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Friends, I need all your help in this situations. (BTW, I am also posting this in other threads too, so I am sorry if you see this post multiple times, but I really need all the advice and guildance I can get.)

Anyway.... so just 2 weeks ago, I decided Northwestern over UCLA. Then last week, a call came from Caltech and said that they were willing to accept me off of the waitlist. Now, I have no idea which I will choose. I have been thinking about this non-stop for the past week. I asked many people and they all have differnt opinions. oo btw, I plan to major in engineering, so it seems like caltech would be better, but I like the social environment at NU. Caltech is a lot closer to me since I live in LA, but I think i would learn and grow more if i get farther away from home. I wrote up a pros/cons list= and visited both campuses, but it still didn't help me in deciding. Caltech seems to me like it is good only at researches and does not promote great job opportunities the way NU does. But then again, I might not understand this whole "job oppotunities" thing. I need everyone's advice on this. PLEASE...I am extremely desperate for advice. I am gonna go crazy thinking about this or something. Which one would you choose and why? Thank you ahead of time for your advices. If you can, please list some more advantages and disadvantages of going to each school.. THANKS

By Azntoccata (Azntoccata) on Saturday, May 22, 2004 - 04:00 pm: Edit

Caltech, quite frankly, sucks at undergraduate. However, if today you were talking about graduate school, I would choose Caltech without hesitation. So my advice is NU for now.

By Incog (Incog) on Saturday, May 22, 2004 - 04:37 pm: Edit

depends on what you want.

if you want a life, go to NU.
if you want a kick-arse degree (in engineering), go to Caltech.

By Shadow67 (Shadow67) on Saturday, May 22, 2004 - 04:56 pm: Edit

couldn't one get a kick-arse degree in engineering from NU too?

By Ly_Yng (Ly_Yng) on Saturday, May 22, 2004 - 06:25 pm: Edit

I've never been to Cal Tech, but from what I've heard, the kids are ...weird. I mean, it follows that if you take the top 1% of math-science kids in the country, you're gunna have a bit of social maladjustment, right? I'm sure there are some normal kids there, but I'm sure there are also the ones that manage to fit seven classes and 18 hours of 50 hours of Everquest into their average day. If you visited Cal Tech, you probobly got a feel for the campus and the students, so you can decide for yourself how true that actually is.

You mentioned that you feel like you'd grow more away from home. That was one of the big reasons I decided on Northwestern, the idea that I couldn't run to my parents in a difficult time, even if I wanted too. The distance certainly adds some weight to the "on your own" part of college.

By the numbers, Cal Tech is probobly a "better" school than Northwestern, but the difference is likely marginal, and there is a quality of life factor that many kids overlook in the whole college process. Good luck with the whole process though, and take some faith in the idea that you'd probobly be perfectly happy with the "wrong" choice anyway.

By Shadow67 (Shadow67) on Saturday, May 22, 2004 - 11:12 pm: Edit

I thought for engineering, Caltech can totally blow NU out of the water. Even though I do like both NU and Caltech, it seems like a shame to lose the opportunity that Caltech has given me.

By Incog (Incog) on Sunday, May 23, 2004 - 02:01 am: Edit

"couldn't one get a kick-arse degree in engineering from NU too?"

true.
now that i think about, you could probably get a kick-arse degree either way, but they'd be kick-arse for different reasons. caltech's degree would make you number one on the technical aspect of engineering and so forth, whereas nu's degree would make you number one (possibly tied with MIT?) in the management aspect of engineering.

of course, all of this is supposition.

what a hard decision to make though, seriously. i mean, just getting into caltech is a huge accomplishment, and as you said, "it seems like a shame to lose the opportunity that Caltech has given" you.

as i said before though, it really depends on what you want. honestly, do you enjoy studying math and science (NU might offer a wider range of electives)? do you want to focus more on research than education? do you want to have diverse social interactions (by this i mean meeting people from different majors and so on)?

of course, at this point, if i were in your shoes, i'd be thinking mainly about reputation and prestige. who doesn't? and i'd probably end up choosing caltech, even if it may prove in the end to be the wrong choice. i know i hear a lot about how rankings don't matter, etc. etc., but it's hard to ignore them when you're a high school student who's never had a minute of the "college life experience". all i can really compare college's with, with my immature high school mind, are SAT medians, acceptance rates, name (prestige), and other categories that are part of the U.S. News rankings. in these categories, caltech beats NU.

you have to be honest with yourself. i had to make a choice between CMU's prestigious school of computer science (the school is tied with Stanford and MIT for first place in CS) and NU's engineering school, which is ranked lower than CMU's engineering school. at CMU, i had the chance to get a double degree in both CS and EE. but in the end, i decided that i just wasn't mature enough (by that i mean, i'll be partying in the weekends, heh) to do well in the work-intensive courses for the top-notch CS degree. i couldn't quite see myself in the dorm studying 24/7. NU, in comparison, seemed much more laid-back. don't get me wrong, NU isn't a party school. but the balance between work and play that NU students seem to have fits me well. also, i want to be in the management aspect of engineering, and NU's engineering program is designed specifically for sending its students off to management positions. i'm sure when i go to college (NU) this fall, the things that my college counselors and books said i should focus on (location, social life, atmosphere, etc) will make sense, and i'll be glad i made the right choice.

lots of extraneous information. i'm just hoping you can relate.

