UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSIONS GUIDE
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s motto, mens et manus, means “mind and hand,” and every undergraduate program at MIT pairs basic principles with practical applications. Start here to understand the education and prepare each part of your application.
Fall 2027 entry
GET TO KNOW THE EDUCATION
MIT calls its majors Courses, and most go by number: mechanical engineering is Course 2, physics is Course 8, and mathematics is Course 18. You choose one after you arrive, once you’ve had time to explore.
FIRST YEAR
A typical first year covers most of the six science subjects everyone takes. It usually also includes two humanities, arts, or social science classes and one or more that help you explore your interests.
END OF FIRST YEAR
Most students choose a major at the end of the first year, and you can wait until the end of the second. Switching in your second year is relatively easy.
ALL FOUR YEARS
Eight humanities, arts, and social science classes run through the degree. At least four of your classes, two there and two in your major, are communication-intensive.
Seventeen subjects in all: six in science; eight in the humanities, arts, and social sciences; two science and technology electives; and a lab. You’ll also meet a swimming requirement and take four physical education classes.
Grading: Your first term and January are graded pass or no record, and classes you don’t pass never reach your transcript. Second-term grades are A, B, C, or no record.
Learning communities: Concourse, Design Plus, the Experimental Study Group, and Terrascope range in size from 25 to 65 students, and each has its own faculty and meeting places. Space is limited.
January: The Independent Activities Period gives you four weeks in January, with more than 600 activities, including ones students organize.
Testing: The SAT or ACT is required. If you’ve used English for fewer than five years, or don’t speak it at home or in school, MIT strongly recommends an English proficiency exam and sets minimum scores.
Financial aid: MIT considers you for aid through the same process as every applicant and meets your full demonstrated need. You, your family, or someone you know can translate your parents’ tax documents.
UNDERSTAND WHAT MIT CONSIDERS
MIT publishes how it rates each factor in its admissions decisions. Character and personal qualities are the only ones it rates “very important.” Your classes, grades, tests, essays, letters, interview, activities, and talents are rated “important.”
YOUR PREPARATION
MIT has no required high school classes, but it expects applicants to have taken a broad, challenging program. That foundation prepares you for the General Institute Requirements every MIT student takes.
Letrado’s adviceGo as far in math and science as your school allows, and keep a humanities class you enjoy. If your school runs out of options, a teacher can describe what you did next.
YOUR TEACHERS
MIT asks for two teacher letters, ideally one from math or science and one from humanities, social science, or language. It says the best come from teachers who know you well as both a student and a person.
Letrado’s adviceChoose teachers who have seen you ask questions, help a classmate, or recover from a mistake. Remind them of a moment or two, and let the letter be theirs.
YOUR WORK OUTSIDE CLASS
Makers, researchers, and artists can add a creative portfolio. MIT calls it truly optional: send one only for work that is significant to you and relevant to your application.
Letrado’s adviceCount paid work and responsibilities at home as real activities. A weekend job can show the same care and problem-solving as a club title.
WHAT MIT DESCRIBES
An Educational Counselor, an MIT graduate who volunteers, may contact you. Most interviews happen in November for Early Action and January for Regular Action.
MIT waives the interview, and your application won’t be adversely affected.
MIT offers most applicants an interview and says its goal is to interview everyone. Being offered one isn’t a sign that you’ve moved to a later stage of review.
MIT COMMON DATA SET, 2025–26
Very important: your character and personal qualities.
Important: how demanding your classes are, your grades, and your test scores; your essays, recommendations, and interview; and your activities and talents.
Considered: class rank, first-generation status, where you live, volunteer work, and work experience.
Not considered: alumni relatives, Massachusetts residency, religion, and how much interest you’ve shown.
For fall 2025, 29,281 students applied, 1,334 were admitted, and 1,152 enrolled.
Among enrolled students who sent scores, the middle half scored 1520–1570 on the SAT and 34–35 on the ACT.
PLAN THE APPLICATION
MIT has its own application, which you complete in its online portal. Early Action is nonbinding, and MIT doesn’t limit your other early applications, although it requires you to follow other colleges’ early rules. You can apply to MIT only once per entry year.
Early Action Next deadline
Nov 1, 2026Regular Action
Jan 4, 2027Submit by the deadline even if your teachers haven’t sent their letters yet. MIT still accepts letters that arrive later and attaches them to your application.
Biographical information, essays, activities, and academics. The fee is $75, and you can ask for a waiver if paying it would be a hardship.
Required. MIT strongly recommends an English proficiency exam for certain non-native English speakers.
Your counselor sends the Secondary School Report with your transcript. MIT also needs transcripts from any other high school or college you’ve attended. A counselor letter is optional, and you aren’t disadvantaged without one.
