MIT Acceptance Rate & Admission Requirements

Mar 2, 2022

In this article, let’s learn about MIT acceptance rate and admission requirements. Let’s begin.

MIT receives almost 20,000 applications each year. Despite this, just 6-7 per cent of this highly qualified candidate pool is accepted yearly. In the 1990s, the application pool was barely one-third of today’s applications. Approximately 30 per cent or more were let through the gates every cycle during that period. In 1992, the average MIT freshman test score was 1,389; now, it is 1,532. MIT has historically admitted only the brightest and most successful teenagers. It now rejects the great majority of students who fulfil the admissions criteria.

Every successful MIT candidate has a remarkable set of credentials. These students achieve flawless or near-perfect results in standardized exams. These freshmen have a lot of skills, which shows outside the classroom. Unfortunately, as MIT demonstrates, these characteristics are often required but insufficient. MIT rejects valid applicants daily during the admissions season.

The purpose of this page is to provide the following information:

Working knowledge of the admissions process.
MIT acceptance rate.
Data and statistics on which you can base your admissions decision.
Advice on how to make your MIT application stand out, especially if you are competing against other excellent applicants.
Basic MIT requirements for the admission process.

To achieve these objectives, we shall discuss the following topics:

MIT’s EA acceptance rate
MIT’s acceptance rate
SAT, GPA, and class rank of accepted MIT applicants
Admission Deadlines
Admissions trends
Admission Requirements
How MIT rates applicants
Demographics of MIT undergraduates
MIT’s yield rate
Guidelines for applying
How to assess whether applying to MIT is worth the $75 application fee

Let’s start with a look at the most current admissions statistics.

MIT’s EA Acceptance Rate

At MIT, 15,036 students applied for early action. It is a 62 per cent increase over last year’s total of 9,291 applications. Currently, 719 of those candidates have been offered admission. Translating to a 4.8 per cent acceptance rate. The institution postponed 10,656 candidates to the regular round and rejected 3,101 people outright.

MIT Acceptance Rate

For the school year 2020-21, 20,075 applications were received. Only 1,457 applications were accepted. The MIT acceptance rate was 7.4 per cent for the class of 2020-21 which was more significant than 6.6 per cent for the class of 2022.

SAT, GPA, and class rank of Accepted MIT Applicants

Students accepted for the Class of 2020-21 had an average SAT Math scores of 790-800 and SAT ERW scores of 730-780. The MIT ACT scores range was 35-36. In an average year, 95 per cent or more of the students who apply for admission are ranked in the top 10% of their high school class. MIT does not provide statistics on the average GPA for admission.

SAT RANGE	AVERAGE MIT SAT SCORE
SAT Reading	730 – 780
SAT Math	790 – 800
Total Average Combined SAT score	1510 – 1570
Students submitting SAT score	77%

ACT RANGE	AVERAGE MIT ACT SCORE
ACT English	35 – 36
ACT Math	34 – 36
ACT Writing	8 – 10
Students submitting ACT score	45%

MIT Admission Deadlines

Application Deadline	1 January
Early Decision Deadline	—
Early Action Deadline	1 November
Offers Early Decisions	No
Offers Early Actions	Yes

SAT Score Choice Policy

The score choice policy of MIT is known as “Highest section” or “super scoring”. If you’re taking multiple standardized tests, they will be considering only the highest score from each section. Therefore, if your SAT score is low currently, we recommend retaking the exam. Because if you score higher than the previous test, that will help you to get into MIT.

MIT Admissions Trends

Students with an ACT score of 34-36 had a 10% acceptance rate, while those with a 31-33 had a 4% acceptance rate.
10% Acceptance rates for freshmen scoring 750 or above on the SAT Math.
1% Acceptance rate for freshmen scoring 700 to 740 on the SAT Math.
The class of 2020-21 consists of students from more than 1000 different high schools.
Foreign candidates from 64 different nations were admitted for the Class of 2020-21.
Only 3% of candidates were placed on a waitlist for the Class of 2020-21; the vast majority of students who were not admitted got a rejection letter.

