<p>So what else -- other than work on problem sets, do research, or plain old study -- do Caltech students REALLY do? When I visited Caltech I made sure to speak with Pasadena store owners, restaurant workers, etc. and I asked them what Caltech students were like. The response: "errr, we hardly ever see them," "they're sorta older." Now this made me feel a little worried. Are Caltech students simply captives of the mantra "work, work and more work?" Even some of the students featured on their admissions website indicate that there really wasn't/isn't much time to go out beyond the confines of Caltech's campus. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind hard work, but I also like to do other stuff (at least, say, go out twice a week -- not much to ask, huh?).<br>
I'd like to hear from some Caltechies what their lives are really like. Please indicate your major, too, so I can factor that in. Me? I'm interested in both Math and Biological Sciences haven't quite made up my mind about a major yet. Oh, and I'm no genius like Rhodie Joe, and I don't think I'm anywhere nearly as smooth as the Golubmeister, so yeah, factor that in too, please. Thanks.</p>
<p>Hey, I'm definitely no genius. I was honestly pretty darn average at Caltech, particularly if you're talking about math or science stuff (which is, after all, the point of the school.)</p>
<p>I think the fact that Pasadena store owners don't have much impression of Caltech students is primarily due to the size of the school. Pasadena is actually a rather large city, and Caltech only has 2000 or so students, more than half of whom are grad students who really ARE in the lab all the time. There are a few places where Caltech students do go quite often where you could ask and they'd probably have a more distinct impression of Caltech undergrads--Tommy's, Baja Fresh (this one's popular with David Politzer too. I used to always say hi when I'd see him there. I suppose everyone does that now since the Nobel...), In-N-Out, maybe Jack in the Balpha (hmm, I wonder why all of these are food?? I guess we like to eat)--but in general Pasadena simply isn't a "college town" in terms of either population or culture. It's not like going into Ann Arbor and asking what they think of UMich students.</p>
<p>I think you'll find that Caltech students really do get off campus--houses take ski trips and beach trips, I used to go to the opera about once a term at least, people go to Coachella, if you're into hiking and camping there are lots of opportunities for that, the Huntington is very popular to visit, and so on. </p>
<p>However, none of that stuff is right next to campus (with the exception of the Huntington, sort of). It's true that it's pretty easy to go quite awhile without leaving campus if you choose to live your life that way--I had a term or two like that--but honestly, in my experience at least, that has a lot more to do with the fact that there is fun stuff going on right on campus. Beckman gets good performers coming in periodically with $5 student tickets (unless that's gotten more expensive since I was there, but the principle holds), there are ASCIT events and house parties, many students are involved in music or athletic stuff, and if you're a senior, well, Ditch Day will be your life for at least a term.</p>
<p>I was an Aeronautics and History major, if that matters.</p>
<p>Thanks Joe -- what you wrote is a bit reassuring. I'm vacillating between Caltech and MIT for my first choice. If you have time, would you mind telling me what the dorm/hall of residence rooms are like at Caltech? I know this will sound lame, but the idea of sharing a room with someone I've never met is far from appealing -- I mean, I have a hard enough time sharing a whole house with my family! So, after the academic program, the quality of the day-to-day living environment factors pretty high in my list of "desirables."
Also, what college are you at in Oxford? If you're there right now, it must be a bit tough going with all the heat and no a/c.</p>
<p>I was in Lloyd House at Caltech; I'm in Keble College at Oxford. You're right, England's institutional aversion to A/C is a little annoying. It's been extremely sticky this past week. It happens to be quite nice just now, though, because it's been raining for a couple of hours, so a nice cool breeze is coming in through the windows.</p>
<p>My impression is that single rooms house a greater percentage of the Caltech student body than the MIT student body, but I don't really know. There are no single rooms for freshmen in the North Houses (Lloyd, Page, and Ruddock) but there are in the South Houses (Blacker, Fleming, Ricketts, Dabney). That said, I think choosing a house based on whether or not you might get a single room is a poor way to do it, but... that's a different subject.</p>
<p>In any case, I really liked the system they have at Caltech for pairing up roommates. Basically, you do it yourself. I'm sure you've heard about Rotation and the process of choosing a house, during which you have a temporary rooming assignment--after that week, at least in my house (Lloyd) you got to choose your own room (drawing cards to determine the picking order) and your own roommate. I thought that the opportunity to choose my own roommate after having the chance to get to know my new classmates for awhile (more than two weeks, by that point) like that was a great thing, and it really wouldn't have been possible at most schools. It worked out well for me and I ended up having the same roommate for next year as well.</p>
<p>I actually have a little article I wrote about the Caltech-vs.-MIT choice, which also confronted me a few years back. If you're interested, you can read it at: <a href="http://www.prepme.com/advice/mit-or-caltech.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.prepme.com/advice/mit-or-caltech.htm</a></p>
<p>However, what I always tell people is that the single most important thing you need to do to choose where you want to go is visit. Caltech and MIT are similar in many ways and different in others, but you don't really get the full picture until you've been both places in person.</p>
<p>Joe -- thanks so much again. I read your article (good one) and it did help me to tease apart some more factors in making my decision. (Although, come to think of it, I realize that decision might be made for me in December or April.) Also, your detailed description of the housing process was somewhat reassuring. </p>
<p>Keble -- that multi-colored redbrick thingie by the Parks! Do you think it looks as unattractive as other people do? And, btw, did the thunderstorm last night wake you up too?</p>
