Questions about Caltech

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
1

Hello everyone, I am trying to decide between Harvard and Caltech for undergrad EECS. I have a few questions about Caltech and I have also posted some for Harvard. I would really appreciate answers!

-What’s the median amount of sleep per night for Caltech students?

-What’s the percentage of Caltech graduates land at MIT, Stanford, Harvard, etc for grad school?

-What’s the likelyhood to land an internship at a Fortune 500 company if you apply for one?

-What’s the ability to cross register at UCLA/USD from Caltech?

2
  1. It depends on the year (Freshman, Sophomore etc.) and what courses you sign up for and the group of students you team up with to work your homework sets. It also depends on your time management skills. Around 6 hours per day
  2. A very high percentage
  3. Why limit to Fortune 500 companies when you have a lot of startups etc. in the Bay area. In general, getting internships for Caltech students is not an issue
  4. What courses are you looking at UCLA/USD?
3

I’m a frosh at Caltech.

-What’s the median amount of sleep per night for Caltech students?
Like florianCollege said, it very much depends on your time management skills. Freshman year shouldn’t be too bad, but depending on the classes you take later on you will be averaging less. I estimate that freshman year you will average 7-8 hours or more if you want. Also, you say you are considering EECS. There is no official EECS major here at Caltech, but many EE and CS people take classes in of both types. However, the EE option here is infamous for its workload, and I would not suggest deciding on a double major of EE and CS until after you have gotten enough information and are sure you can handle it. Many people, however, do a CS minor with a EE major. As a EE, you will be spending less time sleeping, guaranteed. 5-6 hours/day, especially around assignment due dates/week days.

-What’s the percentage of Caltech graduates land at MIT, Stanford, Harvard, etc for grad school?
Not sure, but according to florianCollege a lot :slight_smile:

-What’s the likelyhood to land an internship at a Fortune 500 company if you apply for one?
Pretty likely, depends more on yourself than the school you are going to though. The internship application process is one you should start in the fall (which I did not unfortunately).

-What’s the ability to cross register at UCLA/USD from Caltech?
I have never heard of anyone cross-registering at UCLA/USC, so I am going to say it is not possible. Also, if you are attending classes at Caltech, extremely impractical given the traffic in LA. On Caltech’s website, they mention you can only crossregister at Occidental college and some other college.