How to Succeed as a Caltech Premed
/Everything you need to know about being a Caltech premed, including comprehensive premed requirements, the best extracurriculars, and the Caltech premed acceptance rate
Learn Everything you need to know about being a CalTech premed
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Caltech premed requirements
Part 3: Caltech premed extracurriculars
Part 4: Getting into medical school as a CalTech premed
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Part 1: Introduction
With its roots stretching back more than 100 years to 1891 as Throop University, it was the arrival of astronomer George Ellery Hale who put the institution on its course to becoming the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Since then, Caltech has evolved into a powerhouse of innovation and research. This world-renowned haven for science and engineering boasts a storied history of groundbreaking discoveries and offers a variety of means for serving STEM-focused undergraduates.
Despite its reputation for technology, research, and engineering excellence, Caltech also offers a wealth of resources for aspiring physicians. From its top-tier biology and chemistry courses, student organizations, and opportunities to dive into fascinating research projects, there will be plenty to do—all while surrounded by some of the brightest minds in their fields.
Caltech has more than 50 cutting-edge research labs and centers, 5 of which are associated with NASA. Of particular interest to many Caltech premeds will be The Beckman Institute, which focuses on innovations in the chemical and biological sciences. That institute alone houses an array of resource centers and facilities ranging from the Caltech Bioinformatics Resource Center, the Proteome Exploration Laboratory, and facilities like their Biological Imaging Facility and Protein Expression Center.
With 16 associated Nobel laureates who won for their work in physiology or medicine and an intense focus on pushing intellectual boundaries, Caltech will shape you into a rigorous thinker and problem-solver—necessary skills for medical school and beyond, especially if you’re thinking of pursuing an MD/PhD program.
Fiercely ambitious premed students who dream of tackling medicine's biggest challenges will thrive in the extraordinarily dynamic environment of the California Institute of Technology, but it will be far from easy. Charting your course as a Catech premed through their unique core curriculum and upper level classes on to a white coat requires substantial planning and dedication.
We put this guide together to break down exactly what it will take for you to go from freshman admit at the 7th best university in the nation to your dream medical school. From required courses to extracurriculars and shadowing, the likelihood of medical school acceptance for Caltech graduates, and even a breakdown of the dreaded Caltech grade deflation, this guide is meant to be your roadmap to successful medical school entry.
If you're ready to embrace the intensity and reap the rewards, let's dive into why Caltech might be your perfect launchpad into a fulfilling medical career.
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Part 2: Caltech premed requirements
As mentioned above, STEM-minded students will feel right at home at Caltech, but that doesn’t mean the STEM fields are the only option you have for obtaining a degree. Courses at Caltech range from Aerospace and Anthropology to Neurobiology and even Performing and Visual Arts. With so many options to choose from, it can be tricky to nail down the precise prerequisites you need for medical school admission.
Caltech’s courses and academic system are set up slightly differently than your average university. For instance, Caltech follows the less common quarter-term system instead of the traditional two-semester system. One academic year consists of three quarter terms lasting 10 weeks each.
This means that you’ll need to consider how to match the requirements for many medical schools that list their prerequisites in the number of semester classes in particular subjects. For example, many schools state you will need two courses in Biology including a lab, but at Caltech, you will take 3 of these courses in one year.
Furthermore, Caltech’s class credit hours system is also a bit different. Whereas a typical university will list courses with the standard three credit hours per full semester course with a standard workload for its level, Caltech states the average course load per 10-week term is 45 units. However, a typical nine-unit class is divided into three units of class time and six hours of homework per week. Most students end up taking five classes each term with the summer term being optional for research. This will be useful to remember when we detail the premed course requirements below.
Caltech’s Core Curriculum
Another way in which the university experience for Caltech students differs is the Core Curriculum. As its name suggests, these are core classes that every Caltech student, regardless of major (or as Caltech sometimes refers to them, “options”) must take during their first year. You can think of these as similar to the general education requirements at many universities, but with the Caltech focus of “making you a better scientist.”
