In the 2024-2025 admissions cycle, MIT’s acceptance rate dipped to 4.55%. While not their lowest ever, it reflects a growing trend of this prestigious school’s acceptance rate trending ever downwards. But what does a 4.55% acceptance rate actually mean? MIT, like many schools, publishes raw admissions data in the Common Data Set (CDS), which is used by publishers such as U.S. News & World Report, the College Board, and Peterson’s to compile their rankings. Fortunately, it also provides us with a wealth of knowledge we can draw on to help our clients develop a data-driven strategy.
There are 10 sections of the CDS, but today we’re just going to look at one part of MIT’s 2024-2025 CDS: Section C, or . However – one caveat. MIT also publishes their own, separate admissions data (), which we will include when relevant. MIT’s own data refers to the Class of 2029, while the 2024-2025 CDS is for the Class of 2028.
Trend Spotting: Five Years of MIT Admissions
Before looking at 2024-2025/Class of 2028 data closely, let’s look at the five-year trend forming at MIT:
| Year | Total Applicants | Number of Admitted Students | Acceptance Rate | Enrollees | Yield Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 28,232 | 1,284 | 4.55% | 1,106 | 86.10% |
| 2024 | 26,914 | 1,291 | 4.80% | 1,092 | 84.60% |
| 2023 | 33,767 | 1,337 | 3.96% | 1,136 | 84.90% |
| 2022 | 33,240 | 1,365 | 4.11% | 1,177 | 86.20% |
| 2021 | 20,075 | 1,457 | 7.26% | 1,070 | 73.40% |
Why This Matters: MIT, like other highly competitive schools, is seeing a sub 5% acceptance rate with a 80+% yield rate.
MIT, like many Ivy+ institutions, had a higher acceptance rate in the 2020-2021 cycle due to COVID-19. We believe they admitted slightly more students due to the uncertainty—they didn’t know who would or would not come, so they over-enrolled a bit. They also saw a spike in applicants in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, likely due to students believing they had a better chance given the 2021 numbers and their test-optional policy. Across the board, Ivy+ institutions saw a flood of applications when they went test-optional. However, MIT was the first amongst its peers to reinstate testing. And now, they are moving back toward the overall trend of lower acceptance rates now that these numbers are stabilizing.
MIT is a hard school to get into. You knew that, of course. But as you can see, many students want to go to MIT, and the truth is that the vast majority of those ~30k applicants are qualified on paper. How you set yourself is more nebulous, but the stats will tell us the bare minimum qualifications you need to have to get through the first round of admissions considerations.
C1: First-Time, First-Year Admission, Applications
Let’s look at the specific data breakdowns for 2024-2025 admissions:
| First-time, first-year applicants | Total | Admitted | Acceptance rate | Enrolled | Yield rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | 17,210 | 606 | 3.52% | 547 | 90.30% |
| Women | 8,975 | 612 | 6.82% | 499 | 81.50% |
| Another gender | 997 | 36 | 3.61% | 34 | 94.40% |
| Unknown gender | 1,050 | 30 | 2.86% | 26 | 86.70% |
| First-time, first-year applicants | Total |
|---|---|
| Applied | 28,232 |
| Admitted | 1,284 |
| Acceptance rate | 4.55% |
| Enrolled | 1,106 |
| Yield rate | 86.10% |
Key Takeaways for Acceptance Rates:
Almost 2x as men apply to MIT, but are accepted in similar overall numbers to women
Women have a higher acceptance rate than men
MIT is the most gender-queer friendly of top-tier institutions
MIT’s yield rate is one of the highest in the industry
| US Citizens | Number |
|---|---|
| Applied | 22,355 |
| Admitted | 1,198 |
| Acceptance Rate | 5.36% |
| International Students | Number |
|---|---|
| Applied | 6,926 |
| Admitted | 136 |
| Acceptance Rate | 1.96% |
*From MIT’s self-disclosed data
Why This Matters: International students have a much lower chance of admission than US Citizens or residents.
