Grades & Coursework

If you attended high school outside of the United States, your grades and subjects of study may have been very different than those of most American students. However, this will not negatively impact your application to MIT. 

MIT Admissions Counselors are trained to understand the educational system in your part of the world. We do not try to convert your grades to the American system, or to find other sorts of equivalence. You will not be competing against your classmates or against students in other parts of the world; we do not have caps or quotas for countries. We consider each student as an individual as they proceed through our process. 

However, all students are required to demonstrate minimum competence in fields they will continue to study at MIT. We recommend that all international students study: 

• Four years of English
• Mathematics, at least to the level of calculus
• Two or more years of history / social studies
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Physics

While these courses are not strictly required, studying them will increase the chances that you will be sufficiently prepared academically to attend MIT.