<p>I know that if I go to Caltech, I'll miss out on some of the normally expected college life (frats/drinking), right? But do ppl ever mingle with surrounding colleges, etc.? Also, are there any attractive girls and whatnot? I wish I could go to the prefrosh thing, but I don't think I'll be able to.</p>
<p>Phrancness,
Keep in mind this is coming from a mom. But I don't think you will miss out by going to Caltech. The hovses are probably more like frats than traditional dorms. My son's hovse has a beer room - well stocked from what I've seen so my guess is that you won't miss out on drinking(though the mom in me wants to jump in and say watch it). And also from a mom, on my last visit, I noticed lots of pretty girls on campus. (Though my son does say he notices how few there are..but they are there and I didn't notice any unattractive girls). My sense is that my son works hard but he also plays hard. It is a different experience. My son was just in a play - it was really interesting to read the cast bios: about half caltech students. a few Caltech staff(profs?). a few JPL employees(engineers & scientist who still like to do theater). a local high school student or two. and students from Pasadena City College) so indeed there is some mingling with the larger community. All you need is airfare to come to prefrosh weekend so go tell your parents this is a very important decision and you need all the info you can get.</p>
<p>I have to brutally honest: here at Caltech, there isn't always such thing as a "weekend." Frosh on pass/fail and seniors wrapping up their undergrad careers have it better, but it is tough for many to find the time to go out and do something fun.</p>
<p>What people do for fun varies a lot. Many will sit in their rooms and play video games all day. Others will devote a huge chunk of time to building Interhouse parties and doing other house events. And yes, people do drink and do weird stuff, although I'm certainly not encouraging it. I'm not sure if the whole visiting other colleges thing happens, because I sure don't see it. But like I said, there aren't always weekends. This past term, I often had three things due on Monday, so go figure.</p>
<p>And yes, there are actually pretty girls around. I've been with one since the beginning of 2nd term frosh year. Just don't be a jerk around them, and don't come to Tech with expectations about this either.</p>
<p>My most important statement is this: don't come to Tech if having fun or doing the "normal college thing" is your highest priority, or you'll be supremely disappointed. If, on the other hand, doing math and science is a high priority for you, then you may have found the right place.</p>
<p>Good post. Caltech's social life is really great for the subset of people who really "click" with a particular house (e.g. those who really love to build have a great deal of fun with Ruddock's or Blacker's parties and the elaborate construction) because there just aren't that many places where you could find a group of people so committed to what you're also crazy about. </p>
<p>Caltech is also great for those people who find the academic perks (accessibility of professors, top level peers, challenging classes, high expectations, etc.) outweigh the personal minuses (lower probability of having a girlfriend, less free time, occasional social weirdness). Especially if those minuses are for some reason not an issue.</p>
<p>Let me expand a little.</p>
<p>To see whether you fit into the first category, visit. Go around lots of different houses and decide whether at any point you think "Gee, these are my people." If you click, it'll be pretty obvious, or at least often is.</p>
<p>If this is not the case, you may be in the second category. In that case, think about whether giving up a shot at the "very normal" college social life is worth the academic gain. Keep in mind that not every guy who goes to Stanford (or for that matter MIT) ends up having a thriving social life with lots of parties etc. No matter where you go, you have to pursue that if you want it, and at Caltech you'd have to try harder. But if you would have been the very studious guy at another school, then you lose relatively little by going to Caltech.</p>
<p>So those are my rambly thoughts on this in a nutshell.</p>
<p>I don't want to scare anyone off, but some students have classes from 7PM to 10PM on Saturday night. That cuts into the weekend a tad.</p>
<p>Thank you for your input.</p>
<p>Is there any public transportation. My sister goes to UCLA and I would like to visit her occasionally. Is that possible without a car?</p>
<p>And are the 7PM to 10PM Saturday classes self-inflicted? How much flexibility do students have in their schedules?</p>
<p>Thank you for your input.</p>
<p>Is there any public transportation. My sister goes to UCLA and I would like to visit her occasionally. Is that possible without a car?</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your responses. I will try to go to prefrosh weekend. As of now, I don't know what to do. Caltech is such a great opportunity, and is extremely difficult for me to pass up, but I always imagined that college would be some of the funnest years of my life. I guess I didn't think this thru before I applied. Oh well, I'll wait and see. If I get into any of my other top choices, UPenn and Yale (and maybe Columbia), I'll have to make a very difficult decision indeed.</p>
<p>You know, I actually had a lot of fun at Caltech. It was hard work but I made great friends and we had a lot of good times.</p>
<p>7-10 classes on saturday are not common. I would expect that such classes would be humanities or labs-- stuff that could be scheduled at other times as well... but I don't really know to be honest. The only ones I've heard of have been labs and hums, but I'm only a frosh ;-)</p>
<p>I think you would take the metro (rail system) to downtown, and then transfer to the mid wilshire line (purple??). From there you would take a bus. I suspect it would take a couple of hours.</p>
<p>During football season UCLA runs buses to Pasadena (UCLA uses the rosebowl for the football games) Your sister could come visit you quite easily.</p>
<p>The 7-10 Saturday class I heard of was a lab, but not self-inflicted. There are only so many lab sections, so someone has to end up in the 7-10 Saturday section. However, I heard that the time can occasionally be changed if the class votes to do so. I've heard of 7-10 classes on other nights which were humanities or PE.</p>
<p>Going to Caltech doesn't mean that you can't have college be the best n+1 years of your life. ;) So far, I've had the time of my life.</p>
<p>Cool, can you please elaborate, UndulyLlamarific?</p>
<p>The people I spend time with here are the most awesome, fun people I've ever met. The work isn't stressful (yet,) and it can be pretty fun if you go about in the right way and have the right attitude. :)</p>
<p>Thank you all for your input. School is important, but it is nice to know that we can still have fun.</p>
<p>You can look up the LA public transportation system at: <a href="http://www.mta.net/%5B/url%5D">http://www.mta.net/</a></p>
<p>The website isn't listing something using the metro, though I'm sure there must be something. However, if you put in pasadena city college as your starting point (which is only a 5-10 min walk from campus) it listed several different bus combinations (each required three different buses) to get you there. They all took about 2 hours total.</p>
<p>Is it easy to get up into the local mountains without a car? Buses? Bikes? Other people from Caltech with cars? Other people not from Caltech with cars? Do significant numbers of people from Caltech go hiking on a regular basis?</p>
<p>Supposedly there are some bike trails that aren't too far away so you can bike to them. There are some people who go hiking on a semi-regular basis who have cars, and you'll probably be able to find people who will go with you.</p>
<p>There are some really intense hikers and bikers here, so if you're into that kind of thing, you're not alone. My problem is that I'm in terrible shape and can't handle any of the trips that these people go on. :D It's not particularly hard to find someone with a car who will drive you in your House. Just amongst the frosh, probably around 5-10% have cars. This rate gets much higher as you go up classes.</p>