California Institute of Technology Visit Report by mikenthemaddog66

Visit Activities:

Information Session: Yes - I went to a summer days program. They packed 200 of us into a big lecture hall and talked about college admissions in general, not Caltech specifically. They stressed getting recs from Junior Year teachers.

Campus Tour: Yes - Tour guide was a stereotypical Asain. He showed up late, and seemed very unorganized. He stutter frequently and wasn't very professional.

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Campus:

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The people at Caltech have more important research to do than wooing prospective students.

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The staff seemed fine, holding doors, and giving us free doughnuts and water.

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Polor opposite of MIT. Whereas MIT is cold and concrete, Caltech is warm and natural. The campus is HUGE for such a small school. I'd say 10 times as large as Harvey Mudd. Vegatation and waterways very common. It's California.

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Yuk! You call this a dorm! It was a pigsty. I visited in the summer, I can't imagine the mess when there are actually students living in there. There was graffiti on the hallway walls.

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I didn't feel threatened at all.

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Definitly not what I expected. Very tropical. It was clear that this place was not going to be a good fit for me.

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Off-Campus:

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Some nice little shops. I don't think Techers get to utilise them often however.

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Very pretty, close enough to L.A. for a big city experience, but far enough away to aviod any of the problems of the city.

Campus Visit Notes for California Institute of Technology

Visit Description:

Caltech says they want people who are passionate about math and science. This is true, almost to a fault. Everyone seemed one side of the brain, there was no balance. I'm really into math, but I'm not I was up to the level of science that they expect.
In contrast to MIT and HMC, Caltech seemed like a place where it was less acceptable to have interest outside of math and science. Caltech is not a place where you go to have fun. It seemed more like a job to go to Caltech, than it seemed like going to college.
Everyone there is nerd^42. I didn't sense any nerd fun though.
There was a weird "pain inflicting" vibe I recieved, caused by the tension of the school itself. At house dinners, it a frequent occurance to dump a pitcher of water on people's heads. The idea of a good time at Caltech was not having parties or relationships, but work, work, and more work. It seemed thier only release was dropping large objects off buildings.
Another thing that is worth mentioning, the head admissions guy (who didn't seem to fit with the Caltech stereotype, because he used to be working at midwest schools, like UChicago) said, "At Caltech, an undergraduate education is [b]incidental[/b]." This is a research university. There are twice as many graduates as undergrads here, and 600 or so post-docs. This is the reason the campus is so large, there are all these buildings for upper-level research.
Caltech also did not seem to care that they were getting pranked by MIT or HMC, because they were too busy working. I asked do you guys ever go to baseball games, being so close to the L.A. area? They responed that I think we went to [b]ONE[/b] dodger game last year. Thats it? They are constantly working. Howard Roark is to architecture as Caltech students are to Science. There are no breaks at Caltech. If you are not sure you want a masochistic atmosphere void of any humanitees, (foreign language, economics, polysci) stay away from Caltech.

Dining/Restaurant Recommendations or Comments:

Ate at a bagel shop on campus. It had a New York City theme. The bagel and creme cheese was delicious.