Caltech acceptance rate
Pasadena, CA
Last reviewed 2026-08-07
At a glance
At a glance
Caltech's acceptance rate is 2.9% for the Class of 2029 — the most recent officially reported figure.
Caltech is small, brutal, and the one top school where the median admit can actually do the math homework.
What is Caltech's acceptance rate?
Caltech's most recently reported acceptance rate is approximately 2.9% for the Class of 2029. Caltech admits one of the smallest absolute classes in the top-10 — roughly 230 students — which makes its rate hypersensitive to small application shifts.
Five-year history
| Class | Acceptance rate |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 6.39% |
| 2026 | 2.74% |
| 2027 | ~2.7% |
| 2028 | ~2.9% |
| 2029 | ~2.9% |
The 2025 outlier reflects a smaller pre-pandemic applicant pool. The 2022 collapse was driven by a test-blind policy that briefly expanded applications well beyond Caltech's steady-state pool.
What's driving the trend
Caltech reinstated standardized testing for the Class of 2030 cycle, joining MIT as the only top-10 STEM-heavy schools to do so. The reinstatement should re-tighten the pool and put modest upward pressure on the headline rate.
Prediction markets on Caltech
Watchlist: does Caltech's Class of 2031 rate move up as the testing requirement filters the pool — an unusual direction-of-bet given the broader trend.
Related
Frequently asked questions
What is Caltech's acceptance rate?
Caltech's most recently reported acceptance rate is 2.9% for the Class of 2029.
Has Caltech's acceptance rate been falling?
Over the last five reported cycles, Caltech's rate has moved from 6.39% (Class of 2025) to 2.9% (Class of 2029).
Can you bet on Caltech's acceptance rate on a prediction market?
No. As of 2026-08-07, neither Kalshi nor Polymarket lists a market on Caltech's acceptance rate. The listed college markets today are football and basketball boards plus Kalshi contracts on US News rankings, UC tuition and student debt.
Sources & further reading
- IPEDS — Integrated Postsecondary Education Data SystemNational Center for Education Statistics
- Common Data Set InitiativeCommon Data Set Initiative
- U.S. News Best Colleges rankings methodologyU.S. News & World Report
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