Caltech

Goodbye! (But hope to see you again)

It's Sunday, and all the Prefrosh are trickling out of Caltech now. It's a bittersweet feeling. We're all sad to see you guys go, but then again...we've got a pile of homework waiting on our desks to be completed (remember Sleep, Study, Socialize: Choose Two? Well, we've all chosen to neglect sleeping and studying...)

It's been a ton of fun hosting all of you guys, and we're really excited that many of you are seriously considering (or already set on) coming to Caltech. While you may have only gotten a glimpse of what we do here, we hope it's enough to convince you that Caltech really is a great place to learn and to create a great network of friends.

It's rare for any college to be so tight-knit, where everyone is accepted and cared for (by both fellow collegemates and administration). If you're still a little confused about which college to go to, here's a quick summary of why Caltech might fit you:

 If it's money you're worried about, Caltech is generally named as one of the most charitable in giving financial aid;

If it's the weather, Caltech is in SoCal, which is pretty much a paradise year round;

If it's the education, you've seen the classes. Caltech is hard, but you're never given any dull work;

If it's the people, well we hope that we've made a good impression on you this weekend.

We were definitely excited to have you here for Prefrosh weekend, and we can't wait to see your familiar faces in another five months! So keep in touch!

In 'N Out and Pizza Night

If you don't remember anything else about Caltech, at least remember this: you won't go hungry.

Dinner today was In 'N Out. If you've never heard of it, for shame... In 'N Out probably has one of the best fast food burgers I've ever tasted. But Caltech went beyond just getting us their burgers, they got us their cookies, churros, chocolate dipped ice cream bars and bananas coated with sprinkles and chopped nuts. Talk about being stuffed. Plus, if you're usually hungry after one burger, just get in line for a second one, even if you're still eating your first one.

Then, there's always the midnight snacks (slight misnomer since these "midnight snacks" always end at midnight, and usually start at 10:30). Yesterday was the donuts. Today, gigantic pizzas. These aren't your usual 12" or 18" pizzas, these are pizzas that are up to 3" in diameter. And there are dozens of them. Then there's the variety: cheese pizzas, pepperoni pizzas, mushroom pizzas, and...tomato pizzas? I'm not sure I liked the last one, but the other ones tasted great.

To be honest, I just got back from stuffing myself 10 minutes ago...and now I'm settling into a food coma. Hope you guys have a great night!

Caltech Club Fair

You've probably heard the saying for Caltech: Sleep, Study or Socialize. Choose two.

You might think we only sleep and study, but that's not true. Let's take a look at what Techers do in their free time.

As a first thought, you probably think we have some of those stereotypical clubs of any engineering school, Rubik's Cube Club, Chess Club, Math Club, Quizbowl Club, etc.

And we do. In fact, a lot of people are in these clubs and enjoy them immensely. (I think one of our Techers from Blacker holds the world record of solving the Rubik's cube blindfolded).

But there are so many more out there! If you're interested in sports, here's a quick list:

Caltech Table Tennis Club
Caltech Badminton Club
Caltech Windsurfing/Surfing Club
Caltech Ultimate Club
Kenjutsu Club

We also have basketball, track, volleyball, baseball and swim teams that practice nearly year round. So if you're athletic, this is a pretty good place to be. Plus, they're good stress relievers...after getting back a graded homework set :P

Sports aren't your thing? Well how about some of those recreational clubs?

Go Club
Caltech Anime Club
DDR Club
Starcraft Club
Photography Club
and much more!

(There's really too many to name. These were just a few I saw today at the club fair.)

What if you want to know more about your field of study?

Chemical Engineering Club
Caltech Pre-med Association
Caltech Computer Science Club

are all available. Each department has its own version of a club to get you more interested in your majors.

But what if you're feeling a bit religious?

Caltech Christian Fellowship
Life Christian Fellowship

are two of the major clubs. Caltech has a surprisingly large number of religious groups, and just recently, we also hosted the Veritas Forum with guest speaker Francis Collins (The Human Genome Project Leader).