As part of the core curriculum, you’ll take courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, humanities, physical education, as well as a laboratory course and a “Menu Class,” which is a science class in a subject of your choosing meant to “stretch your intellect” and expose you to the variety of scientific topics available for you to investigate.
The introductory courses of the Core Curriculum will be graded pass/fail during your first two terms. It is possible to test out of these courses, and if you do, Caltech says students will instead work with their faculty advisor. Placement tests in math and writing are required to be taken before beginning your first year, and other placement tests (such as those in chemistry, computer science, or physics) may be taken later.
It’s important to remember that these core courses don’t necessarily satisfy the prerequisites for medical school, but they will have to be taken while you’re a Caltech premed. Caltech has created a chart here to help you get an idea of what your first year will look like. To help you with your premed requirements, we’ve placed the Caltech courses you’ll need in the table below.
| Biology:
One year with lab |
Core Curriculum: A typical 1-term (10-week) course is 9 units 3 terms = 1 year Bi 1 The Great Ideas of Biology (9 units) Note: Bi 1 is normally taken in the 3rd term of the first year. Premed prerequisite: Bi 8 Foundational Principles of Molecular Biology (9 units) Bi 9 Cell Biology (9 units) Bi 10 Introductory Biology Laboratory (6 units) Note: Bi 8 is a prerequisite for Bi 10. Bi 10 is meant to be taken concurrently with Bi 9. |
Some upper-level Biology courses highly recommended by Caltech:
Bi/BE/BMB 115 Viruses and Applications to Biological Systems (9 units) Bi 117 Developmental Biology (9 units) Bi 122 Genetics (9 units) Bi 188 Human Genetics and Genomics (6 units) Bi 190 Systems Genetics (6 units) |
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| General chemistry:
One year with lab |
Core Curriculum course: Ch 1a General Chemistry (6 units) Ch 1b General Chemistry (9 units) Premed prerequisite: Ch 3a Fundamental Techniques of Experimental Chemistry (6 units) Note from Caltech: Ch 3a and Ch 3x both satisfy the institute's Core requirement for a Chemistry Laboratory. |
Recommended upper-level Chemistry courses:
Ch 21a, Ch 21b, Ch 21c Physical Chemistry (9 units each) Ch/Bi 111 Biochemistry of Gene Expression (12 units) |
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| Organic chemistry:
One year with lab |
Note from Caltech: Ch 4a is a prerequisite for Ch 4b. Previous or concurrent enrollment in Ch 41 is strongly recommended.
Ch 4a Synthesis and Analysis of Organic and Inorganic Compounds (9 units) Ch 41a, Ch 41b, Ch 41c Organic Chemistry (9 units each) |
Ch 4b Synthesis and Analysis of Organic and Inorganic Compounds (9 units) | ||||
| Biochemistry:
One semester |
Ch/Bi 110a, Ch/Bi 110b Introduction to Biochemistry (6 units each) | |||||
| Physics:
One year with lab |
Core Curriculum course:
Ph 1a, Ph 1b, Ph 1c Classical Mechanics and Electromagnetism (9 units each) Note from Caltech: Ph 1 b, c is divided into two tracks: the Practical Track emphasizing practical electricity, and the Analytic Track, which teaches and uses methods of multivariable calculus. Ph3 must be taken if Ph1bc Analytic Track was taken. Premed requirement: Ph 2a, Ph 2b, Ph 2c Waves, Quantum Mechanics, and Statistical Physics (9 units each) Lab: Ph 3 Introductory Physics Laboratory (6 units) |
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| Math:
One semester to one year (calculus and/or statistics) |
Core Curriculum course:
Ma1a, Ma1b, Ma1c Calculus of One and Several Variables and Linear Algebra (9 units each) Premed requirement: Ma 2/102 Differential Equations (9 units) Ma 3/103 Introduction to Probability and Statistics (9 units) Ma 4/104 Introduction to Mathematical Chaos (9 units) |
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| English:
One year |
Core Curriculum course:
Wr 2 Introduction to Academic Writing (9 units) Premed requirement: En 128 Modern and Contemporary Irish Literature (9 units) En 133 Paradise Lost (9 units) En 137 African American Literature (9 units) |
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| Social Sciences:
Two courses |
Note: These courses are not mandatory as premed prerequisites
for most medical schools, but are recommended for the MCAT.
