Caltech vs A&M Engineering vs UT

[1NJParent]

@simba9

Something I’ve heard multiple times from Caltech alumni is that you want to go there for graduate school, not undergrad.

That’s an erroneous impression/assumption some people have. Because of the extraordinary rigor in its undergraduate program (which, BTW, was even more so in earlier times), some Caltech alumni struggled and didn’t do well when they were there as undergrads. Caltech undergrads actually are treated better and enjoy more support than its graduate students, and arguably than students anywhere.

@TheTXDAD

We have visited all three, and frankly, we liked the small school environment at Caltech. We felt like the professor to student ratio would be great but now, thanks to tons of info to read on the internet, I’m wondering about the actual professor’s involvement there. I’m not sending him somewhere to be taught by a TA or grad student, for a professor too busy doing his own research to teach or closes his door during the day when he’s not in class. At this point, we’ve determined that there is no perfect school, we have no love affair with one, and no personal attachment to any. With Caltech, I’m really concerned with the lack of a major degree in Aerospace and only a minor in it being offered. By readings, they seem hyper focused on a BS and an academia type of education vs. a focus on applied engineering.

No TA or grad student teaches any course at Caltech. TAs are only in charge of recitation sessions. Caltech professors are among the easiest to get in touch with for research universities, as most classes are very small. Also, Caltech doesn’t offer an aerospace major because it believes that discipline is too specialized to be offered at the undergraduate level that can meet what is expected of a Caltech graduate. It thinks the student would be better off building a more solid foundation in underlying sciences and engineering, and then specialize later in a graduate program. When it has to choose, Caltech does have a bias toward foundational understandings over practical applications.