Caltech vs. Scripps!

[Sir_RedFlare]

I'm biochem major, and accepted to both Caltech and Scripps (La Jolla).

While I prefer Scripps over Caltech, I just want to hear broader opinions.

Any suggestions?

[Mrs. Bio]

If you prefer Scripps go to Scripps. Scripps I feel has a very different environment from your typical univerisity (I applied this year and prefer several other places over Scripps because I personally find the "community" feeling a university can provide to be very supportive - but that's just who I am). If you know you'll be happy there than why not go there? The science at Scripps is top-notch!

Edited March 7, 2011 by yeahyeah

[sailing26]

Hey. I also just visited Scripps last weekend. And surprisingly, I found myself very in love w/ their program. I'm sure that CalTech also have an equally excellent biochem program. It's really a matter of finding the place that will fit you the best. Like for me, right now i'm also debating b/w Scripps, Yale & Duke.

And I totally agree that Scripps is very different environment. TSRI is a research institute, not a university, there are pros & cons associated w/ that. For example, as "yeahyeah" said, there's definitely gonna be a larger and probably stronger grad student community at a university like CalTech. Whereas at a institute, grad students may struggle to find the "community" feeling. For example, when I was visiting Cold Spring Harbor, I found the students there seemed to be under chronic stress. But this does not mean that students cannot find good support at an institute. During my visit at Scripps, I found the students there also to be very well-supported. The professors I talked to tole me that they actually really treasure grad students there b/c grad students are usually very fun and make their labs more fun. And the grad students seemed to be happy and also had a life outside of science. This may b/c Scripps is at San Diego and w/ close proximity to UC SD so that there's a lot of things going on around the area whereas places such as Cold Spring is relatively much more isolated.

Also, at universities, there are sports events or concerts sorta stuff that you will not find at a research institute (but i doubt how much spare time we'll have to spend on those activities once we start working in the lab). And as a university w/ multiple departments, there're more courses offered. And if you need to collaborate w/ sb. from another discipline of science such as physics or mathematics, it's probably more feasible in a university setting.

However, on the other hand, as a research institute, faculties from Scripps do not have teaching duties. They can devote themselves 100% to research. And if professors do decide to teach. It'll be completely voluntary and the courses are more likely to be interesting and well-organized. If necessary, you can also take classes from UC SD.

And it also boils down to what kinda research you are looking for. I do not know much about the CalTech program. But if you want to do research that is at the interface b/w biology and chemistry, then Scripps is THE place to be. The Scripps program also focuses on Biomedical research, so they have very strong programs in area such as immunology as well. And for me, for example, want to do research that allows me to both generate functional genomics data and develop computational tools to analyze the data. And I know that there are a couple of faculty at Scripps that will support me and develop such projects w/ me. Whereas I still need to find out if I can work w/ sb on such subjects at Yale or Duke. But anyway, that's just me.

Anyhow, I think after all it really comes down to finding the place that fits you the best. I have no doubt that you can do excellent science at either CalTech or Scripps!