DiscoTech 2023

“The best part is that I get to read 3 days of webtoons” — Unknown scribe

DiscoTech

In mid-April, admitted students (also known as prefrosh) can go to an event at Caltech called DiscoTech where they experience the culture, research, and education at the school. I was able to convince my parents to let me skip class for three days to go to the event. I did not miss much from my classes.

House System

Caltech has two types of options for housing: houses (similar to fraternity/sorority) and a suite-style dorm called Bechtel.

There are eight houses and they have have unique cultures and traditions, since many of them were constructed before WW2. These houses were the most involved with the DiscoTech event, likely because they are more social and involved in the community.

I did not speak to many students who lived at Bechtel, or wanted to live at Bechtel, likely because of self-selection/survivorship bias based on how much they want to involve themselves with the rest of the school. However, the students I met who did live at Bechtel actually either moved into the one of the houses unofficially anyway (with a friend), or didn’t want to live at Bechtel.

That’s because there is a housing lottery for 2nd year and up that determines who is allowed to keep living in the houses/on campus. I see a fascinating contrast in how many students do not want to move out of the houses even though Bechtel, a newer building, has a more modern design and better facilities. In fact, I read an article about how there was massive backlash when the school administration attempted to move all students into newer housing to get rid of the house system. It definitely shows how much the sense of a tight community matters to students.

Niche culture

Some weird stuff happens at the houses, like smashing pianos, lockpicking, and sports, and that can be a bit too extra for many people; however, people enjoy different niches, so there is the opportunity to experience every house.

Note: although there are stereotypes, not everyone in the house will fit exactly into that group, and there are many types of people in each one.

Some Problems with DiscoTech

1. Most prefrosh (like me) were sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags. This was super bad for my back and I would have liked at least a mattress or couch. There was also not enough space because there was double the people in the rooms.

2. The house breakfast was very lacking, likely because people at the school wake up at noon. However, I’ve heard that the breakfast at the dining halls is nice.

3. The labeling on the map was very confusing. There is a place called Linde Hall, where the Physics, Math, and Astronomy division was having the tour, but many people like me got lost and went to Linde Lab instead. There was no explanation of which one to go to on the guidebook.

Career Options

For Caltech students, the choice of grad school and tech job are split relatively evenly. Both groups find success quickly because of the school’s brand, but I wanted to know which one is more fit for me. Although I’m still exploring both options,

Academia

Academia seems easier to get into with Caltech, but the problem is that a lot of it is results-dependent, and the money is not really there compared to being in tech. Sure, it’s exciting to be on the frontier of new discoveries, but if something cannot be turned into a paper, it might as well not have happened.

I love the excitement of finding or making something new in research, but there are many parts of academia like the competition that just don’t appeal to me.

However, my brother did say that one of his professors that he is close with is living quite comfortably, but that becoming a professor might just mean that I would only be able to get a job in the middle of nowhere unless I had some amazing combination of luck and skill.

Industry

The problem with industry is that some things just seem very pointless even if there is a lot of money. Sure, writing some code to trade stocks for $500k is nice, but at the end of the day, there is no contribution to society.

Or, becoming a web programmer and making some websites for companies. There is a lot of money, and maybe it requires some skill to pull off, but why even go to Caltech in that case?

There are some jobs in tech that are very rewarding though, perhaps more on the research side. In this case, one can contribute to society while living comfortably. I think that this brings out the parts of academia that I do like.

College Schedule Recommendations

I had lunch with my brother while I was in Pasadena and asked him many questions about what courseload/research he recommends in each of the years. Here is what I gathered.

For people who don’t think they can handle academia and would instead rather go into the tech industry, it is important to get internships at companies during the 4 years at college.

However, many companies will not accept 1st or 2nd year students during the summer because the companies don’t want them to jump ship after a while. They would much rather have retention through hiring a junior (3rd year) during the summer and have the student come work with the company immediately.

So, my brother recommended that I do research in the 1st or 2nd year. However, it is much easier to get a paper published if the work begins in the school year. As such, it was recommended that I test out of any and all core classes (required freshman courses) so that I can make room for research. It could be possible to apply for research credits, though I’m not too sure how that works yet.

I also heard that the freshman teaching for math is particularly bad.

Interesting People

There were many cool people that I met, one of which is a Professor who brings his dog Professor Ted to class. Ted (we are on a first-name-basis) taught a bit of quantum mechanics, performing the famed Schrodinger’s Dog experiment, in which we observed a dog wave function and a treat wave function collapse into a dog wave function.

I also met Elon Musk’s son, who is in the same grade. I’m not sure if he enjoys being talked about, but I’m sure it must be tough to be the child of such a well-known person since that’s all that anyone knows about him. However, he did seem very invested in his research, if that compliment from me means anything. Overall though, most of the students at DiscoTech were nice.

I spent most of my time with my roommate B, but also with my friend A. If I met three more people with names starting with C, D, and E, I could make a math problem. However, by the end, my social battery was drained and I just wanted to go home.

Teaching Vs Research

Many of the profs at Caltech are extremely good at research (otherwise they would not have gotten hired), but lacking in their teaching skills. In fact, a lot of the teachers I’ve had in high school could probably teach me better if they learned and understood the material for as long as the professors have.

However, there were also professors who were very good at teaching and engaged the crowd well. One of them was Mike Brown, who described his search for Planet 9 and is known for being the astronomer who killed Pluto by classifying it as more of an asteroid in the Kuiper Belt. I actually got a signed copy of his book, “How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming.” The title alone reveals that he has quite a sense of humor and is not as stuck up as many other scientists.

I also attended a bio lecture by Lulu Qian, which definitely taught the concept of Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and entropy quite well for an audience that might not have known what they were. That part was the best, but then she described current work in creating various machines out of DNA. A student assumed that the machines she described students making in class were computer simulations, but then she made it clear that the machines were imaged through x-ray crystallography.

Old Driver

Today, I passed my driver’s license test after much waiting (two hours). I, of course, had become a true follower of stoicism after my failure on the driving test in February, reaching enlightenment and becoming one with the way. As such, I was fine with waiting (of course, I am still flawed in many ways).

That’s * * the M.F. (Madly Fascinating) * * Tea

At the driving school, there was a 2-hour backup and a 19-year old white girl who was extremely upset about it. A black woman instructor confronted her and her father, who was passively holding her baby. He didn’t have much of a stake in the argument and was willing to just take the baby to the beach or somewhere to chill out. However, the girl would not back down and began to curse at the instructor, calling her “ghetto,” among other terms. Next, the girl decided to take out her phone to record (Karen mode: ACTIVATED) and toned down her language… How interesting! Eventually, the brat left with her parent (ambiguous) and they might return once again.

It turns out that she acted that way even during lessons and would not follow instructions. Of course, this is a product of the “I can do what I want” Eric Cartman mindset. I have actually only met one individual who was similarly misbehaved—a third grader in Shanghai on the same bus. However, I think that the comparison is… slightly unfair to that child.