Caltech "Girls Only" Acceptances

<p>From my experience, as an undergraduate female, that magazine article couldn't be further from the truth. I have never once heard of anyone being stalked here, though I'm sure it happens every once in a while, like at any other college. I liked how they didn't even have an undergraduate write it but a grad student repeating a handful of played-out stereotypes, out-of-context stories and rumours. With inaccurate junk like this getting sent around so much it's small wonder that Caltech used to have such a low yield for admitted girls. I even remember reading it when I was a prefrosh and being a bit concerned.</p>

<p>"Glomming" usually refers to two things: a bunch of guys talking to one girl in a group (usually during Rotation when everyone is meeting new people) or, less often, when a guy hangs around a lot with girl, presumably to entice her into his Star Wars 30th Anniversary commemorative pocket protector, if you know what I mean. I've never seen either of these done maliciously in any way. The latter is just the shy nerd way of courting. The times I've seen it happen, the girl just has a mutual friend tell him gently that she's not interested, he gets the hint that she just wants to be friends, or it works and they start dating. If there is something that is really making you uncomfortable and you don't want to confront someone about it, I guarantee you that there are upperclassmen who are willing to help you out. No one wants to be seen as creepy or annoying, so if anyone hints to them that they are being that way, they'll stop. In my experience, Tech guys are nice and respectful, not to mention fairly apathetic to sex and dating, in comparison to most college guys. Guys don't usually glom a girl unless they have some reason to think that the attraction might be mutual, so it leads to a relationship a pretty large amount of the time. Keep in mind that "glomming" usually just means trying to seduce someone by socializing with them a lot, doing sets with them (HOT!), or whatever, not hacking her computer to read her sexy, sexy Haskell code on her hard drive and setting up hidden cameras in the shower, or whatever this article would imply, since that is obviously a brilliant way to convince someone to date you! </p>

<p>"The Ratio" is something the prefrosh care about, the frosh joke about, and the upperclassmen don't even think about. One of my favorite parts about Tech is that no one cares what gender you are, particularly the administration itself. Admissions does not consider gender, and tries to increase the gender ratio the way most Techers would want it, just by making Caltech more appealing to women or encouraging more women to go into technical fields. You can have a roommate of any gender that you wish and, at least in the South Houses, the bathrooms and showers are all coed. They all have individual stalls and everything -- I want privacy no matter who else is in there! I would feel absolutely comfortable rooming with a lot of the straight, male friends of mine. However, I've also noticed I have a lot more female friends at Tech than in high school. The nerdy girl to nerdy guy ratio seems a lot higher here than in the general population, and I generally hang around people who are pretty nerdy.</p>

<p>ps: I totally got my boyfriend by "glomming" him for a while since I was too shy just to "ask him out" or whatever you're actually supposed to do. It works both ways. Also, "Do you want do go work on the physics set with me?" is the best pickup line ever.</p>

<p>wait, girls and guys can be in the same dorm room WHAT??????</p>

<p>Yes, they can. I've heard of it happening, though I don't currently know anyone in a rooming situation like that. </p>

<p>No reason to freak out, though. If you don't want to share a room with a person of the opposite gender, no one's going to make you.</p>

<p>oh noo I am not freaking out or anything...I acutally wouldn't care that much</p>

<p>it's just taht I have NEVER heard of that lol and was quite suprised</p>

<p>Yeah, Caltech has many surprises...and so far, none of them were of a negative sort (for me, at least) :)</p>

<p>Well....except, maybe, that I get shocked every time I try to open my room, but it's minor.</p>

<p>Hriundeli: because of static electricity?
Google2008: are you planning on/ are you already going to Caltech?
ps...are there any support groups for women? like a women in engineering group or something like that?</p>

<p>Yes, there are. I don't know very much about them, however.</p>

<p>I'm not accepted, but I hope you don't mind my posting in this thread -- I just have a quick question. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been the only girl (or close to it) in math/science classes -- well for me, not so much in science, but definitely in math classes. Would this be less common at Caltech, I mean, despite "the ratio"?</p>

<p>oh sari, I am applying</p>

<p>I just (*think ?) I have a good shot because my dad works there and I am goin to have this kick ass rec letter from a caltech prof. not sure if I WILL get in though, but would be nice because I get free tuition.</p>

<p>I have a female roommate (fr: 2007, gr: 2011; hopefully). Feel free to ask me about it. It's really not a big deal and there are quite a few of the doubles being used in this manner. (The south hovses consist mostly of singles, though, so there's bound to be some sort of statistical fallacy based on the small number of doubles).</p>

<p>There's two freshman, one male, one female, in my house who are roommates (And one of them isn't octalc0de). I don't think it's that big of a deal, and presumably, you could ask them about it (I don't know their names on CC). But no one forces male-female roommates to be roommates. It just happened, and everyone was happy to the arrangement.</p>

<p>can you request to not have that or to have that? or is it just by chance?</p>

<p>You choose your own roommate after Rotation.</p>

<p>Quoting from the ms.magazine</p>

<p>'some people advised me not to discuss glomming or other problems because it might scare away potential students, and we desperately need a more diverse student body. It never seems to occur to anyone that maybe women should be wary about coming to Caltech. We do need more women students here — and more students of color — but they will be better prepared to deal with the atmosphere if they are warned about it instead of being deceived into thinking Caltech is some kind of utopia for aspiring scientists. '</p>

<p>I felt that that^^^ really needed to go up here.
I f women are really interested in what CAlTech has to offer, Its worth going.
Hopefully women population will rise. Its bound to right?</p>

<p>
[quote]
There's two freshman, one male, one female, in my house who are roommates

[/quote]
</p>

<p>(well, they were kind of forced into it because there were an odd number of women who had to live in doubles. and if they didn't room together, some guy would've been kicked out of a single. and it would have been kind of messy. but eventually, it did work out great.</p>

<p>by the way, both are dating, and neither of their partners seem to mind.)</p>

<p>I don't have any problem at all with the ratio; I actually think that I would only have an issue with it if I were a guy (I mean, how would you find a girlfriend?). Besides, I like the possibility that I was accepted based not on gender or race, but on academic merit.</p>

<p>Hmmmm. So after I actually read the posts on this thread, I realized that the issue was the glomming...which actually does seem fairly scary. But I've talked to a few girls there and they don't seem to have had any problems. Also, while I think that that sort of backwards attitude would be irritating, I'm hoping that it wouldn't be enough to scare me away from a first-rate education.</p>

<p>Girls in my house - (the one with the offensive newsletter) laughed at the article when it was brought to their attention. As a guy, I don't feel qualified to talk about this personally, but every girl involved in a conversation on this article thought the suggestion of women feeling threatened at Caltech was ludicrous.</p>

<p>I believe they were fine with it. Actually, I believe a girl would have gotten kicked out of a single, but I don't know if we're even talking about the same house.</p>

<p>Heh, I'm a frosh girl in the house with the offensive newsletter, and I've written a few articles for that particular newsletter.</p>

<p>Oh, and about the "support groups" mentioned earlier: I know there's the Society of Women Engineers (which has a frosh mentoring program; I hear they offer free lunches on a certain day of the week) and the Women's Center (I think they may also have free lunches on a different day of the week).
The Women's Center website is Caltech</a> Women's Center Home, and the SWE website is Caltech</a> Society of Women Engineers.</p>