<p>Look: Here’s the truth. From a cold-blooded, career-maximizing perspective, it rarely makes sense to go to Caltech (unless you’re as successful as Ben G). The work is hard, grades are low, and no school fully corrects for that. But the personal rewards – for the right kind of person – of meeting the Caltech challenge are many. I say this as someone with a mixed record during my years at “The Institute”.</p>
<p>I spend time on these forums because I value my Caltech experience highly and want to encourage the best students to go to Tech as well. As a professor who has seen many schools and many different students, I have to say that Caltech is really unique. And I am not happy with many of the trends in higher education today. Caltech bucks the trend towards softballing the academic experience and is proudly meritocratic. Part of that attitude is an atmosphere where there is a serious, non-zero risk of costly failure.</p>
<p>Some people will not go to Caltech because it’s either not their cup of tea, or because they only care about a low risk approach to professional school. Fine. They shouldn’t go. </p>
<p>But for the right boys and girls, it’s a really delightful trial by fire. And frankly, it’s one of the few places where you’ll be forced (underline “forced”) to grow up intellectually and confront what you really care about. Graduates will feel that they are arguably part of the tightest knit “Frat” in the world. Not everyone will have even heard of Tech, but those who know the secret “handshake” will smile when they meet their fellow survivors.</p>