Process & Statistics
Admissions Statistics
We love data at MIT. Reliable data, properly contextualized, can help people understand complex systems and make informed decisions. So, a few years ago, we began publishing admissions statistics well beyond those already contributed by MIT Institutional Research to the standard Common Data Set.
It is important to understand, however, that these numbers do not determine our admissions process but are the result of our process. In our holistic admissions process, we consider quantifications like test scores, but we also care deeply about factors like your match with MIT. Qualitative characteristics like these are much harder (perhaps impossible) to quantify and are therefore not included in the tables below despite their centrality to our process. This is the inherent difficulty with data: it only represents what the systems producing it are capable of capturing and reproducing, and thus always tells an incomplete story.
But just as a gnarled branch may still serve as a perfectly adequate walking stick, we believe that these statistics, twisty though they may be, can still guide you to and through a better understanding of our process. The most important thing to remember is that at MIT we admit people, not numbers; with that in mind, here are some numbers about the people we admit.
Admissions statistics for the class entering in the fall of 2016
(see also Incoming Freshman Class Profile)
General
| Freshman Applications | 19,020 |
| Freshman Admits | 1,511 |
| Percentage Admitted | 7.9% |
Early action
| Early action applicants | 7,767 |
| Admitted early action | 656 |
| Deferred to regular action | 4,776 |
|
Deferred applicants admitted during regular action |
208 |
Regular action
| Regular action applicants | 11,253 |
| Total considered during regular action (including deferred students) | 16,029 |
|
Admitted regular action (including deferred students) |
829 |
| Offered a place on the waitlist | 437 |
Waitlist
| Applicants who accepted a place on the waitlist | 315 |
| Number admitted from the waitlist | 26 |
US citizens/permanent residents
| Applied | 14,721 |
| Admitted | 1,379 |
International students
| Applied | 4,299 |
| Admitted | 132 |
Middle 50% score range of admitted students (25th and 75th percentiles):
| SAT Reasoning Test - Math | [760, 800] |
| SAT Reasoning Test - Critical Reading | [710, 800] |
| SAT Reasoning Test - Writing | [700, 790] |
| ACT Math | [34, 36] |
| ACT English | [33, 35] |
| ACT Composite | [33, 35] |
| SAT Subject Test - Math | [780, 800] |
| SAT Subject Test - Science | [740, 800] |
Distribution of SAT Reasoning Test Scores (Math)
| Applicants | Admits | Admit rate | |
| 750-800 | 7,851 | 946 | 12% |
| 700-740 | 2,553 | 187 | 7% |
| 650-690 | 1,543 | 31 | 2% |
| 600-640 | 797 | 4 | 1% |
| < 600 | 622 | 0 | 0% |
Distribution of SAT Reasoning Test Scores (Critical Reading)
| Applicants | Admits | Admit rate | |
| 750-800 | 4,445 | 635 | 14% |
| 700-740 | 3,071 | 289 | 9% |
| 650-690 | 2,326 | 151 | 6% |
| 600-640 | 1,625 | 61 | 4% |
| < 600 | 1,899 | 32 | 2% |
Distribution of SAT Reasoning Test Scores (Writing)
| Applicants | Admits | Admit rate | |
| 750-800 | 4,358 | 645 | 15% |
| 700-740 | 2,693 | 272 | 10% |
| 650-690 | 2,582 | 161 | 6% |
| 600-640 | 1,623 | 60 | 4% |
| <600 | 2,110 | 30 | 1% |
Distribution of ACT Scores (Composite)
| Applicants | Admits | Admit rate | |
| 34-36 | 4,745 | 528 | 11% |
| 31-33 | 2,748 | 171 | 6% |
| 28-30 | 1,087 | 25 | 2% |
| 25-27 | 511 | 1 | 0% |
| < 25 | 293 | 0 | 0% |
Distribution of ACT Scores (Math)
| Applicants | Admits | Admit rate | |
| 34-36 | 5,670 | 609 | 11% |
| 31-33 | 1,888 | 103 | 5% |
| 28-30 | 1,108 | 13 | 1% |
| 25-27 | 502 | 0 | 0% |
| < 25 | 216 | 0 | 0% |
Distribution of ACT Scores (English)
| Applicants | Admits | Admit rate | |
| 34-36 | 5,155 | 512 | 10% |
| 31-33 | 2,095 | 158 | 8% |
| 28-30 | 971 | 43 | 4% |
| 25-27 | 619 | 11 | 2% |
| < 25 | 544 | 1 | 0% |
Distribution of ACT Scores (Writing)
| Applicants | Admits | Admit rate | |
| 10-12 | 1,687 | 229 | 14% |
| 8-9 | 3,913 | 300 | 8% |
| 6-7 | 926 | 39 | 4% |
| < 6 | 82 | 0 | 0% |
Other sources of data for MIT