All students must take 2 introductory social science courses
and 2 advanced social science courses during their time
at Caltech. We’ve listed 2 possible courses to fulfill
the introductory course requirement below. For more
information go here.
Psy 13 Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience (9 units) An 14 Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology (9 units) |
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From the table above, it may seem like you’ll have your hands full juggling multiple classes. It’s easy to feel that satisfying the premed requirements while a Caltech premed will take quite a bit more maneuvering than a normal premed would be required to do. However, keep in mind that due to the quarter-term structure, you’ll have three classes to equal one year in most cases. Furthermore, while many courses are nine units, some courses are fewer, such as six, and others are more, such as 12.
This is where proper planning comes into play. You’ll want to be assured that you’ve hit all the required courses before you graduate so that your transition to medical school goes as seamlessly as possible. To this end, we’ve also put together a sample three-year plan for Caltech premeds to give you an idea of how you might approach this and remain on the right track. We’ve placed only the Core Curriculum requirements that overlap with your premed courses in the table below. There are other Core Curriculum courses you’ll need to take outside of the ones listed here.
Sample Caltech premed three-year course plan
| Freshman Fall | Ma 1a
Ph 1a Ch 1a Wr 2 |
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| Freshman Winter |
Ma 1b
Ph 1b Ch 1b An 14 Bi 8 |
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| Freshman Spring |
Ma 1c
Ph 1c Ch 3a Psy 13 Bi 9 Bi 10 Note: While Bi 1 is a Core Curriculum course, students can choose to take Bi 8 and Bi 9 instead of Bi 1 to meet the requirement. |
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| Sophomore Fall |
Ph 2a
Ph3 - Physics lab Ch 41a Ma 2/102 En 133 |
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| Sophomore Winter |
Ph 2b
Ch 41b Ma 3/103 En 128 |
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| Sophomore Spring |
Ph 2c
Ma 4/104 Ch 41c |
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| Junior Fall | Ch/Bi 110a | |||||
| Junior Winter |
Ch/Bi 110b
En 137 |
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| Junior Spring | MCAT | |||||
Keep in mind that this is only one possible example and that there are other ways to plan your journey. This table is meant only to show you how you can meet the prerequisites for medical school. You will have other classes for your major. Many of the classes in your first year are part of the Core Curriculum mentioned earlier that all Caltech students must complete.
How to maintain a high GPA as a Caltech premed
It’s no secret that maintaining a high GPA at Caltech is difficult regardless of your status as a premed. A Caltech premed will be expected to master the courses within their major while also excelling in some of the most difficult science courses in the nation. This means that maintaining a high GPA will take hard work and the cultivation of reserves of grit you may not have known you had.
Does Caltech have grade deflation?
Not only are the classes you’ll take difficult, but you may have heard about Caltech’s reputation for grade deflation. Simply put, this is the practice of universities giving out grades that are lower than the national trend for similar courses.
Sometimes this involves grades being given on a curve, where the grade you receive is relative to the performance of your classmates. In an environment like the one at Caltech where academic standards are high and your fellow students are competitive as well as talented, this can result in lower overall scores for students—essentially making it harder to get an A.
Without a curve, this could merely reflect the rigorous standards of the professors and the institution itself. Your teachers at Caltech will have higher expectations about what kind of work constitutes an A than teachers at most other institutions. Caltech premeds are often worried about what this practice means for their chances of acceptance into medical school. Med school admissions committees (adcoms) have hundreds, if not thousands, of applications to sift through each year, and in most cases they won’t take the time to consider the difficulty of your undergraduate courses when reviewing your GPA.
