Applying to GALCIT An unofficial guide by grad students

Applying to GALCIT
An unofficial guide by grad students
What you need to apply to GALCIT
(and most other aerospace grad programs)
❑ Online application form (Caltech can waive the application fee)
❑ 3 letters of recommendation
❑ CV/résumé
❑ Transcript(s) (unofficial transcripts may be enough)
❑ Personal statement
❑ TOEFL scores, if applicable
Note: The General GRE exam is not required for the 2021-2022 admission cycle. 
Submitted scores will not be considered.
IMPORTANT NOTE: 
This is an unofficial document. Please refer to the following webpages for official 
instructions from Caltech. In case of a discrepancy, always follow the official 
instructions.
• https://www.gradoffice.caltech.edu/admissions
• https://galcit.caltech.edu/academics/admissions
Application timeline: what to do and when to do it
This timeline is just a rough guideline, and you don’t need to follow it exactly. 
Also, this process can be stressful, so don’t forget to take care of yourself!
Now: Start getting materials together
• Think about where to apply.
• It’s good to organize your thoughts. 
• It might be helpful to make a spreadsheet with important dates, 
requirements, and faculty of interest from each school as you go along. 
• Feel free to reach out to people! 
• You can ask current grad students what it’s like working with                     
Prof. [insert name], what the climate of a department is like, etc.
• (Note that faculty are not always responsive, and it might be easier to 
contact their grad students.)
• Start working on your CV.
• Here's a guide about what can go in it 
• Here's a sample CV (we recommend making yours in LaTeX)
• It is a good idea to also work on your résumé as some schools might ask for one
• Figure out what tests you need to take:
• Although some schools require the general GRE, GALCIT is NOT requiring it this 
year. 
• If you do decide to take the GRE, register early for the September and/or the 
October test. 
• Study tips: Take the official practice tests, especially the most recent ones! 
Some of us found the books 5 lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems and Official 
GRE Power Pack to be useful. 
• If your first or native language is not English and you don’t have a degree from a US 
institution, you may need to demonstrate English proficiency with the TOEFL.  
Dates and locations vary by country. 
September-ish: Letters of recommendation
• Ask for letters of recommendation.
• Who to ask?
• Best: past research supervisors
• Good: academic advisors or professors who know you well
• Not ideal: professors who don’t know you well (even if you got an A in the 
class they taught)
• How to ask?
• Ask early! They might be able to suggest places to apply
• Explicitly ask if they can write you a “strong” letter
• Send your letter writers info:
• Once you’ve decided where to apply, give your writers a list of places and 
deadlines to send letters. Update this regularly! 
• Also send them your CV/résumé and a copy of your transcript, along with 
whatever extra information they ask for. 
• If you have extenuating circumstances that might explain other parts of your 
application, consider asking your recommenders to mention them in their 
letters.
October-ish: Fellowships and essays
• Be sure to look into fellowships and see if any might be right for you.
• Don’t think you’ll get a fellowship? Apply anyway, if you can. It never hurts, and it’s 
really useful when writing other applications.
• This also demonstrates initiative and is often looked at favorably by faculty 
and admissions committees
• For US Citizens, the National Science Foundation Graduate Research 
Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) and the National Defense Science and 
Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program (NDSEG) are great opportunities. 
Check their respective websites for this year’s deadlines. 
• For more tips on applying to the NSF GRFP, check out this useful website. 
Even if you don’t apply, check out the great example essays hosted there!  
• Other fellowships worth looking into are the NASA Space Technology 
Graduate Research Opportunities (NSTGRO) and the Hertz Foundation 
Fellowship.
• Work on your essays / statements of purpose.
• DO (or at least try to):
• Express your career goals and research interests
• Briefly describe past research, emphasizing your contributions
• Explain why a particular program is a good fit for you
• Name drop professors who you might want to work with
• Ask people to look over your statement! 
• Especially ask grad students, postdocs, and/or professors
• Get a friend to check for clarity and grammar
• Send them to your letter writers once you have drafts
• DON’T (or at least strongly reconsider): 
• Be overly flowery—this statement is much more focused than a typical 
undergraduate application essay!
• Use clichés (e.g. “I fell in love with space as a child”; these tend to be overused and don’t 
add much useful info)
November-ish: Work on applications
• Send your transcripts. 
