<p>
[quote]
OK, maybe there's no dessert, but there is desert at Toscanini's Ice Cream
[/quote]
ROTFL, andi, you've got your esses mixed up! There is dessert at Toscanini's but no desert anywhere near (the nearest I can think of is the desert of Maine).</p>
<p>Mootmom: yes, you are right. It was Ben Golub, not Ben Jones. Ben Golub is also a nice and very smart young man, though.</p>
<p>Oh definitely MUCH better ice cream in Cambridge - in all of New England for that matter. I went to Pasadena to join my boyfriend with no expectation of liking it. As it turned out it was a great three years. While California doesn't have great ice cream, Pasadena has great pie at Pie N' Burger. I can argue either side here. :)</p>
<p>I just can't deal with the LA traffic. </p>
<p>I applied to Caltech for grad school, but bailed on my interview after visiting LA for the UCLA interview weekend. It took almost two hours to get from LAX to UCLA! I had a minor panic attack.</p>
<p>Boston traffic isn't as bad, but the driving is probably worse. :)</p>
<p>But how often would an MIT undergrad have to drive? No place to park the car anyway.</p>
<p>I spent most of my adult life in Cambridge/Boston, and now near Pasadena. Both are terrific cities. Both have great food. Tons of cheap food near Caltech, range of ethnic food. Buses run into Old Town quite often.</p>
<p>The schools will both be great academically. Research easily available. Lots of opportunities to do summer research or internships. Student body probably more similiar to each other than to other schools.</p>
<p>Differences emerge in living arrangements. Caltech has 7 houses that one chooses/is chosen for, based on fit. Live in house 4 years. Each one has a personality and provides foundation for social life. The houses all grouped together right on campus, If someone wants to opt out, they can choose 2 other houses. Kids can get silly and have food fights, especially on prefrosh weekend. Administrators have been known to buy out movie theaters for special shows. If requested, students will receive $ for taking a prof for lunch or attending a cultural event or anything they can justify. Caltech offers merit awards. Parking for Caltech students was free until this year, now it costs $35.</p>
<p>I wish kids could spend time at each school when it is not prefrosh weekend, so he/she could get a feel for which campus appeals more.</p>
<p>Pasadena may not have this Toscanini's, but it does have 21 Choices, which is also an amazing dessert option. It's Cold Stone with softserve frozen yogurt, prompting even USC students to create huge facebook groups along such lines as "I make the weekly trek to Pasadena just to get 21 Choices" and "Campaign for 21 Choices at USC." Just saying ;-)</p>
<p>The OP has quite a happy (if difficult) decision to make. Congrats and best of luck!</p>
<p>Regarding transportation from Caltech to LAX: Super Shuttle has mutiple stops on campus, one of which is right in the midst of the houses/dorms. Taking the shuttle is very convenient. BTW, the drive from LAX to Caltech is about an hour even during rush hour.</p>
<p>I was VERY squeamish about driving in LA traffic after seeing all the news stories about road rage and horrendous traffic. However, I was pleasantly surprised. LA traffic truly isn't worse than traffic in other big cities and, in fact, seems to me to be better than traffic in several big cities. Anyone who thinks LA traffic is bad ought to drive Chicago's Dan Ryan while it's under construction, which seems to be nearly all of the time. Furthermore, LA drivers are polite. I was astonished to find that they readily make space for people who wish to change lanes. Road rage? I never saw the least sign of it. No one was upset when I was clearly confused about which exit to take, which occurred several times. The most difficult part of driving in LA was figuring out the expressways. In the east, expressways either go downtown or circle a city. In LA, they go every which-a-way in no particular pattern.</p>
<p>I've also driven in Boston. Traffic there is much worse. Driving to the airport during rush hour can be an exercise in futility, especially with ongoing problems with the Big Dig. Traffic jams on expressways to and from downtown can be horrendous. Furthermore, Boston drivers are maniacs. If you drive the speed limit, someone is bound to rear-end you. Boston motorists drive 85 or 90 mph in a 65 mph zone - except during rush hour, in which case they drive 85 or 90 feet per hour. Stop signs in Boston are interpreted as, "Step on the gas and speed through the intersection before anyone else does. Hope someone else is dumb enough to stop." If you always stop at stop signs, you might become mummified while waiting your turn to go. Also, Boston drivers don't like to let people change lanes and are much more likely to become upset with other drivers than are people in LA. </p>
<p>You may not want to give any credit to my opinion, though, since I prefer Boston's climate.</p>
<p>You'd have to be deranged to fly into LAX to get to Caltech. Both Ontario and Burbank are much (much) closer. Pasadena is not a "distant suburb." The whole concept of "suburb" doesn't apply in the LA/OC urboblob. When there are dozens of urban centers, what, exactly, is a suburb? </p>
