<p>My bet is that six months from now, Caltech won't even cross your mind (and the same would have been true had you chosen Caltech - Olin wouldn't be given a second thought.)</p>
<p>^^From my own son's personal experience, I think you might be wrong. Students that have a really hard time deciding where to go to college probably have reasons for their ambivilence that are not superficial, or shallow. Just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>The OP has nothing to lose with a phone call. Its easier to start as freshman at Caltech than to transfer, given that Caltech requires exams. That said, I've met people who transferred from local CC and Occidental.</p>
<p>At some point, this can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. </p>
<p>Go to the school you've selected in the fall.</p>
<p>Enjoy this summer, don't keep spinning in circles.</p>
<p>See what your thoughts are after your first semester.</p>
<p>Augh. Could you please stop and smell the roses? You are clearly a top student with lots of blessings. Would you consider Olin for your undergrad (lovely, paid for) and then Caltech for your Masters/Phd?<br>
This is debutante pain. No matter how lovely the girl, she is CONVINCED she's picked the wrong dress and she really, really, really should have bought the pink one instead. Go. Be beautiful. Know you are very, very blessed. You are a belle at the ball and very, very fortunate. Quit agonizing and sip some of the sparkly bubbly stuff of life.</p>
<p>Alright Olymom, you have only been talking for 17 posts and you have already become one of my favorite posters. Well put.</p>
<p>You are engaging in a common logical fallacy. If I said "I'm going to give you
$1000 dollars", at first you would think, great! Then you would consider going
on a cool trip -- ooo, that feels good. Then you would consider buying
presents for your family, mmm, they'd like that. Then you would think about
buying a laptop....fun! After all that, you would be sad thinking about all
the choices you couldn't have, and feel deprived! In truth,
you only get to pick one of the many options. Don't worry, it's not just
you; even smart, mature, adults fall into this trap sometimes. (But it helps to
try to recognize it, otherwise this kind of thinking will keep making you miserable.)</p>
<p>Also, realize that no human is 100% happy at college. It's gratifying, and
you'll meet great people, but it is also hard work, and sometimes frustrating.
Don't get halfway through the year at either Olin or Caltech and think you
made the wrong decision because you are momentarily demoralized.</p>
<p>You're not going to get the best of everything, always. You just get a
life. Lucky you that the choices are good and not rotten.</p>
<p>Olymon, I would agree with you if engineering is the OP's only goal. Otherwise, Caltech differs importantly in that it is also a place for serious science or math students. Is is a place where you find students whose interests may range from biology to high energy physics. You just don't get that at Olin. In many ways, Olin is not in the same league.</p>
<p>Out of appx 150 graduates so far, Olin has 3 Fulbright scholarships, 4 Nat'l Sci Foundation research fellowship grantees, students doing grad work at CMU , Cornell Center for Applied Mathematics, MIT Technology Policy Program, Oxford (Atomic and Laser Physics Dept), Harvard Business School, UVA Law, Tufts School of Medicine, two participants in the US Antarctic Program, just a sampling. </p>
<p>Olin is a place where you'll find engineering students who have serious interests besides math and science, who spend time after graduation teaching ESL in Korea, chemistry to urban high schoolers, or in the Peace Corps. It is a in a different league than Cal Tech. Different leagues for different folks! :)</p>
<p>Am I the only person who read this and who thought "stop snivelling and go to Olin and be grateful you are getting a free education" for pete's sake? </p>
<p>Honestly, what is wrong with kids today? To go to college at all is a privilege; to get a shot at a place like Olin is an honor. Stop overthinking it. It will be fine; you will be fine. College is an incredible experience and colleges are more alike in terms of the big picture than they are different. You will learn, you will grow, you will have at least one terrible roommate, you will be stretched in ways you cannot now imagine.</p>
<p>Stop looking back and look forward; and embrace the wonderful opportunity that is being offered to you. THere are kids all over the world that would give anything to have the opportunity that you have. Something rings very false in your dithering about whether it is "good enough" for you.</p>
<p>"Am I the only person who read this and who thought "stop snivelling and go to Olin and be grateful you are getting a free education" for pete's sake?"</p>
<p>Pete, here. I feel the same way. Six months from now it might be worth discussing, but my bet is that there will be nothing to discuss. My tendency is to feel empathy for a relatively immature 17 or 18-year-old, and to try to understand the confusion; if I thought he was an adult, I'd suggest revoking his admission to both places and give them to folks who would really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Wow. I'm not that harsh. Anguish is anguish. I once spoke with a surgeon at a party who was bitterly disappointed that he couldn't break a seven minute pace in his marathons. He was so miserable -- he didn't even notice that he was talking to . . . a paraplegic (me).<br>
