In 2014, there were 90 women in the entering class at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. This year there are 111. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in the fall of 2014, women were 36 percent of the 983 undergraduate students at CalTech.
Given that there are so few women at this prestigious university, it is truly remarkable that three of the current women undergraduate students at CalTech are sisters.
The Butkovich family from Blue Springs, Missouri, currently has three daughters attending CalTech. Slava is a junior, Nina is a sophomore, and Larzarina is a first-year student. CalTech says that it is the first time in university history that three sisters have been enrolled in three different classes at the same time. The university also stated that family ties with other students are not a factor in admissions decisions.
Each sister was valedictorian of their high school class and plays a musical instrument. All of the sisters are interested in chemical engineering. Their mother is a chemical engineer and their father is a lawyer.