• Fellowship and grad school applications both typically require transcripts. 
Depending on your university, it can take a long time to get official transcripts sent; 
get it done early and avoid rush charges.
• Note that GALCIT will accept unofficial transcripts! 
• Make sure your letter writers get recommendations in! 
• Caltech’s online form will send you a notification when a letter has been submitted 
on your behalf. If they are not in yet, gently remind your letter writers; they’re busy 
and might have forgotten. 
December: Submit applications
Application deadlines are usually in December-January (note that for some US 
schools, deadlines for international students may be earlier than for US students).
GALCIT’s deadline is December 15.
After submitting applications: try not to stress!
January-March: Wait to hear back
• For some schools, you may be interviewed over video chat if you make it to 
their short list.
• At GALCIT, interviews with faculty are traditionally done in-person during the 
GALCIT visit day but may be subject to change depending on the public health 
situation in Pasadena in the spring.
• For international students, these interviews are typically held online.
• During these interviews, faculty members will ask you about your previous research 
experience and research interests for graduate studies. They will ask you to discuss 
your previous research (both details and broader context) and ask if you have any 
questions about Caltech. 
• Decisions for aerospace graduate programs usually start coming in late January.      
Caltech will post all final decisions by April 1.
February-April: School visits
• If you make the short list, someone from the university will be in touch about 
visiting GALCIT (all expenses will be paid). 
• This may not be the case for international students
• For some other programs, school visits occur after acceptance. 
• Check out these tips for visiting graduate programs, and this list of good 
questions to ask on grad visits.
For US schools, April 15 is the deadline to decide on a graduate school. 
Before April 15, take your time to make a decision! But if you’re sure that you want to reject 
an admission offer, please let the school know as quickly as possible. This lets them admit 
students off the waitlist and gives these students more time to consider their option. 
FINALLY:
Remember that grad school admissions are often driven by factors you have no 
control over (funding, which professors are looking for students, etc.)! You are not 
defined by the schools you do or don’t get into, and plenty of aerospace engineers 
(including some of us) didn’t go to grad school right away. You can be successful 
no matter what you decide to do. 
Questions? Comments? Contact Brayden at [email protected]
Special thanks to Mia de los Reyes who made the Caltech Astro guide on which this is based!
September-ish: Letters of recommendation
• Ask for letters of recommendation.
• Who to ask?
• Best: past research supervisors
• Good: academic advisors or professors who know you well
• Not ideal: professors who don’t know you well (even if you got an A in the 
class they taught)
• How to ask?
• Ask early! They might be able to suggest places to apply
• Explicitly ask if they can write you a “strong” letter
• Send your letter writers info:
• Once you’ve decided where to apply, give your writers a list of places and 
deadlines to send letters. Update this regularly! 
• Also send them your CV/résumé and a copy of your transcript, along with 
whatever extra information they ask for. 
• If you have extenuating circumstances that might explain other parts of your 
application, consider asking your recommenders to mention them in their 
letters.
Graduate Aerospace Laboratories at Caltech
Planning on applying to GALCIT? If so, you are making a great choice! 
While we might not be as big as some other graduate aerospace programs, our 
small size and great location allows us to provide a unique graduate experience 
while maintaining a high level of academic excellence (currently ranked #1). 
Here are some things that set our graduate program apart: 
• All the first-year students’ tuition and stipend are fully covered by GALCIT or 
external funding sources such as fellowships or by pre-arranged exchange 
programs. This allows students to focus on taking courses to build the 
necessary background for their graduate research. At the end of the first year, 
students will have fulfilled their requirements for their M.S. degree.
• Coming into GALCIT, students have no commitment to a particular advisor and 
will be given the opportunity to interact with multiple faculty throughout the 
first year to find someone who matches their research interests. 
• You can even consider faculty outside of GALCIT!  
• By the end of your first year, you will select your advisor and begin your 
research in their lab that summer.
• Close ties with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory allow for unique collaboration 
opportunities as well as the opportunity to take courses taught by JPL experts. 
• With Caltech being situated at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains and a 
short drive from both downtown LA and the Pacific Ocean, there is plenty to 
do on the weekends or even just when you need a break from studying! 