Ok, so maybe you're feeling a little anti-religious. There's also the Satanic Club for you if that's up your alley.

Then again, maybe these clubs really don't fit you well. But that's ok! It's easy to form your own club. Me? I like eating breakfast every day. Maybe I'll find a group of people who like to eat breakfast with me. Who knows? This might be a club when you come in as freshmen next year...

Board Games and Mafia!

If you like boardgames, you've definitely come to the right place! Avery is hosting a two+ hour long board game night tonight from 9 pm to 11 pm in Avery Library and Dining Hall.

Not a fan of boardgames, card games, or just not sure what to expect?

Well, here's a preview:

We just bought a ton of new games for you guys:

Set
Phase 10
Jenga
Ticket to Ride
Dominoes (42 or Bones anyone?)
Mancala
Scrabble (Speed Scrabble!)
And tons of poker decks

Our complete repertoire of games include:

Settlers of Catan
Explorers of Catan
Settler of Catan (Alexander the Great Expansion)
Bohnanza
Bang! (Two sets!)
Trivial Pursuit
Pirates Cove
Chinese Chess
Regular Chess (Bughouse anyone?)
Puerto Rico
Pente
Killer Bunnies (ok, this is a weird, yet oddly satisfying game)
Apples to Apples (Crate Edition!)
and so much more...

So please come to check it out! If you've got requests for different games, we might be able to squeeze it in :D

As for card games, Avery has always been proud of its Mafia skills. Never heard of Mafia? No worries! The rules are easy and we can teach them to you in a snap.

Basically, this is a turnbased roleplaying game with poker cards. You're assigned to be either Mafia, Medic, Detective/Policeman, or Towns person depending on your card. Mafia try to kill all the townspeople, the medic tries to save everyone (or just himself) while the detective must secretly discover the Mafia members without being killed first...

If you HAVE played Mafia before, come for the challenge. I thought I knew how to play Mafia really well, but these guys...they're crazy. They take it to a whole new level. Every movement, every sound, every jerk you make is psychoanalyzed by these Mafia experts. Never trust them, for any moment of weakness might be one step closer to your death...

Other card games we play include ERS (Egyptian Rat Screw), Nertz, Bridge, Poker, Speed, Spit, or any other game you can think of.

My favorite is ERS. Haven't been beat yet at Avery...but then again, I've only played one game this year so far...but I'm up for the challenge!

Hope to see y'all there!

Midnight Madness!

This is probably one of the most accurately named (and most exhilarating) events in Prefrosh Weekend.

Imagine this:

Starting around 10:00, Caltech students and prefrosh alike start trickling around six tables arranged in a horseshoe shape on the Olive Walk.

At 10:15, a sizable crowd has grown, and now there's an air of excitement. Students are buzzing animatedly about the approaching activities.

Finally, it's 10:25, and a small SUV backs up Olive Walk. Cries of "It's here! It's here!" reverberate across the Houses, and people dash out of the buildings to join in the commotion.

At 10:30, right on the dot, the SUV opens up, and the heads of the Student Body cry out "DONUTS ARE HERE! COME GET THEM!" and pandemonium strikes.

Ever see Techers fight over a box of Strawberry glazed donuts? No? Good. You probably don't want to. It's a sticky mess. Luckily no one is ever hurt in this activity. In fact, there's a few "techniques" to maximize the number of donuts without getting hurt or to just join in the fun:

1) Get a friend to be your sacrificial lamb. Put him up front and tell him to grab the box of donuts and run. Make sure your friend is not a passive person!
Pros: You don't get pushed around in the process. You get extra donuts to share with the rest of your friends away from the chaos.
Cons: Your friend might decide to not give you the donuts...

2) Gather a group of friends and hog the space next to the table.
Pros: You're guaranteed a donut.
Cons: You get jostled around a bit by other people reaching over your shoulder. You also might get donut glaze all over your shirt (true story!)

