<p>"I really hate it when guys say that any girl who wants can get a date."</p>
<p>That's true, not <em>any</em>--nothing is an absolute--but a much higher percentage than the guys. It's simply numbers.</p>
<p>Dating here happens, and I'd say in considerably better quantity and quality than high school (though that's obviously my opinion). I wouldn't disconsider (yay madeupword) Caltech based on the Ratio (whether you're a boy or a girl); it's not like a constant oppressive atmosphere; it's more like you look up from whatever you're doing and notice that in a room of 7 people there's only one girl. But this shouldn't disturb you (and doesn't disturb most people here).</p>
<p>But like any place (and I'd even argue more so here at Caltech), life is what you make of it. There may be tendancies that push you one way or another, but you totally have self determination.</p>
<p>And if you really want a date, consider that a good number of boys have unending crushes on WoW, and the internet connection here is /very/ reliable; dating wise the ratio doesn't seem nearly as 70:30 as I've heard the number stated (feel free to correct me on that)</p>
<p>That's socially. You have to be a lot smarter than I am to have self-determination academically;) (don't worry though, I'm not that smart really)</p>
<p>My two cents,
Alex</p>
<p>"Dating here happens, and I'd say in considerably better quantity and quality than high school"</p>
<p>That definitely wasn't the case for me! But then, my main "group" in high school was the marching band, which was about 60% female, so I suppose I just had it easy back then.</p>
<p>I'd say dating here happens with decreased quantity but increased quality as compared to high school. At least that's what I've seen. It's also notable when a Tech relationship turns into a marriage. Right off the bat I can think of two or three I knew of from the past year... it's not common, but there are probably more, and they more or less show that people here can be very committed to making relationships work.</p>
<p>As pointed out in some form or another, there are tons of guys here who simply aren't interested in relationships. I guess that balances the effect of the "r" word a little. And if the Tech environment suits you better than your average high school environment, well... you might just do better here.</p>
<p>I went to the wedding of my friend, who just got her PhD from Caltech, and her boyfriend who she met there (also a PhD student) in April.</p>