California Institute of Technology supplemental essays
California Institute of Technology asks for six supplemental essays in 2026-27, chosen from eight options. Common App. Personal statement required (250-650 words).
That is six supplements plus the Common App personal statement: seven pieces of writing in all. Restrictive Early Action closes November 1, 2026 and Regular Decision closes January 4, 2027. The prompts carry these limits: 150-200 words, 200 words, 100-150 words. Every California Institute of Technology prompt is printed on this page in full, with its word limit and who has to answer it, checked against the college’s own admissions page.
Deadlines
| Round | Date |
|---|---|
| Restrictive Early Action | November 1, 2026 |
| Regular Decision | January 4, 2027 |
Checked against www.admissions.caltech.edu/apply/first-year-applicants/supplemental-application-essays. Confirm on the college’s own page before you submit.
The essays, 2026-27
Required · 150-200 words
Area of interest. Caltech students are not required to declare a major until the end of their first year. If you had to choose an area of interest or two today, what would you choose? Why did you choose your proposed area of interest? If you selected 'other', what topics are you interested in pursuing?
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Required (choose 1 of 2) · 200 words
Scholarly Character, option 1. COLLABORATION: STEM as shared learning. Tell us about a time your learning in STEM was shaped by another person or group, either because you needed help, offered help, changed your thinking through collaboration, or contributed to someone else's understanding. What did that experience teach you about learning and working with others?
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Required (choose 1 of 2) · 200 words
Scholarly Character, option 2. PROCESS: The thought behind the outcome. Tell us about a time your approach to a STEM problem, concept, or project mattered as much as the outcome. How did you work through uncertainty or persist creatively in tackling the problem? What would you still defend about your process, regardless of the outcome?
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Required (choose 2 of 3) · 200 words
Scientific Drive, option 1. LEARNING: STEM as a never-ending rabbit hole. Regardless of your STEM interest listed above, take this opportunity to nerd out and talk to us about whatever STEM rabbit hole you have found yourself falling into. Be as specific or broad as you would like.
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Required (choose 2 of 3) · 200 words
Scientific Drive, option 2. PURSUING: STEM as sustained intellectual engagement. Tell us about a STEM question, problem, idea, or project that has held your attention over time. What drew you to it, how have you pursued it, and what do you still want to understand?
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Required (choose 2 of 3) · 200 words
Scientific Drive, option 3. MAKING: STEM as creation. Tell us about something you created, tested, repaired, modeled, coded, built, or redesigned. What problem were you trying to solve and what did the process reveal to you?
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Required · 100-150 words
Fun question. Caltech students bring more than academic ability to the communities they join. What is something you would be excited to do, share, teach, make, start, or contribute as part of the Caltech community?
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Optional
Optional academic short answer. Caltech cares about context. Is there anything about your academic preparation, coursework, school context, or learning experiences that would help us better understand your readiness for Caltech?
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Your California Institute of Technology checklist
Six supplements, four of them required. The first deadline, Restrictive Early Action, is November 1, 2026.
- Common App personal statementRequired250-650 words
- Supplement 1Required150-200 words
- Supplements 2 and 3Required200 words each
- Supplements 4 to 6Required200 words each
- Supplement 7Required100-150 words
- Supplement 8Optional
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Getting into California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology admits 2.6% of applicants. In the federal admissions survey it reports that SAT and ACT scores are neither required nor recommended.
About 1 in 39 applicants are admitted, at a college of 987 undergraduates.
US Department of Education, College Scorecard (2026-09-17). Percentiles describe students who enrolled, not everyone admitted.
- Does California Institute of Technology require the SAT or ACT?
- Not according to the federal admissions survey, where California Institute of Technology reports that SAT and ACT scores are neither required nor recommended. Read that as "not required" rather than "never looked at": the survey lags real policy by a cycle or more, and some colleges carrying this flag have since brought testing back while others genuinely ignore scores altogether. Check California Institute of Technology's own admissions page before deciding whether to sit or send a test, and treat that page as the answer where the two disagree. Either way, grades and course load are doing most of the work here.
- What GPA do you need for California Institute of Technology?
- The honest answer is that the federal data behind this page does not contain one. Colleges report their admit rate and their enrolled students' test scores to the Department of Education; they do not report a GPA distribution, so any site quoting an exact average GPA for California Institute of Technology is either reading that college's own Common Data Set or estimating. What the reported data does say is that California Institute of Technology admits 2.6% of applicants, and the more selective a college is, the closer to the top of the class its admitted students sit and the more the strength of your course load counts alongside the number itself.
- How hard is it to get into California Institute of Technology?
- California Institute of Technology admits 2.6% of the people who apply, which is about 1 in 39 applicants. At that rate no set of numbers makes admission likely, a perfect one included, because the college turns away far more qualified applicants than it takes. Strong grades and scores get the application read; the essays, the recommendations and what you have actually done decide it from there.
What California Institute of Technology costs after grant aid, by family income, from the same federal data.
Sort your whole college list into reaches, targets and likelies, or find colleges that fit your GPA and test scores. Both are free and neither needs an account.
California Institute of Technology essay questions, answered
- Does California Institute of Technology have supplemental essays?
- Yes. California Institute of Technology asks for six supplemental essays in 2026-27, chosen from eight options. Every prompt is printed in full on this page. Word limits: 150-200 words, 200 words.
- How many essays do you write for California Institute of Technology in 2026-27?
- Six supplements, plus the Common App personal statement.
Schools with similar admit rates
California Institute of Technology admits 2.6% of applicants. The colleges either side of it in our set by admit rate, most selective first, each with its own prompts and deadlines: University of Maine (96.6%), Georgia Institute of Technology, University of California System (All 9 Undergraduate Campuses), Stanford University (3.6%), Harvard University (3.6%), Yale University (3.9%).