<p>By “social”, I meant not only the willingness and skills to interact, but also the diversity of interests.</p>
<p>By “access to other good local colleges”, I meant convenience to visit and attend events at other colleges. It is a much shorter travel from Caltech to USC and UCLA than from UChicago to Northwestern. Some Caltech students routinely party at USC/UCLA. At least, that’s how S1 communicated to me.</p>
<p>PCP,</p>
<p>I went to many basketball games at Caltech and also water polo. I was surprised how many girls from USC and UCLA would come. </p>
<p>Social life often centers on the Houses. Barbecues and movies are routine. Trips to beaches and hiking trails common. The big parties require planning, like building a full ship inside the courtyard of a house. When a scify movie came out, the school rented the theater and buses to take all the students. Many ECs and classes are “pizza” courses. If you want to start a club, easy to get permission and funding.</p>
<p>Its an acquired taste. Agree with Mathmom.</p>
<p>Good luck to your S1. I hope things work out. If it were me however, I would have taken the free ride. The economics of higher education have changed considerably in the past 30 years. Money should be a significant factor unless you have more than enough. To me an education is an investment to learn a set of skills that will prepare you for work or grad school. All the top schools teach the same material to undergrads when it comes to science and engineering. Grad school is really where the differences come to light.</p>
<p>Every family has to do their own analysis based on their own situation. We ended up with a choice based heavily on merit scholarship, but I can understand how a family would do otherwise… especially if the best-fit school had a strong reputation like CalTech.</p>
<p>Best wishes to the PaperChaserClan. Thanks for sharing your journey.</p>
<p>An update on the concerns of S1’s “core rigor fitness” at Caltech</p>
<p>As expressed by some on this thread, I had concerns about S1’s readiness to take on the rigor of the Caltech core, particularly in physics and proof-based math. Well, S1 took the assessment tests on calculus, physics and writing earlier this summer and the results came back. He is placed in the normal curriculum for physics and calculus - with vast majority of the incoming freshmen - with no need for remedial work. In particular, I’m happy to be relieved of my worries on physics. S1 not only passed the Caltech assessment test, but also received 5’s on both sections of the AP Physics C’s when there was really not much incentive for him to do well on them.</p>
<p>We’ll have to wait until November/December for the real classroom assessment.</p>
<p>Well, D1 did ungrad at Caltech, D2 about to enter undergrad at UChicago. This will be an interesting comparison. D1 took classes also at Occidental (english) and Art Center College of Design (drawing).</p>