MIT Requirements for Admission

How to get into MIT and what is the most important to consider when applying to MIT? Let us see!

High School GPA	Recommended
High School Rank	Neither required nor recommended
High School Documentations	Required
College Prep Courses	Recommended
SAT/ACT scores	Can be considered but not required
Letter of Recommendation	Required
TOEFL, MELAB, or IELTS scores (for international applicants)	Required

How MIT Rates Applicants

Do freshmen often ask how to get into MIT? The MIT acceptance rate is very low. The admissions committee evaluates character/personal skills as “extremely significant” during the admission process.

Seven more elements are rated as “important”:

Rigor academic work
GPA
Standardized test scores (SAT/ACT)
Essay writing assignment
Letter of Recommendations
Interview
Extracurricular activities
Talent/ability in other fields

MIT is seeking the smartest and brightest young individuals who possess the potential to be among the world’s finest at anything.

Demographics of MIT Undergraduates

Geographically, the Class of 2020-21 included:

International applicants (from 50 countries): 10%
Mid-Atlantic States: 22%
Southern States: 16%
Western States: 20%
Southwest and Mountain: 11%
Midwestern States: 12%
New England States: 8%

The competition is tough among eligible candidates from states (the entire Northeast, the West Coast). If you are from a less-populated state, such as Wyoming or North Dakota, your geography is more likely to help your admissions prospects.

When it comes to ethnic identification, the distribution was as follows:

White: 39%
Asian: 42%
Hispanic: 14%
African American: 11%
South Asian: 5.8%
American Indian: 2%

An analysis of the students attending high schools in the Class of 2020-21 is as follows:

General Public: 71%
Self-employed (Independent): 11%
Religious: 6%
Foreign: 8%
Home School: 0%
Total Number of Different High Schools: 783

MIT’s Yield Rate

MIT’s yield rate is 77 per cent. The proportion is so large that it explains why there is such a low MIT acceptance rate. In comparison, top colleges like Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon, Vanderbilt, Rice, Emory, and Georgetown all have yield rates of less than 50%.

Guidelines for Applying to the MIT Admission Process

If you want to be amongst one of the 20,000+ MIT applicants for the upcoming admissions process, you should be familiar with the following:

MIT has its application, so spend a significant amount of time on this one.
MIT does not take “demonstrated interest” into account in the admissions process. You will not be assessed based on whether you visited campus or contacted an admissions committee.
MIT requires all U.S. candidates to self-report their courses. Provide the final grade that reflects on your official certificate.
Make sure to invest enough time in the supplement essay and short responses that MIT requires. They are as follows for the 2020-21 cycle:

Describe your lifestyles, such as your home, clubs, school, region, city, or town. How has that world influenced your hopes and dreams? Choose the MIT subject that interests you right now and tell us about it. (100 words or less)

You must be having a busy life full of activities, most of which are necessary for you. Describe something you do just for the sake of doing it. (About 200–250 words).

Describe something about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or an important event that didn’t go as planned. How did you deal with the situation? (About 200-250 words).

Tips to Ace Your Admission Process

View each MIT question as an opportunity to describe something real and fascinating about yourself. Having the chance to respond to so many questions that inspire personal, deep, and honest replies is an impressive technique to align oneself with the admissions committee reviewing your application. Describe your passion for studying as well as your passion for MIT. Be as accurate as possible! If you execute it well, your enthusiasm and possibilities will jump off the page, perhaps distinguishing you from thousands of other qualified candidates.

How to assess whether applying to MIT is worth the $75 application fee?

There is nothing wrong with applying to MIT if you are academically accomplished. However, even an outstanding and brilliant applicant must have a sound backup option. Every college-bound teenager should create an adequate college list. Your aim and motive should be clearly stated on the preferences list. You should do this in consultation with an admissions counsellor (including your high school professor or teacher).

Frequently asked questions

1. What is the Yield rate of MIT?

MIT’s yield rate is 77%

2. What is ‘superscoring’?

Superscoring is the policy by which colleges take the highest score of each section from the standardized tests taken multiple times. This is also known as the ‘highest section’.