Applying For Admission

General Admissions Information

Applications to the Mechanical Engineering Graduate School are accepted from persons who have completed, or will have completed by the time they arrive, a Bachelor's degree. Most incoming students will have a degree in mechanical engineering, ocean engineering, or some related branch of engineering. However, the department's admission criteria are not specific, and capable students with backgrounds in different branches of engineering or in science may gain entry.

To qualify for a graduate degree, applicants are expected to have at least an undergraduate-level exposure to most of the core ME disciplines (applied mechanics, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics and heat transfer, materials, control, design and manufacturing), and to be familiar with basic electric circuits and electromagnetic field theory. Those who are deemed deficient may be asked to make up courses in certain areas before they graduate. The makeup courses may be at the undergraduate level, in which case they are relatively elementary, but usually cannot be applied toward graduate credit, or at the graduate level, in which case they carry graduate credit.

Application Process

You may submit your application in one of the following two ways:

Through MIT's online graduate application system http://www.applyweb.com/apply/mitg/menu.html.
You may download an application form at the following link: http://web.mit.edu/admissions/graduate/how_to_apply/application_download.html. All application materials should be mailed to the address listed below.

Applications are typically available from late July through December each year.

Remember that the application deadline for Mechanical Engineering is December 15. Please note that applications are only reviewed for Fall Term admissions.

Your application packet should include:

The completed application form.
Your Statement of Objectives.
Three letters of recommendation.
Up-to-date transcript(s).
A completed supplemental research area preference form. Download Research Area Preference form (NB: M.Eng applicants need not submit this form)
GRE results - general test only (see below).
IELTS (preferred) or TOEFL (phased out by 2010) results for non-English primary language applicants (see below).

Early Admission (for MIT Seniors only)

The intent of the Early Admission program is to allow seniors with a high GPA, and who are ahead of the eight term graduation schedule, to spend time in the Spring Term of the senior year to make a start on their graduate work. An important part of the application will be a statement of how you intend to use the Spring Term in preparation for Graduate School. All applications should include a separate statement that outlines how you will spend the Spring Term, including:

The remaining undergraduate commitments that you will need to satisfy during the Spring Term.
How you will use the Spring Term to make a start on your Graduate work, either in terms of taking graduate classes and/or by working with a faculty member on a potential thesis project. It would be very helpful if you are able to identify a faculty member who has agreed to work with you.

If you apply on-line you should submit this statement to the ME Graduate Office in Room 1-112.

The deadline for submitting your application for Early Admission is November 1, with decisions made by December 1. This year we encourage applications from seniors with a GPA of 4.8 and above. The department will not enter into any discussion on reasons for rejecting any application. Rejection of your application for Early Admission, does not necessarily mean that you have failed to meet our criteria for admission to the graduate program through the regular application process. All applications for Early Admission that are not accepted will be automatically entered into the regular admission process, unless explicitly withdrawn by you.

If you have further questions, please contact the Graduate Office in Room 1-112, or megradoffice@mit.edu.

Approximate Timeline

November through December 15th - applications received

Application is received (email confirmation is sent specifying missing information (if any)). Email confirmation of complete application.

December 15th through early March - applications evaluated

Applications are circulated to admissions committee members. Admissions decisions are made.

Mid March through April 1 - admissions decisions

Applicants are notified by email of their admission status.

April 15 - applicants accept or decline admission offers

Deadline for admitted applicants to accept admission to MIT.

Application Tips

All applications and supporting materials are due by December 15. Late material can be sent separately to:

M.E. Graduate Office
MIT, Room 1-112
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139

Note, however, that application processing and review starts on December 16 and an incomplete application may result in a negative decision. All applications must conform to the MIT standard application size, which does not allow the application to be bound or submitted in a booklet form.

Please do not include any papers or journals. These will not be reviewed by the Committee. If you have authored or co-authored any papers, make note of it on the application, and give a full citation. If you have patents pending, make note of that as well, but do not include any projects. These, if submitted, will not be included in the package that is reviewed by the ME faculty.

The faculty have a general policy of not discussing research or support with potential students until admission has been granted. We therefore ask that you do not send resumes or email faculty until the admission process is complete. Should you have additional questions, you can e-mail the graduate office at megradoffice@mit.edu

Information on Standardized Tests

The GRE (general) test is required of all applicants. In addition, the TOEFL (phased out by 2010) or IELTS (preferred) test is required of all international applicants whose "native" language is not English, unless the student has received a degree from a U.S. school. In this case we will accept a photocopy of an outdated TOEFL score provided it meets our minimum standards of: 577 on paper based; 233 on computer-based; 91 on internet-based. TOEFL scores must be requested from the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in order for a file to be considered complete. Please allow four to six weeks for ETS to send the "official" score reports to the department. Copies of these scores should be sent with the application and will be used only until "official" scores have been received. NO TOEFL OR IELTS WAIVERS ARE GRANTED.

GRE, TOEFL, and IELTS tests:

Educational Testing Service (ETS) information:

ETS Telephone number: 1-800-529-3590

ETS web address: http://www.gre.org/

MIT Code: 3514

TOEFL Department Code: 68

ME Department Code: 1502

IELTS tests (preferred): Institute address is sufficient for notification (no code number is required)

In light of the discovery of a recent security breach and the ETS decision to suspend the computer-based (CBT) GRE test in four Asian countries. CBT GRE results will no longer be accepted from the countries of Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and Korea. Only paper-based tests conducted after October 1, 2002 will be accepted for admission from these countries. CBT GREs from other countries appear to not be part of the security breach and will be accepted as usual.

Research Area Preference Form

We ask you to fill out the Research Area Preference Form indicating your first, second and third preference for research area. This form helps us to identify potential research supervisors.

Writing Ability Requirement

All incoming graduate students must demonstrate satisfactory English writing ability, or successfully complete appropriate training in writing. This requirement reflects the faculty's conviction that writing is an essential skill for an engineer with an advanced degree.

All incoming graduate students, native as well as foreign, must take the Institute writing ability test which is administered in September. Depending on the results, a student will either (a) pass the writing ability requirement, (b) be required to take a relatively short, but intensive, seminar-workshop in expository writing during the Independent Activities Period in January (21W.794 Technical Writing Workshop), or (c) be required to take a course in writing. Several courses suitable for engineers and scientists are offered at MIT, and special courses are available for those for whom English is a second language. A student will automatically satisfy the writing ability requirement by taking any of the following subjects: 21F.225 Workshop in Writing for Science and Engineering, 15.280 Communication for Managers, 21W.798 or 21W.799 Special Topics in Writing. If any of these is passed, the student will be excused from taking the writing ability test.

Note that all graduate students for whom English has not been the language of instruction in both elementary and secondary school are also required by MIT to take an English Evaluation Test. This test is separate from the departmental writing ability test.