually liked the run-down comfortable feel of Caltech more than the too perfect dorms of Stanford (where we were only allowed to see the dining hall area.) My kids also thought Stanford was too spread out. That’s why you visit.</p>
<p>In the end reputation in computer science trumped looks and my son did apply to Stanford (though given the lack of effort he put into the application he probably shouldn’t have.)</p>
<p>Personally, I found the physical appearance of HMC a complete turnoff. Both the long narrow layout and the motel style housing units with true ‘junk’ furniture all over the courtyard just gave me the willies. Mind you, I’m all for college furniture, just not the stuff with springs sticking out through the cushions. It just felt like a run down boarding school.</p>
<p>Just goes to show you why you need to visit.</p>
<p>I should clarify that when I said Harvey Mudd “shows well”; I meant that your kid will know right away if it’s the kind of school for them. My daughter felt right at home when she saw the lumpy couches, pirate flags and tire swings.</p>
<p>That’s funny ihs76, my son felt the same way. He applied and got in but decided not to attend. He just couldn’t see himself there no matter how hard he tried… It really is a campus you have to visit.</p>
<p>I would visit both. My son visited Stanford, Caltech and Pomona on our West Coast college trip. He concluded Caltech was too “just science and engineering” for him but loved both Stanford and Pomona. I personally loved Stanford and thought Pomona was too small, though being part of the Claremont colleges helps quite a bit with that. He may well be applying SCEA to Stanford.</p>
<p>My non-science kid adored Caltech. He lamented frequently that there was no school out there that had the same culture devoted to social sciences and humanities. That said, in the end, even if such a place existed, (I suspect Reed comes close), he was looking for something “bigger than his high school” which would have eliminated Caltech sized schools. I agree that Caltech and Harvey Mudd are schools that you will know very quickly if they are for you. My sons felt right at home.</p>
<p>We visited Stanford, Caltech, and Berkeley with my math/physics renaissance guy when he was a Jr. He liked Stanford and Berkeley, but decided against applying to Caltech when the uber-math brainiac from his HS that he visited there told him it was intense even for her. That plus it was smaller than what he wanted and very few girls. He was on the wait list at MIT til the last minute but didn’t get in–now the renaissance part of him is flourishing at Brown. He’ll likely still major in math, but gets lots of other good courses too. (whew! Berkeley was a real contender and we were so glad that the east coast prevailed!)</p>