Roy Jiang

Did you know that you don’t have to declare a major at Caltech until about halfway through the third quarter of your freshman year? That gives you an entire two-and-a-half quarters to decide what you really want to major in. That’s quite a bit of time if I do say so myself. In fact, enough time that somewhere between coming to Caltech and declaring my major, everything changed for me - I didn’t just change my major and my projected course selections, but what I wanted to do in my future. This is my story of going from an intended bioengineering major on the pre-med track to a Computer Science/Business, Economics, and Management double major looking to go to grad school.

Let’s face it: the US loves being just a little different from everyone else. The obvious example? Units of measurement. As an international student from Canada, even I have no clue what’s going on half the time when my friends talk to me and use these weird nonsensical units. And I’ve literally lived on the border between Canada and the States for all my life. After a year here, I’ve finally got a sense of how the two systems of measurement compare and how you can more easily get your bearings with these weird units.