<p>After seeing the post on "Questions", I realized it would be nice to have a more general thread where people at Caltech can post about their houses (The only one I really know anything about is Fleming - what are the others like?)! So, what is the general "flavor" at your house? Cool traditions? Social events? Funny characteristic everyone seems to have? How's the food? Do people at your house study a lot? Which house is the "nerdiest"? The "most normal"? I dont know... this is a place for anecdotes and fun! :-)</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure telling you any of that would be a violation of Rotation Rules (correct me if I'm wrong upperclassmen, I'm just a frosh), designed to prevent you from being biased before you come here and go through Rotation.</p>
<p>There might still be an article on Wiki about the houses, but take everything with a major grain of salt. The point is to try not to bias you with which house is the nerdiest or most normal or weirdest; you're supposed to do Rotation and decide which ones you like for yourself.</p>
<p>Oh, I can say though, the food for dinner isn't that good, but apparently it's getting better year after year. Food from Chandler (lunch and breakfast) is pretty decent, and there's a ton of good places to eat on Lake St. or in Old Town.</p>
<p>Sorry I can't tell you more. Come visit maybe?</p>
<p>Rotation rules can be found here Rotation</a> Rules </p>
<p>Strictly speaking, talking about those things may not always be a rotation violation, but it many cases it can be. Also, only a few houses are represented on these boards, so you would get a very incomplete picture of what life in each house is like. If you want to know more about each house, come and visit. Either way, especially if you plan on coming here, you shouldn't pick your "favorite" house before you've had a chance to fairly judge them all.</p>
<p>Edit: These past few comments probably come across a bit strange. It's not that we're deliberately trying to mislead you about the houses, or that we aren't proud of our respective houses. Rotation rules are there for a good reason, and it's very easy to read the wrong things into what is said about each house. Also, this thread will fairly quickly degenerate into squabbles between different houses on the image of the house (each house not only has opinions of itself, but also of all the other houses- and these may or may not be accurate)</p>
<p>I think a lot of us would rather not say anything than bias you towards or against a particular house. The few words that we would say, even if we chose to, could not describe the fit each house is going to offer you.</p>
<p>So, yeah, we can't break any of the rotation rules. But what do people think about just telling anecdotes without stating which house(s) we're in? Like... talking about the people we're friends with, or cool things going on, etc. We don't necessarily have to generalize about our houses to give prospective students an idea of the different "flavors" of social life at Caltech. What do you think?</p>
<p>Talking about one's House does NOT violate any Rotation rules. </p>
<p>One can say anything they'd like, especially since most of the people reading this haven't been accepted/haven't decided to attend Caltech.</p>
<p>Even if that weren't the case, nothing prevents one from talking about their individual House, why they like it, what makes it cool, and what its characteristics are. </p>
<p>There's a fine line between biasing people by making absurd claims about certain Houses or promising them alcohol, and engaging in educational, helpful discussion about the merits of a particular House.</p>
<p>My house sucks. After going to a few house meetings I realized the upperclassmen there were just annoying, and started hanging out mainly with the frosh in my alley, and with people in other houses. The people I hang out with do study a lot (I think this is a common theme at Caltech), but mostly on nights when problem sets are due. And they're surprisingly normal. They seem to like manga a lot, and aren't nerdy at all. I don't think they're very typical of most people in the house -- none of us build interhouse or go to house meetings.</p>
<p>(Ironically, I got into my first choice. Rotation really isn't a good way to pick a house. You only get to meet a few people every night, and whether you like a house or not usually depends more on how social you were feeling that night or what events the house had planned for Rotation than on how nice the people are. Actually, at the end of the week all the houses kinda felt the same. But now I wish I'd picked my second house first.)</p>
<p>I'm a frosh, and here's what I think so far:</p>
<p>Rotation worked out fine for me. I like my house, but I also think I could've been happy in most of the other houses too. I think the satisfaction you get out of rotation will be inversely proportional to how seriously you take it. I don't mean you should blow it off or not put any effort into getting a good feel for each house, but that you shouldn't overanalyze things or have too many expectations of how-things-should-go. My general feeling is that choosing a house is kind of like choosing a part of your personality, which makes it really difficult to do if you get too worked up about it. Wherever you end up, it's only the end of the world if you decide that it is. And even then it really isn't.</p>
<p>I deliberately didn't read anything about any house before I came to Caltech. So, I didn't have any knowledge/preferences when Rotation started. I ended up in my first choice, and, though I visit other houses from time to time, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be happy anywhere else.
