Down to my last 2 college choices - advice?

[Galois314]

I'm down to choosing between Caltech and Reed College. I am going to study mathematics and physics. My goal is to go to grad school and then into research/academia. I am not interested in engineering or getting a job after my undergraduate education. I had UC Berkeley in the mix, but I decided that I prefer the small and intimate setting of Caltech and Reed vs. the giant size of Berkeley.

Reed is in my hometown and I am already taking classes there and am very comfortable with the faculty and campus, and it is of course known for its teaching quality and sending students to grad school. On other other hand, Caltech is such an topnotch institution and just the thought of turning down an offer to go there seems like insanity lol...

The access to greater research opportunities and ability to take grad courses at Caltech (versus a purely undergraduate institution like Reed) seems like a big deal to me.

Any advice? I know it is my decision at the end of the day but it would be great to hear others' insights. Sorry for the multiple posts I have made regarding my college choices over the last few months. This is more stressful than applying and waiting for my first acceptance! :D Luckily, the deadline is May 1, so it will be over in a couple of days, one way or the other!

Thanks!

 

[jedishrfu]

Where will your grades be better? That’s where you should go. Reed is in your hometown, you feel it’s a great school and you’re comfortable with it. What is it’s ranking with other colleges?

What is it’s standing in the liberal arts college list? A top notch liberal arts education will hold up well as you prepare for grad school where your GRE will be a key factor in getting in, followed by your grades and renown of your college. At a liberal arts school your English skills should improve too.

Local college means there’s less chance of getting homesick and less chance of getting derailed in your studies.

 

[jedishrfu]

Here’s some ranking discussion from Reed on the US News Report rankings and why they don’t participate.

https://www.reed.edu/apply/college-rankings.html

In contrast, I went to Union College as it was in my hometown. It served me well as I’m sure I’d have been homesick being away. Also, I was somewhat afraid to go too far away from home. I was accepted by RPI and Siena College at the time and had relatives who went to each one of these schools and liked them.

 

[jedishrfu]

Lastly here’s one more report

https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-liberal-arts-colleges/

Reed is ranked #21 vs my college at #48 so I think that’s pretty good too.

Ultimately you must decide. Try drawing a list of pros and cons to help organize your thoughts.

 

[mpresic3]

Local college means there’s less chance of getting homesick and less chance of getting derailed in your studies.

There is a downside to this. It was my experience. I was not homesick, but I was the first generation in my family to go to college. Staying in my hometown, I always had reasons to see my parents, siblings, old friends, etc. My GPA as an undergrad was quite low. When I went away to grad school, I did not have anywhere near the distractions. My GPA skyrocketed, and I passed my qualifying exam.

Reed college has a very good reputation for sending their physics majors to excellent grad schools, and I was already ready to write this note in favor of Reed.
Now I am not sure what to say.

When I went to grad school, few undergrad applicants with a B.S. (none that I knew of) had grad courses in their transcript. Now I know this is much more common.

Personally, I think a undergraduate should take the opportunity to take specialized courses like electives, as they arise, by physics professors who want to teach something special, rather than a graduate QM course out of Shankar, or Sakurai, or Classical EM out of Jackson, which the (grad) student will get a chance to take anyway.

Doesn't it chafe the teaching faculty at grad schools to get their grad students already taking core courses, perhaps even getting their core credits, rather than giving their own grad course and imprinting their own stamp on their students. My grad professors used Jackson, and Sakurai, but they also displayed techniques not presented in the textbooks and expressed their own takes on the material, and often went beyond the textbook.

 

[rkr]

Congrats! Regardless of what you choose, I'm sure you'll have many exciting opportunities ahead of you.

I don't think we'll be able to make the decision for you as there's myriad factors involving your own preferences, academic pursuits and family/friends that we'll not know. All we can do is to share our own choices and anecdotes and let you form your own opinion. jedishrfu appears to be suggesting that you should optimize for your grades and proximity to your home. I have to say that my experiences were probably the complete antithesis of his/her advice.