3) Go in solo.
Pros: Probably the most fun. Depending on how active you are, you might get more than one donut.
Cons: You'll probably be stuck in the crowd for awhile...

So, if you didn't manage to get a donut from Midnight Madness this time, or weren't able to make it to the weekend, I hope this helps.

And don't worry, if you come to Caltech, we have these about once per term, so you'll get plenty of practice before the next Prefrosh Weekend.

Avery Scavenger Hunt!

On behalf of Avery, thanks to all the Prefrosh who participated in Avery's first Prefrosh Scavenger Hunt!

For those of you who couldn't make it, here's a quick summary:

Out of 300+ prefrosh coming to Caltech, we had over 150 participants! Our theme for the Scavenger Hunt was "A Day in the Life of the Caltech Student." We organized nine events: Millikan Picture Taking, Car Towing, Scientific Taboo, Interhouse Building, Water Balloon Toss, Homework Set, Chugging Contest, Obstacle Course, and Getting Help with Homework.

Millikan Picture Taking
Groups had to search for the mysterious "A"  by roaming Millikan Library and taking a picture as proof of its existence. Unfortunately, the only place to see the "A" was on the top floor.. (nine stories up). The elevators also "conveniently" happened to be out of order...

Car Towing
Who's stronger? A 2500 lb Nissan Sentra or a group of ten Caltech prefrosh? We know you've got the brains, but what about brawns?

Scientific Taboo
Do you know your science vocab? Try describing positrons without using the words electron, fermion, Dirac, positive, or charge. Stumped? Too bad. How about trying to describe Feynman without using Caltech, quantum mechanics, or Nobel Prize? If you like science, you've come to the right place!

Interhouse Building
You all know about parties at Caltech, right? We always build huge constructs (2-story dome from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Underwater Atlantis, etc.) over a period of 5-6 weeks. Now it's your turn to do it...in under thirty minutes. Who can build the tallest Interhouse?

Water Balloon Toss
Think you can collaborate well? Test out your teamwork skills by tossing water balloons to your friends on the edge of a pool. Then again, you just might want to get your teammates wet on purpose...

Homework Set
Think you're smart? Test out your logic and addition skills with Kakuro, find the hidden message, and open the secret room to find a surprise...!

Chugging Contest
Think you can hold your drink? Test your theory out in the Chugging Contest! Don't worry, only sodas and water were provided :P

Obstacle Course
You've forgotten your homework set and the door to the Math building is locked. You have 15 minutes to get your South Master key and find your homework set to turn in. Oh, and there's another team of prefrosh pelting you with socks while you try to pass your class...Good luck! (It's ok, socks were clean!)

Getting Help with Homework
One of the most essential skills of surviving Caltech. Knowing when and how to get help. Find professors and bio, math, physics, chem, and English majors to help you with your homework set. The more help you get, the quicker the problem set goes!

Oh right, we forgot the last event. Like food? Glad you came. We had cheesecakes, brownies, freshly baked Po-ling* cookies, sodas, and all sorts of desserts and snacks at the end to commemorate the end of a great Scavenger Hunt.

And also, congratulations to team 3 for winning the Scavenger Hunt with an impressive score of 57/60.

Once again, thanks to everyone who showed up! We had a blast with all the prefrosh, and we hope to see you around more this weekend.

* For those of you who don't know Po-ling, she bakes the best cookies on campus.

One Week 'Till PREFROSH WEEKEND!!

Hey everyone!  My name is Andrea Dubin, and I’m a senior here at Caltech majoring in chemistry.  Right now I totally know what all of you who are deciding where you want to spend the next 4 years of your life are going through – I’m currently deciding where I’m going to grad school (living proof that there is light at the end of the tunnel)!  And one of the best ways to tell if Caltech is right for you is to come to Prefrosh weekend!

