College profile
California Institute of Technology
CA · Private nonprofit · Mid-size city · 13,107 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- Built for the AI economy. About 1 in 8 degrees here is already in AI, computer science, or data fields; its AI research output ranks #54 among US universities. This campus is leaning into the shift, not waiting for it.
- Almost everyone who starts here finishes. 94% graduate within six years — the standard federal measure. Nationally about a third of students who start a bachelor's never finish one, and an unfinished degree is the most expensive outcome in this decision: the debt stays, the credential doesn't.
- The campus itself adds earnings power. Opportunity Insights tracks it: only about 5% of students arrive from the bottom income fifth, but those who do reach the top fifth by their 30s at a 66% rate — a strong sign the outcomes here are the campus, not just the intake.
- The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 4× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full ~$86,886/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$128,566/yr) still runs about 4× the four-year cost. This payoff doesn't depend on qualifying for anything.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
Highly selectiveHighly selective reach for nearly every applicant. Heavy discounting — among aid recipients average ~$16,075/yr net; strong students should also check the merit grid.
Best for
- Strong overall academic profile (3.9+ unweighted GPA in rigorous coursework + strong essays — school is test-optional, so the transcript carries the most weight)
- Students drawn to Engineering or Computer & Information Sciences (the two biggest majors)
- Research-oriented students (R1 — top tier of federal research funding)
- Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience
The reality
- Test-optional — but selective. Transcript GPA, course rigor, and essays do the heavy lifting
- With selective universities, build a balanced college list of Reaches, Targets, and Safeties ⓘ
- Big sticker, but don't rule it out on price — this school publishes tuition-free aid for families earning under $200,000. Without aid the full price is ~$86,886/yr; aid-receiving families average ~$16,075/yr — run the school's own net price calculator for your real number
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
Enter their numbers once — this and every college page shows their verdict, and the UC campus cards on California school pages light up with it too. Free, no email.
Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What California Institute of Technology actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by California Institute of Technology's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
California Institute of Technology's own published aid policy · 2026-27
Most students from families making less than $200,000 (with typical assets) can expect an aid package that covers tuition
Income thresholds assume typical assets — and this college uses the CSS Profile, which can count home equity and business value the federal form ignores. Policy independently verified against the college's financial-aid pages ↗.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$938K ahead at full price +$1.2M with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at California Institute of Technology
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what California Institute of Technology actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — California Institute of Technology's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Computer Science. | $200,511 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
Alternatives to California Institute of Technology
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Get your child's odds at California Institute of Technology →Score-odds calculator · Improve the score first · Find merit aid
Feeder high schools
Which high schools send graduates to California Institute of Technology?
Enrolled — from the schools' matriculation lists
32 high schools publish a numbered matriculation list — where their graduates actually enrolled, counted, in the school's own School Profile — and name California Institute of Technology on it. Between them they printed 48 enrolled graduates. Ranked by graduates per class year enrolling at California Institute of Technology, from each school's own published list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, so a one-year list and a five-year list can sit on the same page. A list whose class years we cannot read is not divided by a guess — it is listed below with its total instead.
and 22 more
Admitted — from the schools' acceptance lists
1 high schools publish a numbered list of college acceptances — where their graduates were admitted, not where they enrolled — and name California Institute of Technology on it. Between them they printed 1 admissions. Ranked by admissions per class year to California Institute of Technology, from each school's own published acceptances list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. Admits are counted at each college a student was admitted to, the same way the UC Reach Score counts a student admitted to three UC campuses three times — so this is a count of admissions, not of students. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, and a list whose class years we cannot read is listed below with its total rather than divided by a guess.
All 33 feeder schools, ranked →
Counted from each school's own published document, linked on that school's page. A high school that is not here does not publish a numbered list we could read — that is all absence means, and it says nothing about its graduates. Where a school publishes both, the two lists are shown separately: an acceptances list is not a list of enrollments, and the two are never added together.
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantCalifornia Institute of Technology is a private nonprofit four-year college in CA. It admitted 3% of applicants (13,107 applied, 2023). Test policy: Required.
Cost: about $16,075 a year on average with aid, $86,886 a year at full price.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $128,566 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $1,221,360 ahead with aid, $938,116 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer Science ($200,511).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 5% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 66% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
Aid pledge published by the college for 2026-27: families earning under $100,000 pay nothing; families earning under $200,000 pay no tuition; aid packages carry no loans for families under $100,000; the college meets full demonstrated need.
High schools that publish a numbered matriculation list and name California Institute of Technology: 32, 48 enrolled students between them — ranked by graduates per class year, most often Harker School (1.0 per class year, 3 over 3 class years, Classes of 2023, 2024 & 2025); Sage Hill School (1.0 per class year, 3 over 3 class years, 2023-2025); Harvard-Westlake School (1.0 per class year, 1 over 1 class year, BY THE CLASSES OF 2021-2025, counted column "CLASS OF '25"). Each figure is the number that school printed divided by the class years its own list covers; the totals and years are shown. These are the schools that publish such a list, not every school that sends students; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/california-institute-of-technology.
High schools that publish a numbered list of college acceptances naming California Institute of Technology: 1, 1 admissions between them — ranked by admissions per class year, most often Archbishop Mitty High School (1.0 per class year, 1 over 1 class year, Class of 2025). Admits are counted at each college, so this counts admissions, not students. These are a different set of documents from the matriculation lists above and the two are never added together; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/california-institute-of-technology.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/california-institute-of-technology.json