<p>Hey, I’m definitely no genius. I was honestly pretty darn average at Caltech, particularly if you’re talking about math or science stuff (which is, after all, the point of the school.)</p>
<p>I think the fact that Pasadena store owners don’t have much impression of Caltech students is primarily due to the size of the school. Pasadena is actually a rather large city, and Caltech only has 2000 or so students, more than half of whom are grad students who really ARE in the lab all the time. There are a few places where Caltech students do go quite often where you could ask and they’d probably have a more distinct impression of Caltech undergrads–Tommy’s, Baja Fresh (this one’s popular with David Politzer too. I used to always say hi when I’d see him there. I suppose everyone does that now since the Nobel…), In-N-Out, maybe Jack in the Balpha (hmm, I wonder why all of these are food?? I guess we like to eat)–but in general Pasadena simply isn’t a “college town” in terms of either population or culture. It’s not like going into Ann Arbor and asking what they think of UMich students.</p>
<p>I think you’ll find that Caltech students really do get off campus–houses take ski trips and beach trips, I used to go to the opera about once a term at least, people go to Coachella, if you’re into hiking and camping there are lots of opportunities for that, the Huntington is very popular to visit, and so on. </p>
<p>However, none of that stuff is right next to campus (with the exception of the Huntington, sort of). It’s true that it’s pretty easy to go quite awhile without leaving campus if you choose to live your life that way–I had a term or two like that–but honestly, in my experience at least, that has a lot more to do with the fact that there is fun stuff going on right on campus. Beckman gets good performers coming in periodically with $5 student tickets (unless that’s gotten more expensive since I was there, but the principle holds), there are ASCIT events and house parties, many students are involved in music or athletic stuff, and if you’re a senior, well, Ditch Day will be your life for at least a term.</p>
<p>I was an Aeronautics and History major, if that matters.</p>