 

I’m super psyched that it’s only 1 week until I get to meet you all, so I thought I’d share a few of the things I’m working on/planning.

 

On Friday I’ll be singing in the performing/visual arts concert with the Caltech Glee Clubs.  About a month ago the Glee Clubs went to Cal State Long Beach to perform at a big choir festival with schools from all over Southern California, and you’ll get to hear a taste of some of the really fun music we’ve been working on for our spring concert!  Plus hear some of the other amazing performance groups!

 

Right after the concert, you can come to the Dabney House philosophy discussion!  Talk to your fellow prefrosh and the upperclassmen about interesting topics (we’ll provide the snacks).  The topic can be anything you guys think is interesting.

 

Also on Friday, make sure you come early to the house dinners and meet some interesting professors!  You may even get to see the assistant vice president of campus life (Tom Mannion) get wet….. ssshhhhh!

 

On Saturday, make sure to come to the Tie-Dye party!  You’ll all be getting white prefrosh weekend T-shirts, and you have absolutely no excuse for that T-shirt being white at the end of the weekend.  We have dye and people to help if you don’t know how to tie-dye.  Feel free to bring extra shirts too!

 

Also on Saturday is One Acts!  We’ve been working hard on putting a few awesome shows together for you.  And the best part is – everything is done by students!  The plays are directed, performed, and produced by students.  Even the lights and sound (which I’m working on) is done totally by students!  We’re all really excited to show you all the fun stuff we’ve been working on, so make sure you come!

 

And Saturday night is probably one of my personal all time favorite prefrosh weekend events: Blacker deconstruction!  We have a challenge for you:  can you fit an entire piano through a hole about 20cm in diameter?  If so, how fast can you do it?  And if you want a break from that, we’ll be making Liquid Nitrogen ice cream.

 

So those are some of the events I’ve been working on, but of course lots of people here are getting ready for a whole lot more really fun events!

 

PREFROSH WEEKEND IS 8 DAYS AWAY (can you tell I'm excited?)!!

 

Cheers!

Andrea

Two More Weeks!

It's almost time! We're within days of wrapping up the planning for your weekend, and we hope you anticipate it as much as we do :D

How excited can we be?

Let's see.. we've got at least three different activities lined up for you every night of Prefrosh weekend. Plus, you get to eat dinners at different Houses to see each Houses' traditions and personalities. (We don't want to give it away; it's much more fun to see if for yourself!)

Plus, all the people you'll be rooming with? They can't wait to see you guys. I know in our House (and I'm sure in the rest of the Houses as well), the hosts have been prepping for weeks, getting their rooms more organized, planning their own activities, or just hoping to show you guys a great time.

In fact, last year, we had one group of hosts who lived in a triple; they all got prefrosh to host, so they decked out their room with a ton of food, decorations, pillows, sleeping bags, etc. All just for their prefrosh.

Unfortunately...all three prefrosh somehow didn't make it...and the hosts were all terribly disappointed. So please! If you're still wondering, "Why should I go to Prefrosh weekend?" or "Can I back out of Prefrosh Weekend after registering?", think about your poor Caltech host! Don't disappoint them!

Hope to see you here! We're counting on you!

Prefrosh Weekend: On Campus and Off

Hi everyone! My name is Laura, and I’m a freshman in Lloyd. I’m here to share with you the amazingness of Prefrosh Weekend. I was already pretty sure I was going to go to Caltech when I arrived at PFW last April, and my four fantastic days there solidified my decision.

Most of my time at PFW was spent on campus—going to a couple of classes (including a physics lecture by Nobel Laureate David Politzer in which he demonstrated paramagnetism by pouring liquid oxygen between the poles of a giant electromagnet), partaking in the crazy activities arranged by each of the houses (such as craps and Texas Hold ‘Em at Casino Night, and Midnight Capture the Flag), and just hanging out with current Techers and other prefrosh in the houses.

