California Institute of Technology Reviews

"Great faculty access and support, but very limited socially"

"Caltech is a great school, but you have to work hard and the professors are often too famous to be readily accessible to students."

"Caltech is a great school that does care about their graduate students futures. It's also near the best surf spots in the world. So stop thinking and apply!"

"Pros - an education very targeted towards academic research, highly creative professors, near the beach Cons - not in exciting big city, small social network"

"Pros: You will get a job when you leave. You can work for almost any advisor, regardless of your enrollment option. Great faculty support to get out of your program in 5 years, this is new. Cons: You are no longer the smartest person in your class/ program. Accept this and you will do well. Otherwise you will go crazy. Area is a little expensive, beyond rent, such as food and other random things. It is not as close to the beach as you may think. The parking is the city of Pasadena is very annoying, but not a deal breaker by any means."

"The Chem PhD program in Cal Tech in general focus more on academia than industry. It is a really nice one, but highly competetive, with heavy workload. The hard work pays off in the end though, since most students can get pretty decent jobs, either in academia or industry."

"Excellent research institution. Research is relevant and interesting and applicable to today's needs. No other place can match the research at Caltech. However, teaching quality could be improved (just because one has a Nobel Prize does not make him/her a good teacher)."

"Course is good - v.good access to professors - , social life and environment very limited."

"Very motivated & intelligent colleagues, innovative & interdisciplinary, but requires quite a bit of independence as faculty are often traveling. Mentorship and training for non-academic career options could be better implemented, although this is highly variable by advisor."

"The workload varies. The first year is really tough with all the classes you have to take. After the quals it becomes ok, but it depends on your field I guess. People in experimental fields (biology, chemistry) tend to spend a lot of time in their labs. In theoretical fields it is more manageable. Dating is terrible."

"Overall speaking, the Caltech graduate student program is of high quality."