<p>You’re assuming I wasn’t always this sad to begin with. If you’d like to meet me you are more than welcome to–I’m living on campus at Stanford for the next month and a half. I don’t really want to drive to Berkeley though, so if you drive down here I’ll buy you coffee. </p>
<p>Glad I can help your dreams come true.</p>
<p>I dont drink coffee…plus if your living at stanford, its not drive down here, it would be up here…considering someone of your stature having these grammatical errors during, what your senior year? glad your in math buddy</p>
<p>RRAAWWRR i’m a dinosaur.</p>
<p>just thought you ought to know.</p>
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<p>I’m pretty sure Stanford is south of Berkeley… hence “driving down”. </p>
<p>I’m not in math, I’m an Electrical Engineer???</p>
<p>Anyway, if coffee doesn’t work for you we could always do some other sort of beverage. There’s some great breweries around here, but I’m guessing you’re not 21. Mmm, there’s always boba. </p>
<p>I am for some reason getting the feeling that maybe you lied when you said that you “really do hope to meet me”. This is saddening. I think I will cry alone tonight instead of going out.</p>
<p>P.S. Quello’s still badass</p>
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<p>There’s no universal definition that decrees that north is up and south is down. Perhaps he’s from The southern Hemisphere. I’ve always liked the Pacific centric, south up maps. Good for encouraging viewing things differently.</p>
<p>Though the fact that he’s self righteously correcting you probably means that he’s unaware of the social convention of north as up. Or the location of Palo Alto.</p>
<p>@ Quello: Can I be a dinosaur too?</p>
<p>Wow once again the gay men surface…You guys blog, post and probably share notes together…is there anything you guys dont do? whoa that just evoked some pretty nasty thoughts.<br>
lordofnarf-get off his nuts and stop playing video games 
Yes north is up you ■■■■■■, thats why if i drive UP to Stanford, I wouldnt be driving down…Its common sense, which you guys lack…Just like if a girl doesnt like you, you pursue her while unknowingly she thinks your the most repulsive thing on this earth. Good luck at marriage. hopefully prop 8 comes thru</p>
<p>So are you not at Berkeley then? This is quite confusing for someone as obviously mentally challenged as I am. </p>
<p>Also, if I’m gay, why would I bother pursuing girls? Is there something wrong with being gay?</p>
<p>Please explain, I am waiting earnestly for your intellectual commentary.</p>
<p>I think the best way to describe Caltech would be with Admiral Ackbar. You’ll need to be one of the main characters in a movie to come out alive :D. Only thing is, everyone goes in thinking they have Force powers.</p>
<p>Calbear, do you have nasty thoughts when you think about lizzardfire, quel, and fizix together?</p>
<p>Guess caltech isnt bad after all.Wanting to come study in the U.S and financial aid is needed for me.How do i go about it?</p>
<p>[Caltech</a> Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://admissions.caltech.edu%5DCaltech”>http://admissions.caltech.edu)</p>
<p>Thanks for posting this. I’ve been wanting to go to Caltech for a couple years now and after reading this, I’m reminded of why. The only problem is I don’t think I’ll get in. Well wish me luck, letters should come in a couple weeks. ^_^</p>
<p>Lloyd!!! Yikes!!!</p>
<p>and PS, we have our president and deans cooking for us twice a term.</p>
<p>i know many, many kids who apply to both CalTech and MIT each year. After reading the OP I still, honestly, don’t see differences with MIT. BOTH schools stress collaborative learning, undergrad research, etc. Obviously, there’s the weather and location. Could you address class size (so much smaller than MIT) and the effect on social life? At MIT, there are 30 or more other schools in close proximity. Is it difficult for an underclassman to meet new kids of the opposite sex on a regular basis?</p>
<p>“opposite sex”? i thought that was just made up for awkward biology lectures.</p>
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<p>In all fairness, this post is not “Why Caltech is different than MIT”. There’s a good reason for that–Caltech is in many ways similar to MIT. I felt it more important to cover the much larger differences between Caltech and other schools such as Stanford, the Ivy League colleges, etc. </p>
<p>It’s hard for me to address class size and the effect on social life; that is, to me, a relatively complex topic that requires a good amount of experience. I have no experience with MIT’s social life. I gave a summary of what I think makes Caltech’s social life unique, and I suppose that could be compared with an MIT student’s thoughts on his/her school’s social life. </p>
<p>Based on my conversations with MIT alums, I get the impression that MIT is more competitive than Caltech. I also got this impression when I visited. This isn’t to say MIT is a competitive school in general, but it does seem that way in comparison to Caltech. </p>
<p>Finally, the male to female ratio here is almost 40%, it would be impossible not to meet girls on a regular basis.</p>
<p>My question derives from the comparison of class size. It appears the average class at CalTech is in the 100-160 range; at MIT it is 1100 with potential plans to increase a few percent. So there are 60-90 girls total in each CalTech class. Are there other nearby schools? On another topic, has there been any obvious impact on CalTech with respect to the state’s financial problems?</p>
<p>The average Caltech class is currently around 220. From looking through directory lists, there are currently ~950 undergrads total undergrads, and ~360 of them are girls.</p>
<p>Caltech hasn’t been directly affected by California’s financial problems because we are a private institution. However, our endowment (a major source of our funding) was hit hard and the school cut some non-academic positions and restructured some auxiliaries to save money. Our research grant funding seems to be relatively safe so far.</p>
<p>^^ Caltech wasn’t hit nearly as hard as most schools, though. </p>
<p>The closest four year university to caltech is probably Occidental, which is about fifteen minutes away by car. USC is about twenty minutes away and UCLA is about thirty (assuming no traffic, which is usually a poor assumption). </p>
<p>It is possible to visit other campuses (I’m dating a girl from UCLA) but a car is absolutely necessary and even then very few people here do it.</p>
<p>Man, how do you get to USC in 20 minutes? The only time I can get there that fast is around 3 AM when nobody else is on the road.</p>
<p>It might also be worthwhile mentioning that Pasadena Community College is right next door to us, and though it’s a CC, it’s a pretty good one (with a really nice campus, too).</p>
<p>hey guys,</p>
<p>I’m only a junior but we are supposed to start researching colleges eww. I’ve been reading a couple threads already, but everything is so conflicting-- it’s almost like some of the people posting go to totally different schools. I wanted to hear your guys’ take. And i wanted to know if you think I’m write for this school… and smart enough.</p>
<p>So first there seems to be a lot of disagreement on the house system. Some people say they’ve been practically assulted (I’m a girl so things like that worry me), but what they said didn’t always make sense. They said they hated the house system and said everyone was drunk all the time at their house. However I don’t know if they are just sensitive anti social people there strictly for academics.</p>
<p>Others say it’s awesome and great, but it just sounds so different from the other’s view. I’ve talked to a friend and they said the campus looks barren. It’s like everyone is always indoor studying. </p>
<p>On academics I’ve heard some variation but I’m gonna believe it’s very demanding. I have friends who just go to my state’s university and they are smart but struggling. College sounds hard to begin with and this is CALTECH. What are problem sets? Anyways my highschool is very lax so I’m afraid that im smart there, but I wont be anywhere near the smartness of caltech. My school is weird and I’ll have to take calc on my own. My PSAT was ok- I got a 98percentile but it wont be enough for national merit. What do you think? Should I even consider Caltech?</p>
<p>Wow this is long anyways, Ive heard alot about courses and the houses but what about sports? The dorms? Campus? The professors?</p>
<p>I’m looking for an academically challenging engineering shool, but I still want to have some fun, party a little, maybe play sports. What do you think?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>