Because it's one of the largest houses, it is one of the most diverse. Freshmen and upperclassmen really get along, the humor is just on the border between funny and offensive (by my standards), people participate in all sorts of cool things, pretty much everyone is somehow different from the rest (at least it seems so to me), and there are just enough "crazy" to not get bored during problem sets :)</p>
<p>That's how I feel about my house. Other people may feel differently.</p>
<p>"Rotation rules are in effect for any contact with new students from their initial acceptance to Caltech (including before they matriculate) until their submitted rating lists are considered accurate (as stipulated at 4:00 pm on Saturday of Rotation week)." While no one has been accepted yet, I still feel that everyone's opinion of their house, other houses, and the house system is difficult to generalize.</p>
<p>I personally like the house system, although I'm ambivalent about the new ranking system (there were legitimate reasons for the change, however) for rotation. </p>
<p>Additionally, I don't think that the house system is a factor that would convince someone not to apply: The overall personalities of each house are sufficiently diverse and unrestrictive that nearly everyone will fit in somewhere.</p>
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The overall personalities of each house are sufficiently diverse and unrestrictive that nearly everyone will fit in somewhere.
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<p>This is false, in my view.</p>
<p>As for discussion of the houses, including inaccurate stereotypes, it's perfectly okay. I will quote (with slight edits to add more information) from a message I posted some time ago where I violated this non-rule to show my disdain for this ridiculous caution which is so widespread at Caltech.</p>
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There are some stereotypical things that houses have tended to be/do. Obviously some of these things are value judgments, you're smart enough to figure out what is what. Fleming (of which I was a not very typical member) is kind of the "jock" house -- lots of sports, activities, fairly boisterous dinners, not so intellectual, lots of poker. Page is similar, perhaps even a little closer to a traditional frat, but a friend tells me that the upperclassmen are actually very supportive of people studying and doing well in school.</p>
<p>Blacker does very typical "supernerd" things, like playing elaborate roleplaying board games (Dungeons and Dragons, etc.). They also like to build things like impressive parties and blow things up. Their dinners are my favorite at Caltech -- very close-knit and friendly. Ruddock is somewhat similar in the sense of building, though its personality seems a little more mild to me.</p>
<p>Dabney is the "hippie" house -- tie-dye, barefoot, long hair, laid back. They hug people and many people in the house seem to dislike shoes.</p>
<p>Ricketts comes off as scary to most people -- shouting, weird symbols, generally less friendly from the outside. But inside it's close-knit and many of the people in it seem to really like it.</p>
<p>Lloyd is a little hard to characterize -- they're probably the most "normal" house in some sense and do not do very many "supernerd" things. I thought it was a pretty inward-looking house, but in general I don't know much about Lloyd and so you have to ask someone else.</p>
<p>Avery is the newest house and for that reason has a less established personality. They put a big emphasis on not having any loud or unpleasant rituals and generally letting people be themselves a little more. People seem quite friendly to each other, but maybe it's not so coherent as other houses just by virtue of not having been around very long. Defenders of Avery call it peaceful and accepting, whereas its detractors call it plain and unexciting.
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<p>This intentionally provocative thing provoked some informative and intelligent discussion. See the thread here: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-institute-technology/314867-caltech-house-system.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-institute-technology/314867-caltech-house-system.html</a></p>
<p>The housing system sucks...... I'm not particularly happy with the Hovse (hint) I got into (I ranked it 5th), and whenever I walk to another Hou/vse to meet with some of my frosh friends, there are actually people who say.... "Hey! You're a [insert name for person in my house]! Why are you over here?" In other words, unless you have a really dominating personality, you'll feel uncomfortable in any other house (I consider myself to be very friendly but not especially talkative). In addition to that, it's amazing to see how few friendships there are across House lines. As a result, it is extremely hard to change House memberships. So pretty much, if you don't like the house in which you're Rotated into, you'll be unhappy for the rest of your Caltech career. I already feel bitter about my Housing situation, and I definitely am not doing as well as I should in my classes as a result.</p>
<p>That's my post from the thread Ben linked (I wrote about Lloyd)</p>
<p>I spend a good chunk of my evenings in a house other than my own, not because I don't like my house, but I like being at the other house to do work.</p>
<p>I'd like to believe rspa100 is simply an isolated incident, most people got their 3rd choice or better, I had heard.</p>
<p>I also realized I should point out that the alternatives at most colleges (at least the ones I was considering), I would have been lucky to my neighbors in my hall and that would be it. Those situations are much more conducive to just sitting in your room and working with your door closed than here... (Although, if you really want to be a loner in your room, you presumably could.)</p>
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<p>That's a fool-proof method for determining the losers in that particular House. I've definitely seen this happen, but even two plus years later, I can't get over how juvenile and petty it is. </p>
<p>Don't worry about it. It's like the seventh graders making fun of the guy in their year who spends time with girls. It's a combination of immaturity and jealousy, nothing more.</p>