how many essays for mit application

First-year applicants: Essays, activities & academics

Rather than asking you to write one long essay, the MIT application consists of several short response questions and essays designed to help us get to know you. Remember that this is not a writing test. Be honest, be open, be authentic—this is your opportunity to connect with us.

You should certainly be thoughtful about your essays, but if you’re thinking too much—spending a lot of time stressing or strategizing about what makes you “look best,” as opposed to the answers that are honest and easy—you’re doing it wrong.

Our questions

For the 2023–2024 application, we’re asking these short answer essay questions:

• What field of study appeals to you the most right now? (Note: Applicants select from a drop-down list.) Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you.
• We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.
• How has the world you come from—including your opportunities, experiences, and challenges—shaped your dreams and aspirations?
• MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together.
• How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it?

Depending on the question, we’re looking for responses of approximately 100–200 words each. There is also one final, open-ended, additional-information text box where you can tell us anything else you think we really ought to know.

Please use our form, not a resume, to list your activities. There is only enough space to list four things—please choose the four that mean the most to you and tell us a bit about them.

Self-reported Coursework Form

How you fill out this form will not make or break your application, so don’t stress about it. Use your best judgment—we’re simply trying to get a clear picture of your academic preparation by subject area. We see thousands of different transcripts, so it really helps us to view your coursework and grades in a consistent format.

Here are a few quick tips to help you complete this section:

• The self-reported coursework should be completed by students in U.S. school systems only. If you attend an international school, we’ll just use your transcript.
• The information you provide does not replace your official high school transcript, which must be sent to us from your school to verify your self-reported information (in order to avoid accidental misrepresentation, it might help to have a copy of your high school transcript in front of you while completing this form).
• Avoid abbreviations, if at all possible, and enter the names of your school courses by subject area. Please include all classes you have taken and are currently taking. If your courses were taken outside of your high school (at a local junior college or university, for example), tell us where they were taken in the “Class Name” field.
• In the “Grade Received” field, list term and/or final grades for each class, as found on your school transcript (semester, trimester, quarter, final, etc.). Use one entry only per class. For example, it’s not necessary to use a separate entry for each semester of the same class. Place all grades for a class in the same field, separating grades with commas.

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MIT Supplemental Essays 2023-24 – Prompts and Tips

September 8, 2023

When applying to MIT, a school with a 4% acceptance rate where a 1500 SAT would place you below the average enrolled student (seriously), teens should be aware that it takes a lot to separate yourself from the other 26,000+ applicants you are competing against. While trying to be among the 1 in 25 who will ultimately be accepted sounds like (and is) a rather intimidating proposition, every year around 1,300 individuals accomplish this epic feat. We’ve worked with many of these students personally and can tell you one thing they all had in common—exceptionally strong MIT supplemental essays.

(Want to learn more about How to Get Into MIT? Visit our blog entitled:  How to Get Into MIT: Admissions Data and Strategies  for all of the most recent admissions data as well as tips for gaining acceptance.)

There are few schools that offer as many essays as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All applicants are required to respond to five prompts as they work through the MIT application. Your mission is to write compelling, standout compositions that showcase your superior writing ability and reveal more about who you are as an individual. Below are the MIT supplemental essays for the 2023-24 admissions cycle along with tips about how to address each one.

MIT Supplemental Essays – Prompt #1: 

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. (200-250 words)

There are many different ways that you can approach this prompt, but the first step is to take MIT at their word that they are sincerely interested in what you do “simply for the pleasure of it.” While this may be something that also happens to be high-minded and/or STEM-oriented in nature, there is no expectation that this will be the case.

In essence, you want to ask yourself, what brings you great pleasure and happiness? Universal experiences of joy like family, a beautiful sunset, smiling children, or your cat or dog curled on your lap are perfectly acceptable answers here. However, you could also talk about dreams for the future, more bittersweet moments, abstract thoughts, moments of glorious introversion, or even something semi-embarrassing and vulnerable. The only “wrong” answer to this question would be an insincere one. As you enter the brainstorming phase, just make sure to turn off your “resume mode” setting. Instead, allow yourself to embrace the limitless possibilities of this essay.

Essay Prompt #2 

What field of study appeals to you the most right now? Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you. (Note: You’ll select your preferred field of study from a drop-down list.) (100 words or fewer)

Generally speaking, we all have a story of what drives us to pursue a certain academic pathway and career. How did your interest initially develop? What was the spark? How have you nurtured this passion and how has it evolved over time? If you desire to go into engineering, this is a chance to talk about everything from your childhood fascination with how things work to your participation in an award-winning robotics program at your high school. Share a compelling (and, of course, true!) narrative about how your love of your future area of study has blossomed to its present levels.

