Caltech

Advice on Picking a School

I expect that for pretty much all of you who are applying to Tech for this year, you have already submitted all your applications.  For those of you who applied early action, you know whether you were accepted.  And now all of you who didn't apply early decision at another school are faced with picking where you are going to go to college.

My sister is a senior in high school this year, so she is in the same position.  It seems like the hard part is over since all her applications are done.  I remember thinking the same thing when I finished applying a few years ago, and I imagine most of you are too.  And it's true that, by and large, the sucky part is over.  Just because picking a school is more fun, though, doesn't necessarily mean it is easy.  I have been explaining this to my sister, and I will give you the same advice I have been giving her:

• Once you know where you've gotten in, I recommend trying to visit the most likely campuses.  I had a great time at Caltech's prefrosh weekend.  The chance to talk to people here reassured me about  the school being too much of a one-track place.  On the other hand, I visited another school that I also thought I liked.  To be fair, I went after their "preview" weekend, so perhaps everyone was burned out, but that still doesn't excuse the nasty vibes I got there.  People were downright rude and unhelpful.  I went to a class or two, and I was not impressed with either the professor or the students.  The two contrasting experiences made the decision a lot easier.
• Be open-minded.  The other school I liked was one I had been infatuated with for a long time.  It was hard to let go of my affection; I didn't want to believe it at first.  I kept making excuses, saying it would be better.  But when I thought about where I had had more fun, had felt more at home, the answer was clearly Tech.  Don't get hung up on the idea of a "dream school."  Just because it's picture-perfect doesn't mean it's actually the right place for you.
• Don't underestimate the importance of atmosphere.  This is connected to my first piece of advice because I think it is hard to judge the atmosphere of a place without being on the ground and talking to people, but I also think it merits its own explanation.  While I think college is the place to expand your horizons, try new things, and go outside your comfort zone, you do need to feel comfortable doing so (as paradoxical as that may seem).  Just because a school has great faculty, a huge endowment, a fun party atmosphere, killer connections, or whatever it is that seems appealing to you on paper, does not necessarily mean that you can use them to your advantage.  It doesn't matter that the faculty are great if you won't have access to them, or worse, if you won't be motivated to go after what you want.  Look for a school where you will feel good enough about yourself to do well and figure out what you want to do with your life.

To summarize the above: trust your gut, not the impressive statistics on a glossy brochure (or more realistically at this point, website).  Good luck, class of 2012 & 2016.

Next Term's Classes: Maybe Art?

One of the things I liked a lot about Caltech when I came to prefrosh weekend (something I highly recommend to all admitted potential students) was its proximity to the Art Center College of Design.  It is easy to cross-register (apparently) and take classes there for some sort of Caltech credit.  I have not yet taken advantage of this opportunity, partly due to transportation issues and partly due to time.

For the upcoming term, they are offering classes at night, which seems like a reasonable time commitment.  It's just a few hours in class a week.  By that time, there's a good chance I'll have a car, so transportation won't be an issue.  Now the issue is still time.  

There are so many things I want to do next term.  I'm already signed up for 51 units.  This is on the heavier side, but not unreasonable.  However, this is getting into the meat of what I'm interested in, so I will surely pay attention to each and every one of those units.  In addition, several of them are in project classes.  I do like projects, but I also know they have a tendency to take up more than the allotted time in order to be done well.  I'm already concerned I may have to drop one of those classes.

What's more, I do have a few extra-curricular activities.  No doubt SURF will eat up a lot of time—after all, I will have to work with my as-yet-unfound mentor to design a whole project.  If it's someone at Tech, I may even start working in the lab now.  And if I don't start lab work with my mentor, I may want to find another lab job here.  Maybe.  I will also still be tutoring in writing, though activity will probably drop off there, and I won't be tutoring for computer science anymore.  And I will still volunteer at the Caltech preschool for a few hours a week.

The thing is, I also need to catch up on the shirts I didn't screen last term.  I would also like to start learning ballet (again).  There is a Caltech ballet club through which I would be able to take classes, which is really awesome.  Of course, this is just an hour a week, though I would have to get up early on Sundays, so that means shifting my habits around a fair bit.