1. I feel that you should optimize for exploration over exploitation when you're young. This means exposing yourself to orthogonal experiences, getting out of your comfort zone, and putting yourself in a place with cultural diversity. You'll find that once you're out of college, it becomes extremely difficult to get this kind of exposure. Your social network will revert towards your pre-college set and become more homogenous. You'll have more inertia if you want to experience things outside of your hometown because you'll likely have a significant other, friends, work and housing - all of which make it difficult for you to move or take risks.

For me, I picked a college on the other side of the world and it was the best decision of my life. I did lose the safety net of my family, but it also compelled me to form deeper relationships with my classmates, depend more on my friends, and learn to become more independent. While many of my friends who stayed back formed very few friendships in college, my social circle is now composed of 80% of people I met through college, and college was the most formative part of my life as a result of this.

2. I also encourage people not to worry about grades. For any college, there exists some person with a perfect GPA. Even the most competitive colleges are meant to be manageable. You can still pick easy classes in a more competitive college, and chances are that there's more to choose from. Many employers don't care about your GPA; most people don't care once you're above 3.8. I don't quite understand the mindset of scoring a perfect GPA - doesn't that mean you weren't close to the upper bound of your learning rate? I received my worst grade in a semester where I took 12 classes, partly because there was a scheduling conflict between 2 midterms - and I never regretted it, because I think I learned a lot more from that class than I would've if I had scored an A.

3. There's three experiences that I encourage everyone to have before they graduate: they should experience (i) defeat; experience (ii) what it's like to be the stupidest person in the room; and experience (iii) feeling happy for someone else's achievements. Pick a place where you'll best gain these three experiences.

Chances are, you've been a high achiever for most part of your life. Based on your admissions results, I'm guessing you know what it's like to be near the top of your class at some point in your life. But even the best will face challenging moments, and you'll need to learn how to handle adversity and defeat at some point in your life. College is probably the best sandbox environment for you to do that, because you're still relatively safe if you make mistakes or fail in college. Which is why it's fine to have a bad grade at some point.

Even if you're the next Terence Tao, you'll do the best work of your life with the help of collaborators or others' results. You'll only reach your fullest potential through the guidance of a good mentor. You'll find that being the stupidest person in the room is both the most humbling experience, and also the most motivating experience. It will teach you to depend on others, and how to find a mentor - even starting among your peers. I never had that experience in high school - I was the person carrying my entire project team, and I never needed to share study notes or ask someone for help. I learned a lot more when I reached college, because I often felt I was the stupidest person in the room and I often had people to learn from.

Finally, one of your classmates will probably win a Nobel Prize, Fields Medal or Pulitzer Prize. One of them will probably go on to start a billion dollar company. One of them will become a successful lawyer or doctor and get married to a very beautiful or handsome model. It's a lot more difficult to feel happy for someone's success than it is to feel happy for someone's downfall. And you'll only truly be able to find happiness in your own life through feeling happy for others' success. Many of my friends who stayed back for a local college are bitter and unhappy with their lives despite achieving reasonable degree of financial and familial stability. I feel I'm happier than even those who're a lot more successful than me. Maybe it's because I learned how to be happy for my college classmates who won their Goldwater/Rhodes scholarships.​

 

[Galois314]

Wow, thanks to all of you for some great inputs.

I've been giving it a lot of thought. I still have all day tomorow and Monday to stew on it, of course, but I am leaning towards going with my heart and picking Caltech. I feel privileged to have been offered admission at one of the top STEM institutions in the world and I don't want to look back later and regret turning down such an opportunity. I have confidence in my ability to handle it (I have heard time and time again, even by the faculty at Caltech during my visits there that if we admit you, it means you can handle it). The concern is moving away from the protective bubble of my family - I know I was gung ho a few months back when the out-of-state admission offers started arriving, but I guess I'm just a bit nervous stepping outside that comfort zone when it is time to sign on the dotted line.