That said, a degree from Caltech will certainly be impressive to adcoms, but when it comes to getting into medical school, a 3.5 from Caltech is treated similarly to a 3.5 from the University of Kentucky. However, don’t let the idea of grade deflation deflate your hopes! You chose Caltech for its challenge, but you’ll also get a healthy amount of support to keep your GPA as high as possible.
For example, Caltech’s student-to-faculty ratio is astonishingly low at just 3:1. This means you’ll have plenty of opportunities for individualized support, not to mention the chance to foster meaningful relationships with your professors. If you feel even the slightest hint of falling behind or not fully grasping a new concept, be sure to reach out to them and take advantage of their office hours.
In addition to the low student-to-faculty ratio, there are other resources at Caltech to help you manage your coursework and keep your GPA in the stratosphere. Furthermore, employing a few time-tested academic strategies can help.
Attend recitation sessions Many larger lecture courses at Caltech offer recitation sessions in which a smaller group of students will meet to refine and apply concepts discussed in class. If these are offered in your courses, it would be prudent to take advantage of them. Even if you’re not really struggling, it can help keep your academic performance at the top of your game, ensuring you do well on graded activities.
Connect with Peer Academic Coaches (PACs) As the name suggests, peer academic coaches are students who have done well in particular courses and are available to help tutor other students. These coaches may be peers, but they are trained in teaching methods to help you grasp the material more fully. If you’re feeling stuck on anything, don’t struggle alone. Reach out to a PAC and make an appointment before your grades start to slip.
Construct a feasible plan Keeping your GPA up is not merely a matter of studying hard and getting your work done on time. You’ll need to formulate a plan of attack for how and when you will tackle your classes. Thinking over your schedule for the upcoming term early will allow you the space to consider what you’re capable of handling and how much time you have to do it. Don’t forget to factor in how much time you’ll need to complete homework and study for tests. Perhaps you find physics more challenging than your chemistry or biology courses. If that’s the case, try to take your physics courses during terms where you’ve got time to truly focus on them.
Don’t be afraid of change It’s normal to feel like you’ve constructed the perfect plan and tell yourself you just need to work harder to make the plan work. Maintain your self-awareness and don’t be afraid to admit that the plan may need to change for you to succeed. Suffering through your classes when you feel overwhelmed won’t win you any sympathy with med school adcoms.
What’s the best premed major at Caltech?
Caltech is known for its robust biology and chemistry departments, two majors typically popular with premeds, but is there any particular major that will grant you an edge with adcoms at the med school of your dreams?
The short answer is not really. Many premeds think they need to major in biology, chemistry or another STEM field in order to get into medical school, but this is not the case. In fact, during the 2023-2024 application cycle, there were 30,054 biological sciences majors who applied to medical school, 13,050 of whom were accepted for an acceptance rate of ~43%. In contrast, 1,661 humanities majors applied with 861 of them being granted entry for an acceptance rate of ~51%. While there are fewer humanities majors applying to med school, the share of them that get accepted is greater.
Adcoms have no preferred major. Likewise, there’s no major that will immediately disqualify you from consideration. Whichever major you choose, med school adcoms will be looking at your GPA, MCAT score, and how well you did in your prerequisite courses in addition to your major.
As a Caltech premed, you’ll have a total of 28 options (majors) to choose from in fields as diverse as Aerospace, Bioengineering, and Geological and Planetary Sciences. Whichever major you choose, it’s most important to follow your passions. This will not only help keep you fascinated in what you’re learning, it will also help keep your grades up!
Suggested reading: (The Best Premed Majors to Get Into Medical School)
When should you take the MCAT?
The medical college admissions test, or MCAT, is probably the most consequential test you will take during your time as a Caltech premed. Your score on this one exam will determine your chances of getting into the school of your dreams. A low score could mean you have to settle for a less-than-ideal med school, or it could even prevent you from getting admitted anywhere With so much on the line, you would be wise to take every opportunity to construct the most ideal testing conditions you can and give yourself every advantage possible.
