what are the things you like least about caltech?

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
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<p>I just read over my last post, and am a bit confused. What was so personal or sharp about it? </p>

<p>In the first paragraph, I noted that most 09' students simply didn't know who Serj is/was. This isn't even an opinion, (and certainly not a negative one) as myself and others have frankly never met Serj.</p>

<p>You can call this "sharp" or "personal" (although I don't believe it is), but it's merely the truth and nothing can change that; I never got a chance to meet this guy. </p>

<p>Heck, the few people that Serj personally knew even told me that he socialized with only a few of the freshman from within his House. I'm sure Serj would even admit this himself.</p>

<p>I'm not criticizing this choice either. Many students here choose to socialize with a small group of friends, and have met few of their fellow students. That's perfectly fine and understandable.</p>

<p>But the idea that 900 undergrads is necessarily limiting or uber-cramped isn't very valid coming from Serj, since he's only met a small handful of that number. (Which is the only reason I brought this up)</p>

<p>Like, no offense, but how can you claim that you've met EVERY SINGLE FRESHMEN AND THIS SUCKED when neither myself nor most of the freshman I talk to know your name, let alone met you, dude?</p>

<p>You have every right to criticize anything and everything that you disliked about Caltech which you came in contact with here. But you haven't come in contact with most of the students (in fact, neither have I), so don't rip on the small size.</p>

<p>As for the rest of my last post, it didn't even personally reference him once.</p>

<p>Most of Serj's post has some validity in each point, but (for me anyways) it's either not quite that bad, not that important, or not any different from another school.</p>

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<p>Should we start a 'What do you like most about Caltech?' thread? :)</p>

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<p>Very old data, but my bud felt that in higher level courses, courses that grads and undergrads might both take, that the grads cheated.</p>

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<p>LizzardFire--Opinions are not infallible and they should certainly be up for discussion to put them in the most useful light possible. If, for example (and I'm not saying this is or isn't true), Serj made an opinion about the student body based on a rather small sample and did not make this known, it won't benefit the people making this decision in the future to have the wrong idea about the student body. Don't see it as attacking Serj, but see it as putting his ideas up for discussion--is there anything so wrong with that?</p>

<p>P.S. Ben, you know I'm not going, so maybe you could put in a word to the committee to fill my spot with LizzardFire? :)</p>

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<p>Well, we plan on a certain number of people saying no ;-). </p>

<p>But it seems to me like lizzardfire is a perfect fit... as I wrote to him personally, I'd be glad to advise him (and anyone else) on how to maximize your chances for getting off the waitlist if Caltech is really your first choice.</p>

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<p>GuitarMan... can you tell why you are not going?</p>

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<p>GracieLegend -- everything you say is certainly valid. I was just commenting on the tone, I guess -- that evanescent, indefinite quality that is hard to pin down but influences how people react to what you say. If you say things with a certain degree of aggressiveness or whatnot people will think more about that and less about your ideas. (I do this too, a lot, so I'm not trying to be holier-than-thou.) Let's just not beat up on poor Serj T. too much.</p>

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<p>Ben: Excellent ;)</p>

<p>MIT: For reasons I believe I elucidated earlier in this thread. Although Ben may disagree with me, I feel that the small size of the school and the lack of focus on humanities just aren't what I'm looking for as an undergrad. I want to be able to take courses beyond what Caltech offers, I want to be somewhere where I'll be taking classes with people with diverse interests and passions. I am pretty confident I'll be going to grad school and getting a Ph.D. so I figure I'll be specializing enough in science and spending enough time with fellow science geeks anyway after I undergraduate (yes, I know that's not a real word), so these few years should be for getting a bit of a more diverse experience :)</p>

<p>Oh, and because Flier Deke is probably going ;)</p>

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<p>I've heard of people chasing a girl TO a school... :-P</p>

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<p>Chasing a girl to a school?? What is this madness? :p</p>

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<p>lol Guitar, one of our school's best and brightest is going to UF because her boyfriend is there... it made the rest of us cry on the inside :P</p>

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<p>Guitar, </p>

<p>Chasing a girl to a college will probably work out exactly as you might have fantasized....</p>

<p>in a movie or a tv show. </p>

<p>But, dude, this is real life. </p>

<p>J/K :)</p>

<p>Heck, I'm going to school for a guy and well, it hurts but it makes me happy. Pretty masochistic, yea?</p>

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<p>haha qx3, I think you missed something. I'm jokingly running away from a girl to a college, not really chasing one to a college! :p</p>

<p>In all seriousness, though...of course it can be really tough to make a decision that could take you away from someone you really care about, but in the end we're all smart people, we all know that these relationships rarely last for the full four years, especially in college where you're meeting so many new people with a newfound independence, and it's very, very easy to be left somewhere after a year or so where you aren't happy and you're no longer with that person whom you chased there. I wouldn't do that for anyone and wouldn't let anyone do that for me...it just isn't right. In the end you've gots to go where you're happiest.</p>

