What is Ditch Day in Caltech?

Ditch Day, one of Caltech’s oldest traditions, took place on May 26. During this annual spring rite—the timing of which is kept secret until the last minute—seniors ditch their classes and vanish from campus.

When was the first senior Ditch Day?

May 18, 1979: During annual Ditch Day at Caltech, underclassmen force open a senior’s door, reinforced with steel, concrete and sand. One day each spring, Caltech seniors skip classes and vanish.

What is interesting about Caltech?

Caltech is not owned or run by the United States, or NASA, but NASA pays Caltech to run JPL for them. By most measures, it is the most selective college/university in the world and has one of the highest faculty-to-student ratios in the world. Caltech’s mascot is the beaver.

What’s considered a senior?

In the United States it is generally considered that a senior citizen is anyone of retirement age, or a person that has reached age 62 or older. This newer model of senior living brings with it more questions about what age is senior citizen, and what the current assisted living qualifications are.

How does senior ditch day work?

We call it Senior Ditch Day. It is a day that seniors don’t attend school, instead they stay home or hang out with friends.

Why is Caltech mascot beaver?

Caltech’s mascot is the Beaver, a homage to nature’s engineer. Its teams are members of the NCAA Division III and compete in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), which Caltech co-founded in 1915.

Why you should go to Caltech?

It is truly interdisciplinary Being so small means that academic interdisciplinarity is a necessity at Caltech. With just 300 professorial faculty and around 600 research scholars, academic staff need to share resources, work together and work beyond traditional disciplinary silos to get things done.