Originally I had never imagined I would choose Caltech. I imagined Caltech to be a place that only nerds went to, and that it would be way too difficult for me. I didn’t think I would ever get in, so I almost didn’t even apply! After I was accepted, however, I realized that I had the wrong impression of Caltech. I thought that they only accepted super smart, but kind of anti-social math geniuses. The fact that they accepted a more well-rounded and not so strongly scienceoriented a student such as myself made me realize that Caltech actually does have a diverse student body. Their students are still interested in literature and politics and history and music etc. However, despite being interested in those things, they choose to major in science fields. I felt like I fit in well with those types of students. Even though I liked the humanities, I would never want to major in a humanity because you simply can’t find good jobs with humanity degrees in America. At a school like UChicago or Harvard, there are so many students majoring in really specific and really useless degrees like comparative literature. I didn’t really want to be around students like that.
Also, even at Ivy League schools, there is a huge party culture in American colleges. Many students go out drinking and partying and don’t focus on schoolwork at all. Even at MIT, that type of culture exists. However, Caltech is completely different because of its sheer difficulty. It doesn’t have that same type of party culture, everyone is focused on their major and their career. I really admire how focused and dedicated to learning Caltech students are.
which was really cool too!
Comparing directly with MIT, MIT is more of an industry/technology based school. There are lots of tech companies surrounding the MIT campus and most MIT students are concerned with IT or other computer majors, because they know those majors will land them a job right of college and they can make a lot of money. A lot of people go to MIT to be Economics majors and they make loads of money right out of college. MIT is more like the Silicon Valley of serious STEM schools in my opinion. They’re also generally better at engineering than Caltech. Caltech, on the other hand, is better at theoretical sciences rather than applied sciences like engineering. Almost 80% of all Caltech students do research during their time in college. A lot students at Caltech choose to go onto graduate school or do research after graduating as well. Since I want to study Astrophysics and that is a very theoretical field, I chose Caltech. MIT doesn’t even offer an Astrophysics major to undergraduates. On the other hand, MIT is amazing at Aerospace Engineering. Caltech does not offer an Aerospace Engineering major.
However, just because Caltech is better at theoretical sciences, doesn’t mean students don’t get jobs after graduating. Employers love Caltech students just because they know the students are coming from a difficult school, and they know they can handle the job. We have students with internships at NASA, JPL, SpaceX, Boeing, etc…we also have students who get Economics majors or even Physics majors and work on Wall Street! There are so many possibilities for you after you graduate from Caltech.
Comparing directly with UChicago, Harvard or another Ivy League school, the level of academics is much higher at Caltech or even MIT. Most Ivy League schools are filled with students who were only accepted because their parents donated huge amounts of money to the school. Those students usually aren’t concerned with academics, and are just there to party. I really didn’t want to be around those types of students. Also, the competition in schools like Harvard and MIT is fierce. Students in the same grade compete with each other to get the best grades in each class, and it’s very hard to get help from other students or professors. However, Caltech is very unique in that it promotes collaboration. You are expected to work together with other students. And since the curriculum is so difficult, and the student body is so small, you get a lot of help and guidance from professors when you need it. That’s the main reason why I ended up choosing Caltech.
I visited Caltech for the first time in January after I had been accepted. The campus is probably the nicest campus I have ever visited. (Rice University also has a beautiful campus. It was really hard saying no to Rice. They have a great astrophysics program and its a really small campus, but it isn’t quite as high level or challenging as the other schools and I wanted to be challenged a bit!)