Caltech acceptance rate and admissions statistics
Caltech admitted 428 of 11,285 first-year applicants in its 2025-26 Common Data Set, an official acceptance rate of 3.8%. Every number below comes from the college’s own Common Data Set, each year linked to its document; a figure the college leaves blank says “Not published”, and the notes at the foot of the page say where a total is the sum of rows the college printed.
What did admitted applicants have? How to get into Caltech counts the grades, scores and activities they posted.
Caltech acceptance rate by year
| CDS year | Applied | Admitted | Acceptance rate | Enrolled | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 11,285 | 428 | 3.8% | 248 | 57.9% |
| 2024-25 | 13,856 | 356 | 2.6% | 218 | 61.2% |
| 2023-24 | 13,107 | 412 | 3.1% | 266 | 64.6% |
Acceptance rate is admitted divided by applied; yield is enrolled divided by admitted. Both are computed by Aristo Scholars from the two counts printed beside them.
Early decision at Caltech
Early decision counts: Not published. Caltech’s Common Data Set prints no early decision applicant or admit counts (section C21) for any year shown.
Caltech waitlist
Caltech SAT and ACT scores
| CDS year | Composite SAT 25th to 75th | EBRW 25th to 75th | Math 25th to 75th | ACT 25th to 75th | Submitted an SAT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | Not published | 760 to 780 | 790 to 800 | 35 to 36 | 78.0% |
| 2024-25 | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| 2023-24 | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published |
What Caltech says matters in admission
In section C7 each college rates its own admission factors as Very Important, Important, Considered or Not Considered. These are the factors Caltech rated in the top two tiers.
- 2025-26
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Standardized test scores, Application essay, Recommendations, Character/personal qualities
- Important: Class rank, Academic GPA, Extracurricular activities
- 2024-25
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Standardized test scores, Application essay, Recommendations, Character/personal qualities
- Important: Class rank, Academic GPA, Extracurricular activities
- 2023-24
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Application essay, Recommendations, Character/personal qualities
- Important: Class rank, Academic GPA, Standardized test scores, Extracurricular activities
Caltech testing policy for students applying in 2026-27
Test required: Caltech requires first-year applicants to submit either the SAT or the ACT (stated for Fall 2027 entry); section scores reviewed separately, superscored.
From Caltech’s admissions site, read 2026-11-05. Policies change; the college’s page is the authority.
How these numbers were read
Caltech's C1 total rows are blank or 0, so applied, admitted and enrolled are the sums of the gender rows. The 2025-26 C9 prints EBRW and Math ranges but no composite SAT range, so the SAT table gives the two section ranges and the composite reads Not published. C9 is blank for 2024-25 and 2023-24, when Caltech admitted students without test scores. Caltech has no early decision plan.
Caltech acceptance rate questions
- What is the Caltech acceptance rate?
- Caltech's Common Data Set for 2025-26 reports 11,285 first-year applicants and 428 admitted, an acceptance rate of 3.8%. It was 2.6% in 2024-25 and 3.1% in 2023-24.
- What SAT scores do Caltech students have?
- In 2025-26, the middle half of enrolled first-year students who submitted the SAT scored 760 to 780 on Evidence-Based Reading and Writing and 790 to 800 on Math, and ACT submitters scored 35 to 36. The Common Data Set prints no composite SAT range for that year. 78.0% of enrolled students submitted an SAT score.
- How many students get off the Caltech waitlist?
- In 2025-26, Caltech offered 263 applicants a place on the waitlist; 211 accepted one, and 1 were admitted from it.
- Does Caltech require the SAT or ACT for students applying in 2026-27?
- Test required: Caltech requires first-year applicants to submit either the SAT or the ACT (stated for Fall 2027 entry); section scores reviewed separately, superscored.
Applying to Caltech?
An acceptance rate describes the whole pool, not one student. A Specialist can read your student’s file against what Caltech says it weighs.
Source: Caltech Common Data Set, sections C1, C2, C7, C9 and C21, each year linked above, read 2026-11-05. Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with Caltech. All official acceptance rates