Thanks again for the inputs. I am sure most of you roll your eyes with "yet another college A vs. B question" and I know that nobody can answer the question for me, but it does feel better to be able to talk about it with others who may be able to view it objectively and offer an outside perspective.

 

[F=qE]

For undergraduate education, Caltech is basically a pressure cooker. Undergrads come out of the school with incredible theoretic understandings of things and great skills. It's not that at Caltech you "can take graduate level courses" but rather "you will take courses that at any other university would be graduate level". You got accepted, so of course you can handle it. But just because you can handle it doesn't mean it will be easy. I would probably make my decision based on the geography, the academic rigor, and how much stress you want to have during your undergraduate career.

 

[Charles Link]

In 1973-1974 for my freshman undergraduate I did UICC (University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, now simply called UIC=University of Illinois at Chicago). Chicago is my home town. In 1974-1977, starting as a sophomore, I attended University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, (150 miles south of Chicago), which at the time, was in about the top 3 in the country in academic ratings in physics. The change in level of competitiveness as well as the level of skill for the "average" student was quite an adjustment. I went from being easily right at the top of my class to being only in the top 25%, and that was only if I put a considerable/tremendous effort into my studies. I had to work very hard to get a 65-70 on the exams, which was usually an A-. There was one student, an exception, who didn't seem to work as hard as the rest of us who could typically always manage a 90 or better, but he was one of a kind. It was quite a struggle doing the undergraduate in Urbana-Champaign, and doing well in the courses was often not only a test of intelligence, and good study habits, but also a test of stamina. I managed to get a B.S. in Physics from there with High Departmental Distinction, but the level of effort that it took is something that I would not wish on anyone. If you do choose Caltech, do make it a point of enjoying your college days, even if it means sacrificing the high G.P.A. at times. I managed to finish at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a 4.7/5.0 G.P.A., but it was simply exhausting.

 

[donpacino]

College is a very big milestone for most students. As important as studies are, it can be beneficial to explore new places and experiences. I would not necessarily choose reed over caltech because it is in your hometown alone.

You only live once, moving to a new area will encourage you to have new experiences and meet new people!

 

[Galois314]

Thank you all for your great advice! The decision making process was definitely very hard, but at the end of the day, I cleared my mind and thought about it and it was clear to me that I wanted to pick Caltech. I sent in my acceptance this evening. So I take my first step towards becoming a mathematician on Gauss's birthday. I hope the spirit of the big guy will be in my corner through the journey!

It feels geat to have made the decision and now I can focus on wrapping up my 12th grade and enjoying my graduation!

 

[atyy]

I'm down to choosing between Caltech and Reed College. I am going to study mathematics and physics. My goal is to go to grad school and then into research/academia. I am not interested in engineering or getting a job after my undergraduate education. I had UC Berkeley in the mix, but I decided that I prefer the small and intimate setting of Caltech and Reed vs. the giant size of Berkeley.

I assume you'll figure out a route to industry at some point, as at least a backup to a career in academia?

 

[Galois314]

.

I assume you'll figure out a route to industry at some point, as at least a backup to a career in academia?

I haven't given thought to a career in industry yet. In addition to pure math, I'm interested in QFT, general relativity, beyond standard model, etc. I.e. not exactly the kinds of things people in industry are focused on. Once I start college, I may discover that I love other aspects of physics that are more relevant to industry, I don't know. My goal is to just learn and soak up the knowledge and then go where my interests take me. I figure I have a few more years before I need to worry about it. Right now, I'll just fantasize about having a permanent research position at IAS or something like that! :)

My dad is an industrial researcher, so I figure I can get advice from him when the time comes.

 

[mathwonk]

given your goals, i think you chose wisely. i would have advised caltech as a "no brainer" in that comparison. there will be more stress however so take advice on how to handle it from others there, and accept help. best wishes, and know that you have the ability to do well there, since they chose you.

 

[Galois314]

Thank you! I'm excited. I'm sure it will be a challenging environment, but I feel I am up to it.

 

[russ_watters]

Any advice?

I decided between my main two options largely by counting the posters on my bedroom walls.