Why is Caltech's graduation rate so low?

mathboy98
Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:27:27 +0000

Definitely this problem exists at Berkeley, and I guess I’m one of those who thinks it’s a little ridiculous for frosh to enter these types of schools thinking that it’s going to be simple :D

My humble opinion is that part of the big issue is that the nature of work done before and during attending these universities can be a night and day difference, and it shouldn’t be, because really the way the universities do it tends to be the correct way. I have posted many times and in many places that AP courses being designated as college level can give people a very false sense of their being able to handle real college level work – because simply, a lot of the AP is very sloppily done, and people take the classes more to boost GPA than out of dedication to the subject matter.

Now I’m aware Caltech might not accept AP credit for some of their classes because they teach them at a higher level, but I’m in favor of their giving exposure to what the first-year curriculum will be like. I think sometimes seeing a sample of the real stuff really does make you start thinking if you care enough to do it. Especially if you’re forced to actually work through the real stuff.

As for the essay, it would be purely asking the students to explain interest in maths/science/engineering in context of what they’re doing and what they plan to do. One would be surprised how clear it is when you ask someone about goals and interests whether they have a real mature idea or not. All of the claims should have some grounding in evidence, i.e. things the students actually did – because really, when students harp on about “research,” I can smell when it was just filler work and when it actually was something useful and significant in an instant, and certainly admissions fellows can do it even better than I.