By Skulkarni1 (Skulkarni1) on Friday, May 28, 2004 - 06:40 pm: Edit

i agree with incog. just keep in mind though, that this is the NU thread, so ur going ot get a lot of biased opinions siding with NU. it is a known fact that Caltech has a much higher reputation then NU in matters of prestige - now i know everyone's going to viciously attack me for that one, but in your heart of heart's, u know im rite. hell, i probably wouldn't get into NU so im not saying that out of cockiness or anythin like that- both schools are highly reputed, however, Caltech is in line with stanford and stuff, whereas NU is not in line with HYP material. visit both schools. if u like NU far more than caltech atmosphere wise, attend NU. if you like caltech's atmosophere more, attend caltech. if it's tied up or pretty close, attend caltech. thats my two cents

By Hdotchar (Hdotchar) on Sunday, August 15, 2004 - 11:43 pm: Edit

cal-tech does NOT suck for undergrad. in terms of job recruiters, cal-tech prestige wise ranks with MIT. if anything pursuing an engineering degree at cal-tech would be very difficult.

i believe 30% of cal-tech's incoming class are valedictorians for their class. interquartile range for SAT's at Cal-tech is something like 1490-1580 and i believe it ranks as the most selective college in the nation.

but again curriculum-wise it is very difficult. i believe one of the first math classes is a mathematics proof based course rumored to be very hard (although it is pass/fail). there is certainly a number of geniuses at CIT as well. i've heard a few students come to class with nothing but a pencil, scribble notes on the desk, erase them at the end of class and proceed to ace every test.

By Azntoccata (Azntoccata) on Sunday, August 15, 2004 - 11:56 pm: Edit

I have to clarify that i meant the overall experience, which was pretty clearly explained by the above people. Anyway too late...he must've made his decision by now. I would guess he went caltech.

Well he'll have weird people for classmates, but at least he's in LA....

By Zcat18 (Zcat18) on Monday, August 16, 2004 - 12:27 am: Edit

Let's step back a bit and look at the big picture here. Yes, it's a fact: we're talking about perhaps the finest engineering program in the world vs. a school with a slightly weaker reputation.

That being said, let's look at the overall situation: this student clearly understands the merits and demerits of both schools without everybody constantly repeating them. This is a student who is choosing between two very distinctly different kinds of educations: a traditional college experience combined with some of the finest academics in the nation (NU--I did not say THE finest, I said *some* of the finest, just to clarify for those of you who want to jump on the anti-NU bandwagon), and a highly unconventional, fiercely academic experience that is recognized as one of the top 2 or 3 of its kind (along with MIT and Stanford).

The real question is, what kind of experiece are you looking for? Shadow, you will no doubt kick ass and take names at NU, as you likely would at Caltech as well. Don't be led into thinking that anybody will *ever* look down on you in any way for having an NU degree. They will not. I have only gained respect, never pity, for being a NU student. I've met some brilliant people at Northwestern--people who have gone on to MD/PhD fellowships, people who have achieved perfect scores on their LSATs, undergrads who are literally working on the vanguard of materials science and chemistry research--some of the most advanced of its kind happening anywhere in the world. These people are all part of a community that values the "college experience" along with the academic experience--people who are serious students during the week but who can also appreciate a good college football game on the weekends (I'm not saying that these people don't exist at Caltech as well).

On the flip side, it is obvious that Caltech will open doors and provide you with the best engineering education that money can buy along with peers who are obviously the best and brightest you are ever likely to encounter. Your degree will no doubt turn heads all over the engineering world, and you will be highly sought-after upon graduation (not that this wouldn't also be the case coming out of NU). But what relatively modest gains you make at Caltech in academics and name recognition, you may lose in the overall experience. I wish I knew more about Caltech, but in the end, I can't speak for it besides to say what doesn't even have to be mentioned--it is one of the finest schools in the world.

So the choice is yours. What kind of experience do you want? It's not our decision here on the board to make--it's your decision, and it's a tough one. But in the end, the choice is not between two schools. It's between two different styles of education.

*Edit: I just realized that this thread is 3 months old, so this whole point is probably moot anyway.