<p>Please list the Strengths and Weaknesses of Caltech in all areas, including but not limited to the academics, the professors, the fine arts, the living conditions, the costs, and any special/strong programs.</p>
<p>Weakness = Workload</p>
<p>Weaknesses: Workload; Academically very demanding for the average student; Not many competitive sports teams; Hard to maintain extremely high GPA’s </p>
<p>Strengths: World class programs in many technical fields; Genereous fin. aid for needy applicants, Many research opportunities; Tremendous lab facilities; Prepares you for many future challenges making you a strong person</p>
<p>What is the purpose of your question? For example, if you are asking for Fine Arts, then CalTech is not the place you should be looking for? If you are trying to compare schools, then you need to mention what you are comparing with. </p>
<p>You may want to read this thread and you may find a lot of what you may be looking for.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-institute-technology/577759-why-caltech-different-open-letter.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-institute-technology/577759-why-caltech-different-open-letter.html</a></p>
<p>OP: I just noticed that you asked the same question for many different schools and that you are interested in Music. CalTech is really not the school if you are interested in fine arts and music. I do not believe that they even have a music major to begin with.</p>
<p>Strengths: You get to say you went to a tough school.</p>
<p>Weaknesses: Professors are “too important” to take time with undergrads, and some are unapproachable. Teeny, tiny campus, so that if you don’t fit in, you will really be in high school all over again. Not much variety in electives. Even if you had time for electives, the ones offered are limited compared with a regular college. Very stressful workload, bringing humility to the geniuses. Overwhelming workload, largely unmanageable workload, and more workload. Food is monotonous.</p>
<p>Rankings made by independent third parties are avaliable here and [url=<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/pasadena-ca/cal-tech-1131]here[/url”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/pasadena-ca/cal-tech-1131]here[/url</a>], among other places. Third parties are going to give you a much fairer and unbiased of campus life and other aspects of the college than anecdotal evidence from individual posters.</p>
<p>My son was going to go to Caltech had he not gotten into Harvard and he is a composer as well as a pure math geek. The music people at Caltech went out of their way to line up people at Oxy and USC for him to study with and were truly excited about his music…and there is alot of performance going on in caltech–but in the end it was going to be “jury-rigged” and he decided to go a more conventional route. nonetheless, had he ended up at caltech i know they would have tried to make it work for him. i am impressed with them as a place that doesn’t see their students as cookie cutter types. Just know that the math/science comes first always.</p>
<p>I’ve only been here for a year, but I rarely get the sense that the professors are too important to give undergrads attention. I can think of many professors that are simply the exact opposite, but it may be hit or miss. There’s no denying that our professors are important though ;).</p>