Caltech welcomes applications for transfer admission. Previous transfer students have contributed much to the campus community and have also been extraordinarily successful in research and in the classroom. The Admissions Committee seeks to continue this record of success by attracting an accomplished and talented group of transfer students each year.
Watch the webinar Transfer 101: What You Should Know About Transferring to Caltech! for information about the transfer application process.
Transfer Fact Sheet (pdf)
General Transfer Policies:
- Applications for transfer admission will be considered from students who have completed their secondary school education and have enrolled at a college or university and earned credit for courses. Students concurrently enrolled in a secondary school and a college or university should apply for freshman admission
- Applications for transfer admission will not be considered from students who have already completed a bachelor's degree (or equivalent in any subject)
- Transfer students are admitted for the fall term only
Application Deadline: February 15, 2013
Application Forms
Application Requirements
Academic Preparation
Testing Requirements
Deadlines
Transfer Admission Profile
Transfer Credit
Housing
Visiting Students
Application Forms:
The Transfer Application and Caltech Transfer Supplement are available through the Common Application. Transfer Application Instructions are available to download on our Admissions Forms page.
- Common Application for Transfer Admission
- Caltech Transfer Supplement
- Entrance Examination Proctor Agreement Form
- Math/Science/Engineering Faculty Evaluation Forms (two are required)
- College Official's Report
- Official academic transcripts from the last secondary school attended, and all colleges or universities attended
- Application fee in the amount of $65 (U.S. dollars)
- Official TOEFL score (if applicable)
- Entrance Examinations in Mathematics and Physics (exams will be sent to your proctor and are due back to the Admissions Office by March 21, 2013)
- International Student Supplemental Form (if applicable)
- It is expected that transfer students will have had exposure to mathematics and physics courses on a level comparable to those at Caltech prior to entry.
- The Upper Class Admissions Committee strongly recommends that every applicant complete calculus and calculus-based physics at their postsecondary institution
- A detailed list of Caltech first-year and second-year courses is available on the Transfer Application. Any of the core courses that have not been covered by incoming transfer students must be taken upon matriculation at Caltech.
- Humanities and social-science courses may cover a broad range of topics; there are no specific course requirements. However, an evaluation of each transfer student's written English is required prior to registration and may result in an additional course requirement.
- Caltech Transfer Entrance Exam
- TOEFL is required for applicants whose native language is not English and who have not been studying in an English-speaking country for two or more years.
- SAT or ACT scores are not required for transfer applicants
Transfer Entrance Examinations:
All applicants are required to take Caltech Transfer Entrance Examinations in mathematics and physics. These exams are taken after candidates submit a transfer application to Caltech. Students must find a proctor at their home institution to administer the exam. The math exam is approximately four hours, and the physics exam is three hours. Copies of previous transfer exams are not available. All applicants are responsible for securing a proctor on their home campus. Proctor Agreement forms are sent to students by email after the application is submitted. Neither the Caltech Office of Undergraduate Admissions staff nor any faculty on campus may proctor the exam.
Topics Covered on Transfer Exams*:
Physics:
Newtonian mechanics (motion, vectors, trajectories, Newton's laws, forces), work and energy, energy conservation, momentum, rigid rotations, angular momentum, harmonic motion, resonance, gravity, Kepler orbits, ellipses, electric fields and potentials, Gauss's Law, current resistance, capacitance, inductance, magnetic fields, Faraday's law, AC and DC circuits, and special relativity.
Math:
Basic calculus, Taylor polynomials, series, linear algebra (systems of equations, vectors and matrices, determinants, vector spaces, transformations, eigenvalues), vector calculus (multiple integrals, line and path integrals, theorems of Green and Stokes), and differential equations.
*Not all topics will be found on the exam, however, the list should be used to help transfer students prepare for the exam.
Transfer Admissions Profile:
Caltech admits transfer students from all regions of the world, and from diverse post-secondary institutions. The table below gives the admission statistics of recent transfer applicant pools (Fall 2009 to Fall 2012):
| Transfer | Fall 2009 | Fall 2010 |
Fall 2011 | Fall 2012 |
| Applicants | 129 | 127 | 143 | 214 |
| Admits | 6 | 9 | 9 | 5 |
This table includes applicants from 2-year, 4-year, and non-US institutions.
Transfer of Credit:
The courses for which enrolling transfer students will receive credit will be determined at the time of enrollment. Faculty members review each student's achievement on an individual basis, and after a placement examination has been taken. It is not possible, therefore, to determine in advance the acceptability of course work taken elsewhere.
Housing
Caltech housing is not guaranteed for transfer students. However, housing is available. For more information on housing, please visit the Housing Department's website.
Visiting/Exchange Students
A limited number of students from other institutions of collegiate rank may enroll at Caltech to take classes for up to one year. These students are classified as visiting students and will not receive Caltech degrees. Applicants should have an excellent academic record and be recommended by home institutions. Visiting students are responsible for all costs, including Caltech's tuition and fees. Accommodations in Caltech housing depends on availability. Decisions on admission are made by the Office of the Dean of Students, and prospective students should contact this office by April 1 to apply for fall enrollment. For more information, please contact the Dean of Students Office.
Policy on Requests for Undergradute Study at Caltech as a Visiting or Exchange Student
Caltech does not accept such visitors outside of our established bilateral exchanges. Therefore, we cannot accept or process any requests to come to Caltech as an undergraduate visiting or exchange student. Furthermore, students cannot request that their university be added to the bi-lateral partner list.
Students from universities that are exchange partners with Caltech must apply through their home university's internal selection process. Direct individual applications from students who are degree candidates at exchange partner universities are not accepted. All candidates must come through the partner university's internal selection process.
Please note we are not partners with Brazil's Science Without Borders Program and we do not accept any applicants from undergraduate students in this program.