Reply to Is Caltech mostly for geniuses who want to do super nerdy research?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Can a [b]normal smart kid[/b] fit in and be happy there? High score and GPA from rigorous school. LOVES school and learning. Happy when doing homework and studying for tests but not a nerd. Looks and acts nothing like those guys in the Big Bang theory - it’s actually a pretty fashionable and popular girl but just happens to really love science [/quote]

This is tough to answer.  What is 'normal' to you?  Back in the day, physics, computers, comic books, anime club, D&D was uber-nerdy.  Somewhere down the line Comic-Con is a cultural event, people have actually heard of Studio Ghibli, and FAANG is a thing.

I can't speak specifically to the culture of Caltech, but generally 'tech' schools are going to skew in a technical direction.  Most certainly there are students with broader interests, but they chose to pursue a highly technical school with a narrower set of curricular options.  That's going to tend to be a particular type of student.  I don't think it's a question of 'normal' as that is normal to that type of student.  Maybe because I was never fashionable or popular in high school, but I don't understand how that really signals anything meaningful.

Caltech's sweet spot is clearly cutting-edge research opportunities in a small tight-knit environment of like-minded students. And because the research is cutting-edge, I suppose by definition it would qualify as 'super-nerdy' as well as pretty immersive.  I think the question for your DC is whether they want to be in that kind of environment.  For my own, we toured MIT and did some research.  While she is interested in STEM, she also loves humanities topics and art/music.  She has realized she wants an environment where she may very well have roommates that are art history, sociology, or musicology majors versus one where everyone is likely CS or engineering.  Some students are STEM through and through and want to be immersed (or will be very comfortable) in that environment.

Maybe look at what kind of environment she wants or would be comfortable in and recognize, as noted earlier, Caltech is going to at the far end of the continuum (and so is MIT)

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