<p>I'll second Joe- you really have to visit each. I was in your position a year or so ago, and ultimately chose Caltech. While academically the schools may be similar, there is a world of difference between the two schools beyond there- it'd be hard to sum up in a forum post. If at all possible, visit both schools, and get a feel for it. There's more to choosing a college than splitting hairs about academics between Caltech and MIT.</p>
<p>Thanks for the article, Joe! I wish I'd read it when my son was deciding between Caltech & MIT. For him, there was only one choice - he kept trying to come up with a reason to go to MIT..I was the one who worried so much "is it the right decision"..</p>
<p>Doing a summer program, ronjon? This city absolutely crawls with American high school students in the summer.</p>
<p>Keble is the red-brick college, yes. I actually think it's pretty attractive--when it was built people hated it, but 135 years will do a lot to make a building grow on a city, especially given that a few of the newer colleges are just big concrete blocks. Keble is also pretty nice in that they let grad students live "within walls," which most colleges don't do.</p>
<p>There's nothing to do in Pasadena apart from the movie theaters (the best one is the</a> Rialto), so I'm not surprised that you didn't get much feedback from store owners. Additionally, Pasadena seems to shut down at 10 PM and a good percentage of students are nocturnal.</p>
<p>During the day, you can get to LA or the beaches by train and move around inside LA by bus. Venice Beach has a variety of weird shops and entertaining crazy people as well as, you know, the ocean. Santa</a> Monica Pier has various restaurants and events, as well as an arcade, but I think the best part of it is the beachside playground. In LA, there's Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Melrose (part of Melrose can best be described as "a goth shopping district"), and every year, E3, which Caltech's gamer club can get you into.</p>
<p>LA public transport is not really an option at night, but if you have a car, the options really open up. Perversion[/url</a>] is an awesome goth club, and every so often, there's [url=<a href="http://www.wumpskate.com/main.php%5DWumpskate%5B/url">http://www.wumpskate.com/main.php]Wumpskate[/url</a>], which is an even awesomer goth roller disco. LA is where the nocturnal students with cars go to eat. I've gone with big groups of Techers to [url=<a href="http://www.cantersdeli.com/%5DCanter's%5B/url">http://www.cantersdeli.com/]Canter's[/url</a>], [url=<a href="http://www.fred62.com/%5DFred">http://www.fred62.com/]Fred</a> 62, Nova</a> Express, Mel's[/url</a>], and [url=<a href="http://www.roadtripamerica.com/eats/pantry.htm%5DThe">http://www.roadtripamerica.com/eats/pantry.htm]The</a> Pantry, where even the water is probably not vegetarian. It being LA, there are also concerts and whatnot. Most recently, I've seen Assemblage 23 at a place I forget the name of and Apocalyptica at LA's instance of House</a> of Blues. My girlfriend went to an Avenged Sevenfold show the other day at Universal</a> CityWalk, which is also worth at least one visit. Finally, there's the annual Yuri's</a> Night, which in LA is heavily associated with Caltech and JPL. Half ravers, half planetary scientists, good times.</p>
<p>Now for the campus-related stuff. I've been to beach barbeques and overnight trips to the Mojave Desert with my Houses. I'd say each House does at least one major event a month, on or off campus, although the definition of event will vary depending on House personality between "come get pizza or waffles from the lounge and go back to your room to study" to "campuswide drag show during Parent's Weekend". And of course there are the Interhouse parties. Of course, social events change, but if you want to get an idea of what's happened in the past, I recommend visiting the House websites and looking at the photo albums. The student government does run some things, but honestly, ASCIT events are usually lame compared to House events. I guess if you really, really liked your high school prom, you might enjoy the ASCIT Formal. They do organize screenings of new movies with free tickets for undergrads, and there's occasionally Midnight Donuts. Also, Prefrosh Weekend very much counts as an event. If you've been to one, you should know that most Techers do spend more time working than that.</p>
<p>I make time to go to the three or four best Interhouse parties, head off campus for a movie or to the beach about every other weekend, and find myself at a 24-hour diner once or twice a week, usually when I'm up late working on a set. Some weekends, I just hang around in the lounge or someone's room, watching movies or playing video games. Last term was somewhat sub-par socially because I had sets due on Friday at noon, which sucked because there's a House event that takes place on Thursday nights that I hate to miss. The days you have free will depend on when your sets are due. IIRC some Core courses issue sets that are due on Monday, which can screw up your weekend but make Tuesday available. So your social calendar can be as full as you want it to be. Work will determine when it happens, rather than if it happens.</p>
<p>You really end up with the social life you want here (with the possible exception of dating). I've never met a person who complained that they wanted to get off campus more and then never did anything about it. Also, I hate going into LA (because of the traffic and parking -- I'm always the one who has to drive), so most of the events I tend to go to are around Pasadena.</p>
<p>I'm a CS major, but most of my friends are Bio, so you can count booth of this towards the two groups. Our house has some kind of social activity every weekend. It might be as low key as midterm movie night or as large as our annual beach and ski trips. My friends and I would go to about 3/4 of our house social events and about half of the interhouse parties (there are 8 total). In addition, when we were living on campus, we usually went out to dinner once a week. Whenever it was someone's birthday we'd throw a mini-party (dinner out, then cake and presents back at the house). I love to go to movies, and tend to go at least once a weekend, sometimes twice, and I get friends to join me about half the time. Since I turned 21, we've started going to bars every once in a while as well -- Lucky's, Barney's, and Moose's are the one's we frequent the most.</p>
<p>So, overall, weekends where I didn't have any plans were rare, and often coincided with midterms or finals.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all the info. Steelpangolin and alleya -- your posts have convinced me that there is a life after admission/entry to Caltech!