Learning I can't do it all is a tough lesson, and I have been through it already, but it's so tempting so try.  For the moment, I'm not committed to anything, with the exception of four of my five classes, finding a SURF, tutoring, and working at the preschool (which I know is a reasonable amount of work).  At the beginning of term, I can see how much extra time I have left over, and adjust my activities to absorb excess if needed.  But I am not counting on it.  So it looks like the art class will just have to wait.  It's a good thing I'm not going to have a strenuous senior year.

Blogger's note: If you're looking for more information about the Art Center College of Design, here is their website.  The Caltech registrar's office has a small amount of information about it here, under the question "I heard I can take classes at other schools while attending Caltech. "

Learning LaTeX

I remember thinking when I first came to Tech that the assignments for Math 1a were typeset very nicely.  I figured that whoever was in charge of laying out the homeworks and exams for the class just had a flair for typography and page layout.  The math department was lucky to have someone with such nice aesthetic sense.  I was puzzled when I began seeing more documents laid out in the same style from other departments and around the internet.

A little bit of investigation led me to the typesetting system called LaTeX, which involves a markup language.  LaTeX then converts text files formatted in that markup language into snazzy PDFs and other presentation documents.

Of course, I found this sytem very intriguing.   I think displaying technical information accurately in an attractive and easy-to-understand way is a very important part of being a scientist or engineer, though it can be very challenging.  LaTeX, which relies on principles of good design to display technical and math information, fits right in there.  It wasn't until now, though, that I have had a chance to spend some time learning how to use LaTeX.

As it turns out, with a good LaTeX environment, it's not too difficult to pick.  At least, I found it relatively straightforward—I think it's simpler than, or at least comparable to, old HTML.  There are many great resources online with tips on how to use it to lay things out and guides to all the symbols, since it can format just about anything you could possibly want it to.  There are also a lot of good, preformatted, user-designed templates to use for almost anything.  I took advantage of a few of these in making a resume to send to potential SURF mentors.

Now, after finishing up my resume, I've found that I don't really have any technical documents I would like to format in LaTeX.  I suppose I will just have to wait until I get back to school, and then I can become one of "those kids" who turns in my homework sets typeset in LaTeX.

Blogger's note: If you are interested in LaTeX for yourself, I found this website to be a very helpful resource: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX.  In provides a good introduction to the way LaTeX works and how to use it to format projects you might be working on.

If you're interested in aesthetically attractive ways to present technical information, Edward Tufte (here is his website) is the man.  He's a bit of a personal hero.  Anyone interested in communicating science to any audience should check out his books.

Sewing Lessons

I like a good graphic tee, and when I have a good one, I wear it, and then I wear it out.  Usually, though, I do structural or staining damage to the shirt that makes it unwearable but does not affect the graphic itself, which is frustrating.  I have this great graphic, but I can't wear it... what's a girl to do?

If you're me, and you can't bear to throw anything away, you cut up your shirts and turn them into pillows.  I like sewing things by hand, but at Tech, I just don't have time to sew anything by hand that is larger than a button.  So I held off on this project until I had access to a sewing machine.  Just recently, one of my friends bought one and generously offered to let me use it.  She even taught me how to navigate its quirks, since it is a bit old and temperamental, as I discovered.

My first attempt was a graphic tee I picked up at a Tech swap meet, actually.  The North House RA's organized a swap meet for the North House girls.  It was the first time we have ever had something like that, and it was during the week, so turn-out was a little low, but I picked up a purple t-shirt someone had been planning to donate that had a ship-related graphic on it.  It was too small for me to wear, but I was thrilled anyway, because I already had another purple shirt with a ship on it that I had deemed unwearable.  So now I had the perfect materials to make a pair of nautical purple throw pillows that would look great with my purple bed sheets.

After receiving instructions about how to thread the needle on the sewing machine (just in case the thread should snap, as it does every so often), I was well on my way to sewing pillows.  Just to be sure, I practiced by helping a friend with a large sewing project she was doing.  After she finished with the machine, I felt confident that I would not ruin my precious shirts-soon-to-be-pillows.

