Dark Matter experiments at Caltech?

[gixd]

Hi everybody,

I just got admitted by UChicago, Caltech, UWashington and (maybe) Berkeley. My goal is to work in "direct detection" dark matter experiments, such as time projection chamber, silicon-based detector, X/gamma-ray detector...etc. Looks like Caltech is the weakest among them? Why is it so much into cosmology and gravitational lensing experiments? I am a international student from a small tropical island. I am a surfer and a cyclist. I am pretty sure I will die in Chicago or Seattle, and I want to do my PhD in California so bad. Can anyone please tell me if you have heard that Caltech is planning to join experiments like LZ, CDMS(yes it is, but looks like not much $ into it?), XENON-1T, or others? It is crucial to my life. Every surfer knows what it means of living in Chicago. Thank you all for reading my dumb question. 

[SymmetryOfImperfection]

you really don't know what you want to do until you really start doing it. if you haven't actually done cosmology/gravitational lensing vs. direct detection, you can't really say which you like better. Personal experience.