Can we expect a letter from CalTech on PI Day?

qemp101 · 03-09-2005, 01:52 PM

I know MIT has a PI day for sending out their admission decision. How about CalTech?

SteelPangolin · 03-09-2005, 03:55 PM

The average Techer prefrosh seems to be determined to memorize all of pi (note: there is no all of pi) to impress upperclassmen at Prefrosh Weekend (note: we hate this). The average Techer might know pi to three digits, having pared down any math they knew in high school to the bare minimum to make room for more useful things like bleak despair and the Prez Thai menu. However, our admissions committee consists mostly of Ben Golub, and as a math major he most likely knows the value of pi as "three and a bit?" (note: if you don't believe me, ask any Techer how we settle restaurant bills), so you'll be lucky if you get your admissions letters this year, let alone on Pi Day.

In conclusion, I have no idea, so watch your mailbox. Will it be a thick letter? Will it be a thin letter? Will it be a plasma bomb? It's all part of the fun.

joemama · 03-09-2005, 06:21 PM

SteelPangolin: very funny stuff. thanks for sharing.

CWatson42 · 03-09-2005, 06:46 PM

So you're saying you'd rather we memorize phi, or perhaps e? A friend of mine and I had this great idea once that we should make a t-shirt with a bunch of random digits after those that a typical calculator would display and sell them as the first x number of digits of pi, or perhaps make a website as such, and then laugh at the people who tried to memorize it....fun stuff.

SteelPangolin · 03-09-2005, 08:21 PM

joemama: It's not so much funny as true. Except for one part, and I bet you can't tell me which part.

CWatson42: if you do that, and you can sell such a T-shirt to a prefrosh unaffiliated with yourself, and you get admitted to Caltech and decide to come here for some misguided reason, I will give you eight dollars.

CWatson42 · 03-09-2005, 10:47 PM

I was admitted EA, and am planning to attend, misguided though I may be... I would accept your challenge, but I'm not sure I could be so mean as to do such a thing to another prefrosh... That's no way to make friends, you know! (haha)

tanman · 03-09-2005, 11:36 PM

I doubt you'll get a Caltech decisions that soon, but it shouldn't be much longer. I was in Pasadena on Monday. When I went by the admissions office in the morning, the admissions committees were about to start working, and when I went back in the afternoon, I talked with the admissions director and he said they were towards the end of the admissions process, just working on a last few decisions and deciding on Axline scholarships.

joemama · 03-10-2005, 01:32 AM

What does CalTech send out these days. When my brother was accepted, it was a thin envelope with a smiley-face and the word "congratulations" stamped on the back flap.

amrik · 03-10-2005, 09:08 AM

I got a large manilla-brownish envelope with Caltech written on the top left corner. It was fedexed btw because I don't live in the US.