Favorite Study Spot: GTL 139
academics

Favorite Study Spot: GTL 139

Over my nearly three years at Caltech, I’ve explored a lot of different study spots. Besides the obvious places like the library or my House library, I’ve also studied in the fourth floor of Lauritsen, the third floor of Linde, the Morgan library in Kerckhoff, the Dabney library, and more. Each locale has its upsides and downsides; the noise level, the comfy-ness of the chairs, the proximity to snacks and coffee. Through all my explorations, I’ve finally determined my perfect study spot: GTL 139.

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What I've been up to since my last blog post
academics research

What I've been up to since my last blog post

A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the mountains are beautiful, and mysterious sounds echo between our walls while we don’t even pretend to sleep.

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Why is there an EE in my computer systems class?
academics

Why is there an EE in my computer systems class?

Note: I’ll hyperlink some of the concepts I think are cool in this article, but generally, the topics I mention from classes should not be too difficult to research with some googling. I definitely encourage you to learn about these things on your own if they look interesting to you!

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Caltech FAQ's with a Florida Man
culture local research academics

Caltech FAQ's with a Florida Man

1. What’s your favorite place to go to study or hang out at Caltech?

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My Schedule, A Few Weeks This Term
academics

My Schedule, A Few Weeks This Term

If I could give one piece of advice to all incoming freshmen at Caltech, I would say this: find an organization and time management system that works for you, and stick to it! Between classes, clubs, house events, and everything else that occupies my time, I barely ever remember where I’m supposed to be at each hour of the day, every day of the term; I rely heavily on my calendar to tell me where to go next, from wherever I currently am. So, I’d like to share my personal schedule from a few weeks of this term here on the Admissions Blog.

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Ge 1: A Journey Along the Eastern Sierras
academics

Ge 1: A Journey Along the Eastern Sierras

At Caltech it is a graduation requirement to take a “menu” class, courses which introduce you to areas of study outside of your major. This year, there were three courses offered in the third term: ESE 1, Ay 1, and Ge 1. I took Ge 1: Earth and Environment for two reasons. First, ever since the first term I have been interested in the idea of minoring in geology (I might major in it instead!) and the class piqued my interest. Second, the class has an awesome multi-day field trip. While I’m not usually a fan of the outdoors, preferring to stay inside and read books or watch anime, this trip was the highlight of my term. As we went up the 395 along the Eastern Sierra’s, the geological makeup of California was revealed before my eyes. So come on a journey across California with me through my Ge 1 field trip photo gallery.

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Film Club #1: A Tale of Two Schools
culture academics

Film Club #1: A Tale of Two Schools

I’m starting a new miniseries on the blog – Film Club! Each episode, I’ll share a short clip from a popular piece of media, and then completely dissect and overanalyze it, because let’s face it, I’m doing it in my head already anyway. You say “buzzkill.” I say “science.” We’ll kick things off with a clip from Gravity Falls I discussed a bit in my previous post: Season 2 Episode 12, A Tale of Two Stans. If somehow you haven’t watched this show yet (?!)… spoilers incoming!

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App season survival tips
culture academics

App season survival tips

It’s crazy to think that I began applying to college almost three years ago. I still remember spending hours looking at college websites, admissions blogs and reddit pages to try to get a sense of what college is ACTUALLY like. To help you get through these stressful times, here are a few tips that I wish I had listened to. Hopefully, these will ease your worries and maybe even make the process more enjoyable!?

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The DEFINITIVE Caltech Study Spots Ranking
academics

The DEFINITIVE Caltech Study Spots Ranking

The DEFINITIVE Caltech Study Spots Ranking

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Impostor Syndrome at Caltech
culture academics

Impostor Syndrome at Caltech

Studying at Caltech is a lot like crewing a spaceship. You get to work alongside some of the most talented people on Earth, you’re constantly doing science in order to survive, and the environment tends to keep you under a lot of pressure. It’s an incredible experience, and also a very challenging one, to be sure. Sometimes you’re left feeling like an impostor among your crewmates, having failed to complete every task you think is expected of you. But fear not! These feelings are not based in reality; they are merely symptoms of a benign condition known as impostor syndrome. Think you might be affected? This post is for you.

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academics

Switching Majors

Did you know that you don’t have to declare a major at Caltech until about halfway through the third quarter of your freshman year? That gives you an entire two-and-a-half quarters to decide what you really want to major in. That’s quite a bit of time if I do say so myself. In fact, enough time that somewhere between coming to Caltech and declaring my major, everything changed for me - I didn’t just change my major and my projected course selections, but what I wanted to do in my future. This is my story of going from an intended bioengineering major on the pre-med track to a Computer Science/Business, Economics, and Management double major looking to go to grad school.

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What does Lifting look like at Caltech?
academics

What does Lifting look like at Caltech?

What does Lifting look like at Caltech?

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My Trip to the Galapagos!
academics

My Trip to the Galapagos!

