An Analysis in the Caltech Rationale - 829 Words

In the analysis of the events and inspirations in my life that led to my decision on where to attend college, I view the motif of puzzles and games of logic stemming from my infancy into the current day as a major component of the reason I picked Caltech over Penn, the final two colleges in narrowing down my college search. Caltech, a very small school of 235 students per grade represented hardcore academics with an infamously difficult core curriculum, focused mainly in pure and applied math and sciences, went at odds with the University of Pennsylvania’s class size of 2400, representing a school more renowned for its Wharton School of Business than its sciences and for the college and social experiences, as it’s widely known as the Social Ivy. The decision between these two extremes – an Ivy League prestige and a fun four years versus academic rigor and a strenuous undergraduate experience filled with all-nighters – represents a microcosm of my values as the amalgamation of my past experiences, which, due to the motif of puzzles, contributed to my personal convictions for (1) the study of some form of mathematics, possibly consolidated with real-life applications, and (2) my personal philosophy of striving for knowledge and being at the top of my field, no matter the sacrifice. As a toddler, I loved to sit with my grandma and work for hours on jigsaw puzzles of increasing difficulty, as the pictures got bigger and the pieces got smaller. This led to my appreciation of