Jump to content

CalTech Aerospace


rieuk

Recommended Posts

Same here. Tough decisions ahead..

I wonder how close JPL and GALCIT actually are in terms of collaboration. That would be the deciding factor for me.

Well if the fellowship is sizable would that make your decision any simpler? I notice they differentiate between "aeronautics" and "aerospace" where the aerospace stream has a more space orientation and involves collaboration with JPL. That's for Masters though, there's on a PhD in "Aeronautics".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, are any of you assigned to Prof. Dale Pullin?

Thanks.

No mention of any Professors over here ... are you talking about the academic supervisor or RA appointment?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No mention of any Professors over here ... are you talking about the academic supervisor or RA appointment?

Hi, more like the RA appointment. Anyways, was just curious that's all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey, Did you guys hear from the Dean of graduate studies of Caltech or the GALCIT lab? My mail [from GALCIT - not from the dean] says that I have been nominated for admission. Does that mean a confirmed admit?

Also, did anyone get to know about the fellowship information?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey, Did you guys hear from the Dean of graduate studies of Caltech or the GALCIT lab? My mail [from GALCIT - not from the dean] says that I have been nominated for admission. Does that mean a confirmed admit?

Also, did anyone get to know about the fellowship information?

Mine was from GALCIT and I was told I'd get a letter from the dean soon. I was also wondering about the "nomination". It's a bit unclear and it's been over a week so I'm getting a little nervous...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mine was from GALCIT and I was told I'd get a letter from the dean soon. I was also wondering about the "nomination". It's a bit unclear and it's been over a week so I'm getting a little nervous...

Did you guys call them up and ask? About this letter/fellowship?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mine was also of that kind..seemed clear enough though: "Congratulations, again, on your accomplishments and on being admitted to graduate study at Caltech." I called and did not get much useful information regarding the fellowship..stuck waiting for the official mail it seems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have not heard back from them, so, I'm assuming I didn't make the cut. Not a huge surprise, though..

I'd call up Christine for an answer though - there aren't many admits reported on the results page so they might be still deliberating...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi guys, just started this account to get/dish out more info.

I got the first letter that said that I was being "recommend for candidacy" on Feb 24th and I received the official one from the dean (with good news about the fellowship) yesterday, Mar 7th. Also since I happend to be in Los Angeles, I set up a visiting day with Christine and spent the whole day there yesterday. I was really impressed and had a really good time!

I'll give you guys my impression if you haven't visited yet and I'd love to hear everyone else's opinions:

-all the current students made it sound like the first year (which is purely classes and no research) is very very hard.

-the profs said that the focus of the school and the research is more on the fundamentals behind aerospace as opposed to specific applications (like they said MIT does)

-the campus is beautiful, but I'm biases being from LA and having spent the last four years with Boston winters.

-the school is really small, there's only 15-20 people per year. I still haven't decided if that's a pro or a con

-all the students seem to get along and everyone was nice

-the professors seem to encourage collaboration among groups and even among departments which they say is impossible at larger schools

-the connection with JPL may be a bit exaggerated. They don't really work hand in hand like I thought before, they seem to share projects every now and then but always with separate funding

All in all, I really liked it. Is anyone choosing between MIT and CalTech? I'm really stumped and I would love to hear other people's opinions and input. And if you got the letter about candidacy, I'd expect you probably already got, or will be getting shortly, the letter from the dean about admission. Congrats everyone.

Edited by jbur1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi guys, just started this account to get/dish out more info.

I got the first letter that said that I was being "recommend for candidacy" on Feb 24th and I received the official one from the dean (with good news about the fellowship) yesterday, Mar 7th. Also since I happend to be in Los Angeles, I set up a visiting day with Christine and spent the whole day there yesterday. I was really impressed and had a really good time!

I'll give you guys my impression if you haven't visited yet and I'd love to hear everyone else's opinions:

-all the current students made it sound like the first year (which is purely classes and no research) is very very hard.

-the profs said that the focus of the school and the research is more on the fundamentals behind aerospace as opposed to specific applications (like they said MIT does)

-the campus is beautiful, but I'm biases being from LA and having spent the last four years with Boston winters.

-the school is really small, there's only 15-20 people per year. I still haven't decided if that's a pro or a con

-all the students seem to get along and everyone was nice

-the professors seem to encourage collaboration among groups and even among departments which they say is impossible at larger schools

-the connection with JPL may be a bit exaggerated. They don't really work hand in hand like I thought before, they seem to share projects every now and then but always with separate funding

All in all, I really liked it. Is anyone choosing between MIT and CalTech? I'm really stumped and I would love to hear other people's opinions and input. And if you got the letter about candidacy, I'd expect you probably already got, or will be getting shortly, the letter from the dean about admission. Congrats everyone.

Thanks for the great info! That is a big call you've got to make between MIT and Caltech ... I guess it would depend on what area you want to go into down the track. Interesting how they said MIT is all about fundamentals - looking at the labs it looks like their research is fairly application heavy. Caltech seems to be quite 'physics-y' whereas MIT is more 'systems engineering-y'. If I go to Caltech (still waiting on Stanford) I plan to use the first year to decide on what really interests me. Did you see much on space propulsion while you were there?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting how they said MIT is all about fundamentals - looking at the labs it looks like their research is fairly application heavy.

Did you see much on space propulsion while you were there?

You're right, it was the other way around, they said caltech focuses on fundamentals (physics-y, like you said after) vs MIT which focus on applications and systems. I didn't really look into propulsion cause I'm more interested in solids. I'm sure they're great at it though.

Edited by jbur1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And if you got the letter about candidacy, I'd expect you probably already got, or will be getting shortly, the letter from the dean about admission. Congrats everyone.

I'm curious as I haven't already got my letter from the dean, and the letter from the option representative seems to be different from yours. Instead of candidacy it uses the equally ambiguous word "nomination" like the one tricky got. Somebody else has already got the letter from the dean?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use