Caltech ECE/Planetary Science/Astro/Earth Science

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>So I'm an undergrad with an <em>intense</em> interdisciplinary bent who would like to apply to Caltech sometime (I actually really wanted to go to Caltech for ugrad, but ended up going to an early entrance program instead). In my university, I'm an astro+physics+math major who has done pretty well in graduate level courses across at least 5 different departments. I also read research journals in all sorts of fields for fun as well, and I've even intensely stalked the Caltech course catalog for a long time (so I'm familiar with the material in ACM95abc, Ph136a, and stuff). Anyways - I'd like to know - which graduate departments would be the best departments for me to apply to? I do want something heavily computational (and hopefully interdisciplinary), but other than that, I'm pretty much open to anything. I do want something that isn't too competitive, though, since I'm not as focused as most people are, so I don't have as much background as most people do in any particular field. </p>

<p>Most of the research I've done is in the astro dept here - but the profs most impressed with me are from the atmospheric science dept here. My summer research project (which is the one I will be most excited about) will be using CAM3 models to model exoplanetary atmospheres. </p>

<p>Departments like CNS also look quite interesting, but my favorite professor in that department (Christof Koch) is pretty much going to leave the university most of the time.</p>

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<p>You should really let your passion for scientific research drive your goals, not choose a life path based on which “profs are most impressed with me”. It really should be “which area of science do I want to spend my life working in intensively”, not being “open to anything”. Caltech respects depth of study over breadth, and looks for passion and drive over anything else. Once you discover for yourself what field best brings out the fire in your intellect, then apply to that department. That being said, there is good collaboration between departments here, as Caltechs profs respect greatness in any area, not just their own!</p>