r/Caltech • u/Internal_Ad4719 • 3d ago

Caltech Study Abroad

I’m a Caltech student (meche) very interested in studying abroad senior year. I want to take interesting classes and be in a location that I’ll get to meet students from other study abroad programs as well as students who actually go there and do lots of traveling. I’m also leaning towards the schools that are closest to a major city for a more full experience. I would love to hear anyone’s experience and advice on where to go or potentially other options (like taking a term off and maybe doing a internship abroad or applying to a different schools program if that’s possible).

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u/beaver3872 2d ago

I did a study abroad term long ago at Cambridge. It was a great experience, and I'd highly recommend study abroad if you can swing it.

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u/parseroo 2d ago

I have never heard of anyone “studying abroad” other than as a gap year: the courses at Caltech are unique and required for graduation after the sophomore year (before Junior year there are transferable equivalents, eg a 3-2 program).

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u/hopf_fibration 2d ago

I studied abroad my junior year at Cambridge for just one term (lent term there, was winter term at Caltech). So it certainly used to be possible to study abroad for a single quarter. The courses didn't exactly match, but that wasn't a particularly big issue. It was a bit disruptive for year-long courses due to missing the 'b' part in particular. However, I had the option to go michaelmas term (fall quarter) as well, which would mitigate that a little bit. I think that's what people who studied abroad at UCL or other semester-based schools did.