MIT will always be a hard school to get into, and this is not really news. But the gender and geographic breakdown is pretty interesting. MIT has some of the lowest acceptance rates for international students and they, like a lot of elite schools, are seeing waaaay more men apply than women. Which is good news for female applicants, and not so great news for male applicants.
C9-C2: First-Time, First-Year Profile, or Scores and Grades
MIT is test-mandatory and was among the first schools to reinstate mandatory test reporting post-COVID. As you will see from their testing data, reinstating their testing policy hasn’t lowered or dinged their impressive numbers in any way.
| Percent | Number | |
|---|---|---|
| Submitting SAT Scores | 83% | 918 |
| Submitting ACT Scores | 29% | 323 |
Why This Matters: That percentage adds up to 112%, which means some students submitted both SAT and ACT scores.
Since students are not self-selecting to submit scores, below you will see the true average testing profile of enrolled students at MIT:
| Test | 25th Percentile | 50th Percentile | 75th Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAT Composite | 1520 | 1550 | 1570 |
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading + Writing | 740 | 760 | 780 |
| SAT Math | 780 | 800 | 800 |
| ACT Composite | 34 | 35 | 36 |
| ACT Math | 35 | 35 | 36 |
| ACT English | 35 | 35 | 36 |
Why This Matters: Getting a 1550+ or 35+ at MIT is essentially mandatory. Remember, the 25th percentile is on the “poor” end of their average. The numbers don’t lie.
First-time, first-year students with scores in each range
| Score Range | SAT Evidence-Based Reading + Writing | SAT Math |
|---|---|---|
| 700-800 | 93.36% | 100% |
| 600-699 | 5.88% | 0% |
| 500-599 | 0.76% | 0% |
| Score Range | SAT Composite |
|---|---|
| 1400-1600 | 98.80% |
| 1200-1399 | 1.20% |
| 1000-1199 | 0% |
| Score Range | ACT Composite | ACT English | ACT Math | ACT Reading | ACT Science |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30-36 | 99.69% | 97.52% | 98.76 | 95.98% | 98.76% |
| 24-29 | 0.31% | 2.17% | 1.24% | 4.02% | 1.24% |
| 18-23 | 0% | 0.31% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Standardized Test Score Takeaways:
The average MIT admit is scoring a 1550+ or 35+ on their standardized tests
MIT has some of the highest scores in the college admissions game
Students with section scores under 700 for the SAT and 30 for the ACT have incredibly low chances of being admitted to MIT
The 0.76%/0.31%/1.2% categories are ultimate exceptions – not the rule
As you can see from the testing data, MIT expects, perhaps even demands, perfection. While MIT does not publish the specific GPA breakdowns that other schools do, we do see a glimpse of what grades you need for MIT through their class rank breakdown:
| Score Range | ACT Composite | ACT English | ACT Math | ACT Reading | ACT Science |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30-36 | 99.69% | 97.52% | 98.76 | 95.98% | 98.76% |
| 24-29 | 0.31% | 2.17% | 1.24% | 4.02% | 1.24% |
| 18-23 | 0% | 0.31% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Key Class Rank Takeaways:
Being in the bottom 90th of your HS graduating class greatly reduces your chance of admissions
Not all high schools track class rank – MIT knows this
You should have as close to a 4.0 unweighted GPA as possible
Let’s be very clear about this: the small fraction of students with ACT scores in the mid-20s or SATs in the 1200s are statistical anomalies, not a model to follow. Those numbers are not an invitation to assume you’ve got a shot if you have stats like those. You can’t look at a 1% slice of the class and translate that into personal odds.
The truth is, we have zero visibility into who those students actually are. Sure, a few might be recruited athletes or legacies – but that’s far from guaranteed, especially since MIT doesn’t even care about legacy status and they’re probably the ultimate template for true STUDENT-athletes. They could just as easily be first-generation students, applicants from under-resourced schools, refugees, or students with once-in-a-generation accomplishments. There’s no way to reverse-engineer that group, and trying to do so is a fast path to false confidence!
