<p>“I definitely think anyone considering Caltech should come out to visit PFW even if they live far away.”
I couldn’t agree with you any more. No matter how much you like Caltech, you should go to the PFW. Originally, I didn’t want to go to PFW because I figured it would be a waste of money. I was completely convinced that I would love it there. Going to PFW saved me from going to a school where I would not be happy. I’m going to repeat this once more for emphasis: Go to PFW, even if you already have your heart set on Caltech. You will learn things that you would never find out just reading about the school.</p>
<p>I will third the emphasis on going to PFW.</p>
<p>A few impressions on PFW:</p>
<p>I visited a couple of classes–Politzer’s ph 1c was very entertaining. I also saw the analytic version of the class, and was dissapointed to see so many students just copying what was written on the board, though to the school’s credit, this happened at a far lesser fate than I’ve seen elsewhere.</p>
<p>In general, everyone was very friendly (with one notable exception, but I digress) and the atmosphere suited me. People’s opinions toward the school (prefrosh and students alike) were extremely polar, as expected. Everyone either loved, or hated Caltech. (I think I’m of the former). I was; however, a bit surprised to hear that so many physics majors ultimately choose mechanical engineering. At least, though, I was ecstatic to actually meet other people who wanted to major in physics–at my high school this makes me something of an oddity, and so visiting Caltech was refreshing.</p>
<p>@Balaylay:</p>
<p>How did you manage to find something to do all the time at PFW!? I enjoyed myself too, liked the school, fit in fairly well with people, etc…but I absolutely had nothing to do Saturday afternoon. I literally spent three hours just wandering the campus, and I wasn’t the only one. I tried stiking up a conversation with a few of my fellow wanderers, but to no avail–it would seem we wanderers were a sampling of the more socially inept of the prefrosh.</p>
<p>I wound up playing starcraft with my host (I played rather poorly…as if it would have made a difference) for a while. More than once a student commented that I ought to find something different to do, since I most likely had a PC at home. I absolutely agreed, but just found myself counting down the minutes till the pizza, tunnel tours, or whatever. The tunnel tour, by the way, was great, but a little dissapointing in that it wasn’t nearly as dangerous as some of the guides made it out to be (only one person got scared and left, and only at the very end!) I also got along very well with my host, but he had a busy atheltics schedule to keep.</p>
<p>One way to have a busy Saturday is to stay at the Huntington till about noon, walk back to Tech, and then get on a shuttle to Old Pas. It’s easy to occupy 2-3 hours there (eating lunch, getting fro yo, wandering around Colorado Blvd), so you can take one of the last buses back to campus and get there around 3-3:30. By this time, tie dying will have begun, and this will last you till 4, when the club fair starts. You can certainly spend an hour at the club fair (there’s a dunk tank, DDR, and an amazing inflatable obstacle course thing), and after that the In-n-Out will have arrived for dinner. The One Acts start off the sting of intense evening activities at 7. I didn’t have any trouble last year as prefrosh filling up time in the afternoon.</p>
<p>For the record:</p>
<p>I forgot about the Huntington (I was very angry with myself for this, most likely because I was up past 4:00 am)</p>
<p>The tye-dye wasn’t all that much fun (just a personal preference; other people enjoyed themselves, but I left), I might have tried out DDR for the first time if I wasn’t so sore from track still and short on sleep. Wandering campus and wandering Old Pasadena are probably about equivalent. I learned how to play Go at the club fair though…</p>
<p>Still wondering what the Caltech Satanic Fellowship does. Maybe they could show me a few useful things?</p>
<p>I’m probably just an inept PFW-goer.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Old Pas is a high-end shopping district… not really close to walking around campus. Also, Old pas is bigger than campus.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>As best anyone can tell, the Caltech Satanic Fellowship shows up for the two club fairs every year (PFW and beginning of the school year)</p>
<p>Just meant to say that shopping doesn’t do much for me, nor probably will it ever.</p>
<p>Shopping district != only shopping. It’s a very cool place to walk around, even with no shopping attached…</p>
<p>I already loved Caltech before I went to PFW. I went to summer program last year and fell in love. However, I didn’t particularily like where I was placed…it was a bit weird that I was placed into that house, but it’s okay. I was able to go to another house that I really can see myself in.
And going along with some of the other people, I also had a few “ughh…what do I do?..I’m sooo bored!” moments. But overall, I was kept pretty busy.
I went to two classes. Ph 1C and Orgo. I really really liked orgo even though I didn’t completely understand it! And I was a bit disappointed with physics…All he did was do experiements. Eh. Whatever…it was still cool.
Although there were definitely some weird people(like I expected), I still loved the campus and the overall environment.
And…
I already sent in the papers and I’m now enrolled :)</p>
<p>House placement during PFW is basically random. However, once you get here, rotation is not random, and you should be placed in a house you like.</p>
<p>If you went to the analytical track lecture for Ph1c, you would see quite the opposite (no experiments, all lecture)</p>