MIT Graduate Admissions Policy Update

In response to the challenges of teaching, learning, and assessing academic performance during the global COVID-19 pandemic, MIT has adopted the following principle: MIT’s admissions committees and offices for graduate and professional schools will take the significant disruptions of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 into account when reviewing students’ transcripts and other admissions materials as part of their regular practice of performing individualized, holistic reviews of each applicant.

Read Full MIT Graduate Admissions Statement

For the 2021 graduate admission process, given the potential difficulty in access to testing due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the department of Mechanical Engineering will not require GRE tests for applications for graduate admission for 2021. We will thus not use GRE scores as a basis for evaluating candidates for admission in the 2021 application process.


General Admissions Information

Applications to the Mechanical Engineering (MechE) Graduate Program 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 or ocean engineering. However, the department’s admission criteria are not specific in this regard, and talented students with backgrounds in other 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 MechE disciplines (solid mechanics, dynamics, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, 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 make-up courses may be at the undergraduate-level (in which case they are relatively elementary and usually cannot be applied toward graduate credit), or at the graduate-level (in which case they carry graduate credit). 

A completed application consists of:

  1. The completed application form
  2. Minimum of three letters of recommendation
  3. Uploaded official/unofficial copies of transcripts.  We will require official transcripts upon admission.
  4. Self-report GRE results – general test only.  Please ask ETS to send the official GRE scores to us.  Inst. code 3514, Dept. code 1502. GRE Not Required.
  5. IELTS (preferred) or TOEFL for international students whose native language is not English.  Minimum acceptable score for IELTS = 7.0; TOEFL = 100 IBT, 577 PBT.  Please ask British Council to send us the official IELTS score or ETS to send us the official TOEFL score (Inst. code 3514 and Dept. code 68).

Application Process

The application website (see link below) will become available on September 15, 2020 for students who wish to apply for graduate admission in September 2021. The deadline at that time for submitting completed applications will be December 15, 2020.

Applicants to the MIT MechE graduate program should apply using the MechE online admissions site: https://gradapply.mit.edu/meche/apply/login/

For any questions not answered by the FAQs, please send inquiries to megradoffice@mit.edu.

Graduate Degree Programs

The department offers the following degrees:

  1. Master of Science (SM)
  2. Master of Engineering in the discipline of Manufacturing Only (MEng) 
  3. Naval Engineer’s Degree
  4. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) or Doctor of Science (ScD)

Early Admission (for MIT ME 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. This year we encourage applications from seniors with a GPA of 4.8 and above.  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:

  1. The remaining undergraduate commitments that you will need to satisfy during the Spring Term.
  2. 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.

You can submit this statement online following your statement of objectives.

The deadline for submitting your application for Early Admission is November 1, with decisions made by December 1. It is expected that students who accept an offer of early admission will not be entertaining offers of admission to other programs or taking a leave/deferral for work.  Deferrals will not be granted for early admission.

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.