United States Pasadena, CA

Summary

The California Institute of Technology, known as Caltech, was founded in 1891 as Throop University and received its current name in 1920. The science and engineering-focused school is located in Pasadena, California, roughly 11 miles northeast of Los Angeles. There are roughly 2,200 students at Caltech, with around 55 percent of them studying at the graduate level. The student-faculty ratio is very low, at 3:1. More than one-fourth of Caltech's total enrollment is international. The school’s academic calendar is based on the quarter system and English is the language of instruction.

Caltech has six academic divisions, many of which have highly ranked graduate programs: biology and biological engineering; chemistry and chemical engineering; engineering and applied science; geology and planetary sciences; humanities and social sciences; and physics, mathematics and astronomy. The university guarantees housing for all first-year undergraduate and graduate students. Instead of typical undergraduate residence halls like those found at many U.S. universities, there are eight undergraduate houses, each with its own government and special traditions. Newly admitted graduate students are given priority for housing in the on-campus Catalina Apartments. 

Around 80 percent of undergraduates participate in research during their time at Caltech. The university offers a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships program where students write research proposals, collaborate with mentors and give presentations on their projects. Caltech has around 50 research institutes and centers, such as the Resnick Sustainability Institute and the Tectonics Observatory. Additionally, the university operates NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a center for robotic exploration of the solar system that engages both faculty and students.