We can be anguished and still make some lemonade out of lemons -- or, in this case, we can reframe the thinking. This might be one of those times when it is well worth the airfare to go walk around the Olin campus one more time -- or the Caltech campus. That might do a lot to clear the air rather than sit at home stewing.<br>
It is anguish -- but it's not the worst anguish to have and that's an important piece to keep in mind too.</p>
<p>Olymom,
The history here is that the OP lives near Olin, and Caltech is across the country. His parents did not permit him to visit Caltech at any time, let alone Prefrosh week. </p>
<p>The OP can certainly get an engineering degree from Olin, and then consider his options for grad school. Next summer he can apply for a SURF at Caltech (paid research program) or at another college, and thus explore college campuses.</p>
<p>As a parent,it would be difficult to turn down a free ride at a wonderful local college, for another expensive school in CA. The money saved and compounded will offer many wonderful opportunities for the OP.</p>
<p>I think parents should be upfront about financial matters prior to the applicant applying. This would lead to less disappointment.</p>
<p>"Wow. I'm not that harsh."</p>
<p>Well, I'm not that harsh either; after all, he is 17 or 18. </p>
<p>Sometimes the best treatment for "anguish" is a good reality check.</p>
<p>Thanks mini! I'd be embarrassed, if at age 17 or 18, my kid had an attitude like that about an opportunity like Olin. In fact, my kid DID have a mild freak out about wanting a do-over once the deposit had been sent in but the angst wasn't about the college selected being perfect enough, it was about going so far away and missing her friends next year.</p>
<p>OP--some amount of anxiety is really normal and natural; leaving high school is more traumatic than many kids realize since college is so fraught now with the admissions process going on for years and with all of the "college is the best time of your life." I am confident though that if you had picked CalTech you'd be feeling anxiety about the road not taken.</p>
<p>Could everyone cut the OP some slack, please? I'm wondering if anyone here has lived with or had a serious relationship with an engineer or someone who wants to be an engineer? My dad was an engineer, so I grew up with the (over?) analytical-type thinker. My daughter wants to be an engineer and has that same trait. Her ex-bf said she needed to learn how to just "live" sometimes instead of analyzing every situation. Hey, that's just how she's made. I hope she will channel it into her work.</p>
<p>I agree with SportsMama. The OP has some legitimate doubts[ maybe not important in the minds of others, but important to him], and accusing him of whining or "debutante pain" is in my mind, spiteful and smacks of college envy on some posters part. If you haven't experienced how important FIT can be to a student in college, then you should read some past threads . Meanwhile, I suggest posters lighten up and move on.</p>
<p>Wow. Getting hot in here. As I said, anguish is anguish. It IS hard. In one of the wonderful Hillerman mysteries, he has the young hero, Navaho Tribal Policeman Jim Chee, go and seek the opinion of tribal elders. Alas, the elders bitterly disagree leaving our young hero more confused than ever. </p>
<p>What none of us ("elders") know is if a transfer at this point is even possible. Only Caltech admissions can say (past performance of transfers may not be a reliable answer for this year and this candidate). </p>
<p>What we DO know is that the blurb in the guidebook can be 100% correct and still leave out some important details. Please, please, please find a way to get thyself out to the Caltech campus for a visit before dropping a great quality, paid for path. It may seal your certainty or it may open your eyes to some aspects that have you gratefully packing your bags for Olin. Southern California is sunny and laid back -- it's also congested and polluted. All of that is true. You just can't figure "goodness of fit" from a web site or a brochure. Good luck. We are all rooting for you.</p>
<p>Why is anyone even considering talking about "fit" (other than sheets to fit the bed) on July 8th?</p>
<p>"Fit" can be (not always is, but can be) a reasonable topic of conversation in April.</p>
<p>Well, sometimes you think you have it figured out and then it turns out you don't. It's not just college choices. It can be jobs, houses and even marriages. I was once three weeks away from marrying what I thought was the man of my dreams. Turns out he was dreaming the night away in someone else's bed! I threw the wedding invitations in the trash and cried for three days straight. Ugh. There's nothing to do but keep breathing in and out until it gets better (Which it did. Met a prince of man two years later!). I'm convinced that our friend "Confused" will sort things out too -- just not on the traditional schedule.</p>