Study Abroad

The Caltech Cambridge Scholars Program offers qualified juniors and seniors the opportunity to spend the fall or winter term at the University of Cambridge in England. Students are hosted by and live in one of the Cambridge Colleges participating in the program. The participating colleges are Corpus Christi, Pembroke, St. Catharine’s, and St. John’s. Students pay Caltech housing, meals, tuition, and other standard Caltech fees for the term. There may be a small supplemental charge for room and tuition. The supplement varies yearly depending on prices and the exchange rate.

Students are admitted into one Cambridge department in the biological sciences, physical sciences, computer sciences, mathematics, or engineering sciences to take classes within the tripos, i.e., subject, offered by that department. Students can only take courses in one tripos subject, but can usually take classes from more than one part of the tripos in that subject. Students will find more information on the tripos structure and Cambridge University in the Fellowships Advising and Study Abroad Office or at www.cam.ac.uk.

Caltech students have the use of all Cambridge facilities and are matriculated into the university for the term. Further information, including application procedures, and the exact deadline date, is available from the Fellowships Advising and Study Abroad Office at fasa.caltech.edu. Students can find more information about Cambridge at www.cam.ac.uk.

The Caltech Copenhagen Scholars Program offers qualified juniors and seniors the opportunity to spend the fall at the Danish Technical University (DTU), located in the Copenhagen metropolitan area. At DTU, students can take courses in engineering, computer science, nanotechnology, applied physics, space sciences, and in a broad range of science subjects, e.g., chemistry, physics, and mathematics. Students will take all courses in the sciences/applied sciences at that university.

DTU uses a semester system, and Caltech students attend from the last week of August to mid-December and are required to participate in the one-week orientation or advising period the last week of August. Students have a one-week vacation in mid-October, and many use this vacation week to travel in Denmark or Europe.

Further information about the Copenhagen Scholars Program is available in the Fellowships Advising and Study Abroad Office and online at: www.fasa.caltech.edu. Go to www.dtu.dk for further information about DTU.

The École Polytechnique Scholars Program offers qualified juniors and seniors the opportunity to spend the fall term at the École Polytechnique, which is located outside of Paris in the town of Palaiseau, about 40 minutes by train from Paris.

The École Polytechnique, often referred to by the nickname "l’X," is the foremost French grande école of engineering (according to French and international rankings). Founded in 1794 and initially located in the Latin Quarter in central Paris, it was moved to Palaiseau in 1976. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious engineering schools in the world, with a very selective entrance exam. As one of the world’s foremost establishments in science education, the École Polytechnique trains graduates who become outstanding scientists, engineers, researchers, managers, and politicians.

At École Polytechnique, students can take courses in one academic area called an approndisement. The subjects are engineering, computer science as well as the sciences, e.g., chemistry, physics, environmental sciences (GPS students) and mathematics. Students can also take one class in the social sciences and humanities if their schedule permits. All students take a French language class. Classes are taught in French or English based on the instructor’s preference.

The Caltech Edinburgh Scholars Program offers qualified juniors and seniors the opportunity to spend the fall at the University of Edinburgh. The University of Edinburgh uses semester system, and Caltech students attend from mid-September to mid-December. All students are required to attend a weeklong orientation held the week before classes start. All students live in university dormitories or flats, which are within walking distance from the George Square (humanities and social sciences) and the King’s Buildings (the science and engineering campus). The university operates a free shuttle bus from the George Square campus to the King’s Buildings campus.

Students are admitted into one of Edinburgh’s academic departments in the College of Science and Engineering (CSE). Note that students cannot be admitted into the economics department because that is in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, but they can take 20 credits in that department.

More information is available about the university at www.ed.ac.uk. Further information, including application procedures and exact deadline dates, is available from the Fellowships Advising and Study Abroad Office: fasa.caltech.edu.

The Caltech London Scholars Programs offers qualified juniors and seniors the opportunity to spend a fall term at University College London, which is located in the lovely Bloomsbury area of London. University College London (UCL) is on a semester system, and Caltech students attend UCL’s autumn semester from mid-September to mid-December. All students are required to attend an exchange student orientation the week before the semester begins. Students also attend a new student orientation the first week of the semester.

Students are admitted into one of UCL’s academic departments in the physical, life, or engineering sciences and must take at least 50% of their classes in their Admitting Department. Students cannot be admitted into humanities or social science departments.

Certain departments at UCL will not admit fall-only exchange student, Computer Science being one of them.

Further information, including application procedures and exact deadline dates, is available from the Fellowships Advising and Study Abroad Office www.fasa.caltech.edu/ and further information on UCL is available at: www.ucl.ac.uk.

The Caltech Melbourne Scholars Programs offers qualified juniors and seniors the opportunity to spend the summer/fall “Semester 2”, which is located in the vibrant city of Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne is on a semester system, and Caltech students attend Melbourne’s second semester from the second week of July to the end of November. All students are required to attend an orientation that takes place at the University of Melbourne the week before the semester begins.

Further information, including application procedures and exact deadline dates, is available from the www.fasa.caltech.edu. Further information on the university is available at www.unimelb.edu.au.

Please see the Financial Aid section for details on applying for and eligibility for financial aid related to study abroad at all locations.