It’s been over three months since my trip to the Galapagos, and I am still thinking about it. For seven days, we all woke up at 5:30 am on the boat, ate breakfast together, and went out as the sun was rising on our morning hike to catch frigatebirds mating or iguanas spewing salt from their nostrils. Our days were spent snorkeling with turtles, sea lions, and schools of fish, and our nights were spent sitting on the bow of the ship, talking all together under the stars. It was truly a spring break I will never forget.

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My Experience with Caltech Humanities
academics

My Experience with Caltech Humanities

I can still recall the day college admissions results were released in the spring. In my own hubris, I was expecting a plethora of options from top schools around the country. I actually ended up with only two schools to choose from, Caltech and Columbia University, before Decision Day. “This is gonna be easy” I thought to myself. I was not thinking correctly. I was being a fool.

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research academics

Double Majoring at Caltech

Like many students, I came into Caltech with a vision in mind. I had planned to major in bioengineering, do research in a bioengineering lab, and then eventually apply for medical school during my senior year. While some people manage to follow their four-year plans, I definitely did not. Within three weeks of my first term, I had decided to completely change my initial plans, from bioengineering to chemistry. The chemistry research interested me more, but a not-so-insignificant part of this decision was a desire to do less math. Ma1a was intimidating, what can I say?

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Reflections: My Favorite Classes
academics

Reflections: My Favorite Classes

Four weeks before graduation! While I’m looking forward to the summer and all the fun it promises, I’m also reflecting on my undergraduate experience over the past few years. This is a blog about my favorite classes during my time here, some expected and others less so. As a Computer Science major, no CS classes actually make my final cut, but my top three favorite classes all fall into the realm of Neuroscience, my other primary academic interest.

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Humanities at Caltech
academics

Humanities at Caltech

I remember being a junior in HS and my APCS partner, Brooke, had just gotten accepted into Caltech. She was looking at the course catalog for humanities courses during class (instead of working on our project) and shaking her head at the offerings. When May rolled around, she told me part of the reason she didn’t choose to go to Caltech was how the humanities courses seemed to be “too scientific,” with classes that integrated history with quantum physics, etc. A year later, when I was in the same situation, I decided to matriculate to Caltech for its strong STEM offerings, but felt some anxiety about how my love of the humanities would be fed during my four years of undergraduate education.

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Interactions with Professors
academics

Interactions with Professors

One of the most well-known benefits of being a Caltech student is the infamous 3:1 student to faculty ratio, which implies a personalized, interactive undergraduate experience with world-class research scientists. It was a primary reason why I chose Caltech above other schools as a high school senior. Now as my time at Caltech comes to a close, I can reflect back on my interactions with different professors and consider if this 3:1 ratio really “lives up to the hype.” I believe the answer is yes.

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Favorite Courses at Caltech
academics

Favorite Courses at Caltech

Below I have listed my favorite classes after 8 terms of classes at Caltech in no particular order. I picked these based on my overall enjoyment of the course, which depended on my interest in the subject, the quality of course, and the various topics/projects covered.

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Pre-med at Caltech
academics

Pre-med at Caltech

Despite being a school known for its scholarship and prowess in research, Caltech is not the most popular destination for pre-med students, largely due to its reputation of rigor. For many, Caltech’s degree of rigor is synonymous with grade deflation, one of the scariest English phrases to any pre-med student. As someone who started off on a completely different track, I matriculated to Caltech as a Computer Science major, and fully expected myself to be working in the tech industry when I graduated. However, as I went through a few different internships and also got exposed to different areas of science, I rediscovered my passion for biology, specifically neuroscience, and decided at the end of my sophomore year to embark on the pre-med track. In this blog, I’ll talk a bit first about the requirements for pre-meds, then he different opportunities available here for clinical work/volunteering, and finally some of the fears prospective pre-meds may have about attending Caltech.

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academics

Grad School Visits

While the majority of readers of these blogs are likely prospective undergraduates, I’m writing this in hopes of helping out any students who are curious about what the process of applying to graduate school from Caltech looks like. I hope the blog can lend some insight to the process.

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Tutoring at Caltech
clubs academics

Tutoring at Caltech

One of Caltech’s many clubs is the RISE tutoring program, where undergraduate students connect with local high schoolers and provide tutoring in various STEM subjects. I only became a tutor this academic year, but the experience has been so rewarding for me and, hopefully, also for the students I tutor.

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Sending a High Altitude Balloon to Space
academics

Sending a High Altitude Balloon to Space

This past term, I took EE154a: Practical Electronics for Space Applications, which was one of my favorite classes I’ve taken at Caltech so far! In the class, we learned about electronics and systems in the space environment through hands-on labs, and then we used that knowledge to create payloads for a high altitude balloon (HAB) launch into space! To start off the class, in the lab, we characterized various systems like an RC (resistor-capacitor) filter, an Arduino oscillator, different sensors, etc. at various temperatures and pressures in a thermal vacuum chamber, shown here:

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How I Study
academics

How I Study

A while back, I wrote a blog post on the best study spots on campus. Now that you’ve settled in and found a place with a good ambiance for work, the questions evolves into: how do I get started? What’s the most effective way to study at Caltech? The answer, as always, is not clear-cut, since we each learn and process information in an individual way. However, in this blog post, I’ll provide some insight on the strategies I’ve used to study at Caltech and what tools I’ve found work for me.

