Tech is not full of people who lock themselves in
their rooms and study. There is something for everyone here. Plenty of people
go out clubbing on the weekends, and yet these are the same people who do
interesting summer research in cutting-edge fields like quantum computing.
Houses
Social life is generally not one of the reasons a high
school student chooses Caltech, but every year, freshmen are surprised to find
an active social scene centered around the seven undergraduate houses. Blacker,
Fleming, Lloyd, Page, Ricketts, Dabney, and Ruddock House are descendants of
fraternities that dominated the campus
in the 1920s. This fraternity lineage is most obvious at family-style house
dinners each night. Students waiters set the tables, serve food, and refill
drinks; everyone must ask permission to get up from the table, and dinner ends
with announcements from the house officers. Dinner is certainly not a formal
affair though; each house adds its own quirky rules; for example: no "nerd
talk," and no freshmen sitting at corners. Breaking the rules results in a
variety of interesting punishments and the nightly ritual serves as an
entertaining diversion that makes each house seem more like a family.
During the first week of classes each year, freshmen
are assigned to houses in a process known as rotation. A toned-down version of
a fraternity rush, each freshman visits each of the seven houses and submits a
list of preferences at the end of the week. Upperclassmen from each of the
houses then get together and assign each freshman to a house in an all-night
meeting. The end of rotation marks the beginning of a week of initiations, when
freshmen can be found trading water balloons, and moving furniture across
campus at the request of upperclassmen, this gives freshmen their first taste
of Caltech pranking and after this shared experience, each house is drawn
together as a tight community.
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| Caltech Dorm houses |
The houses are microcosms within Caltech. There are
enough different personalities within the houses that almost everyone can find
someplace to fit in. I have found that the house system is a wonderful way to
establish a family-like support network. Even from the beginning, I have felt
like I was a part of what was going on and that people cared about what was
going on in my life.
Getting into a house gives each freshman an instant
circle of friends and a constant source of social activity. Each house hosts
one large "inter house" party during the year, as well as many
smaller parties. Every house elects a social team that plans other events such
as ski trips, concerts, and trips to various L.A. tourist locations, but most
social activity isn't incredibly organized. Nightly, students can be found
relaxing and socializing in tech common areas of the house, getting to know the
group of people who will be their neighbors for four years.
Athletics
While academic competition is almost nonexistent, the
seven houses engage in constant competition through a year-round schedule of
inter-house sports. The houses play softball, soccer, swimming, track,
basketball, Ultimate Frisbee, and football, earning points for compiling the
best record in each sport. the house with the most points at the end of the
year wins the inter-house trophy. The games are competitive, but everyone gets a
chance to play. Eighty-five percent of students play in inter-house sports
before they graduate.
Intercollegiate
sports are open to almost any student who can commit to daily practices, and
almost thirty percent of the student body plays on Caltech's eighteen NCAA, Division
III teams. There is cross-country, soccer, basketball, baseball, fencing, and
more, but for over a decade now, no football team. There are also a wide
variety of physical education classes for students to fulfill their PE
requirement, ranging from traditional sports to yoga, scuba diving, and rock
climbing.
Other Activities
Many Caltech students happen to be talented musicians,
so the school sponsors a variety of music and arts programs. There is a concert
band, two jazz bands, chamber music, a symphony orchestra, men's and women's
glee clubs and a theater program that performs three shows every year. A
growing number of art programs at Caltech are now being organized by students.
There are several a capella groups, multiple rock bands, dance troupes,
and a literacy magazine, all run entirely by students.
Just because we're a small school doesn't mean we
don't have talented musicians or poets or athletes or actors. It just means
people came here to do science. Academics are rightly going to come first, but
when people make time for extracurricular, they typically put their souls into
them. I've been singing in choirs since elementary school, so when I had some
time in my schedule I signed up for the woman's glee club. It's great! where
else on campus do you see 45 women, ranging from undergrads to faculty and
staff to members of the community, all together? We're not just talking about
singing here__ the women's glee club is a force, a sisterhood, a philosophy
lesson on living people tend to stick with the club for all four years, so you
make many friends. Not only is it a time to socialize; it challenges you in
other ways. You learn with a different part of the brain, and it revitalizes that
creative side.
These groups are just a sampling of more than
ninety student clubs on campus that's one club for every ten students! Caltech
students run a cheer-leading squad, chess tam, entrepreneur club, student
investment fund, amateur radio club, science fiction club, ethnic
organizations, religious groups. and many more. Recently, a group of Caltech
students started an undergraduate research journal that is now distributed at
numerous universities across the country.
Whatever you
want to do, Caltech will always be very understanding and supportive. If you're
interested in extracurricular activities, it's simple to get involved in clubs
or student government. If you're interest in sports, you can participate on a
team or just play recreationally in inter-house sports. If you have a hobby that
isn't already at Caltech, you can easily start a new club, since there are so
few students, one person can make a big difference. While I've been here, I've
seen students start an undergraduate research journal, a cheer-leading squad,
and a community service group that didn't even exist when I was applying.
Student Government
All these clubs operate with little or no oversight
from the faculty or administration and are an example of Caltech's long
tradition of student self-governance. Many aspects of this self-governance have
been alluded to elsewhere in this essay, and it is an integral part of student
life at Caltech. Student government bodies decide who lives in the dorms,
discipline students in cases of cheating, fund the majority of student
activities, and choose representatives that help read admissions applications.
Students government is centered around a non-profit
organization known as the Associated
Students of Caltech (ASCIT), Inc. Completely independent of the
Institute, ASCIT publishes the student newspaper, yearbook, student
handbook,
and literary magazine. ASCIT is also in charge of administering the
Honor
System: suspected cases of cheating are investigated and adjudicated by
the
Board of Control, a committee of twelve students. Student
representatives,
along with faculty members, also sit on the Conduct Review Committee,
which
rules on disciplinary matters for undergraduates. Those students are
just a few
of the more than sixty student representatives on various Caltech
committees
that review academic policies, set the dinner menu, make admissions
decisions, award merit scholarships, and determine academic
ineligibility, to name a few
examples. Caltech students are allowed to participate in almost every
administrative decision that affects student life, which is a rare
privilege in
the present-day big business of higher education.
Traditions
This level of influence allows students a high degree
of independence from Caltech administration. Over the years, students have been
able to shape their own unique way of life without much administrative
interference. This has created many quirky traditions, one of the wackiest
being senior Ditch Day, which was featured on the Tonight Show's "Jaywalking"
in the summer of 2002. One day every May, all the seniors ditch their classes
and leave campus. Many years ago, underclassmen began to prank senior's room
while they were gone. The seniors countered by "stacking" their
rooms, creating barriers to keep students from getting in on Ditch Day. Over
the years, these stacks have become more elaborate, and now most take the form
of an all-day scavenger hunt, where students run around campus collecting clues
that will unlock the senior's rooms. The institute has relented to the
students, and now cancels classes every year for Ditch Day. Every year, this
creates some unexpected sights, which can really be understood only by those
going through it. Ditch Day is somewhat representative of the entire student
experience at Caltech; it is quirky and unpredictable, and is exactly what
Caltech students enjoy.
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