If you’re a Caltech student looking for tips on how to win a Nobel Prize, just ask a professor who already has one. The California Institute of Technology boasts 46 Nobel Prize winners among its faculty and alumni. As an incredibly specialized school rivaling giants like MIT, Caltech has everything a STEM major needs to succeed. Located in Pasadena, Caltech is one of the most exclusive private research colleges in California.
But first, attendance requires an application. Only 3% of applicants make it into Caltech, which is an astronomically low acceptance rate. Yet for such a prominent research school, this type of selectiveness is understandable. Teacher recommendations and the rigor of a students’ schedule are incredibly important to an application to the university.
Meanwhile, students’ GPA and extracurricular activities hold secondary importance. Volunteer work and job experience will also be considered, but don’t hold the same significance in an application to Caltech. The college is also completely test-optional, meaning that standardized test scores are not required for an application and won’t be considered if submitted. Additionally, Caltech highly values its application essays. The school aims to admit students who display grit and intellectual curiosity.
Unfortunately, Oak Park High School students don’t get an advantage from living in California with Caltech. The school’s tuition comes out to about $65,000, vastly higher than the average to attend most colleges in the country. With boarding costs, fees and other expenses, students can expect to pay nearly $90,000 annually just for attendance.
On the plus side, Caltech has met 100% of the financial need requirements of its students. Most of this comes from scholarships or merit, but nonetheless, the school is able to provide a sufficient amount of financial aid to students that make it through admissions.
These high costs beg the question: Why choose Caltech? Well, Caltech checks all the boxes academically, at least for STEM students. Caltech made its name in physics, and that program remains strong. It’s also one of the most popular majors, along with computer science, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemistry, bioengineering, and math.
It’s important to note, however, that Caltech is a research institute first and a university after. The teaching is not guaranteed to be top-tier for every class, but the facilities and research are. Education at the school is still incredible, just not the top priority.
But the school’s incredible academics and resources come at the cost of the school’s living experience. Caltech undergrads are required to live on campus for all four years, and the surrounding area isn’t particularly known for social life. Additionally, those living on campus are required to purchase a meal plan, which boasts the kind of food you’d expect from a school cafeteria.
Caltech also has no fraternities or sororities. The campus instead has a system of ‘houses’, eerily similar to Harry Potter. Incoming freshmen explore each of the eight houses until finally indicating their top four in preference, one of which they will be sorted into for their full undergraduate term. The houses are the social center of Caltech, and since each one takes a turn hosting a themed “inter-house” party, students look forward to at least eight school-wide parties throughout the year.
The institute is located in suburban Pasadena, around 15 miles from Los Angeles. Yet despite being relatively closeby, Caltech is not typically associated with LA due to their contrasting environments. Luckily for Oak Park residents though, the school’s climate is not a concern. Caltech’s weather and temperature closely mirror what we feel in Ventura County… almost as if the college is just a short drive away.
In terms of athletics, Caltech is a largely Division III school and isn’t known for sports. The California Institute of Technology is heavily geared towards STEM students looking to get hands-on experience and high-level learning in their undergraduate years.
Caltech students must learn to thrive under intense pressure thanks to the school’s large workload and relatively lackluster social life. However, students who learn to survive the pressure will have a career path laid out in front of them, ready to be taken.