I attacked them with pins, hoping to make as much use as possible of the existing seams.  Then I tried sewing the first shirt, which is when I started to encounter roadblocks.  The machine was skipping stitches, which ruched the fabric in a (mostly) undesirable way.  Certainly when I tried to smooth it out, many of them broke, and I was left with unsewn shirts.  I talked to the owner, and this seems to be a quirk of the machine.  After ripping stitches, fiddling with the machine, and resewing numerous times, I have one side of one shirt mostly sewn in an acceptable manner.  Finishing just waits on me having enough time to cope with the machine.

So as it turns out, it probably would have been faster to just sew them by hand after all.

Who Needs Class When You Can Have Afternoon Tea?

The final meeting of my English class took place in a cozy little tea room in Old Pasadena.  Besides me, there was only one other person taking the class (really says something for the student to faculty ratio, I suppose), so we did not appear too out of place.  And it really was not a class discussion for very long, either.  The last reading assignment we had was "Roman Fever," a short (seven page!) story about two women having afternoon tea.  Their relationship was not subtle, so we spent the rest of our time discussing our experiences at Tech, particularly with regard to hazing and similar issues in class.

But I digress, so I will return to the tea.  My professor said she likes to take the class out to tea each term she teaches it because tea is so central to the literature of the class.  Since we read only society stories by Henry James and Edith Wharton, many of the important developments in the characters' lives took place while they were having tea.  Certainly, the background of afternoon tea provided the genteel and subtle setting that offset the characters' mostly-internal tribulations.  After participating in a full tea service, I do think I understand what tea meant to the characters more than I did reading it naively.

The tea service involved picking a tea and eating a surprisingly filling lunch along with it.  I was suprised because the food looked so dainty—little quarter-sandwiches packed with cucumber, egg salad, and other delicacies, a scone, a piece of cake, and a cookie.  I couldn't finish it, though, and I took my leftover dessert with me.  The scone with cream and jam was delicious, as were the sandwiches.  I had never had a cucumber sandwich before, though I have wondered about them since reading the strange scene in The Importance of Being Earnest where the two men quibble over the sandwiches.  Now I understand what all their fuss is about.

The best part was definitely the tea, though.  I had a choice from a book full of lists of tea, so I just took our server's reccomendation of a black tea from Mauritius.  It was amazing.  They grow it along with vanilla beans, so it did have a very slight taste of vanilla, but it was very delicate and subtle.  I feel like I'm cheapening it by making this comparison, but it was somewhat similar to the taste of Thai tea boba drinks, but somehow classier.  

That feeling of civility made me understand the novels I had read during the term a bit better.  They take place in a setting of extreme civility.  The characters by and large live up to the superficial standards of civility one would expect, and I see now just how classy those are.  This just heightens the contrast with their real, savage, uncivilized behavior.  I can't believe people who could sip tea so elegantly would stoop so low in their other activities.

That being said, I enjoyed the feeling of old-world class.  I definitely plan to go back to the tea room for a quiet and dignified adventure with my friends.  There's now way I could stay away from that tea.

SURF Again

As it turns out, SURF is pretty much a year-round business.  SURF papers are due November 1, and it is soon afterwards that one needs to start looking for another SURF.  At least, I did, since I want to find one for next summer that is not on the Caltech campus.  

I am actually a little behind now, but let me back up and explain the timing.  If you are looking for a SURF at Tech and you are reasonably motivated, you will have your research done before second term starts so you can start emailing professors to look for a lab position.  The deadline for the application is near the end of February, so that gives you about two months to persuade someone to hire you and to hash out a good project with your mentor and write it up.  If you are looking for a SURF off campus, it is a good idea to start at the end of first term, because it can take some extra time to find someone who is interested in you and to let Caltech get them up to speed on the SURF system.

I fall into the latter category.  I did try to get going on my SURF hunt before Thanksgiving, and I did actually do a bit of work, but with one thing and another, it is now December 13, and I have not actually emailed anybody yet (but I hope to today, or maybe tomorrow).  In the meantime, though, I have been researching lab possibilities.  I am trying to generate a large list because I anticipate a high proportion of rejections for one reason or another.  I have also been working on preparing a real resume for the first time, something I probably should have done long ago.  

Working on my resume is making me nervous because most of my acitivities and experiences fall outside the realm of math and science.  I realize that, as my blog suggests, my classes seem to give me a lot in those areas, and I like to spend my own time balancing out that part of my life.  I just hope my coursework at Tech speaks for itself.

