<p>I don’t think there was anything wrong with GracieLegend’s posts. After all, she’s right about the fact that I only interacted with a small number of students. But does this imply that I do not have any understanding of what students are like there in general? I think you can learn a great deal about a person’s nature simply by observing their behavior. I may have made incorrect assumptions about some people, but I think that I got a general feel for what the students at Caltech are like. Also, when I say that the small size is stifling, what I mean is that I want to be part of a larger community, where you don’t take classes with the same people every day, and you can have friends whose primary interests are not science/math. I also want to be in a place where I can have more anonymity. I come from a small town where everyone knows everyone, and I hate that.</p>
<p>About the ‘diversity’ of students at Caltech–
Obviously, every student at Caltech is primarily interested in science/math, otherwise they wouldn’t be there. So despite the fact that Techers have many different personalities, interests, etc. they are still all scientists. In that sense, the Caltech student body is not diverse. I think there are a lot of other ways that Caltech is not a diverse school, but you should go to PFW and see what students are like for yourself.</p>
<p>I certainly felt that I encountered poor teaching at Caltech. Why would I cite that as one of the reasons I left Caltech if I hadn’t? I cannot prove that the poor teaching was the result of the professors’ lack of interest; maybe the ones I had first term were in fact trying very hard but are just horrible lecturers. It doesn’t really matter to the students. In any case, you should remember that I only had a small number of professors, so any discrepancies between what I have said and what other students say might simply be due to the fact that the first-term core professors aren’t that great. Again, go to PFW and decide for yourself. </p>
<p>Just to make it perfectly clear-- I have nothing personal against Caltech or any of the students there. I simply made the wrong choice in deciding to go there. I could bash every single aspect of Caltech that annoyed me, but that would certainly unfairly bias people because most of you are probably not like me and have different preferences. Caltech is clearly the right school for some people, because there are many students who are happy there. Then again, who can say that they wouldn’t have been happier or more successful if they had gone somewhere else?</p>