Caltech Deadlines
What are the current Caltech deadlines for admission? Caltech will begin providing applicants with two decision plans to choose from beginning in the fall of 2022: restrictive early action and regular decision. In addition, Caltech is a participant in the QuestBridge Program, which is a separate admissions program from the one used by Caltech.
Students who are certain that Caltech is their first-choice university, who are enthusiastic about the possibility of attending Caltech, and who want to learn early if they are admitted to Caltech are eligible to participate in the Restrictive Early Action (REA) early admissions process. REA is a non-binding early admissions process. Students will not be obligated to accept a REA offer from Caltech, and they will be able to assess different financial aid possibilities if they choose to apply to other institutions during the Regular Decision process.
Based on the Caltech deadlines, the applications must be submitted by the end of November, and applicants will be notified of the admissions decision (whether they have been accepted, deferred, or denied) by the middle of December. Students who have been offered admission to Caltech will then have until May 1, 2023, of the Caltech deadlines, to decide whether or not they would accept the school’s offer of admission.
Students who select the REA application for Caltech are not permitted to submit an Early Action or Early Decision application to any other college or university, with the following exceptions:
- A school located in a country other than the United States of America;
- Any public university that has a fall application deadline and uses a non-binding admissions process, such as the University of California system;
- The non-binding rolling admissions process of an educational establishment;
- Any kind of military school;
- Any scholarships or special academic programs with an early deadline at another university, whether the other institution is public or private, provided that the early application submission is a necessary aspect for consideration, and the conclusion is not binding;
- In the event that your application for REA to Caltech is deferred, you have the option of submitting an application to the Early Decision II program at another educational establishment. You are obligated to withdraw your application for admission to Caltech if you are selected to participate in the Early Decision II program at that other university.
The number of people applying to Caltech has increased dramatically over the past two years, and since the fall of 2020of the Caltech deadlines, the total number of people applying has more than doubled. The number of applicants is significantly greater than the amount of space that is now available on campus at Caltech, which only has 235 students in its first-year class.
Caltech does not have as a primary objective the reduction of its acceptance rate; rather, the institution seeks applications from students who are enthusiastic about the prospect of delving extensively into the fields of science, technology, and engineering in Southern California.
Caltech believes that by moving to a more restrictive early action process, it will be responsive to the applicants’ desire to identify Caltech as their first choice while, at the same time, allowing them to consider all of their college options and financial aid packages until based on the Caltech deadlines, May 1, before making a final decision. In addition, Caltech plans to make the majority of its admissions choices during the Regular Decision round. As was previously mentioned, deferment decisions will only be made for a limited number of applicants.
In addition, candidates have the option of applying through the Regular Decision procedure, which is Caltech’s most popular admissions process. Furthermore, the majority of students who are accepted to Caltech will have submitted their applications using the Regular Decision procedure.
Based on the Caltech deadlines, when students are notified of the admission decision in the middle of March, the following potential scenarios could occur:
- Admit: a student is given permission to accept or reject their offer of enrollment until May 1 of the following year.
- Waitlist: a student who has been waitlisted for admission to Caltech has until the middle of April to opt-in for reconsideration in the event that a seat in the class becomes available based on the Caltech deadlines, which is after May 1. Students are strongly urged to send in supporting documents for their application in the form of extra materials.
- Deny: the request of a student to enroll at Caltech is declined. It is not possible for a student to appeal a decision to deny their application because all denial decisions are final. If you would want to, you can submit a new application for the subsequent fall admission term.
Caltech will assess the applications of students who opted in for reconsideration, based on the Caltech deadlines, after May 1 in the event that there is room available in the class after that date. There is no sorting or ranking going on with the waitlist. Caltech will keep students apprised of the situation, and all waitlist action will be finished by the middle of July.
Action | Date |
Restrictive Early Action deadline | November 1, 2022 |
Restrictive Early Action decision notifications | Mid-December, 2022 |
Regular Decision deadline | January 3, 2023 |
Regular Decision notifications | Mid-March, 2023 |
Restrictive Early Action, and Regular Decision admit reply deadline | May 1, 2023 |
Does everyone get Caltech Interview?
Does everyone get Caltech Interview? You may be curious as to the rationale behind Caltech’s decision to not conduct interviews with prospective students. Although there is a possibility that the fact that Caltech does not conduct interviews is a reflection of the school’s admissions process or the institution as a whole in a poor light, it is most likely a decision that has been made with pragmatism in mind across the board.
Every time an application is processed, there would need to be anywhere between 8,000 and 12,000 interviews conducted. Because there are normally roughly 450 students in each graduating class at Caltech, a relatively high percentage of the school’s alumni community would need to be involved in this procedure. In the end, the school most likely does not conduct interviews because there are not very many students that apply for the program, and conducting interviews is not a required element of the application process.
The greatest method to build a personal connection with an admissions officer is to do so through your essays and the recommendations of your teachers. Scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) as well as a Statement of Intent Regarding Overseas Financial Aid are required of all international applicants to Caltech.
Does Caltech require SAT for 2022?
Does Caltech require SAT for 2022? The undergraduate Admissions Office of Caltech has declared, with the backing of the Faculty Committee on Freshman Admissions, that it will no longer require applicants to submit their scores from SAT subject tests as part of the process for undergraduate admissions. This modification will take effect for those students who submitted their applications to Caltech for the class based on the Caltech deadlines, that started in the autumn of 2021.
Students applying to Caltech were required to take and submit scores from the SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 2, as well as one SAT science subject test in either ecological biology, molecular biology, chemistry, or physics. In addition, students were required to submit scores from one SAT science subject test.
