r/Caltech

As the title suggests, I was admitted this year as a junior-year transfer (current sophomore) from a UC. I study applied physics here and that’d be what I would study at Caltech. I applied to transferred to get more challenge, and I guess I got it, because I am seriously questioning my ability to healthily survive Caltech.

At my school, I’m usually averaging between 95 and 100 on most physics courses here, in the upper-division level of all my courses and so on. I work moderately hard, but then again the courses aren’t that hard. Relative to my class, I am usually considered to be among a small handful of the highest performers in a strictly academic sense. Although I’ve said all these nice things about my abilities, I suffer from a number of mental health issues. I am not a very stable person, I have a nasty perfectionism streak and relentless anxiety about schoolwork, among many other things that I intuit are very not-good to have at Caltech.

My chief concern is that Caltech will break me before it breaks me of my old mentality. I have some other great options, the most promising of which being Stanford, but I’d hate to settle :p. On one hand, I would never otherwise find out what I’m truly capable of, and would always wonder what would’ve happened would I have chosen Caltech. I love physics research enough to be hoping to pursue a PhD, and I enjoyed my visit to Caltech. On the other hand, the downside risk is far worse at Caltech, because if I don’t cut it, things could become very bad very fast. I don’t want to transfer again, drop out, or god forbid have something worse happen, but all are possible in principle. It’s my impression that the institution has gotten better at not killing its students in the past few decades, but the stories I’ve heard about the impact this place has had on some who attended it keep me up at night.

None of you know me, so I can’t ask you to tell me exactly if I can or can’t do this, but I would really appreciate pertinent stories, experiences, counter examples and the like. There is so much more I can write and say on this, but I hope I was able to clearly articulate my concerns.

I was accepted to caltech this year and will start in the fall. I applied with a 4.0 GPA and all As in pretty rigorous classes. During the fall semester, I had competitions all over the place and was out of school for a while. Subsequently, I got 2 Bs, one in AP chem and the other in GT linear algebra. Caltech admissions sent me an email asking what happened and that they did not plan to rescind but wanted an explanation. I sent an explanation and they never responded. This semester, I was once again gone from school for 1.5 months due to out of town competitions and my vehicle racing teams travel schedule. I once again have a B in GT multivariable calc, and another B in ap compsci. Will I get rescinded?

I've always wanted to go into industry (Big Tech/Quant) more than research/academia, but I definitely made more of an emotional decision rather than a logical decision picking Caltech over CMU. I just really liked California weather and the general vibes of the Caltech campus over Pittsburgh's more gloomy weather and the more depressing vibe of its campus (this is just my personal opinion). I FELT (again, how would I actually know) like I would be more happy at Caltech, at least socially, than at CMU.

But now, just 2 days after committing, I've already started feeling just a tinge of regret every time I think about my decision. Especially now that I've started telling people where I've decided to go, I keep getting very shocked reactions from a lot of people questioning why I would give up the #1 CS school if I wanted to go into industry.

Idk I guess I was just hoping to get some validation from this sub on whether I made the right decision.

Hi everyone,

I'm a recently admitted CS student. After much consideration my choice essentially boiled down to two main universities: Kim Il Sung university and Caltech. Both are top universities in their countries, especially in CS, so prestige I think is more or less similar.

Here are a few factors to consider

• Weather is obviously better in California, although I do appreciate the seasons too.
• KISU is closer to home, also I'm getting the supreme leader scholarship for international students, at Caltech it will be 30k per year after financial aid
• Caltech is in English, KISU is in Korean, studying will be harder, but then I will have an extra language
• KISU has a bigger campus, more options to take classes outside of my major, while Caltech is a more individual approach, research opportunities are unparalleled
• I'm planning to go into industry and I've heard that in the US the job market has been pretty stale, while KISU guarantees a job after graduation (in fact it's required for 3 years as part of the scholarship)
• I visited KISU for the open house, I was planning to go to Discotech after that, but had problems with getting a visa. The other prospective students at KISU didn't talk much too me (they sort of turned a way when I tried to approach them), so it seems like socially Caltech would be a winner, but I hope someone can confirm this - we're the prospective students at Discotech friendly?

Those are the main factors if I haven't forgotten anything, would love to hear your thoughts and advice on this!

Admitted student here. I want to purchase a Caltech pennant. The ones sold by the official bookstore don't have the Caltech seal on them, only the word Caltech in white font. I found two websites: Link 1 Link 2 that sell pennants more akin to MIT's or Berkeley's and in my opinion, look better. I have 2 questions:

1. Does anyone have a pennant with a seal/any pennant that isn't just white text on orange, and if so, where did you buy it?
2. I feel these websites are slightly suspect. Anyone have any experiences with them?

I'll be visiting the campus in-person soon. If the bookstore sells other pennants not listed on their online website, I can buy them then if needed.

Hi!

I'm considering applying for grad school (to begin fall 2027) and, ambitiously, Caltech is one school I'm wanting to apply to.

Wherever I end up, support services and accessibility are both huge aspects that I'm taking into consideration. I have hearing loss (hard-of-hearing, late deaf, ASL user), and the very social nature of Caltech (from what I've read) is both assuring but also intimidating.

I made my way through undergrad alone, because communication with my peers was difficult. I'm wondering how I would get by at such an institution as this, where there's a huge emphasis on working with others.

I'm wondering if any students (past or present) in the sub have hearing loss, and if you could let me know about your experience at Caltech.

Thank you so much in advance!

Hey all!

Just curious (as per the title), do people admitted of the waitlist ever get admission packages (for undergrad ofc).

Would be nice  👉👈. The packages and merch look so nice.

So I am hoping to double major in Physics and CS.

I've gone to both admit weekend and discotech. I'm not super sure what I want to do, for a while I've been leaning toward doing research and academia, but I'm also curious to look at industry and maybe even start ups as well. Curious to hear your guys thoughts between the two schools. My biggest fear is that I regret my decision one way or the other.

Is there really much of a difference between grad school admissions from these schools?

Caltech Pros:

Great house system very personal

Lots of easy access to great research

Very well respected by people who know

Next to JPL

Will probably know my stuff better

More techy

Smarter people (no legacies and atheletes)

Strong quantum computing

Stronger physics program

Can still go to Stanford for grad school

Very cooperative and low competition

Cons:

People seem very stressed and a lot of burnout

More time on homework

Smaller (meet less new people)

Food is okay

Less layman prestige

Stanford Pros:

Classes are easier / Spend less time on homework

More time to do research and startup maybe

More of a social life and time to enjoy the college experience

More layman prestige

Close to silicon valley

Wider pool of people to maybe date

Farther from home

More professors in more subfields

Strong CS program

Strong Physics program

Relatives in the Bay Area

Lots of Indian really good food

Can got to Caltech for gradschool maybe

Cons:

Less well respected by people who know compared to Caltech

Less research opportunities (but hopefully still a lot of them)

More competitive

Pretty big financial point: Stanford is about $150k cheaper over the 4 years.