The other component integral to this process is the advice of my advisor.  He works in the area I am hoping to find a SURF in, so he was able to give me some very helpful guidance.  He recommended labs I should contact, told me I can use his name in my emails—which will help me get my foot in the door—and helped me figure out the pertinent information I should include in the message (a small amount of background about me, my goals, and a minimal amount of information about SURF).

So now my email messages are almost done, my resume is almost done, and I have done enough research to know to whom I will send my first round of emails.  I can keep finding more people and emailing them, too, of course.  Now I just need to stop dilly-dallying, finish up, and take the plunge.

Caltech's Wayside

At the beginning of term, I was very excited about screening my Einstein shirts.  I had the stencil all made, I prepped a couple of screens (still needed a couple more), and I thought they would be awesome.  I also agreed to help friends with a couple of other screening projects with even less time commitment.  They promised to be equally awesome.  And of course, after my first visit a couple of weeks into term, I haven't been back to the screening room since.

One of the toughest things about Tech, in my opinion, is that things like this happen.  It's hard to keep up with my hobbies, even harder to take care of one-off ideas that don't really fit into my routine.  Perhaps I'm just a procrastinator or I manage my time poorly or I am just incapable of finishing a project, but I don't think any of these things are true.  I was quite motivated to do these screening projects; there just wasn't enough time on top of other obligations, especially after midterms.  And trust me, if I was going to procrastinate heavily, it would be on things I don't want to do (ie homework and studying), not fun things like screening shirts.

Classes tend to get more difficult and time-consuming after midterms.  Even my English class got more difficult, since I had two medium-sized essays to write after midterms, compared to the one short one before.  So it is generally true that if you want to do something fun outside of class at Tech, it is a good idea to try to do it before midterms.  It's also true that classes just take up a lot of time, as do commitments outside of school.

I guess the lesson to be learned is that you just can't do it all.  I try to talk about myself only, rather than the general "you," and it's certainly true that I can't do it all, but I really can't think of any other people who can, either.  I know people who try very hard, who take difficult classes and have very active social lives and are involved in their house government and do sports and other sports and work in a lab and basically do anything they are given the opportunity to do.  But the thing is, they often miss one activity for another.  They also don't sleep much.  And they get behind in classes and/or frequently have miserable breakdowns*.

Not having it all is something that I've been told is true of life, but at Tech it's hard to believe that I couldn't have it all at a less difficult school.  If I spent less time working or in class (which it seems everyone does at more typical schools), I would have so much time to do everything I want to do.  I could learn all the skills on my bucket lists, do all my side projects, get a nifty job, go to all the cool parties, cook and bake all the time, get straight A's, and sleep 11 hours a day (okay, I admit even this is sounding a little unreasonable... maybe I'd skip some of the parties, and only sleep 10).  But in all seriousness, as I contemplate the things I wanted to finish this term which I haven't had time to do, it's hard not to feel a little resentment in with my appreciation of all the opportunities Tech offers.

*Note: A miserable breakdown is like a small-scale nervous breakdown.  It involves crying, repeated protestations of one's inability to do something in particular which soon extends to anything at all, and often result in dropping an activity or a class. They frequently occur at 4 in the morning when one is only halfway done with a set that's due the next day.  I've had my share during my time at Tech, and so have most people I know.

Thanksgiving at Tech

Today was the first day of class after Thanksgiving break.  Though it felt like a long time since there had been class, it was also surprisingly easy to slip back into the routine of waking up on time and taking notes.  Over the break, I stayed at Tech, which is what I do every year.  I live in Hawaii, and the trip is just a bit too long to be a good idea, in my opinion.

Instead, it's nice to have some downtime without having to go anywhere.  Campus gets considerably quieter (read: more boring) since so many people do leave campus, but I personally thing that's kind of nice.  I am happy to have the extra time to relax, do work at a leisurely pace (there is usually some work over Thanksgiving), talk to my family, hang out with friends, and play video games.  The latter is actually a pretty common theme around campus.  Sometimes I find it a little sad that that is what so many people at Tech automatically do in their free time, but I also see that there are not many other options over Thanksgiving.  And I also feel the pull, so I'm not really one to judge.

