Core Curriculum

Colleges & Universities California Institute of Technology
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<p>There is definitely not any grade deflation at Caltech. Like at basically every other university, the average GPA is significantly higher than is was many decades ago. I think the admissions counselor got that number from the statistic that around half of graduating seniors graduate with honors, and the fact that one way to graduate with honors is to have a 3.5 GPA or above. A lot of students graduate with honors by faculty recommendations or outstanding research. </p>

<p>I think the registrar’s newsletter last year said something like 58% of students have a 3.0 or higher and 34% of students have a 3.5 or higher. This agrees with the figure I’ve heard from several people in the know that the median GPA has been consistently around 3.2 for the last few decades. The average is maybe just slightly lower, I would guess. As far as I know, this isn’t any lower than places like UC Berkeley, MIT or Harvey Mudd.</p>

<p>On the other hand, Caltech does require a more rigorous science/math curriculum just to graduate and has one of the most talented student bodies (at least in math and science) out of every US institution I know of. You definitely have to work pretty hard to earn that 3.2. People who are sure they want to pre-meds should be very cautious about choosing to go to Caltech. Med schools are not very forgiving about a “low GPA” (i.e., < 3.8), even from Caltech. </p>

<p>I would only recommend that a prefrosh who was absolutely sure they wanted to be a premed go to Caltech if:

  1. You really love your field. If you’re going into medicine mainly for the great pay, attending Caltech is just going to be unnecessary pain and you probably wont do that well in your classes. You should understand and not care that you’ll be working harder than the average premed at other schools for less of a shot at med school admission.
  2. You know what is required by the Core curriculum and want to take it. You have to like math and physics nearly as much as you like biology and chemistry.
  3. Understand that there will always be much smarter people than you here. This is a great opportunity to learn, if you’re willing to take it. The culture of collaboration is one of the best parts about Caltech. Academic competitiveness is very frowned upon.
  4. You like the student culture. You’ll do better if you’re happy and can have lots of fun with other people with what will probably be a very limited amount of free time.</p>

<p>That said, it is best that you don’t mind just becoming a biologist should medical school not work out. Caltech biology majors can and do often get into great grad schools with 3.2s if they do the awesome research that is pretty readily available here for undergrads.</p>