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- World ranking
- #7QS 2027Source
- Tuition · international
- $60,816per year · 2023
- Acceptance rate
- 2.6%2024
About California Institute of Technology
Caltech began in 1891 as Throop University, a small school in Pasadena founded by local businessman and politician Amos G. Throop, and was renamed the California Institute of Technology in 1920. Astronomer George Ellery Hale, physicist Robert Millikan and chemist Arthur Amos Noyes turned it into a research-focused institute in the 1910s and 1920s. It is very small by enrollment and manages NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which grew out of Caltech rocket research in the 1930s.
At a glance
- Founded
- 1891
- Type
- Private
- Campus
- Urban
Pasadena, United States34.148, -118.145
Open on mapRankings
- QSQS#7World · 2027Source
- THETHE#7World · 2026Source
- CWURCWUR#11World · 2026United States #9Source
- ARWUARWU#10World · 2026Source
- NCSES HERDNCSES HERD#81United States and outlying areas · Total R&D expenditures · 2024Source
- URAPURAP#181World · 2025United States #44Source
Admissions & how to apply
Application routeCommon App or QuestBridge application, with Caltech-specific questionsSource
- Check the entry requirements for your course and qualifications.
- Meet the English requirement (Duolingo 130).
- Apply through Common App or QuestBridge application, with Caltech-specific questions.
- Pay the application fee ($75).
English test waiver Required for international applicants unless native language is English or English is primary language of instruction in secondary school; recommended when English is primary instruction language for non-native speakers. Source
Costs & aid
International tuition$60,816per year · 2023
- Fees$2,439
- Room & board2023$19,503
US net price$8,509
What US families pay after grants, by household income. International students usually pay the full price.
SourceFinancial aid Open to international students · Need-based — Caltech offers need-based aid to international applicants and states it meets 100% of demonstrated need; international students are need-aware. Source
Scholarships you can use here
Programmes
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Campus & media
Outcomes
- Admit rate
- 2.6%
- Graduate in 4 years
- 77.5%
- Graduate in 6 years
- 89.8%
- Return after year one
- 97.4%
- Pell grant students
- 22.8%
- Students with federal loans
- 9%
- Median debt
- $7,500
Median earnings after starting
Student body
US government and university data. Figures describe past students, not your own chances. Source
Guides for applying to United States
- Entering Senior Year: What I Wish I Knew as a First-YearHarvard College · Student Voices
- How To Write A College EssayMIT Admissions
- How Studying Abroad Influenced My Career GoalsHarvard College · Student Voices
- Advice For Crafting Your Supplemental EssayJohns Hopkins Undergraduate Admissions · Hopkins Insider