CalTech Grad housing

My daughter was just accepted to CalTech for her PhD. She has been funded and with a stipend. WOW! We are thrilled for her. Anyone familiar with the housing process? Seems to be lottery and then you are limited to 2 years. Is it better to just go off campus from the start?

Congrats to your daughter! Does she have information that is different from the housing website? From what that says, she can have on-campus housing if she fills out the application and provides two housing choices - probably the graduate dorm in Marks/Braun or a single in the Catalinas. If she is not local, going into on-campus housing would give her time to scout out the area, the Catalina complex, and she could get more information on the Caltech-owned lease properties. If you start looking at off-campus housing, be prepared for sticker shock - unless you are from the bay area or the northeast metro areas.

She was hoping for a single. Seems to not be possible to get a 1 bdrm unless you’re a couple. She’ll try for the CT owned off campus studio. But seems they won’t tell you your housing assignment until you arrive for move in. That sounds odd to me.

First year grad students can get on-campus housing, but returning grad students who are successful in the lottery get priority on selection, so 1 bdrms probably go quickly. Don’t have any further info, but you should talk directly with housing to be sure the process is clear to you. I do know rentals are expensive - my son recently had a 2BR in walking distance to Caltech. PM for more info.