Caltech

After two days of biting my nails, waiting for the mail the letter from Caltech finally came. The first thing I saw when I opened the mailbox was the big packet. I figured the fact that it was a packet and not a slim letter was probably a good thing, as they don't send people they reject packets, as far as I knew.
I ripped it open as I was standing there in the snow in front of my mailbox. I couldn't wait any longer. Inside was a folder that said "Welcome to Caltech" on the front. I figured this was probably another good sign, as they wouldn't be welcoming me if they were rejecting me, but I still knew I could be deferred so I kept my hopes in check.
However, when I read the first line I allowed a bit of happiness to seep in:
"Dear Lindsay,
It is an honor to inform you of the Admission Committee's decision to offer you a place in the California Institute of Technology's Class of 2011."

I didn't bother reading the rest; I promptly did a celebratory snow dance in front of the mailbox, not caring who was wathcing me jump up and down in circles.

OHH... choices. Now I have big choices. I am 99.9% sure I will get into University of Chicago. So my top three choices are right there: Caltech, MIT, or UC. I hopefully will be able to visit all of them. I'll have to think about it a lot. I'll have to see how the financial aid goes as well, which apparently Caltech will tell me in January according to the CSS and I don't have to fill out the FAFSA, but I need to look into that to make sure that is right.

I think there are some things I can begin to think about now, although I have until May to decide. First off, MIT has way more opportunities, and I think I'll like Boston more than I like Pasadena. Second, Caltech is smaller, and I think that I will like smaller better. Third, Caltech has a way better astrophysics program, but at this point I think that that would be better for grad school- I really want to go to grad school at Caltech, which maybe means I shouldn't go there for undergrad? Finally, MIT sent me a nerdy poster and Caltech didn't.

I don't know. It's kind of balanced in my mind at the moment. Caltech might be slightly better academically, but MIT is better socially. I'll have to see how it all sifts out.

Yay, I love choices. I love the feeling of opening the letter and seeing it say I got in. It makes me realize that the MIT letter probably wasn't a mistake, because it's highly improbable that both MIT and Caltech would mess up the admission letters.

*SNOW DANCE* [inside]