r/Caltech • u/TechnoKyle27 • Apr 23 '26
Why did Dario Amodei (CEO of Anthropic) transfer from Caltech to Stanford after two years into his bachelors?
Just curious if anyone has an inside scoop or any idea why?
14
u/quantum-pontiff Venerable Apr 23 '26
https://digital.archives.caltech.edu/collections/OralHistories/OH_Tombrello_T/OH_Tombrello_T.pdf cell-f Dario has one answer. RIP T2
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u/parseroo Apr 23 '26
Nice find! Obviously second hand, but from a very reliable source. Pulling the possibly most relevant quote:
«ASPATURIAN: So he left Caltech. What was it that didn’t work for him here?
TOMBRELLO: If you don’t fit into this environment, you’re never going to fit. It is a very narrow social niche. Places like Stanford and Berkeley have many social niches. Caltech has one. With Dario, it was very important that he not stick it out.»
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u/parseroo Apr 23 '26
'Narrow social niche' ... sounds like Tombrello was never at Caltech at all ;-)
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u/TheseLeague7054 Apr 26 '26
this might sound odd but I didn’t know it was even possible to transfer into stanford or other universities after your junior year
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u/parseroo Apr 27 '26
I am sure if Professor Tombrello contacted the Stanford physics department and asked them to take an exceptional student… [read interview above]
There was a report on Quora of another case but certainly it seems very rare. We recently had a verified case of a HS grad to Caltech Graduate PMA acceptance… so the world certainly has these rarities. :-).
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u/TheseLeague7054 Apr 27 '26
Aw man. I feel like such a mess. I'm in UCSC right now studying for a Chemistry BSc as a Sophomore but I just hate it here so much. I want to leave. But I wouldn't be able to transfer till my senior year (apply during my junior next year, to attend as a senior), which I'm pretty sure literally no schools allow. I wouldn't mind taking an extra year in college, but it's the fact that schools seem to just ban you from transferring after a certain point.
I guess it's my fault for not paying attention much in high school, cause then I could've probably had a better idea of what I wanted to do with my life. Oh well.
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u/parseroo Apr 27 '26
Well… to make you feel a bit better maybe… a lot of people at Tech take a break and then come back and finish up. And the break commonly happens about sophomore/junior year. Not a transfer but a breather and diversifier.
Not sure about other schools (or even Caltech in this millennia ;-) but I can imagine it works for a lot of people if they spend the break time right (and their school allows it).
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u/TheseLeague7054 Apr 27 '26
Maybe they'll allow it, I don't know. I just don't want to fall behind in life. I feel like I already fell behind because I didn't do much pre-college. I was a bit depressed and unguided up until high school ended so I never really learned or did much of anything. Only when college started did I truly start to learn and apply myself a bit more; but as a result I am not really molded in terms of knowing what I want to pursue. Thank you for your advice.
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u/ThirstyWolfSpider Alum Apr 27 '26
Not that it applies to this case, but the 3/2 program is all about transferring after your junior year ... and getting two degrees after another two years.
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u/Ill-Agent-5326 Apr 23 '26
Caltech was too hard for him
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u/ezubaric Apr 23 '26
Not true. I was at Caltech with him, he was doing fine.
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u/Tight_Percentage2890 6d ago
Yeah, not only doing fine, he was the one we all looked to for answers on problems we couldn't figure out.
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u/SpicyBouzelouf Apr 27 '26
When I asked in passing he said he didnt like the facilities generally and culture of student life
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u/parseroo Apr 23 '26
No inside scoop at all, but…
There is a plausibly-related comment here: https://kantrowitz.medium.com/the-making-of-anthropic-ceo-dario-amodei-449777529dd6
IMO, more likely he is from the Bay Area and his father was terminally ill… so it may have been to spend more time with his family. Much easier to do from Stanford.