Big Questions Ep. 22: Caltech

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The California Institute of Technology, or Caltech, is one of the best science and engineering schools in the world. With a small undergraduate population of under 1,000, and only 1,300 graduate students, Caltech boasts a small community of some of the greatest scientific minds on the planet, taught by world-class faculty in top-notch facilities. Crimson went to Caltech to ask some big questions to some of the smartest STEM students around:
What's the best thing about Caltech? What's the worst thing about Caltech? What do Caltech students do on weekends? What did they write about in their college application essays to get into a top STEM school with an 8% acceptance rate? Watch to find out!
Interested in getting into an Ivy League visit "Crimson Education" for a FREE consultation, HERE: crmsn.tv/FreeConsultation
Disclosure: We are in no way affiliated with Caltech.

[@CrimsonEducation]

Now you know what Caltech students wrote about on their college application - what are you gonna write about on yours? You don't need to be a genius to gain admission, you just need to know what colleges want to see! Download our FREE eBook to discover EXACTLY what admissions officers are looking for on your essay! hubs.ly/H09gYTq0

[@frankoxen6855]

UCSB, UCSD please!

[@jeanblu6159]

As a caltech student, I feel like this didn't really cover a lot of super cool aspects of Caltech. The undergrad student body is super small but tight knit, partially because when you become a freshmen you are 'sorted' into one of 8 houses (kind of like hogwarts), each with their own traditions and flavor. We have campus wide pranks, every house holds an annual 'Interhouse' party that they construct (creating a theme and literally building a wooden dance floor), and we have some super cool school traditions (like Ditch Day, where all classes are cancelled and underclassmen spend the day solving elaborate puzzles and challenges created by seniors). The course work is definitely tough, but the atmosphere is very collaborative rather than competitive, and the academic/intellectual challenges I've faced really brought me closer to my fellow students. It's a unique place, and it's not for everyone, but looking back I wouldn't have gone anywhere else :)

[@anandmallik646]

I am from india and I want to join caltech as a undergraduate ...????? Please advice?????

[@tbhideciaintshowingup]

Anadshankar Mallik, get a passion, pursue it, be exceptional at it, and of course create an impact.

[@anandmallik646]

Thank you...sir

[@nathan_2780]

Rice University in Texas and University of Toronto in Canada also have their own Hogwarts themed colleges for students as well.

[@ilee5427]

everyone looks so.....”science”

[@justinlee441]

the western conference finals ... of the world series 2:53

[@aamir1290]

lmao

[@mrbeluga7674]

Point of View: I went to look for comments on what she said

[@jennyhe6252]

oh my goodness so honest it hurts... this video really highlighted the beauty of campus! sad it was merely a skeleton of the actual experience though. what the students didn't emphasize was the amazing people or the houses or unique honor code or abundant opportunities bc it's so small or the friendly faculty! i guess that's what you get when you ask people during finals week when you take all that for granted and are only worried about the looming tests (which are take-home, btw) caltech co'17

[@KeepinItRealAllDay]

Jenny He I remember you!

[@NaveenArun]

Hi Jenny!!! lol

[@enjoi9062]

Yall remember when MIT stole the cannon? lmaoooo

[@carsondial5570]

The turtle was awesome! Deep in thought! A Caltech guy told me not to go to Caltech unless I was crazy about studying...

[@pablosilva10127]

I was asking for this!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I LOVE YOU GUYS! But please make a Day in Caltech! Please

[@chukchee]

I think Caltech is great. The people are great. The weather is great. The culture is great. Everything is great about it. However, if you dont like science, then its not the place for you.

[@hilaryk6639]

love it! is there any chance you could do wake forest or emory in the future?

[@Rahul-tx6wq]

Thank you sooo much guys ....

[@kiamoey3244]

CALTECH in MALIBU ?. When I was there in the early 70's there was a rumor about moving to Malibu. The faculty voted down but Hughes Research Center and Pepperdine U (located in the combat zone of downtown LA then) took the offer. The developer wanted to create "Silicone Beach" but the surfers won.

[@mrbeluga7674]

Western Conference finals of the world series 2:53 was my highlight of my day.

[@billstreet5043]

average cal tech student lmao

[@christinamarsh8911]

You guys should do Pomona College

[@jjfhbnkkbf]

Your series are awesome...come up with some new type of shows on college students

[@Pre-Omniscient]

Please do University of Southern California :D (keeping my fingers crossed for February)

[@hellofbsondnsk]

Did you get in???

[@mikepctv9218]

The first answer was what I needed. Maybe one dayyy.

[@gabriellerice5649]

Could you try and do a Big Questions video for Georgetown University? I think it'd be really helpful and appreciated.

[@Crunchyapples1]

PLEASE do Swarthmore!

[@robinleckey]

Can you do Harvey Mudd College?

[@leitovr]

Please do Cornell!

[@BostonPats4Life]

You should do Columbia!

[@Mehergudela]

Can you please do a day in my life caltech

[@sophiapsaila]

Do Barnard College of Columbia!!!!!

[@msugal]

Please do Cornell university.

[@DulceRubiocandy]

yall should do the Claremont Colleges.

