Thinking of Applying to MIT? How to Get Into MIT (Beyond the Numbers)
MIT considers your entire application and is not just concerned with high grades.
Academically challenge yourself, especially in STEM fields!
Think about how you can contribute to MIT’s vibrant student body!
Remember that the admissions office will consider the student as a whole!
Thinking of Applying to MIT?
Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a highly prestigious school. It is well known for its excellent contributions to academia particularly in the fields of science, technology, and entrepreneurship. With 1,291 students admitted out of 26,914 total applications for the class of 2027 (a 4.8% admissions rate!), MIT certainly holds a spot as a top-tier dream school for many.
However, as MIT states themselves, statistics are just statistics—the school is interested in accepting people who have a passion for learning and thinking in unique ways. Always make sure to keep in mind that there is no such thing as a “typical MIT student!” That being said, let us go over qualities MIT admissions officers highly value when reviewing applications.
Applying Sideways and Being Able to "Do the Work"
What is “applying sideways?” As Chris Peterson, a graduate of MIT and former current admissions officer (and current Director of Special Projects at MIT Admissions + Student Financial Services) puts it, applying sideways is understanding that increasing your chances of getting into MIT means not setting it as your goal in the first place. In other words, if you are a strong student engaged in exciting extracurriculars and have an active voice in your communities, then you are already the best possible candidate in the admission officers’ eyes!
Of course, a large part of applying sideways entails showing that you can “do the work.” Challenge yourself in high school to take engaging and rigorous classes! MIT recommends a certain list of high school courses they think are helpful for high school applicants to build up a strong foundation—bonus points if you know your calculus teacher well enough for a letter of recommendation.
If your school does not offer such courses or you want to go even further, consider dual-enrollment at local colleges and utilize websites like OpenCourseWare and edX to find publicly available college lectures. Doing well in such courses is key, and SSA tutoring can help with that!
Applied Sciences and Engineering
MIT should not be neglected by students interested in the liberal arts—but the school is certainly most known for its prestige in the fields of chemistry, aerospace engineering, or mathematics. If MIT is a goal for you, consider completing a variety of STEM courses in high school and interning at labs or hospitals to complement your academic passions.
Make sure to consider how you perform on examinations as well! While including an SAT/ACT examination score will not influence your application for the fall 2021 cycle, previous data shows that admitted students achieved very high scores in STEM tests (with a majority of admitted students scoring at least 750+ on the SAT Math and 34+ on the ACT Math).
Contribution to the MIT Community
Noticing a trend like with Harvard and Stanford? Many top schools do not structure their application process around admitting one student at a time. Schools like MIT are instead focused on admitting a diverse, personalized body of students that they feel will complement and work well with each other. Every student contributes in their own individual way—what can you offer to the institution?
MIT states it tends to attract and nurture “unconventional thinkers,” those who when given the rich resources of the school, can push themselves to pursue their interests and perhaps even eventually win a Nobel Prize or a Turing Award in the future.
MIT’s philosophy is to handpick their group of 1,100 people to climb their academic “mountain.” No talent is overlooked as long as it is uniquely beneficial. Are you a soccer hobbyist with a passion for biomedical engineering who volunteers at a pet shelter in your spare time? Perhaps you will be the perfect complement to a stand-up comedian interested in computer science with a design-conscious social media platform.
Insider Opinions
All in all, it is important to remember that the officers are people as well—they want to consider your application holistically and across a wide panel of admissions officers. MIT uses a student-centered process and tries to be fair in its decisions. As one current MIT junior puts it:
“[MIT does not] necessarily value excelling at one particular thing, or having one particular formative experience, but rather how the culmination of all your experiences and passions form who you are today . . . I would encourage students to not be scared of applying due to MIT's prestige. I almost didn't apply to MIT because I was nowhere near the top of my class academically, and I felt like my grades didn't hold up to the standards that I expected MIT to have. It is very easy to look at a number, such as GPA, and immediately determine your value as an applicant. But at the end of the day, you're not the admissions officer. I can confidently say that the MIT admissions board does a great job of considering their candidates holistically, rather than focusing entirely on academics, as some may expect.”
What do you think about this student’s experience? If it is your dream to go to MIT, then start thinking now about how you can present yourself to the admissions officers. Building upon your unique qualities and attributes is a great way to start!