And Rhodie Joe -- yep, you've sussed me out. Here I was, looking forward to a quiet month in Oxford, and instead I feel, at times, as though I'm Italy, Japan, or some twinkie college campus back home. It's almost embarrassing... well, perhaps it just IS embarrassing to be here (for someone in a summer program, not for you, of course). Makes one feel like a poseur or voyeur. Not quite my cup of tea. Still, it is a change, and MY college is, without doubt, exceptionally beautiful.
Once again, thanks to everyone for their input, the only negative is that you've made my decision between MIT and Caltech all the more difficult.</p>
<p>ugh -- I just read through my post again and saw all the horrible grammar, tense switches, and typos. Unfortunately it's too late to edit. Sorry about that!</p>
<p>If we're talking bars, alleya, what's the name of that English pub in Pasadena? I always liked that one, they have pretty good cider.</p>
<p>Oh, alleya, I meant to ask you about one of your statements.... Are you saying that students at Caltech don't date? And if not, why not? I hope it's not a mere extension of that annoying high school trend of serial hook-ups, with limited or zero commitment or emotional susbtance. Please tell me Caltech men aren't as shallow as high school boys!</p>
<p>No, we're even shallower. Put an Xbox controller down your cleavage and you should be good to go with your boy of choice.</p>
<p>It was probably a reference to The Ratio. As someone interested in men, you'll have fewer (or at least, a somewhat different set of) problems than someone interested in women.</p>
<p>Caltech relationships among the people I knew at least, for those fortunate enough to have them, tended to be much more committed and substantive than the average relationship I've seen at other colleges. This is probably somewhat due to the small size, but I don't really know.</p>
<p>Steelpangolin -- you're hysterical. Thanks for the laugh. But, thank god there's an element of convention in you -- thankfully, you only suggested I create a lure using just ONE controller.
And Joe -- thanks for your "small size" theory. Interesting....</p>
<p>My comment about dating was acknowledging the fact that, while I think everyone would agree that you can be just as social as you want, many people would argue with the statement that you can date just as much as you want.</p>
<p>I really hate it when guys say that any girl who wants can get a date. (And no offense to Joe -- almost every guy I know here has said it at one point at another.) First off, it's not true, and secondly, it makes those of us who are single sound like either prudes or hags. Get ready -- this rant about the Caltech dating scene has been a long time coming (and yes, I am currently single, hence the bitterness, though I have dated here).</p>
<p>Joe is right that most relationships here tend to be very committed. There is very little casual dating, simply because it is such a small school to begin with, and the house system makes it even smaller. This is probably my only major complaint about the housing system. It encourages a small number of people (<100) to live, work, and socialize with mostly just each other for 4 years. By two years or so in, you've already got triangles, hidden jealousies, and people who no longer speak to each other. The Caltech social scene has basically evolved and eliminated casual dating to limit how much this occurs.</p>
<p>So, that leaves people with the choice of being in a serious relationship, dating off-campus casually, or not dating at all. The first is time consuming because when you live so close to the person you tend to spend almost every day with them and dangerous because if things don't work out, the relationship can follow you for the rest of your time at Caltech. The second requires lots of time to find someone in the first place, and a certain amount of social balls to put yourself out there away from Caltech. The point is that time is at a premium here, and just because someone doesn't want to invest the time in a serious or off-campus relationship, doesn't mean that they don't want to date. </p>
<p>Quick review: the dating scene sucks if you're not looking for something serious.</p>
<p>this thread is useless without pics...</p>
<p>Joe, you must be talking about Lucky Baldwin's on S Raymond. Still there. You would have enjoyed the World Cup there. How was it in Oxford?</p>