Congratulations on your admission to Caltech. We the Organization of Associated Students from the Indian Subcontinent (OASIS) take immense pleasure in welcoming you to the campus. We want to make your initial experience in Caltech and the United States memorable. Please feel free to contact us by emailing for any kind of concern you may have. The contact email addresses are available in the contact page. Here we tried to list out items and thoughts that you may find helpful.
Sign up for OASIS updates:
Please sign up onto the OASIS memberlist from the members page and we would be glad to keep you updated about the events we organize for the freshers every year.
Travel to Caltech:
The best way to reach Caltech is by taking a flight to the Los Angeles International Airport(LAX), Los Angeles. Caltech, Pasadena is about 30 minutes from LAX Airport. OASIS in association with International Students Program (ISP) provides for Free Airport pickup to all the new incoming students. Please inform us atleast 3-4 weeks prior to your arrival so that we could arrange for a pickup. Alternate mode of travel does exist from the LAX Airport to the Caltech Campus. You could use the Super Shuttle (Blue Colour) or the Red Vans service to reach Caltech from the Airport. Once you come out of the airport lookout for people with Red/Blue shirt and cap in order to catch Red Vans or Super Shuttle respectively.
Please ensure that your passport will be valid for the period of your stay here. Always carry your passport, VISA and I-20 on your person or in your cabin luggage. When entering the US , you will be given the I-94 form (which keeps your arrival and departure record). You should always keep this form with your passport (it is a good idea to staple it to your passport).
If you are coming from India and plan to call home from a public place, you should consider buying an international calling card. International calling rates from public places (e.g. airports/hotels/etc.) are extremely high. You can, of course, purchase good calling cards upon reaching Caltech but we would suggest you to buy one from India for initial use. "Reliance Passport" is a pretty usual stuff that people buy from India while coming to the US. Most of the recreation rooms in the Graduate housing have phones from where you can call India using your calling card.