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Supplemental Materials

Supplemental Materials

You are welcome to provide supplemental materials that you believe will help our admissions committee learn more about you. Though we understand the type of materials will vary, they should fall within one of the three following categories:

  • Research paper or publication (required: citation if published, letter of recommendation, and research description)
  • STEM Portfolio
  • Non-STEM Portfolio

Requirements and examples for supplemental materials

After you submit your application, you will receive a link to the Caltech application portal, Beaver Breakroom, which will include instructions on submitting supplemental materials.

Research Paper or Publication

Submitting research is not required as part of the application process; in fact, 50% or fewer of our admitted students each year submit research.

Research papers and publications may be uploaded to your Caltech application portal, Beaver Breakroom, after submission of your application. A research paper or publication is strongly preferred when possible. However, if this is not possible, you may submit an abstract or poster. If the research is embargoed, this must be explained in the recommendation letter of the research supervisor.

Components of Research

Letter of Recommendation from Site of Research

If you are submitting a research paper, we require an additional recommendation from someone who can comment on the research experience that produced the paper. This letter can come from a supervisor, a mentor, an adult collaborator, or an administrator, but they must speak to your specific contributions to the submitted research.

After you submit your application, you will receive a link to the Beaver Breakroom which will include instructions on submitting supplemental materials. If you are submitting research, you are required to fill out a form with a description of your research and the email address of your recommender. Our office will then email your research recommender a link to upload their letter.

We offer writing advice for recommenders, too.

Description of Research

If you are submitting a research paper, you will need to fill out a form with additional information with the description of the research. Research papers can be published, submitted, or in preparation. You may submit more than one research paper or publication, however you will need to fill out the form for each one.

Some students have participated in multiple research projects. You can submit as many research papers as you would like but we require a research paper to mentor letter ratio of 2:1. If you have participated in multiple research papers with the same mentor, your mentor only needs to submit one mentor letter.

This form will be sent to you after you have submitted your Caltech application and will ask:

  • how you obtained the research experience
  • a description of your involvement and your role
  • the time frame of your involvement
  • the topic of the research
  • status of paper: published, submitted, or in preparation

Note: you are not required to only submit research for the major(s) you noted on your Caltech application.

STEM Portfolio

We believe that students explore and communicate STEM through a variety of methods. Submitting research is not required as part of the application process; in fact, 50% or fewer of our admitted students each year submit research.

Other ways students explore and communicate STEM is through a portfolio. Part of the Caltech Mission is "to investigate the most challenging, fundamental problems in science and technology in a singularly collegial, interdisciplinary atmosphere…to become creative members of society."

We invite you to share your enthusiasm for STEM subjects and the motivation behind your pursuits. Some examples can include, but are not limited to:

  • Videos (e.g. showing us a chemistry lab you built or a vlog on your STEM passion)
  • DIY STEM projects
  • Coding projects
  • Posters
  • Powerpoint Deck
  • Independent Research (unsupervised research)
  • Description of STEM Internship

Non-STEM Portfolio

At Caltech, we're always interested in seeing how students spend their time, whether that be theater, arts, ice skating, or spelunking. If you want to share examples of your passions, the admissions committee would love to see it. These pieces will not be reviewed by an expert in the subject; they're just a nice way to share parts of who you are with people who care to learn more about it.