 My Thanksgiving weekend this year was particularly quiet.  On Thanksgiving day, I went to a really good ramen place near campus with a couple of friends.  The restaurant was having a noodle-eating contest.  I did not participate, but it was entertaining to watch everyone else try to stuff themselves with noodles.  The rest of the day, I chilled at my apartment, did some cleaning and laundry, and played some computer games.  During the rest of the break, I went to a few basketball games, did some shopping, learned to play a new boardgame, and did a little bit of homework.  Basically, I lounged around, which feels really good since we are going into finals.

It's the last week of class of the term, now, which is pretty intimidating.  I have one more week in which to try to understand concepts I didn't get previously.  Really, I just have one more week to avoid taking finals, which is usually a pretty stressful time.  In some ways it's a lot of fun, but ultimately taking large exams is awful (in my opinion).  In addition, I almost always feel like I end up pretty behind and have a big time crunch at the end of the week.

I also feel pretty weird thinking that my junior year is nearly one third of the way over.  This means that I am now solidly more than one half of the way done with my undergraduate career.  I can't believe how fast the remaining time seems to be moving.  It brings into sharp focus how urgently I need to work on immediate goals (like finding a SURF or other research project for this summer) and how important it is to figure out what I want to do with myself after I graduate.

As I go into the hectric fun and stress of finals week, I will just need to remind myself of the calming properties of Thanksgiving.  After all, once finals are over, I will have three weeks of the same before school starts again.  That's a pretty good reward.

A Brief Detour into Sports

In general, I am not a big fan of sports.  I frequently find college sports in particular kind of disturbing; it seems strange to me that at big schools people who don't personally know any of the players pay to watch college students compete.  The atmosphere at Tech is very different though, because basically everyone knows each other.  In addition, sports are pretty low-key since so many people on teams are playing the sport for the first time, wins are typically few and far between, and--frankly--they are just not that much of a priority here.  As a result, I have been known to attend sporting events here, and I actually go to men's basketball games pretty consistently because I have friends on the team.

The men's basketball team here is famed (or maybe infamed?) for their decades-long conference game losing streak, which they broke during the last game of the season last year.  I was there, and it was really cool. (If you're interested enough in Caltech to be reading this blog, you probably saw some coverage of this game.  If not: check out this article from the New York Times.)  Before Tech, I honestly never thought I would find a sporting event so nerve-wracking, but that game had me standing up and screaming crazy things without realizing it.

Almost equally nerve-wracking was the game I just watched.  It was the second game of the season (non-conference), which was also very close at the end.  With just a few seconds left on the clock, though, Caltech scored then blocked a shot by the other team to... win again.  It was soooooo awesome. 

Part of my elation was being happy for the team.  I know they work very hard at their classes and at basketball.  They all enjoy basketball for its own sake, I believe, but I imagine it must be demoralizing to work so hard at something and not be rewarded even occasionally with a victory.  Another part was just from the happiness of spectating.  I am surprised to be find that I enjoy cheering with the crowd.

When I say "crowd", I just mean the other students who were there, who probably couldn't be considered a crowd by almost any definition.  There were maybe 30 undergrads and perhaps as many parents, faculty, and other members of the community.  For Tech, this actually is a decent turn-out, though it's pretty puny by almost any other standards.  There has actually been some heated discussion of this phenomenon around campus lately.  Some Tech athletes find it disappointing that the cheering section at games isn't larger.  While I can understand this sentiment, I personally disagree.

If you want to see a pretty full discussion of it, check out the website of our newspaper, The California Tech.  I won't rehash the arguments other people have made with which I agree, but I would like to point out one thing that no one has mentioned yet: as a fan, I feel more comfortable in a smaller crowd.  I was not raised in a household that venerates competitive sports.  I have been taught to use my indoor voice inside, even in a gym.  I always thought good sportsmanship meant refraining from saying very nasty things about your opponents (even if you're not playing).  And I certainly would never presume to shout advice at the players.  After all, there is a reason they're the ones playing and I'm sitting in the bleachers.