In other words, this essay should show evidence of intense hunger for knowledge that extends well outside of the classroom. How do you learn about your favorite subjects? What books have you read on the subject? Which podcasts have you listened to? What museums have you visited?

You can also tie your passions into specific academic opportunities at MIT including courses , professors , hands-on research programs , or any other aspects of your desired major that appeals most to you.

MIT Supplemental Essays – Prompt #3 

MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together. (225 words)

How you interact with your present surroundings is the strongest indicator of what kind of community member you will be in your future collegiate home. This prompt asks you to discuss how you have collaborated with others (in any setting) in order to learn from them or contribute to a particular community. This could mean how you’ve collaborated with others during a group project, internship, extracurricular opportunity, sports event, or service project, to name a few.

Some words of warning: don’t get too grandiose in explaining the positive change that you brought about. Of course, if you and your team truly brought peace to a war-torn nation or influenced climate change policy on a global scale, share away. However, nothing this high-profile is expected. Essentially, MIT wants to understand how you’ve worked with other people—in any capacity—to expand your thinking or reach a common goal.

A few potential ideas for areas where you may have worked with/alongside others include:

• Racial injustice
• Assisting those with special needs
• Climate justice/the environment
• Making outsiders in a group feel welcome
• The economically disadvantaged
• Mental health awareness
• Clean-up projects
• Tutoring peers or younger students
• Charitable work through a religious organization

This is, of course, by no means a comprehensive list of potential topics. Most importantly, your story should be personal, sincere, and revealing of your core character and developing values system.

Essay Prompt #4

How has the world you come from—including your opportunities, experiences, and challenges—shaped your dreams and aspirations? (225 words or fewer)

This essay encourages you to describe how your world has shaped your aspirations. We all have any number of “worlds” to choose from, and MIT is inviting you to share more about one of these worlds through the lens of how that has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

Take note of the wide-open nature of this prompt. You are essentially invited to talk about any of the following topics:

• A perspective you hold
• An experience/challenge you had
• A community you belong to
• Your cultural background
• Your religious background
• Your family background
• Your sexual orientation or gender identity

Although this prompt’s open floor plan may feel daunting, a good tactic is to first consider what has already been communicated within on other areas of your application. What important aspect(s) of yourself have not been shared (or sufficiently discussed)? The admissions officer reading your essay is hoping to connect with you through your written words, so—within your essay’s reflection—be open, humble, thoughtful, inquisitive, emotionally honest, mature, and/or insightful about what you learned and how you grew.

You’ll then need to discuss how your chosen “world” has influenced your future, and in what ways.

MIT Supplemental Essays – Prompt #5

How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it? (225 words)

Note this prompt’s new wording: How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect ? Can you think of a time when you felt surprisingly overwhelmed? When something out-of-the-ordinary occurred? When you were caught off guard? Basically, MIT is trying to discover how you deal with unforeseen setbacks, and the important thing to keep in mind is that the challenge/story itself is  less important  than what it reveals about your character and personality.

Of course, some teens have faced more challenges than others, potentially related to an illness or medical emergency, frequent moving, socioeconomic situation, natural disaster, or learning disability, to name a few. However, you don’t have to have faced a significant challenge to write a compelling essay (and even if you have faced a significant challenge, you don’t have to write about it if you’re not comfortable doing so). Writing about a common topic like getting cut from a sports team, struggling in a particular advanced course, or facing an obstacle within a group project or extracurricular activity is perfectly fine. Any story told in an emotionally compelling, honest, and connective manner can resonate with an admissions reader. The bottom line here is that there are no trite topics, only trite answers.

Given the 225-word limit, your essay needs to be extremely tight and polished. In all likelihood, getting this one precisely right will involve a round or two of revision, ideally with some insight/feedback from a trusted adult or peer in the process.

Some tips to keep in mind include:

• Firstly, make sure you share what you were feeling and experiencing. This piece should demonstrate openness and vulnerability.
• Additionally, you don’t need to be a superhero in the story. You can just be an ordinary human trying their best to learn how to navigate a challenging world.
• Don’t feel boxed into one particular structure for this essay. The most common (which there is nothing wrong with), is 1) introducing the problem 2) explaining your internal and external decision-making in response to the problem 3) Revealing the resolution to the problem and what you learned along the way.
• Lastly, don’t be afraid that your “problem” might sound “trite” in comparison to those of others. This essay is about you. Y our job is to make sure that your response to the problem shows your maturity and resilience in an authentic way. That matters far more than the original challenge itself.

