<p>I just got into Caltech this morning. As happy as I am about that, I'm concerned about whether I'd actually be happy or not there. I've heard how Caltech definitely does not suit everybody, and some have gone as far as saying only a very small group of personalities will be really happy here. I'm assuming it's not near as bad as the latter comment, but I do believe it doesn't suit everyone. I'm basically wondering what type of personality does tend to enjoy and love being at Caltech, and which type would be better of elsewhere?</p>
<p>Come to prefrosh weekend!</p>
<p>I'm considering it, but Caltech is pretty much diametrically opposite of where I live, so I might not go just cause of the enormous travel..</p>
<p>Assuming I don't go, any way I can get a glimpse into what makes a happy Caltech student?</p>
<p>Does Caltech give any money to help pay for travel expenses for attending prefrosh weekend, or do you have to pay it all yourself? I imagine plane tickets to California are pretty expensive only a month in advance.</p>
<p>If you have financial issues that prevent you from coming (which usually means you'll also be on financial aid while you're here), you might be able to get them to pay for your ticket. Otherwise, no, you'll need to pay for it yourself. The tickets won't get too expensive until about 2 weeks before.</p>
<p>Can someone answer to the OP's original question?
How are Caltech students like? Generally, what type of person should one be to be very happy at Caltech?</p>
<p>You'll be happy at Caltech if one of your biggest interests is learning science. A lot of time is spent on sets so unless you actually find the stuff interesting, it can be pretty painful.</p>
<p>The Caltech personality?</p>
<p>I'll tell you about "Caltech personalities" that I know.</p>
<p>In my house, there's a new frosh who loves building. He's planning on majoring in Mechanical Engineering, and he's spent essentially every day since November working on construction for a variety of parties.</p>
<p>Another Mechanical Engineer frosh in my house discovered last term that multimeter probes (pointy metal things) make wonderful (and deadly) blow-darts from the proper sized PVC pipe.</p>
<p>Skip a few grades, and you'll find a junior Bio major I know who loves cats and anime. Those are her defining characteristics.</p>
<p>There's a senior who runs. He's also a physics major, but he loves running. There's an event at Caltech each year called KELROF (Kellogg's Eighth Light Regiment of Foot), which is a 24-hour relay race--each person on a team (up to ten people) running a mile in turn, and then continuing in that rotation for 24 hours--that he ran in, in a team of one person. He ran something like 80 miles before he had to stop.</p>
<p>When I was a frosh, I knew a then-junior who loved politics. I can remember many a conversation we had about what this or that world leader did.</p>
<p>There's another girl I know who loves coffee and shoes. Between home and Caltech, she has about 100 pairs of shoes (I asked her about it once), and she goes through more than that many cups of coffee in a month. By the way, she blows things up for research (and fun).</p>
<p>One of my math major friends recently discovered a passion for Shakespeare. Since that point during his freshman year, he's acted in three (maybe four?) plays with the Caltech theatre group.</p>
<p>I'm a junior-year physics major, and I'm addicted to table tennis. Really. I play something like 8 hours a week, minimum. It's a fantastic sport. I'm also the head of the student government. </p>
<p>All in all, what's the Caltech personality, you ask? There's only one aspect of personality that everyone at Caltech has in common. Somewhere down the line, we all love science. Beyond that, you'll find as many personalities as you can think of. As long as there's something about science, engineering, math, or any such related field that you love, something that's just fascinating to you, then you'll do fine at Caltech, and you won't have a problem fitting in. Don't worry about being too much of a jock, a drama-head, too shy, too outspoken, too nerdy, not nerdy enough, etc. As long as you love science, you'll fit in and do fine.</p>
<p>The head of the student government is named "Chris Gonzales".</p>
<p>(cf. <a href="http://donut.caltech.edu/about/officers.php%5B/url%5D">http://donut.caltech.edu/about/officers.php</a>)</p>
<p>Otherwise, good post.</p>
<p>I think he means IHC Chair :P</p>
<p>Dude, I play table tennis man.</p>
<p>This is great. I was getting a little iffy on Caltech since I wasn't sure if I would be able to do a lot of things I'm interested there, especially since schools like Princeton are so big they offer everything, but this is great that there's more people that play table tennis.</p>
<p>I'm around an 1800 level. I was seriously hoping to improve my game to around a 2200 level, since I'm hoping to go to China in time for 2008 summer games, and hopefully get to play with some of the Chinese pros which would be awesome during Olympic season.</p>
<p>Table tennis is the only sport (besides speedcubing :D) that we're damn good at. Our women's team is ranked 8th in the country and we have the top ranked female player in all of Southern California. And Tech's coach, Wei Wang, in an Olympic Silver Medalist!</p>
<p>Actually, our Karate group is pretty awesome as well.</p>
<p>EDIT:</p>
<p>So, there are a bunch of reasons not to come to Caltech, and if you don't fit those you may just love it here hehe. That being said, I really REALLY think it is important to visit. Ben Golub wrote up a bunch of his reasons but since I'm on cell phone internet in Key West I don't really want to look it up. </p>
<p>Recap: </p>
<p>Don't come here if you want college to be easy
Don't come here for the prestige
Don't come here for a high paying job straight out of college (not saying you won't get one, but you can get the same thing from another college for less money and effort)</p>
<p>Kamikazewave,</p>
<p>Good to hear you're into table tennis! We've got an active program and an amazing coach (Wei Wang, the same one that writes the monthly articles at the back of the USATT magazines). Like everywhere else, our best players are grad students and postdocs (of which we've got quite a few who are very talented). If you're coming for prefrosh weekend, send me an email (you can find me on facebook with my name), and I'd love to meet you and answer any questions you might have.</p>
<p>Wei Wang also played in the Olympics and was women's doubles national champion, yes?</p>
<p>Yep, right on Ben.</p>
<p>The Caltech personality: <a href="http://www.cripplingdepression.com%5B/url%5D">www.cripplingdepression.com</a></p>