In addition, the SAT and ACT score requirements, as well as the evaluation of those results, have been placed under a moratorium at Caltech for the next two years as part of the university’s undergraduate admissions process. This adjustment, which was developed in response to the global COVID-19 epidemic and its continued impact on access to these tests for students across the country and the globe, will be in effect for all first-year students applying to Caltech for the academic years beginning in Fall 2021 and Fall 2022 on the Caltech deadlines.
The first-year admissions requirements have been updated by the Undergraduate Admissions Office of Caltech to emphasize the increased attention that will be paid to curriculum and academic preparedness rather than test results. This change came about as a result of the previous emphasis on test scores. During the moratorium period of two years, evaluations of applications will continue to include a comprehensive assessment of academic preparation beginning with secondary school and continuing until enrollment.
Caltech has not only temporarily suspended the requirement that applicants take the SAT or ACT, but it has also changed the testing rules that apply to students from other countries. These students will now have the opportunity to fulfill the English proficiency requirement by either taking the TOEFL or the Duolingo English Test. Both of these options are available to them. In addition, candidates will not be required to make a financial contribution for the submission of any exam results until after they have made the decision to enroll in a degree program at Caltech.
What GPA is required for Caltech?
What GPA is required for Caltech? Caltech does not make available information regarding the high school GPAs of admitted students. In 2019, 99% of accepted students who gave data revealed that they had finished their senior year of a high school rated in the top 10% of their class. Caltech demands that you have a grade point average of 4.19, which places you at the top of your class.
GPAs are not adjusted for weight. In order to compete with other applicants, you will need to have practically perfect grades in all of your subjects. In addition, you must demonstrate that you are capable of easily handling the academic rigors of college by enrolling in challenging subjects such as Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate programs.
It will be difficult for you to improve your grade point average in time for college applications if you are currently junior or senior. If your grade point average is equal to or lower than the 4.19 average for the school, you will need a better score on either the SAT or the ACT to compensate. Because of this, you will have an easier time competing successfully against other applicants who have higher GPAs than you do.
What does “Unweighted GPA” stand for?
Historically, grade point averages have been determined using an unweighted scale. The unweighted grade point average is calculated on a scale ranging from 0 to 4.0. It does not take into account the difficulty of the curriculum that a student is required to complete. An A is worth a 4.0 on an unweighted grade point average, regardless of whether it was obtained in an honors class, an Advanced Placement class, or a lower-level class.
While High schools frequently make use of weighted grade point averages in order to more accurately portray students’ academic accomplishments. Instead of presenting every student with the identical letter grade to grade point average conversion, weighted GPA takes into account the difficulty of the courses they took.
The weighted grade point average is often calculated using a scale that ranges from 0 to 5.0, however some scales go up to a higher number. If you get an A in an Advanced Placement class, your weighted grade point average will be 5.0, but if you get an A in a regular-level subject, your GPA will be 4.0. There are additional middle-level classes offered at many schools, such as honors classes, in which the highest possible weighted grade point average is 4.5.
In order to draw inferences about your academic potential, admissions committees consider both your grade point average and the coursework you have completed. They are aware that the level of difficulty of the classes taken by pupils at some schools is not factored into the overall grade point average calculation.
If you push yourself academically but don’t have a perfect grade point average, you will look better to colleges when applying for admission than someone who took regular-level subjects but still managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA.
Because a greater number of students will have GPAs that are at the same level when class difficulty is not a component in the calculation, it may be more difficult for you to distinguish yourself from the other students in your class with your GPA. If your class rank is determined solely by your unweighted grade point average, then it is possible that your class rank does not accurately reflect the amount of effort that you put in.
What SAT score is required for Caltech?
What SAT score is required for Caltech? The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is a standardized test that is given to high school students in order to evaluate how well they are prepared for college and to give universities a single point of data that can be used to compare the qualifications of each individual candidate.
The scores you received on standardized tests will be considered by college admissions officers, along with your high school grade point average, the subjects you studied in high school, letters of recommendation from previous instructors or mentors, extracurricular activities, admissions interviews, and personal essays.
The weight that each institution places on SAT scores in relation to the process of applying to colleges and universities differs. The composite score for the average student at Caltech on the SAT is 1545. The score at the 25th percentile on the New SAT is 1530, and the score at the 75th percentile on the SAT is 1570.
To put it another way, if you receive a score of 1530, this positions you below the average, and a score of 1570 takes you above the average. Although a score of at least 1530 on the SAT is preferred for admission to Caltech, the school does not require students to earn a perfect score in order to be considered.
The following is a section-by-section breakdown of the updated SAT scores:
Section | Average | 25th Percentile | 75th Percentile |
Math | 795 | 790 | 800 |
Reading + Writing | 750 | 740 | 760 |
Composite | 1545 | 1530 | 1570 |
Admissions Chances
Because it is one of the institutions in the United States with the most stringent admissions requirements, Caltech seeks candidates who have grade point averages and test scores that are significantly higher than average.
Nevertheless, Caltech follows a holistic admissions approach, which means that the admissions authorities will be searching for more than just outstanding grades and high scores on standardized tests. In addition to this, they will be looking for hard coursework, glowing letters of recommendation, award-winning essays, and significant involvement in extracurricular activities.
The admissions committee will not only carefully consider your grades in Advanced Placement, Honors, or IB courses, but they will also examine every word of the application essay and short answer responses you submit. Keep in mind that Caltech is searching for more than just outstanding scientists and engineers; the institution is interested in enrolling students who will meaningfully contribute to the improvement of the campus community.
If you need help putting the finishing touches on your early applications, or want some advice on whether or not applying Early Decision or an Early Action is a good option for you, at AdmissionSight, we have over 10 years of experience guiding students through the competitive admissions process, including our athletic recruitment program.
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