Here are three friends I met at Prefrosh Weekend: Marissa, Paul, and Tina. To fit in with the murals, they’re impersonating fish (or would it be imfishonating?). The crazy thing with plastic plates on the floor behind Marissa is an obstacle from a PFW event the night before, in which the house was transformed into a mini golf course.

On Saturday, we had the option to venture out into Pasadena! Although it was tempting to sleep in on a Saturday morning, especially after staying up late the night before, I decided it would be a good idea to check out the city in which I’d be spending the next four years. We started our day on the organized hike to the Huntington Gardens.

The Huntington Gardens is a beautiful place to walk around, and has a lot of exotic plants, as you can see below:

My friends and I left the Huntington early enough to get back to campus in time to catch a special PFW shuttle bus into downtown Pasadena to eat lunch. We found a restaurant in Old Pas (the area on central Colorado Boulevard) called Thaitalian, which served, as the name suggests, Thai and Italian fusion cuisine. Here are Marissa and Will enjoying a Thai barbeque pizza.

We were feeling adventurous after lunch, and since the shuttle buses were running until 3 PM, decided to wander around Pasadena. During our walk, we found the building that housed Caltech in its earliest days, when it was called Throop University. Paul and I were really excited to have made this discovery.

We headed back to Caltech to have In-N-Out burgers from a truck that came to campus for dinner, and to bask in the awesomeness of PFW for the last night before returning home until September.
Based on my experiences, I’d like to offer a few words of advice:  Prefrosh Weekend is the most fun if you don’t have any work to do. So, if you can, try to work ahead in your classes the week before coming to Pasadena. Also, PFW is a great time to learn about the different houses at Tech, but try to wait until rotation to make any final judgments about where you might like to live.  You will definitely get a more thorough sense of the houses in September. In fact, my house is the only one I didn’t visit over Prefrosh Weekend.

All of us at Tech are looking forward to your visit! This picture was taken last term while we were working on a Chem 1b set. As you can see, we can have fun doing homework, but of course we’d rather be out spending time with you guys!

Let me know if you have questions about any aspect of Caltech. I look forward to meeting you all next week!

On the Fence? Come to Prefrosh Weekend!

Hey Prefrosh!

I'm Wesley, and I'm a freshman on the Prefrosh Weekend Planning Committee.

So you're probably in the same boat that I was in a year ago, wondering "Is it really worth the 200 bucks to go to Caltech, spend three days there, and come back to school with a huge stack of unfinished homework?" A year from now, there's no doubt that the trip was worth it. In fact, after going to Prefrosh weekend, I was sure that Caltech was the right place for me.

Why is that?

The people.

Caltech has some of the most amazing people here. Everyone I met was willing to lend a hand, give some advice, or just hang out. At first, I thought that people were friendly only during Prefrosh weekend, but what you see here at Prefrosh weekend is the true face of the Caltech student. In fact, I don't think I've ever met a person I didn't like here.

The weather.

Let's face it. Who can complain about the weather here in SoCal. Sure, we get a little bit of rain during winter, but it's a comfortable 70 degrees otherwise. Besides, who wants to freeze themselves solid in the northeast anyways? (Although, I'm from Texas. Anywhere that goes below 60 is off limits to me...)

The professors.

Are professors intimidating? Maybe at other schools, but not here. All the ones I've met are all pretty welcoming. Actually, they really like talking to undergrads, even the Nobel Laureates! So no worries. If you see a professor looking lonely, go up to him/her. You'll learn something new. I always do.

The Houses.

Every House is a fine House. Sure, each one is slightly different, but the great thing is, you get to pick the one that fits you best. Plus, you get to spend an entire weekend in one of the Houses and learn a little about the personalities of each House. This is probably the most unique part of Caltech out any college.

Come to Prefrosh weekend to get a glimpse of all these aspects of Caltech. Don't blow this chance. It could be the deciding factor for your decision :D So forget about school on April 3-5. Come to Caltech and get away for a weekend of Southern California fun (Caltech style)!