That’s why considering the most opportune time to take the exam is of utmost importance. You’ll want your classes to have covered as much of the material on the exam as possible before taking it, but you also don’t want to wait too late and risk not matriculating into medical school on time.
That said, there’s nothing wrong with taking a gap year before applying to medical school. This option is becoming increasingly common. As the AAMC notes in 2017, 62.6% of entering MD students spent at least a year away from their studies before matriculation. This allows you more time for focused study for the MCAT as well as any retakes that may be necessary. Additionally, taking a gap year will allow you the space to improve your extracurricular profile and gain medical-related experiences you may not have had time to engage in while at Caltech.
With that in mind, we typically advise students who plan on going straight through to med school to take the MCAT during their junior year. This builds in enough time for a retake and it should line up with your studies in such a way that you’ve covered the bulk of the material you’ll encounter on the exam.
Suggested reading: (When Should You Take the MCAT: The Ideal Timeline)
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Part 3: Caltech premed extracurriculars
Caltech is known for its difficult classes that are meant to push you beyond your comfort zone academically, but this alone won’t bolster your case with med school adcoms. Despite having to manage a full course load as a Caltech premed, you will still be expected to engage in various extracurriculars to demonstrate your commitment to the field of medicine.
Managing a hefty schedule can be a challenge for anyone, but the good news is that you will have many opportunities to rack up those extracurricular hours while studying at Caltech. Avenues for showcasing your volunteering, shadowing, and especially research skills exist in abundance.
Caltech premed clinical and community volunteering
Volunteering experience is crucial to your application to medical school. It demonstrates to adcoms that you possess the drive to serve that is required of a practicing physician. Opportunities for volunteering as a premed typically come in two forms: clinical and community volunteering.
A great place to start your search for community volunteering as a Caltech premed is at the Caltech Y. Here, you’ll find a plethora of ways to get involved, from tutoring programs such as Rise Tutoring; an afterschool program tutoring public school students in math and science, and Youth of Promise; a tutoring program focused on supporting young students who were exposed to traumatic childhood experiences. There are also ways to get involved in preparing meals for the homeless residents of the Union Station Adult Center in Pasadena. It’s also possible to become a student service leader on various projects through the Caltech Y, and leadership happens to be a top quality that many medical schools look for in applicants.
For clinical volunteering experiences, many students give of their time at Huntington Hospital. There are various opportunities here, from helping at nursing stations to the emergency and radiology departments. This is also a great way to foster relationships with doctors that may be willing to allow you to shadow them later.
Caltech student organizations
Extracurriculars and volunteering isn’t limited to hospitals and charity work, so be sure to check the student organizations at Caltech for other innovative ways you can use your time. Caltech is home to over 100 student organizations covering a multitude of areas. From the Caltech Artificial Intelligence club to the Lebanese Culture club, joining a student organization is a great way to highlight your unique interests on your medical school applications. And any focused Caltech premed will be sure to want to join the Caltech Premedical Association, where you can get advice and support with classes and extracurriculars as well as learn more about obtaining shadowing opportunities around Pasadena.
Shadowing at Caltech
Gaining adequate shadowing experience is necessary for all aspiring med school students, but finding the opportunities can prove tricky. As a Caltech premed, there are multiple places you can look to get the hours you’ll need.
Career Achievement, Leadership and Exploration (CALE) at Caltech offers advising services for many types of professions and connects premeds to shadowing opportunities through their Summer Preceptorship Program. This program can help place you at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, Huntington Memorial Hospital, or UCLA Medical Center in a shadowing role.
Additionally, Cedars-Sinai Hospital runs a Pre-Med Student Volunteer Program meant to give undergraduate students access to shadowing opportunities so that they can see firsthand what the daily practice of medicine is like.
