<li><p>Forgive me if this has already been discussed, but I was admitted to Caltech EA this year, and while I’ve heard that it’s an amazing place to learn theoretical science/math, I’ve also heard that the workload is so intense that there is practically no social life/free time. I’ve also been told that the academic burnout rate is really high for seniors. While it’s true that those who are disorganized or lazy probably whine the loudest, I’ve still gotten a troubling number of reports that Caltech on the whole just, well, isn’t happy.</p></li>
<li><p>I speak several languages, and I’d like to maintain them if at all possible. Are the language classes any good at Caltech? Are there a lot of polyglot students?</p></li>
<li><p>Pasadena. Do you like it? Yay, nay? Thoughts, please!</p></li>
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<li> In my experience good time management skills - i.e. being able to actually work when you're working, rather than "working", while talking, or browsing the internet, are the deciding factor in whether or not you have a lot of free time. I'm not great at this, but I think that if I worked very hard during the week, I could do literally nothing on the weekends and still do OK. There are a number of people who aren't able to do this, and aren't happy. There are also some who work very conscientiously and still struggle. I really like Caltech, and don't find the work overpowering but I do see some people struggling, and it sometimes is not a matter of work ethic. A lot of the problem sets are posted online on the Caltech website - I'd suggest looking at them.</li>
<li> My only experience is an intermediate Spanish class that I like alright, but would not rave about. The teacher's really nice, but somewhat disorganized. Most of the class time focuses on us talking to each other in spanish. I don't know much about the upper level languages courses. We have a number of people who grew up speaking other languages (a lot of Chinese). some people in my house occasionally talk to each other in French just for fun. You hear a lot of Spanish from the gardeners and cooks.</li>
<li> I'm strongly not a city person, so I haven't really explored much of Pasadena. I spend most of my weekends hiking or climbing in the mountains or desert.</li>
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<p>Axxiom, the advanced language classes here are pretty good, but there aren't a lot of options. Only three years of French and Spanish are offered, for example, but you could probably learn something from the lit/cinema/civ classes even if you've been studying for many years. Realistically, you will not have time to devote to language classes beyond the six or so that could fulfill advanced hum/wildcard HSS requirements. No majors or minors are offered in languages, and study/work abroad opportunities are limited (Danish/Japanese/?). However, there are a lot of foreign and bilingual students/staff that you could interact with.</p>
<p>Since you will probably have many good offers, some from schools with better language options, I wanted to offer this word of advice. When I was applying for college, I really wanted to double-major in romance languages, and that was my only hang-up about Caltech. I realized that science was more worthwhile to me and that spending so much time on a hobby would preclude me from doing well in my "real" work. I did take six French/Spanish classes, though, and really enjoyed them.</p>