What a friend would tell you
What Caltech is looking for
Caltech wants proof you can do hard science, not just talk about it. Research experience, competition results (USAMO, USAPHO, ISEF), or independent projects in math and physics carry more weight than a perfect GPA. The application should read like a lab notebook, not a yearbook: show what problems you have worked on and what you discovered.
What students wish they'd known
The workload is punishing, even by elite-school standards. Collaboration is encouraged, but sets (problem sets) consume most waking hours. At 1,000 undergrads, social options are limited, and Pasadena's quiet residential streets offer little nightlife. Students who want breadth in humanities or social sciences will find the offerings thin.
Caltech might be a fit if...
- You have competed in or trained for national-level math or science olympiads
- You want to do original research as an undergraduate, not just assist a grad student
- You prefer a tiny, collaborative cohort of people who think in equations over a big university social scene
Caltech Admissions Strategy
Application Info
Plans: EA only
Deadlines: EA November 1 · RD January 5
Deadlines: EA November 1 · RD January 5
Test Policy
Test required
Demonstrated Interest
Not Tracked
Not tracked. Skip the info-session circuit and put those hours into the application itself.
Interview
Optional
Yield Rate
61%
61% of admits enroll, which is typical for a selective school. Waitlists here move every year.
Want to boost your odds at Caltech and every reach on your list, so admissions stops feeling like a coin flip?
Join the free one-hour workshop from two Harvard grads who have helped 3,000+ students get in. Parents welcome.
Cost & Financial Aid at Caltech
$84,474
Sticker Price
Need-blind admissions. Meets 100% of demonstrated need. 51% receive financial aid.
What you get for it: Caltech spends about $140,000 per student per year on instruction and student resources, roughly 9x the $15K national average. You see it in class sizes, faculty access, and research budgets.
What Caltech Graduates Get
$85,000
Avg Starting Salary
99%
Employed or in Grad School
77%
Graduate in 4 Years
The 4-year number is the on-time rate; the 6-year rate (96%) is the one schools usually advertise. A wide gap means many students pay for extra semesters.
Caltech Campus & Culture
The Campus
Caltech's 124-acre campus sits in residential Pasadena, framed by the San Gabriel Mountains. The core is Mediterranean Revival: terra-cotta roofs, arched colonnades, and olive trees around Beckman Mall. Millikan Library (now Caltech Hall) anchors the south end, while the Cahill Center for Astronomy, designed by Thom Mayne, adds angular steel-and-glass modernism at the edges.
The Social Scene
House system, social fraternities and sororities, tight-knit community
Caltech Traditions & Trivia
Ditch Day
seniors vanish from campus, leaving their doors guarded by elaborate puzzle 'stacks' that underclassmen spend the whole day solving; the date is secret until 'Ditch Day is tomorrow' echoes down the halls.
The Honor Code
exams are take-home, self-timed, and unproctored; the whole system runs on one sentence about not taking unfair advantage.
Pumpkin Drop
at Halloween midnight, liquid-nitrogen-frozen pumpkins shatter off Millikan Library while physics students debate the flash of light.
Academics at Caltech
What Caltech is known for
Rigorous science/engineering, tiny classes, collaborative problem-solving
Most popular majors at Caltech
Standout programs
Physics, Engineering, Chemistry, Astronomy, Computer Science
How the curriculum works
Core curriculum in science and math; heavy emphasis on labs and hands-on learning
Recommended high school courses
4 years Math, 4 years Science (including Physics, Chemistry), 4 years English
Notable Caltech Alumni
Richard Feynman
Nobel Prize in Physics, taught at Caltech for 35 years
Linus Pauling
Won both the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the Nobel Peace Prize, Caltech PhD 1925
Frank Borman
Commanded Apollo 8, first crewed mission to orbit the Moon, Caltech MS 1957
Frances Arnold
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018 for directed evolution, Caltech professor and PhD
Kip Thorne
Nobel Prize in Physics 2017 for gravitational wave detection, Caltech BS 1962
If you like Caltech, also consider
MIT
Same intensity with a bigger campus, more social options, and Boston's resources
Stanford
Builder culture with more humanities breadth and Silicon Valley proximity
Harvey Mudd
Small STEM focus with mandatory humanities, less research pressure
Princeton
Top physics and math departments inside a broader university
University of Chicago
Comparable intellectual rigor with more social science and humanities depth