<p>Duh :p</p>

<p>P.S. I'm very sorry, I think thanks to me this thread is getting totally hijacked. Some people may notice how this happens with almost any thread I get involved in. I don't get it! :p</p>

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<p>I don't think there was anything wrong with GracieLegend's posts. After all, she's right about the fact that I only interacted with a small number of students. But does this imply that I do not have any understanding of what students are like there in general? I think you can learn a great deal about a person's nature simply by observing their behavior. I may have made incorrect assumptions about some people, but I think that I got a general feel for what the students at Caltech are like. Also, when I say that the small size is stifling, what I mean is that I want to be part of a larger community, where you don't take classes with the same people every day, and you can have friends whose primary interests are not science/math. I also want to be in a place where I can have more anonymity. I come from a small town where everyone knows everyone, and I hate that.</p>

<p>About the 'diversity' of students at Caltech--
Obviously, every student at Caltech is primarily interested in science/math, otherwise they wouldn't be there. So despite the fact that Techers have many different personalities, interests, etc. they are still all scientists. In that sense, the Caltech student body is not diverse. I think there are a lot of other ways that Caltech is not a diverse school, but you should go to PFW and see what students are like for yourself.</p>

<p>I certainly felt that I encountered poor teaching at Caltech. Why would I cite that as one of the reasons I left Caltech if I hadn't? I cannot prove that the poor teaching was the result of the professors' lack of interest; maybe the ones I had first term were in fact trying very hard but are just horrible lecturers. It doesn't really matter to the students. In any case, you should remember that I only had a small number of professors, so any discrepancies between what I have said and what other students say might simply be due to the fact that the first-term core professors aren't that great. Again, go to PFW and decide for yourself. </p>

<p>Just to make it perfectly clear-- I have nothing personal against Caltech or any of the students there. I simply made the wrong choice in deciding to go there. I could bash every single aspect of Caltech that annoyed me, but that would certainly unfairly bias people because most of you are probably not like me and have different preferences. Caltech is clearly the right school for some people, because there are many students who are happy there. Then again, who can say that they wouldn't have been happier or more successful if they had gone somewhere else?</p>

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<p>Out of curiosity, Serj, where did you end up after withdrawing from Caltech?</p>

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<p>Because I withdrew so early, I didn't have the credits necessary to transfer and many of the schools I was interested in only accept fall transfers anyway. I had initially planned to stick out the rest of the first year so that I could transfer in fall 2006, but at some point I just snapped and I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't see the point of spending another six months being unhappy and stressed. That happened about a week or two before the end of the term. Anyway, the result was that my only option was to re-apply as freshman. I decided to apply only to my state university (UConn) for two reasons: the application deadline was Feb. 1st and it is much more affordable for my family than other schools I was considering. So that's where I'm going in the fall. I don't know whether I'll try to transfer or not. Until then, I'm taking time off from school and trying some new things.</p>

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<p>Someone asked about the budget problems at Caltech earlier. I wish I had been more aware of that last year, so I think it may be helpful if someone more knowledgeable about the details than myself explained the situation. Ben probably knows way more about this than I do. I think the reason many people are suprised by the budget problems is that most of the millions of dollars that Caltech gets goes to research and things of that nature, not to making it a good institution of undergraduate education.</p>

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<p>Serj (and other Caltech students) - What kind of person do you think would be happy at Caltech? One of the things that I most like (from what I've seen) about Caltech is the small community. I don't think that I'd mind the almost 24/7 math and science either and I love a challenging course load. Of course this kind of sounds like you as a pre-frosh too based on your earlier post... </p>

<p>So, for prefroshies like myself who are trying to decide between Caltech and a school with a very different student body, how are we supposed to know if we'd actually be happy there? Visiting the campus doesn't seem to ever give an accurate picture of what life at Caltech is really like (people tell you that Caltech is the happiest place on Earth or that they regret ever going and are on their way to jump off the Millikan library roof right now and end their misery.) I don't really want to pay $45 grand/year to be miserable, especially when I have other good (but not as good) and much less expensive colleges to choose from.</p>

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<p>VonWeber: Visit a lot of different Houses either during Pre-Frosh Weekend or any other non-midterm/non-final time of the term. </p>

<p>It will give you a pretty decent idea of the lifestyle most students have, and whether you would be happy in such a situation.</p>

<p>Also, attend lectures and think about whether you would enjoy studying the material or not.</p>

<p>It's not a failsafe method for seeing if the school is perfect for you, but it should give you a good impression of what it's like. </p>

<p>And if you meet anyone that says they spend 24/7 on homework, they're probably exaggerating. If not, they're either a ChemE major or taking over 65 units, both paths you want to avoid. :)</p>

<p>And as an aside, why does everyone think I'm a girl? This is at least the fifth time I've been refered to as a "she"...</p>

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<p>

It probably has something to do with your name...</p>