<p>My sense from reading other threads is that for transfer students, the placement tests are the most important. From previous threads, I doubt if having few ecs will really matter if you do well on the placement test. This in fact may be a big difference between Caltech & Mudd - I don’t know but does Mudd have placement test - they might look more at ecs. I really don’t know. </p>
<p>As for a smaller community - one can still get lost at Caltech but maybe not as far as at a bigger school like MIT. I think its one of those “your mileage may vary” things. (Sorry to hear Fixix2 that you feel like there’s too much community.) Maybe some of the difference is whether or not you live in your hovse or in one of the apartments as to how close you feel to the community (just a mom’s thoughts looking at my son’s experiences at Caltech for the past 3 years) as well as individual differences and experiences. </p>
<p>While playing a sport may not boost your transfer admissions chances, it certainly won’t hurt. I know of one Techer who never played a certain sport til his Junior year at Caltech and made it all the way to the regional semi-finals in that sport. So coming on to a team or into an individual sport as a Junior shouldn’t hurt you if you’re interested in continuing in your sport.</p>