Ideally one from math or science and one from humanities, social science, or language. An extra letter is optional, and most applicants don’t send one.
An MIT graduate volunteer may contact you after you apply. If none is available, the interview is waived.
For researchers, makers, and performing and visual artists, through SlideRoom by your round’s deadline.
If you’re deferred: In mid-December, MIT admits, denies, or defers Early Action applicants. Deferred applications are reconsidered in Regular Action, and the deferral doesn’t count against you.
If you apply through QuestBridge: MIT takes part in the National College Match and says it has no preference between its own application and QuestBridge’s.
After you apply: The portal is where you manage recommenders, update test scores, send the February Updates & Notes form if it applies to you, and see your decision. Admitted students reply by May 1.
WRITE IN YOUR OWN VOICE
Four essays and four short answersEach essay should be about 100–200 words, depending on the question. Each short answer has space for 40–50 words.
Instead of one long essay, MIT asks several short questions, and it says this isn’t a writing test. The essays take on bigger questions; the short answers make room for everyday things.
Letrado’s adviceDraft each answer from one real moment you can describe in detail. If a sentence could appear in anyone’s application, replace it with something only you could say.
Name a question you keep coming back to, and connect it with something you’ve actually done, read, or built.
Describe the turn itself in concrete detail: what happened, what you chose, and what you did next.
MIT asks how your personal and academic experiences have influenced the problems you’d want to tackle with an MIT education, and the impact you aim to make on your community. Start with what you’ve seen up close.
Say plainly what went wrong, what you tried, and what didn’t work at first. A setback often shows more than a trophy.
They ask what you do just for fun, someone you admire and why, a topic you could talk about for hours, and whether you’re more of a generalist or a specialist, and why. One precise detail will do more than a list.
MAKE ROOM FOR THE FINANCIAL QUESTION
MIT decides on admission without considering your ability to pay, for international students too, and it meets 100% of demonstrated need. In 2024–25, 57% of full-time undergraduates received an MIT Scholarship, and MIT says 88% of its students graduate debt-free.
FAMILY INCOME UNDER $100,000
Parents can expect to pay nothing toward the full cost, including housing and food. Students still contribute from summer savings and term-time work.
FAMILY INCOME UNDER $200,000
Grants and scholarships typically cover at least the full cost of tuition.
FAMILY INCOME ABOVE $200,000
In MIT’s 2025–26 estimates, students in this range who received an MIT Scholarship had a median award of $37,750.
MIT’s estimates depend on income and assets, and it frames these income levels in terms of American families. International students apply through the same process.
How MIT keeps costs affordable (opens in a new tab)PUBLISHED 2026–27 COST · BEFORE AID
$92,760It covers tuition, the student life fee, housing, food, books and supplies, and personal expenses. MIT adds a travel allowance based on where you live, and every first-year student lives on campus.
For fall 2027 entry, use the 2027–28 figures when MIT publishes them. Health insurance is charged separately unless you show you already have full coverage.
MIT’s 2026–27 cost of attendance (opens in a new tab)Letrado’s advicePut the aid deadlines on the same calendar as your application. If a question stumps your family, MIT’s aid counselors answer by email and phone.
For a first estimate, MIT offers a quick estimator and a net price calculator. It says neither will be accurate for international students.
Estimate your cost (opens in a new tab)ADMITTED TO MIT · E.B.
E.B. was a first-generation applicant at a large public high school in California, with strong math and physics results but no national research prize. His first drafts explained mechanisms accurately and skipped the conflict, uncertainty, and teamwork behind them. We helped him bring those in.
His first activity list buried his paid shift at an auto-parts store, where he explained problems to customers who used different names for the same part.
He had diagnosed the visible problem rather than the underlying load. The essay showed persistence without claiming the repair changed an industry.
A robotics teammate pointed out that fixing things alone left others unable to follow the fix, so he began documenting his work for the team.
MIT’s guide for teachers (opens in a new tab) asks teachers to be “specific and storied” and to describe how you interact with teachers and peers and how you react to disappointment. E.B.’s recommendation plan helped his teachers describe his technical ability and his growth as a communicator.
HIS MIT OUTCOME
Offered a place at MIT
HIS CHOICE: MITMassachusetts Institute of Technology · Photo: Marco Almbauer / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain. Cropped.
At first, E.B. assumed he should choose the most familiar West Coast option. His family didn’t decide from published prices alone, and he chose MIT after the final aid comparison and conversations about hands-on engineering culture.
ALSO ADMITTED TO
WHEN YOU’D LIKE A HAND
Bring your questions to a free 45-minute introduction with your proposed mentor. Afterward, we’ll email a personalized plan with recommended next steps.
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