<p>I understand that there were THREE suicides of Caltech students last spring... That is a LOT, especially for such a small student body. Does anyone know if the pressures of the school contributed to this, or what the school is doing to improve the stresses?? I am very concerned, and don't want to make a mistake and go to a school that is unsupportive or too stressful.</p>
<p>they make suicidal kids transfer so they don’t have to deal with them anymore. then again, this is probably what happens at every other school so you cannot really blame them.</p>
<p>if you are a suicidal caltech student FOR CHRIST’S SAKE do not tell the counseling center or the deans about your situation or you might be “placed on medical leave,” and if this happens more than once they make it freaking impossible to come back. get an off-campus provider, you’ll get better treatment that way anyway (and caltech’s insurance will cover it). the on-campus psychiatrist is so overbooked you’ll have to wait a month or two to get an appointment. and frankly she isn’t that great and basically hands out pills like candy.</p>
<p>on the bright side, caltech is really nice about giving out extensions and incompletes. despite completely collapsing i still had a great gpa when they kicked me out. perhaps the optimal way to go is to disclose your depression but deny all thoughts of suicide. they’re reallllly picky about people killing themselves on campus.</p>
<p>i am afraid to say anything more but my email works if you have further questions.</p>
<p>The suicides were taken quite seriously by Caltech, and there are several groups working to make sure that our safety net programs will work as designed. Although I’ve never had to personally use any of the support systems, Caltech takes it seriously and wants to help people. I, and most people I’ve talked to, consider Caltech a generally supportive place.</p>
<p>If you are truly suicidal, Caltech probably isn’t the place for you. If you are really that depressed, transferring or taking time off is a good idea.</p>
<p>The suicides last year (one of which was a graduate student) were very unusual. The two years before that, Caltech hadn’t had any suicides. I know there was one three years ago, and I wasn’t here before that to provide other information, but I’ve heard that before last spring, Caltech had only had 3 or 4 suicides (this may be wrong, feel free to correct it if you have better information). </p>
<p>If this is an issue you are really concerned about, I suggest you you talk to a variety of students and get their opinions. Remember that peoples’ opinions will vary, so one or two outliers shouldn’t necessary make you rethink your decision (I’m sure you could find these people at every school you are thinking of)</p>
<p>I think jdhutchin’s post sums up my feelings pretty accurately.</p>
<p>I remember attending a session given by one of the counselors about the recent happenings, and they said something about how once there’s been one suicide on campus it tends to spark more. People who have been contemplating it can see how possible the option is, and that can actually drive them to it.</p>
<p>My question is more concerned abt the atmosphere on campus, and if the high expectations of its students and closed-in, teeny campus are contributing to the stresses there. I agree with jdhutchin that if you are suicidal not to go there, but that would be true of ANY campus - get your act together first and THEN go to school. My question is more directed to why statistacally are there so many suicides, and what abt the college led to this?</p>
<p>Is the number of suicides statistically high, taking into account the small sample size?</p>
<p>I would say the small, closed-in campus creates a better support system for stressed students as I found Caltech to be a very tight-knit community. Your mileage may vary, but I do think it’s easier to get lost in the crowd of people at large schools.</p>
<p>It might be a large percentage for this particular year, but I imagine if you average over the past 20 years or something Caltech won’t seem different from any other school.</p>
<p>From what I heard about the grad student, they were pretty upbeat and positive, and nobody in their lab had a clue anything was wrong. The only possible cause I heard was their advisor was a bit strict/harsh/demanding, but that would really be a shortcoming of that particular professor and not the institution as a whole.</p>
<p>Grad school and undergrad are pretty much separate…if they are grad students it is not much reflection on the undergraduate atmosphere and vice versa. And I don’t think the grad school at Caltech is tiny, so the rates may not be as bad as they seem. </p>
<p>@Jdhutchin: I’d bet the people were not suicidal or even depressed before they got to Caltech. They may have been susceptible to negative thoughts, but universities like Caltech and MIT tend to induce depression.</p>
<p>@RacinReaver: I highly doubt if you average over 20 years that Caltech is the same as other schools. You fail to realize how rare suicides tend to be at colleges. I think for the 90’s Caltech was #2 per capita in suicides in the country. #1 was, big surprise, MIT. </p>
<p>If these are undergraduate suicides at Caltech, then I find it interesting that Caltech suicide rate would rise so sharply just as MIT’s rates decreased.</p>
<p>Another suicide yesterday. This time a professor.</p>
<p>This is a great [url=<a href=“http://news.discovery.com/space/losing-andrew-lange.html]loss[/url”>http://news.discovery.com/space/losing-andrew-lange.html]loss[/url</a>]. May he rest in peace.</p>
<p>:(</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>He wasn’t just a professor. We was the director of the largest department on campus, the physics/math/astronomy dpmt. He was my sophomore (or was it freshman cant remember) physics prof. Everyone seemed to really like this guy :(</p>
<p>If people are feeling a lot of stress and stuff why don’t they just drive a car or walk to the woods and live like an Indian? No pressure and no school work. Thoreau thought it was a good idea.</p>
<p>Professor Andrew Lange’s obit appears today in NY Times.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/science/space/28lange.html[/url]”>www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/science/space/28lange.html</a></p>
<p>I hope this link works.</p>
<p>:( RIP Prof Lange</p>