Research at Caltech
Research is the cornerstone of life as a Caltech student. In fact, the volume of research undertaken in so many fascinating fields was probably a huge contributing factor in why you chose it for undergrad. It’s no secret that being a premed at Caltech can be a great asset if you wish to enter an MD-PhD program.
While most other schools offer summer classes, the summer term at Caltech is set aside for research projects. Caltech states that over 90% of undergraduates engage in research, and they make undergraduate research “an expectation, not an exception.” In line with this expectation, there are an enormous number of programs offering Caltech premeds the chance to dive into whatever interests them.
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) One of the “crown jewels of Caltech,” the SURF program offers students the chance to design their own research project under the guidance of an experienced faculty mentor. And not just any faculty mentor; these are researchers at the forefront of their fields at Caltech, making this no ordinary summer research program.
SURF Exchanges If you’re keen to experience researching in an entirely different environment, even a different culture, SURF Exchanges could be the perfect program for you. As part of this program, you’ll have the opportunity to join in research at one of two schools, the University of Iceland or the University of Cambridge.
WAVE Fellows Yet another way to get involved in research at Caltech and construct a project under the supervision of faculty is to become a WAVE fellow. Students applying to this program must be interested in pursuing a PhD, but if entering an MD-PhD or physician scientist program is part of your plan, this could be a great fit.
The Student-Faculty Programs office lists even more programs where you can make your mark and rack up interesting expertise that will be sure to wow adcoms. Here, you’ll also find helpful information on creating a project plan and tips for meeting with a mentor.
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Part 4: Getting into medical school as a Caltech premed
Getting into medical school is a challenge no matter which institution you call your alma mater. Acing the MCAT, crafting a compelling personal statement, and making the case for yourself in your secondary essays is truly an exercise in persistence.
While traversing the premed path at Caltech, when it comes time to put together your application for medical school, you will have the services of CALE at your disposal. As mentioned above, they can assist premeds in finding shadowing opportunities, but they also review personal statements and secondary essays, offer mock interviews in both traditional and MMI formats, as well as conduct workshops each term that focus on the application process. You’ll also work with them in obtaining letters of recommendation.
Is there an associated hospital at Caltech?
Many premeds attend schools with an associated hospital or MD program that they hope to have a chance of matriculating into after graduation. Unfortunately, Caltech does not have an associated hospital nor does it offer an MD program on its own.
Most students assume that attending a school that also offers the MD program they want to attend will somehow give them an advantage over other candidates, but there’s no clear data backing this up. Any benefit that may exist in the application process is purely anecdotal. While a letter of recommendation from a physician at the school you want to go to could in theory help your case, that alone will be far from the deciding factor.
That said, in line with Caltech’s research reputation, they do offer a few MD-PhD programs in cooperation with other institutions such as the USC Keck School of Medicine, the UCLA Medical School, and the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine. However, getting into these programs will only be possible through hard work and determination—your Caltech degree will only take you so far.
Caltech premed acceptance rate and admissions statistics
With all of this in mind, what are the actual chances of a Caltech premed getting accepted into medical school? Unfortunately, there is no hard data pointing to percentages or acceptance rates. We do know that according to the AAMC, around 45% of all medical school applicants were accepted into a program during the 2023 admissions cycle. We also know that fewer than 50 applicants in total came from Caltech. This likely speaks to Caltech’s research-focused environment and notoriously difficult path for premeds.
However, it’s worth noting that graduating from Caltech is an incredible achievement by itself and doing so as a premed will certainly have adcoms taking a hard look at your application, assuming that your GPA and MCAT scores remain high.
Final thoughts
Navigating the premed path at Caltech is a strenuous journey that will have you tapping into enormous stores of perseverance and determination to succeed. While Caltech’s challenging academics will test your ability to thrive, remember that you’ve been accepted into an institution that routinely molds the best and the brightest. Your hard work coupled with the information in this guide will ensure your efforts pay off with the privilege of wearing a white coat.
About the Author
Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on medical school admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into medical school using his exclusive approach.