So even large crowds at Tech games are too much for me, where I hear people heckling the opposing teams and the referees.  They loudly voice their disappointment with the Techer athletes, and scream, stamp, and shout at every turn in the game.  I understand that this is accepted behavior at basketball games, and I don't think it should stop, but it's also not something that I feel comfortable doing.  And it makes me uncomfortable to be around it, too.

The small crowds at Tech mean I am more likely to go to games.  Perhaps it would be better to trade me for 300 other screaming people, but I personally appreciate the more intimate feeling at Tech sporting events.  Knowing that each individual at a game counts motivates me to go.  And, as crazy as this is, I do have a perverse contrarian streak.  If going to games was the thing, I wouldn't go.  Since not going is typical, I wear an orange shirt on game days and mosey over to the gym after dinner.

My reasoning is completely selfish, but I do like the small turn-out at Caltech sports events.  And I'm glad I feel comfortable going to basketball games because--as surprising as it is--it's a lot of fun.

A Portrait of an Essay

The writing requirements for English classes at Caltech vary widely. The only consistent rule, I believe, is that a term-long class must require 4,000 words in order to count as an "advanced humanity". I've taken classes that require more writing than this, some with two very large papers and nothing in between, some with small daily writing assignments, and some with medium-sized papers spread throughout the term. The class I'm taking this term is about Edith Wharton and Henry James. The writing requirement is spread out in a variation on the schemes I mentioned above.  We started with a short intro paper, I think to get to know what our professor expects from our writing, and we just turned in a 1,700 word midterm paper (to be followed by a 2,000 word final paper, I believe).

Writing this paper was more obvious than studying for my political science midterm (which went pretty medium, by the way).  I've been taking at least one writing class per term since the beginning of last year.  Nonetheless, this essay presented unique challenges.  It was about A Portrait of a Lady and "The Turn of the Screw", both of which are dense and complicated works by Henry James.  I had a pretty good grasp of "The Turn of the Screw", but my analysis of A Portrait of a Lady was lacking.

I learned this because I submitted a draft of my paper ahead of the due date to my professor and she gave me some very helpful comments (she also met with me to discuss them with me).  This is not an uncommon thing among humanities professors at Tech, actually.  Most professors are pretty happy when students ask for comments ahead of time.  I think this is because it's probably pretty refreshing to have a student who actually cares enough to work on an essay ahead of a due date and try to improve it.  Frankly, I am frequently disappointed in the attitudes of my fellow students with regard to the humanities.  While I do know a significant number of people who are, if not passionate about humanities, at least respectful, I also heard a freshman commenting the other day that she came to Tech so she wouldn't have to do English ever again.  This is a pretty widespread sentiment, and one that makes me embarrassed for my fellow students.

But I digress.  Professors are open to giving feedback, provided you give them enough time to work on it, which is an incredibly helpful resource.  I won't lie: it's good for your grade.  They know what they want to see in an essay, and they will tell you where you have failed to measure up.  More appealing, though, it is also a very good learning experience, and this most recent essay is a case in point.  As I wrote my first draft, I found myself having to convince myself of my argument.  This is something I am quite good at (I can talk myself into anything) which is sometimes a very helpful strategy, but more frequently just dangerous.  In this case, I had no idea what I was talking about, so it helped me a lot that my professor was able to look at my essay.

I'm quite grateful that she took time out of what was quite a busy week to give me thorough comments and then meet with me to explain how to revise my argument to be a better synthesis of A Portrait of a Lady.  From working with her, I have gained a much better understanding of the book, which my essay demonstrated I did not have before I read it.  Having that understanding also helped as I moved onto the Editch Wharton part of the class, since I got to use my newfound knowledge to consider A House of Mirth more adroitly.

It still remains to be seen how much I improved my essay.  I spent around six or seven hours formulating my first draft and an additional five or six (including procrastinatory breaks) working on it to incorporate feedback.  I fel tlike I improved a lot and, as I said, I have already reaped some of the benefits of understanding James better.  The proof is in the grade though.  Fingers crossed (yes, I suppose I am a bit superstitious) since my professor will be grading it tomorrow.

PS: James and Wharton is a great class, and I highly recommend it to any prospective students reading this who may end up at Tech.  The prof really knows her stuff and is great at explaining it.  She's also quite fun.