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Admissions Decision Retrovision
academics

Admissions Decision Retrovision

As I sit down to write this blog, I can’t help but reflect on how fast the years go by. It has been over three years already since I received my Caltech admissions decision. That was a very special day in my life, and I remember it like it was yesterday. As soon as I submitted my application to Caltech, my dad and I made it our job to read endless articles about Caltech. I wanted to learn everything about my dream school. The more I read, the more excited I became. It was also nerve-wracking, and I was anxious to learn when decisions were going to be announced.

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Admissions Reflections
academics

Admissions Reflections

The email app has always been one of my most used apps on my phone, and this was especially true my senior year of high school. One Saturday, I was checking my email for maybe the 7th or 8th time that day, which was normal for me. What wasn’t normal that day though, was the surprise email I received from the Caltech admissions office. When I saw the message sitting in my inbox, my heart immediately began racing. I quickly opened it, and my heart rate doubled; I had been accepted. In total shock, I ran into the living room of my boyfriend’s apartment (who I was staying with at the time), and told him the good news. After celebrating, he told me to call my parents. I called my dad first, and his reaction was “Really?! I was not expecting that”… (thanks, Dad). I then called my mom, who was very excited and happy for me. Needless to say, that was one of the best emails I ever received.

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Admissions Reflections
academics

Admissions Reflections

I was sitting at the kitchen table, having just finished a meal, when I decided to check my admissions decision for Caltech. While I was nervous for what might happen, I’ve always had a “rip the band-aid off” attitude. The decision had been made and it was just up to me now to observe what it was. I remember the moment very vividly – I clicked on the link in my application portal and a stream of virtual orange confetti rained down my computer screen. The first line of the letter said “Congratulations!”

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Admissions Reflections
academics

Admissions Reflections

I remember huddling around my laptop with my mom and dad at the dining room table. While counting down from three, I took a few quick breaths and finally clicked on my application decision—the confetti on the screen was all we needed to jump up and scream! I remember hugging my parents as they happily shouted, “I knew it! I knew it!” It was an extremely exciting moment, and the rest of the day was really just a blur of my friends and family congratulating me on the acceptance.

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How I Chose My Major
academics

How I Chose My Major

Coming into Caltech, I was not like some of my peers who, from the first day of entering campus, knew exactly which field they wanted to pursue. I arrived at Caltech finding everything around me intriguing. From mathematics to mechanical engineering, from biology to computer science, all of the above! As (somewhat of) a joke, I would claim I wanted to do 18 majors at once! Once I reached campus, there came my challenge of trying to definitively determine what major fits best for me.

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Moving Back: FCC at Caltech
academics

Moving Back: FCC at Caltech

You’re squished with all your dorm essentials in the back of the car and your parents in the front trying to find parking. Emotions are high: Will you make friends? Will classes be too hard? What’s your roommate going to be like?

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How to take care of yourself at Caltech
academics

How to take care of yourself at Caltech

So you’ve done it! You’re going to attend Caltech, one of your dream schools, and you can officially call yourself a Techer. Maybe you grew up in sunny Southern California or, like me, moved thousands of miles from the East Coast (where they actually have seasons.) Regardless of how familiar you are with Pasadena or the Caltech campus before attending, becoming a student is a unique and new experience. Life at Caltech can be fun, but it is also one of the most rigorous schools in the world. It is important that your own health and wellbeing is always a top priority, regardless of whatever commitments you have on your plate.

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Spotlight

My Trip to the Galapagos!
academics

My Trip to the Galapagos!

It’s been over three months since my trip to the Galapagos, and I am still thinking about it. For seven days, we all woke up at 5:30 am on the boat, ate breakfast together, and went out as the sun was rising on our morning hike to catch frigatebirds mating or iguanas spewing salt from their nostrils. Our days were spent snorkeling with turtles, sea lions, and schools of fish, and our nights were spent sitting on the bow of the ship, talking all together under the stars. It was truly a spring break I will never forget.

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Caltech Food Tour
culture

Caltech Food Tour

Caltech may be a small campus, but it has a large variety of food options. There are three main dining locations on campus — The Lee F. Browne Dining Hall, the Hameetman Center (which houses our beloved Red Door Cafe), and the Broad Café.

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Some Late-Night Stress-Saving Food Runs
academics

Some Late-Night Stress-Saving Food Runs

Midterms kept up its unrelenting attack on my sanity this week – at least a little bit. And how did I solve this? Two words.

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Quick Trip to the Beach
global local culture

Quick Trip to the Beach

Although there are a lot of smaller things, such as midterm smoothies and milkshakes (Blacker does something similar to this) and some larger things like Faculty Dessert Night, the soc team usually agrees that beach trip is the most work.

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