Deciding on Caltech:
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.