[@TS-yb8xe]

Do GT and UW please

[@Nero-xv]

Interesting video! I would greatly appreciate if you would do Georgia Tech! I'm really sorry for being that guy; i'm desperate.

[@anabellewatson5743]

Please do Yale and Williams!!

[@JPiano]

Caltech is the greatest school! Just ask Richard.

[@justinji8634]

feynnman

[@reshmar3659]

do one on Columbia!!

[@jtjones603]

Please do Claremont Mckenna College!

[@Effi000]

please do SUNY!

[@erinm765]

Please do McGill!

[@samadarif2001]

Do WashU!!!

[@purplepineapple117]

More law school please!

[@richardsaunooke3142]

Georgetown please🙏🏼

[@devanshgadda8595]

Why not Cornell :-(

[@Ashkanman]

because it's a fake ivy

[@deborahannfrederick60]

Thumbs up.

[@aadityadhruv326]

My man rahil batwal from JNIS @ 1:32 !!

[@victorr6757]

Cornell next plz

[@Ashkanman]

gross

[@lunaeclipse5768]

5hours a night it makes me feel like my heart is gonna stop beating

[@johnster02]

1:00 peep the squirrel dropping in

[@britneynyamemba]

i liked this video because of the joke at the end

[@richl1319]

Pasadena City College!!!

[@yazshiri4989]

hahahaa

[@richl1319]

let me guess your enrolled there

[@yazshiri4989]

At Caltech

[@abeyoung384]

can you do the University of Maryland please?

[@tarunbaskaran558]

This uhh, isn't my type of school. Cool stuff tho!

[@cedh3462]

Did you notice that thing crawling in 1:00? haha

[@archiej6386]

Is that "the" caltech ?!?!

[@CrimsonEducation]

It is!

[@davemacmurchie6982]

"Is that "the" caltech ?!?!" That's actually pretty funny, because Caltech has been promoting the slogan "There is only one Caltech", at least on my alumni mailings. It may not be working.

[@rimikabanerjee314]

SAM

[@CrimsonEducation]

RIMIKA

[@triumv43]

i guess you could say that school is the bomb

[@ninehazard3227]

nice meme is that supposed to be a pun

[@SasapessoS]

Do they read their Bible?

[@lightheart22]

Squirrel 0:59

[@Basedjeevs]

okay.....

[@lermanwaiss8153]

man heavy..... huh ACCEPT ME CALTECH I SUCK AT MATH BUT IM GUD AT SCIENCE KING PLZ

[@eli_man3811]

The WESTERN CONFRENCE FINALS OF THE WORLD SERIES. Damn I thought people at CALTECH were supposed to be SMART. Nvm they’re smart, just maybe not about sports.

[@fakeapplestore4710]

4:06 "If you know the theory behind something, then applying it becomes really easy" Meh. Not really.

[@rohanmirchandani9726]

nah fam

[@PLANET-EATER]

Different from your style of learning I guess.

[@Getz]

Yeah this guy either has no idea what hes talking about or just needed to figure out something clever to say.

[@kylenoe2234]

So many were rejected from Stanford.

[@JMikel213]

Lol, I've been to Stanford and know a lot of peers that got rejected from Cal Tech!

[@davemacmurchie6982]

A woman in our lab at Caltech interviewed for a faculty job at Stanford and was told that Stanford was like Caltech except that Stanford was the school with a football team. She replied that Caltech was the school with the Chemistry department. And she still got the job.

[@KeepinItRealAllDay]

Come back to Caltech and do a real video next time.

[@xaviersage7346]

This school seems... to not be a good environment.

[@rebia5542]

How so?

[@slimeballez]

Caltech students seem so sad and boring. Definitely not an enthusiastic environment, especially coupled with its diversity issues.

[@slimeballez]

David Bang Caltech is overwhelmingly white and Asian, with only about 1% Black students and around 11% Hispanic students. Compared to its peers, that’s an absolutely horrible record and I think it shows in its student body and campus culture.

[@slimeballez]

Gia Alkhatib And that’s the issue. Caltech has done a VERY poor job of reaching out to underrepresented minorities. There’s no excuse for it, especially since Caltech’s peers such as MIT have done far better.

[@rimazkhan2483]

It's because Caltech does race-blind admissions, which ends up weeding out many hispanic/black students since they dont receive the same preferential treatment in admissions as other universities.

[@wizfsl165]

Yet still most people would kill to go there 😜

[@KeepinItRealAllDay]

lol I think you are insulting the students more than the school. If you can't handle it, then don't come. simple as that

[@katherineesquivel139]

MIT > Caltech

[@pometown]

It's not a fair comparison. MIT is much much much bigger than Caltech.

[@katherineesquivel139]

pometown relax it's just a joke because Catech is the main rival for MIT (not Harvard) despite it being across the country. In fact, MIT students once put a giant MIT ring around the canon at the end of this video

[@KeepinItRealAllDay]

Katherine Esquivel I went to both and I have to say... I like Caltech better

[@limbertpalomino2867]

Same

[@azzajack]

Caltech has the highest Nobel laureate ratio of any organization in history