TL;DR? For the best shot at admission, you need perfect grades and scores. That’s it.
Restrictive Early Action vs. Regular Decision
The CDS doesn’t actually have a section to release specific REA data, so thankfully, MIT has done it for us! Remember, this data is from the Class of 2029, not the Class of 2028, so the numbers may not exactly match up with the earlier overall admissions numbers.
| Early Action | Number |
|---|---|
| REA Applicants | 12,052 |
| REA Admits | 721 |
| REA Acceptance rate | 5.98% |
| REA Rejections | 3,845 |
| REA Rejection Rate | 31.90% |
| Deferred to RD | 7,486 |
| REA Deferral Rate | 62.10% |
| Deferred applicants admitted during RD | 175 |
| Deferred Acceptance Rate | 2.34% |
*From MIT’s self-disclosed data
Key Takeaways for REA:
REA applicants have a slightly higher chance of admission than RD applicants
The vast majority of REA applicants will be deferred
Getting in after a deferral has similar odds to the RD acceptance rate as a whole (as you’ll see below)
If you’re a truly competitive applicant, you should consider applying REA. The odds are not massively better, but since they do accept a little over half their incoming class in REA, that might give you a little more comfort.
One note for MIT: we think you are the platonic ideal of colleges when it comes to releasing data. You are the most transparent institution. Like us, you are data nerds. And the amount of clarity you give counselors and students is truly a gift. We think more schools should follow in your footsteps.
Back to the data:
| Regular Decision | Number |
|---|---|
| RD Applicants | 17,229 |
| Total Considered in RD (including deferred) | 24,715 |
| RD Admits (not including deferred) | 428 |
| RD acceptance rate w/o deferred | 2.48% |
| RD Admits (including deferred) | 603 |
| RD Overall Acceptance Rate | 2.44% |
*From MIT’s self-disclosed data
Key Takeaways for Nonacademic Factors:
RD acceptance rate is half that of REA
There is not a significant difference between the RD acceptance rate including deferrals or without deferrals
Being deferred at MIT probably does not give you a slight advantage during RD, which is not the case at some other schools
If you get deferred from MIT – don’t panic. It’s not over. MIT is fairly strict about how you can reach out to them post-deferral, but you should if you can. We can confirm that we help deferred students gain RD admission to MIT regularly, and those who do are completing their deferral update forms.
Waitlist
We cannot say enough about how much we genuinely appreciate how transparent MIT is with their numbers. They publish a wide range of admissions data that many peer institutions keep under wraps, which begs the question, are other schools ashamed of their numbers? Many elite schools choose not to share this level of detail (especially regarding waitlists and early rounds), but having access to it gives applicants a clearer picture of how the process works.
| Students placed on waitlist | 590 |
|---|---|
| Students accepting a spot on the waitlist | 509 |
| Percent of students accepting waitlist spot | 86.30% |
| Students admitted off the waitlist | 9 |
| Waitlist acceptance rate | 1.77% |
Why This Matters: Getting admitted off the waitlist at MIT is extremely challenging – but it’s not impossible. If you’re staring down a waitlist decision and unsure how to proceed, that’s exactly where thoughtful strategy and a strong update can matter. We can help!
When students are waitlisted, reactions tend to swing wildly. Some assume it’s a silent rejection; others read it as a near-acceptance. Neither interpretation is quite right. A waitlist decision means MIT sees you as academically and intellectually qualified – they just don’t have enough room. Historically, very few spaces open up, due to their incredibly high yield rate, which is frustrating, yes, but not the same as impossible. With the right approach, movement can happen, and helping students position themselves for that opportunity is something we do every single year.
We will tell you, however, that MIT is . From their blog:
“What should I NOT do?
Here are some things you should NOT do: Submit additional documents or a whole new application. Fly to campus to make the case in person. Send us ridiculous things (or “things” in general). Bombard our office with way too much stuff. Be pushy. Be sketchy. Let your grades drop. Not choose another college to attend by its reply date if you don’t hear from us by the time you need to make an enrollment decision.
