<p>Is it easier or harder to get into than as an undergrad?</p>
<p>A fair bit easier, though not "easy." 19.7% were admitted in 2007.</p>
<p>(source: MIT</a> Facts 2008: Admission to MIT)</p>
<p>I've heard it really depends on the quality/quantity of research you've done, because MIT wants really skilled researchers. I don't know, however, how that would differ from any other fine graduate institution. Maybe Mollie would know.</p>
<p>I'd say it depends on the department. All I know is that I never applied as an undergrad and am here for grad school!</p>
<p>It does depend, very strongly, on the department for which you're applying. Graduate school is different from undergrad in that you're only applying for a specialized area of research, so asking questions about grad school only makes sense in the context of a particular graduate program at MIT.</p>
<p>It's generally easier to get into a master's program than a PhD program, at MIT or at any other top science or engineering graduate program. But the numbers can be misleading -- the aero/astro grad program admits about 50% of applicants overall, but a huge number of those admitted are former MIT undergrads, and almost 100% of MIT undergrad applicants are admitted (my husband's year, only two were rejected).</p>
<p>I would not use the fact that 19.7% of applicants to MIT's grad programs are admitted to argue that admission to MIT's grad programs is easier than admission to the MIT undergrad program. For one thing, a very large number of MIT grad students were themselves MIT undergrads (about 20% of each graduating MIT class goes on to grad school at MIT). For another, admission to top science and engineering grad programs in general relies on the applicant doing a number of things right during undergrad: pursuing interesting and meaningful undergraduate research and getting glowing personal recommendation letters from professors, to name two. Merely getting a 4.0 as an undergraduate and a good score on the GRE does not by itself make an applicant competitive in the least for top science/engineering graduate programs.</p>
<p>Is there anything I can clarify?</p>
<p>I'll add that some departments are the exact opposite of the Aero-Astro department and categorically refuse to take anyone who did their undergrad at MIT.</p>
<p>^ any departments in particular, WendyMouse?</p>
<p>Generally science departments are less "inbred" than engineering departments. Science PhD applicants are generally encouraged to go elsewhere for their PhDs. Still, several of the science PhD programs (biology, brain & cog sci, physics) will accept MIT undergrads, even though they will counsel them to go elsewhere.</p>
<p>ChemE is the only engineering department, I think, which discourages inbreeding.</p>
<p>
[quote]
^ any departments in particular, WendyMouse?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Physics and math are well-known at MIT for discouraging inbreeding.</p>
<p>Mollie's right that generally the science departments discourage it more than the eng departments. Brain & cog sci is a notable exception to this. It preferentially takes its own.</p>
<p>This illustrates the danger of using acceptance rates to determine how hard it is to get into anything - aero/astro has an acceptance rate of 45% at the grad level, but that's because it's very self-selected (a lot of the grads were MIT undergrads). If you had a representative population of aero/astro students across the country applying, they wouldn't get in at a rate of 45%.</p>
<p>hi…</p>
<p>how about an international student like me who want to enter mit eecs. i dont have a master’s degree, just an undergrad degree from local university with cgpa 3.01 out of 4.00.</p>
<p>i have working experience in R&D labs, patents and IEEE papers.</p>
<p>generally, what is the dept looking for? does everybody need to be a wizard in maths/physics?</p>
<p>i just got my IELTS, and it is 0.5 lower than the required minimum.
do i still have a chance?</p>
<p>need advice…</p>
<p>The EECS program admits about 5% of those who apply. It is really spectacularly difficult to get into.</p>
<p>It also requires a minimum score of 7 on the IELTS, unless your first language is English, you have been been studying or working in the US for two or more years, or your undergraduate institution uses English as the language of instruction.</p>
<p>i would like to know all the things MIT considers for a graduate degree for a international student.I would further appreciate if someone provides minute details too.</p>
<p>mollie, if you’ve never done scientific research in high school, will you be given the oppurtunities to do research in college? What does it take to be good at research?</p>
<p>Well, I’m not Mollie, but most people (the vast majority) don’t do research in high school, so they will definitely not require in order to do research in college.</p>
<p>^ Thanks spratley. I want to figure out if I would enjoy and/or be good at doing research too. Do you have any idea how to gauge how someone might do in research besides having strong math/science backgrounds?</p>
<p>
Well, it depends on the department you’re applying for, but generally speaking, graduate programs will consider your undergraduate coursework and grades, your letters of recommendation, your research/work experience in your field (including any awards and publications), and (in most cases) your scores on standardized tests.</p>
<p>
This is going to sound flip, but I’m perfectly serious: to enjoy doing research, you have to be excited and curious about the work you’re doing, but you also have to be prepared to be confused, lost, and unsuccessful pretty frequently. Overall, I don’t think a strong math/science background is necessary for success in research, but interest, curiosity, and a thirst for knowledge are absolutely necessary. </p>
<p>Once you get to college, it’s perfectly acceptable to take a research position for the purpose of discovering whether research (or a particular field) is your cup of tea. You don’t have to sign over your soul to the scientific community until at least your second year of grad school. ;)</p>
<p>Ok thanks, that post made me feel like research is going to be a good fit for me. So I guess I’ll just see how it works out later, thanks.</p>
<p>Very interesting thread… I am curious as to how advantageous it is to have a published paper as an undergrad (first author) for admissions to MIT? (A/A- GPA and great recommendations from professors who attended MIT as well as worked there)</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know how difficult it is to gain admission to the graduate Biological Engineering program? As well as contacting professors who have research interests in what you plan to do for possible recruitment?</p>
<p>-Thumper</p>
<p>Ok, so in general, is it better to attend MIT as an undergrad in order to get into grad school there, or to not attend it as an undergrad? I’m referring to engineering fields.</p>
<p>
It is tremendously useful, for MIT or for anywhere else. Very few undergraduates are published, let alone as first authors. </p>
<p>
It is useful to contact professors you’d be interested in working with if you have something to discuss with them. It’s not necessarily useful to email just to say, “Hi, my name is so-and-so, and I’d be interested in working with you.”</p>
<p>
In general, it’s best to go somewhere for undergrad where you can be successful, do good work, get involved in research/design, and get to know your professors well. MIT happens to be a great place to do all of these things for engineering, and MIT engineering departments love to admit MIT undergrads for graduate study, because these are people a) they already know and love, b) they know are educated to the high standards of MIT graduate programs, and c) who are already probably working on projects in the department and who know the ropes. </p>
<p>My husband’s year, virtually all of the aerospace engineering seniors were admitted to the aerospace engineering master’s program, plus a handful of mechanical engineering seniors who decided they wanted to work on airplanes for their master’s degrees. MIT is the most common undergraduate origin of the engineering graduate programs at MIT.</p>