At Caltech, time sometimes feels like our greatest commodity — it’s hard to fit in so many events with school and sleep! To save time, students use a lot of acronyms and abbreviations. Here’s some that I hear the most:

• ASCIT (pronounced ask-it) – the Association of Students at the California Institute of Technology (what a mouthful!). This means all of us undergrads! The ASCIT government puts on programs, oversees clubs, and serves as a faculty liaison.

• CDS (just the letters) – Caltech Dining Services, or how we get food on campus. CDS runs Red Door (more on that in a bit), Avery Ramen, Browne Dining Hall, Broad Cafe, and Open Kitchen, which provides house dinners. They also put on fun activities during finals week, like snake kits for late-night studying and Midnight Madness, a themed culinary activity. 

• Excomm (pronounced ex-com) – short for executive committee. This is any governing body, usually used in reference to clubs and houses. I’m on the Caltech Y and Venerable House excomms and help put on a bunch of events.

• IHC (just the letters) – the Interhouse Committee, which is composed of all the House presidents, a chair, and a secretary. They communicate with administration for House events, as well as put on Interhouse sports and Rotation. 

• Interhouse (just like it sounds) – short for Interhouse Party, or what every house throws once a year for all of campus. My house spends six to eight weeks constructing a giant stage and painting many 4×8 plywood walls. It’s always a ton of fun, both building the stage and spending time with my friends at the party.

• GPS (just the letters) – Geological and Planetary Science, or the division my major is in! Caltech has six divisions, all with many majors. Mine is the coolest (no bias at all) for many reasons – many of our classes involve super cool field trips, where we spend a few days in Joshua Tree, Death Valley, or even spring break in the Galapagos!

• P/F (pronounced piff) – pass/fail, or what every freshman is on for their first two terms. It’s a wonderful segue into college life and the difficulty of Caltech, as the pressure of GPA isn’t on your shoulders. You can also elect to take certain classes, up to 10, on P/F after your first two terms.

• RDRN (just the letters) — “Red Door right now,” a phrase many of us ask each other late at night when we need a quick break from studying. Red Door is open until 2 am, which is great for the night owls among us. My late-night go-to is a chamomile tea.

• Sets (just like it sounds) – short for problem sets (and even shorter than p-sets). This is homework, usually assigned weekly. Most professors encourage collaboration on these, which is an amazing way to help you learn.

• SURF (pronounced surf 🏄) – Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Caltech’s program for student summer research! For 10 weeks, you conduct your own research project and present on it afterwards. It’s a really cool taste into what research is like. I did my SURF off-campus at Northwestern University, where I studied plastic-producing bacteria!