Transfer Applicants
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.Download Transfer Fact Sheet (PDF)
Students who have completed their secondary-school education and have subsequently enrolled at a college for credit will be considered for transfer admission.
Application Forms
Application Requirements
Academic Preparation
Testing Requirements
Deadlines
Transfer Admission Profile
Transfer Credit
Housing
Application Forms:
The Transfer Application and Transfer Application Instructions are available to download here on our website.
Application Requirements:
We require a completed application, letters of evaluation, an official transcript from the last secondary school attended and all colleges or universities attended, descriptions of all college-level math and science courses, and completion of the Caltech Transfer Entrance Examinations.
Academic Preparation:
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 all applicants complete at least one year of college-level calculus and calculus-based physics before applying. 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.
Testing Requirements:
SAT/ACT
Transfer applicants are NOT required to submit SAT or ACT scores. International students must submit TOEFL scores.
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. Instructions for obtaining the examinations are included in the application. Performance on the entrance exams will be evaluated in the context of the applicant's preparation in the field, although one year of university-level mathematics (basic calculus) and physics (mechanics and electromagnetism) are assumed. Students must also 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. Proctoring is not available at Caltech.
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.
TOEFL
The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is required of transfer applicants who are not citizens or permanent residents of the United States and whose native language is not English. The TOEFL should be taken by the January sitting. International students who have studied in the United States for two or more years are exempt from taking the TOEFL.
Evaluation of Written English
All entering students will be required to undergo an evaluation of their written English prior to enrolling as transfer students.
Admission Deadlines:
For a complete list of admission deadlines please see
Admission Deadlines.
Transfer Admissions Profile:
Caltech admits transfer students from all regions of the world, and from many kinds of post-secondary institutions. Caltech seeks the most qualified students, regardless of the type of institution from which they come. The table below describes a few combined characteristics of five recent transfer applicant pools (Fall 2000 to Fall 2005):
| Five-year Totals | Applicants | Admits |
| Total | 956 | 95 |
| U.S. 2-year institution | 310 | 31 |
| U.S. 4-year institution | 371 | 25 |
| Non-U.S. institution | 275 | 39 |
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