<p>foo182, I can appreciate your enthusiasm for Caltech, and understanding that that humanities and media and business is not what we choose to focus on. Caltech is what it is, and isn’t afraid to be. However, you have an extremely naive view of those “12% who are idiots”. I know you’re a very smart guy, but as a prefrosh, you just don’t know what it’s like to actually be at and take classes at Caltech. You could even be one of “those 12%”, for reasons that aren’t even necessarily academic. Some people, who are doing just fine academically, still burn out. As a frosh, I have not been tested by fire quite yet, but until you go to school here, I would ask you to reserve judgment on those who are unhappy or are doing poorly here. They are my friends, and it saddens me to watch it happen. </p>
<p>P.S. I hope there’s lots of free, poorly guarded food at international orientation . . .</p>