We expect an applicant to have earned a bachelor's or a master's degree by the time he/she registers in MechE. Most incoming students will have a degree in Mechanical Engineering or some related branch of engineering. The department's admission criteria are not specific, however, and capable students with backgrounds in different branches of engineering or in science may apply.
Applicants to the MIT MechE graduate program should apply using the MechE online admissions site: https://apply.mit.edu/apply/
No. There is only one admissions process. Students without a Master's degree will earn that degree before proceeding on to the PhD. If you already hold a Master's degree from another school, you can apply directly to the PhD. We do not admit directly to the PhD from the Bachelor's Degree, you must apply for the Master of Science program first.
The MechE Department accepts applications for September only and the deadline for applying is December 15th of the previous year.
We do not average the GRE scores or keep statistics on this information.
GRE Not Required except for applicants to the 2N program (Naval Construction and Engineering). Please refer to the 2N admissions information and faculty for admissions details as this program may have additional requirements.
Students whose citizenship is from India are exempt from taking the IELTS or TOEFL exam. We will also waive the IELTS or TOEFL if an international applicant whose "native" language is not English, and who has received a degree from a U.S. school.
We strongly recommend that you send in your application COMPLETE with documentation. The deadline for letters of recommendation is December 15. It is the responsibility of the applicant to follow up with the letter writers to make sure the letters get to us by December 15 deadline.
In a case like this, we usually suggest that you receive at least one letter from a faculty member who knew you well, and the other two letters can be from employers.
The Office of Graduate Education offers application fee waivers to applicants who meet the criteria outlined on their website.
The Institute does not offer application fee waivers to international applicants.
Hard copies or electronic official transcript/s are ONLY required if admitted. At that time, we will request you to send us your transcript/s with all your final grades to the following address or email address – megradoffice@mit.edu:
ME Grad Office, Room 1-112
M.I.T.
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
We do not routinely acknowledge receipt of applications or supporting documents. Applicants can go back into their online application and check for the number of recommendations that have been received.
Applicants have until April 15th to notify MIT of their decision to accept or decline the offer of admission. After April 15 decisions are considered binding and may require a written release.
Information and a list of schools agreeing to adhere to this decision date can be found on the Resolution Regarding Graduate Scholars, Fellows, Trainees and Assistants, or by searching the Council of Graduate Schools website.
An admitted student may make a written request to defer admission for one term only. Exceptions are made in rare cases; these written requests must be explained in detail.
No. All degree programs are for full-time day students.
Students are eligible for assistantships after they have been admitted to the Department. To facilitate the student-faculty matching process and secure funding for the coming academic year as early as possible, we recommend that newly admitted students begin to contact faculty whose research is of interest to them as soon as they are admitted to the Department. Faculty with RA openings in their research group for the next academic year will start reviewing RA applications once admission decisions have been made. (For more information see the Graduate Program information on the MechE web site).
No. Because of the large volume of applications submitted to MechE, we must discourage you from sending in copies of awards, journal articles and other extraneous documents. But you can certainly make reference to them in your application under the Test Scores/Experience section.
Yes, but keep in mind that the applications are independent of each other. We do not share supporting materials with the other departments. A separate fee is required for each application.
Decisions are released on or around February 15 th . All students will be notified by email of our decision.