What should I do about the May 1 reply date for other colleges?
You should accept the offer of admission from another college before May 1, or whatever deadline they have set for you to reply by, even if it means making a deposit. After all students have sent their replies, colleges will determine if they need to go to their wait list or not, and if so, how many students they need to admit. At this point, colleges will begin admitting students from the wait list. Students who accept this offer will unenroll at the first college and enroll at the second. This shifting can lead to a second round of wait list admissions. All of this is a standard part of the admissions process. We colleges recognize and accept this.”
From the horse’s mouth – they want you to secure other plans just in case.
Considerations
One of the trickiest sections of the CDS, and of the admissions process as a whole, is the list of “considerations” a school takes into account. For MIT, this includes the concrete academic metrics like grades and test scores, alongside a set of less tangible, nonacademic qualities that are far harder to define or quantify. And of course, this is where strategy becomes your strongest tool.
| Academic Factors | Very Important | Important | Considered | Not Considered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rigor of secondary school record | X | |||
| Class rank | X | |||
| Academic GPA | X | |||
| Standardized test scores | X | |||
| Application Essay | X | |||
| Recommendation(s) | X |
Key Takeaways for Academic Factors:
We believe that schools who choose to list these factors as “important” and not “very important” are maybe sort of BS-ing you. What do you mean GPA isn’t “very important?”
All of these factors matter a lot to MIT, but this may be due to their “holistic” admissions approach
Class rank is merely considered since many schools do not track or publish class rank (see the only 30% of students in the grades and scores section who submitted this stat)
| Nonacademic Factors | Very Important | Important | Considered | Not Considered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interview | X | |||
| Extracurricular activities | X | |||
| Talent/ability | X | |||
| Character/personal qualities | X | |||
| First generation | X | |||
| Alumni/ae relation | X | |||
| Geographical residence | X | |||
| State residency | X | |||
| Religious affiliation/commitment | X | |||
| Volunteer work | X | |||
| Work experience | X | |||
| Level of applicant’s interest | X |
Key Takeaways for Nonacademic Factors:
MIT does not track demonstrated interest
MIT does not care about legacy status (famously)
What you’ve done throughout high school and how you present yourself matter more than the unchangeable factors about you (who your parents are/where you live) (unless you’re an international student)
As you might expect, MIT’s nonacademic considerations span both the obvious and the abstract. Some elements, like geographic background, are relatively easy for an admissions office to identify. Others, such as character, talent, and ability, are far more subjective. Those qualities are usually inferred from a combination of essays, recommendation letters, and the way a student presents their story overall. And while you can be intentional, there’s no one perfect formula for optimizing something that’s inherently subjective – you have to tell your own story.
We also need to push back on the idea that extracurriculars are simply “important” in the MIT context. For genuinely competitive students, activities are the differentiator. The strongest MIT applicants aren’t just checking boxes with clubs, student government, or a varsity sport. They’re building deep, focused pursuits that align with how they think and what they want to explore – research projects, technical builds, startups, competitions, research, or long-term initiatives that clearly signal intellectual passion, drive, and follow-through. That kind of depth and intentionality is what sets standout candidates apart, and it’s exactly what we help students develop year after year.
Conclusion
There’s no question that MIT is one of the most selective institutions in the world. That’s not new information. What this data gives you, though, is clearer reference points as you consider how competitive your profile really is and where you need to focus your energy.
Still, numbers and charts only go so far. They can’t fully explain what MIT prioritizes, and they definitely don’t tell your individual story. When we work with applicants, whether they’re legacies, applying early, being recruited, or coming in without any hooks, the academic expectations stay consistent. But the strategy never does. Our guidance is built around who you are, what excites you, and how you show up intellectually. There’s no single blueprint for getting into MIT, but there are smart, intentional ways to give yourself the strongest possible shot.
One way to increase your odds? Working with college consultants who are experts in the field and have a high rate of success getting students into MIT. We help countless students gain admission to top universities every single year – reach out to us today to get started.