<p>The biggest difference is the intensity of nerdiness (AKA single-minded obsession). While I am sure MIT has many fine nerds, Caltech not only is nerdy, they revel in it to an amazing degree. The gender imbalance is a good example. I can see MIT working hard for "greater equity" while I wouldn't think those issues would even occur to someone at Caltech. Either you have a big brain and could do the work, or you don't. Other issues just don't matter. MITers have big brains, too, but they seem to have room to worry about other issues, too. Both uber-intense, both academic, but just a different form of it.</p>
<p>As for traffic, I'll take California any day. And no one surfs on Cape Cod. Or at least shouldn't.</p>
<p>On the other coast, transportation from BOS (Logan Airport) to MIT is almost trivial if you're willing to take the T. We've done it many times with luggage, and have managed just fine. The only real problem is that the JetBlue red-eye occasionally arrives before the T has opened for the day... ;)</p>
<p>WashDad, I'm not deranged, I'm cheap. From where I live, flights to LAX are 50% or more cheaper than those to Burbank or Ontario. </p>
<p>I agree with mootmom; the T is the best way to get around Boston. Don't try to take it during rush hour with luggage, though!</p>
<p>I've never ever flown anywhere except LAX - prices are half what they are at the other airports. I'm with the group that thinks LA traffic isn't that bad. Boston is MUCH worse. However for most students driving in Boston is unecessary, while it is handy to have a car in LA - even though there are now more public transportation possibilities. BTW one summer I was in Pasadena I commuted to the airport for a drafting job. I took the airport bus from one of the hotels to get there.</p>
<p>CalTech has far more required courses, thereby limiting the ability to take courses outside the major.</p>
<p>MIT has cooler hacks.</p>
<p>CalTech is in Pasadena and there aren't many other colleges there. There are 63 colleges in the Boston area. </p>
<p>I'm only slightly biased, of course, being an MIT alum and an MIT parent.</p>
<p>Flying from east coast, much cheaper to fly into LAX. Also, I'd have to switch planes to go to either Ontario or Burbank. But to fly to San Jose or more local flights, people often leave from Burbank.</p>
<p>No argument that Boston is ultimate college town.</p>
<p>I do wish Ben Golup was here to explain Caltech's position on AA. Everyone admitted on equal basis, and gender less a factor than at MIT.</p>
<p>I wish the movie College Hoops about the Caltech basketball coach and last year's team was available to kids making the decision between MIT/Caltech. The movie captures the spirit of these bright kids who play BB for sheer joy.</p>
<p>What I really find interesting is that when an applicant is accepted to a more well-rounded school like HYPS, they seem to chose that over M/C.</p>
<p>oops, sorry about the esses malfunction marite- but mathmom started it! :) I quoted her and took it from there.</p>
<p>MIT is only a few miles away from Logan so I can't imagine it could get much easier to get from a school to an airport.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Hey, from MIT it's an hour to Cape Cod
[/quote]
Maybe in the winter! Or if your car can hydroplane over all the other cars headed in the same direction (shouldn't be much of a problem for either an MIT or CalT guy ;) ).</p>
<p>Bookworm-</p>
<p>Your observation:</p>
<p>"What I really find interesting is that when an applicant is accepted to a more well-rounded school like HYPS, they seem to chose that over M/C."</p>
<p>was/is applicable to my son last year. He too was faced with the same issues as the OP between MIT/CalTech/Penn's M&T program. When all was said and done he ended up elsewhere. For quite some time both MIT/CT were is top 2 choices. Since he had not visited any previous to acceptance I STRONGLY suggested he do so before deciding. He managed to visit his top choices and was able to make a decision.</p>
<p>He did NOT visit most during their admitted students weekends, went other times. Again, it wasn't til after his visits that it became clear what his top 2 choices were.</p>
<p>Great choices!! Tons of FUN!</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>
[quote]
oops, sorry about the esses malfunction marite- but mathmom started it! I quoted her and took it from there.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The annoying thing is that I actually sold a series of cute little paintings which all say "Stress is desserts spelled backwards" with different desserts pictured. So I do know which is which!</p>
<p>
Oh, we have a car (and my fiance is still an MIT undergrad, at least for the next few months). Anyone at MIT is allowed to have a car except freshmen, and the parking pass costs about a third of what Harvard charges for students to keep a car.</p>
<p>We don't use it to drive into the city particularly often -- the T is much more convenient for that -- but we use it to go to the grocery store in the suburbs. The produce is much better there. :)</p>
<p>Both great schools. For me it would be fun(?) to go to both. Caltech is very appealing after a winter in Cambridge though. Agree with others about cheaper fares to LAX. For going a couple times a year the commute is not a problem. Hey, these are young people. It takes years to really get to hate airports and such. MIT does seem to have more concentration areas and of course larger non engineering/science class choices. S got into both and likes both but will probably not choose either one. Too bad, wife and I love both areas to visit. ... I notice an MITer posted that while visiting Caltech the students there seemed to smile more than the MIT students..attributed this to coming out into sunshine after turing in P-sets.</p>