Caltech biology gradschool experience

[rjl1992]

Hello, 

I was recently invited to an interview to caltech and want to find out more about the grad school experience in general (biology specifically.. but any info is greatly appreciated). I was wondering if anyone knows a bit about the culture, academics, or anything about it? I have never met anyone who has attended gradschool there.

Any info would be great! thanks!

[Neuro PolarBear]

Congratulations on your interview to caltech! That's quite an accomplishment.

I personally don't really have answers to your questions. To be honest, these are exactly the kind of questions you should should be asking other graduate students during the interview weekend. They will surely have a better perspective on caltech than pretty much any of us here can offer.

Academically, caltech is a fabulous place, with some of the top researchers across many different fields. I'd suggest looking more closely at the research of the professors that you're interested in before the interview and then use the interview weekend as an opportunity to answer your other questions about the graduate program's environment.

 

[onceinalifetime]

I'm sorry but I can't answer that either. But I applied to Caltech biology too, and am very curious to if I can gain a little insight into my chances of getting in.

I am aware that they have sent out many of their interview invites already. This made me really worried, so I contacted the program director guy and he said they won't be done inviting people till Jan 6, so I guess I still have a shot! But tbh, I never felt I had a strong chance anyway; Caltech was my stretch school.

What track are you going to focus in? I want to do biophysics. Mind sharing with me your qualifications? Sorry, I know thats a bit personal and if you don't want to I'd totally understand if you just ignore me. I just wanna know what caliber of students are getting invited lol. I kind of wanna know if I was out of line applying there in the first place... My GRE was V162/Q165, 3.62 GPA, 2/3 of my LoR should be strong, the other should be OK, but my research exp is really lacking. Oh, and one more big question I've really wanted to ask someone - what subj GRE did you take and did you do really well?

Would really appreciate a little insight haha. A good luck at your interview! I'm a bit jealous

[rjl1992]

thanks to everyone that answered! and if anyone else wants to share anything please do!  onceinalifetime I also felt that it was a stretch. 

I did not take any subject test as for biology it was not required..got around 160s in the gre and have a 3.7 gpa in a big state school. I do have research experience as an undergrad and currently working as a lab tech. I have 3 papers and some research scholarships as an undergrad. i know that academic and research backgrounds vary a lot among the invited students so i would not worry yet, specially if they are not done inviting students. I want to do the systems bio option. Good luck, I would not worry about it yet! 

If anyone else knows about the caltech grad life please share, anything would be appreciated.

[bicsy]

10 hours ago, PlanB said:

The school has a lacks atmosphere. 

What do you mean by this? I spent a few months doing research at Caltech recently, and although it is a very small school, I think the faculty make an effort to ensure that their graduate students have positive experiences, both in research and in grad life in general.

Caltech hosts a ton of educational and cultural events including seminars on a variety of topics, dance lessons, concerts (eg. MUSE/IQUE), and lots of poster sessions. Caltech has a beautiful campus, and a lot of really cool buildings with exhibits that are open to the public. If you want to leave campus, there is a ton to do in Pasadena: lots of bars, shopping, great restaurants. The nearby mountains offer hiking and scenic views. 

I can't speak as much for graduate academics at Caltech, as I am not a grad student there. But based on my interactions with my PI and other grad students at Caltech, I can tell that the faculty want their students to succeed in their research. IMO, more of a focus seems to be placed on research than on courses, but take that statement with a grain of salt. 

Good luck!

[onceinalifetime]

18 hours ago, rjl1992 said:

thanks to everyone that answered! and if anyone else wants to share anything please do!  onceinalifetime I also felt that it was a stretch. 

I did not take any subject test as for biology it was not required..got around 160s in the gre and have a 3.7 gpa in a big state school. I do have research experience as an undergrad and currently working as a lab tech. I have 3 papers and some research scholarships as an undergrad. i know that academic and research backgrounds vary a lot among the invited students so i would not worry yet, specially if they are not done inviting students. I want to do the systems bio option. Good luck, I would not worry about it yet! 

If anyone else knows about the caltech grad life please share, anything would be appreciated.

Really you didn't take a subj GRE? It is 'strongly recommended' according to their site and when i spoke to the coordinator she said you should definitely take it, BUT only report the score if you get a really good score. I asked her what would be considered 'good' enough and she said 80th %ile or better. I took the biochem GRE and bombed the hell out of it and immediately knew I wasn't going to be showing them my score. So hopefully that's not too big an issue. But like I said, getting in tehre was a stretch in the first place, and now that Im not sending in a GRE subj score on top of my already slim chances, I've basically given up hope.

[TakeruK]

At Caltech, "strongly recommended" for subject GREs should be read as "optional", in my opinion. Like the graduate coordinator said, only report it if you have a good score. I know many people who got into Caltech programs without submitting the "strongly recommended" GRE scores. Don't give up hope---it's not over until it's over.

[onceinalifetime]

9 hours ago, TakeruK said:

At Caltech, "strongly recommended" for subject GREs should be read as "optional", in my opinion. Like the graduate coordinator said, only report it if you have a good score. I know many people who got into Caltech programs without submitting the "strongly recommended" GRE scores. Don't give up hope---it's not over until it's over.

This is great news, because I bombed the hell out of it and really don't want to show them the score haha. I think everything else I'm bringing to the table is reasonably competitive, so I'm really hoping that subj GRE isn't going to be the one blemish that destroys my chances