Essay Prompt #6 (Optional)

Please tell us more about your cultural background and identity in the space below. (150 words)

Unlike other optional essays, this one truly is optional. You don’t need to respond unless you have something significant to share about your cultural background and identity that hasn’t already been shared elsewhere on the application.

How important are the MIT supplemental essays?

There are 8 factors that MIT considers to be “very important” to their evaluation process. They are: rigor of secondary school record, class rank, GPA, standardized test scores, recommendations, extracurricular activities, and most relevant to this blog—the MIT supplemental essays.

Moreover, character/personal qualities are the only factor that is “very important” to the MIT admissions committee. Of course, part of how they assess your character and personal qualities is through what they read in your essays.

Want personalized assistance with your MIT supplemental essays?

In conclusion, if you are interested in working with one of College Transitions’ experienced and knowledgeable essay coaches as you craft your MIT supplemental essays, we encourage you to get a quote  today.

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 2023-24 Essay Prompt Guide

Early Action: Nov 1

Regular Decision Deadline: Jan 4

You Have: 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)  2023-24 Application Essay Question Explanations

MIT Requirements: 3 essays of 200-225 words each, 1 essay of 150 words, 1 essay of 100 words

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Why , Community , Activity , Diversity

There’s an old cheesy joke that goes like this: A college student is standing in the “10 items or less” checkout lane at a grocery store in Boston. When she finally gets to the register, it turns out she has 12 items. The cashier rolls her eyes and says, “Okay, so either you’re from Harvard and you can’t count or you’re from MIT and you can’t read.” (Badum-chhh!) Sadly, you will be expected to read and write in college—even at MIT! In fact, MIT admissions cares so much about your writing that they’ve concocted their own separate application with five short essays. Don’t worry, though, you’ll also get to show off your counting skills thanks to each essay’s tight word count. So the real challenge of this application is crafting tight, incisive essays that tell focused stories about your life. Got it? Okay!

Rather than asking you to write one long essay, the MIT application consists of several short response questions and essays designed to help us get to know you. Remember that this is not a writing test. Be honest, be open, be authentic—this is your opportunity to connect with us.

You should certainly be thoughtful about your essays, but if you’re thinking too much—spending a lot of time stressing or strategizing about what makes you “look best,” as opposed to the answers that are honest and easy—you’re doing it wrong..

Alright, now let’s dig in!

For the 2023-2024 application, we’re asking these short answer essay questions:

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. (150 words or fewer).

MIT is explicitly asking you to back away from the resume, and forget your structured activities. It’s not about proving what you can do, but revealing what you love to do. Put another way, this prompt is about self-care: What always, without fail, brings a smile to your face? What helps you recharge your batteries? What do you do and where do you go when you’re feeling down? When you start to think of things that feel a little silly or personal, you’re heading in the right direction. The activity you choose should be informal and unique to you. 

Although MIT invites you to be honest, we also suggest you balance your honesty with specific details and storytelling. You might want to try to come up with something a little more original than sleep, read, or hang out with friends, but if these are your options, then you have to commit. If you like to spend time with your friends, what sorts of things do you do together? If you like to sleep, have you perfected the art of the power nap ? What are your favorite things to read and how do you organize your personal library? Let your personality and tastes shine through! And before you start to say, “But I really do love volunteering at the soup kitchen during my spare time,” don’t worry. There’s a community service essay a little later in this supplement.

What field of study appeals to you the most right now? (Note: Applicants select from a drop-down list.) Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you. (100 words or fewer)

This is MIT’s version of a classic Why Essay . Even if you’re not completely sure what you want to major in yet, MIT wants to both learn about your academic interests, and see how their offerings will suit your passions. If you can build a bridge between your own interests and the resources available at MIT, you’ll be well on your way to demonstrating your fit. So set aside a few hours and commit to some hardcore research on the MIT website. (Sorry, there’s no way around this, folks!) Beyond the basic departmental listings, look up information about news and research coming out of your department of interest, the kinds of courses available, and the opportunities other undergrads have had studying in your area of choice. Even if you have a wide array of interests, consider explaining how two or three departments might complement each other or foster your interest in a larger theme or cross-pollinating kind of way. Your ultimate goal is to show that your interest in MIT (just like your intellectual curiosity) runs deep!

How has the world you come from—including your opportunities, experiences, and challenges—shaped your dreams and aspirations? (225 words or fewer)

Admissions wants to know how your background, whether it was full of opportunity or obstacles, has shaped your dreams and aspirations. So, tell them a story, the more specific the better, that demonstrates your journey to your current goals. Maybe you watched your parents struggle to make ends meet, which is why you hope to pursue a degree in Economics, so you can teach financial literacy to communities in need. Perhaps you grew up solving relational and logic puzzles with your grandpa every weekend, which led to a love of complex problem solving and a dream of a career in engineering. Whatever your story is, use this opportunity to give admissions a clearer picture of the goals you’re striving to achieve and how they came to be in the first place. 

MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together. (225 words or fewer)

This question asks for a specific story: a collaborative one in which you either sought to learn from others or contributed to your community together. This is a great opportunity to write about a professional experience (your first time working in the kitchen as a line cook!) or community service (delivering meals to families in need!). Ideally, you should describe an experience that spans a decent amount of time—a few weeks or even months—so you can describe the phases of your collaboration and the end result. You should be driving at a lesson that you will be able to carry with you into the future (e.g., there’s something to learn from each person you meet or the power of local organizing). In other words: a takeaway that will positively impact your collaborative contributions at MIT. 

How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it? (225 words or fewer)

We’ve all had curveballs thrown our way, and admissions wants to hear about a time when you adjusted your sails. The situation or challenge you discuss here can really run the gamut, from covering for a colleague and taking on new responsibilities at your after-school diner job to dealing with a serious injury, though you’ll want to avoid topics that may seem trite (a pop quiz you didn’t study for!). Once you explain the situation or challenge to admissions, focus on what you took away from your experience. Maybe you learned that you work well under pressure (and can hold three milkshake glasses in one hand!) or that you are more resilient than you realized and capable of the hard work required to heal and rehabilitate after surgery. Give yourself time to brainstorm for this prompt, because we’re willing to bet you have a few stories to choose from here.

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How to Write the MIT Application Essays 2021-2022

Padya Paramita

May 3, 2021

Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the dream university for many STEM-oriented students, and it comes as no surprise that it’s also one of the most selective schools in the world. If you’re set on majoring in Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Computation and Cognition, or one of the other highly specialized programs that MIT offers, it’s important to let admissions officers know who you are and what you’d bring through the MIT application essays 2021-2022 . 

Since MIT uses MyMIT , its own application system, you don’t have to worry about repeating your Common App personal statement topic here! But, this means that the essays act as your personal statement and supplemental responses all in one. Alongside conveying your love for MIT, you must take advantage of your supplemental essays to provide crucial context on your interests and background. You have five prompts to convince admissions officers why you’re an ideal fit for this highly competitive Boston institution, which only accepted 7.3% of students this year. To help guide you through the writing process , I’ve outlined each prompt, dos and don’ts for your responses, and more tips on the MIT application essays 2021-2022 .

Describe the world you come from; for example, your family, clubs, school, community, city, or town. How has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations? (250 words or fewer)

It’s crucial that you go through all of the prompts offered by the MIT application essays 2021-2022 before you decide on a topic for each of them because what you cover in this first prompt might also be a good fit for Prompt 4. And if you are invested in more than one community, then you’re in luck! Either way, your answer to questions 1 and 4 should not cover the same topic because each essay is meant to add new information about you.

A good clue on what to write here comes from the second part of the question, “how has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations?” It’s time to think about your goals again. Is there any community or group which has played a strong role in solidifying your goals? If the answer is yes, there’s your answer. Start your essay by introducing the chosen world—keep it brief as you have another segment to cover. The major focus of your essay should lie in elaborating on the connection between the topic you’ve chosen and your career aspirations. Use anecdotes as evidence to drive your point home in order for admission officers to better visualize the impact. 

Pick what field of study at MIT appeals to you the most right now, and tell us more about why this field of study appeals to you. (100 words or fewer)

This is an accelerated version of the “why this school” essay. Remember that your response shouldn’t revolve around broad categories that make MIT wonderful—everyone knows it’s a great school. Plus, you have a very tight word limit. Think about how an MIT education pertains to your goals. Even if you’re not sure what specific major you’re interested in, you should have an idea of one or two programs you like the most in order to connect your experiences and aspirations with why you’ve chosen the school. 

Research is the key to any “why this school” essay. Before you write this response, it’s important to sit down and look through the majors and course offerings. Once you’ve decided which major appeals to you, it’s time to think about your own experiences. How did your love for the field begin? How have you honed your skills in the discipline since then? If you’ve taken any challenging courses or started relevant clubs, how is MIT the perfect place for you to continue your exploration? No matter which MIT major you’ve chosen, it’s important to show admissions officers why your interest makes sense for you and that your dedication to the field is real. 

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. (200–250 words)

MIT values students who are particularly invested in activities and topics that are meaningful to them, no matter what the scale. If you have a hobby that is highly meaningful that isn’t a conventional extracurricular per say, MIT is telling you to go for it. Just the introductory paragraph to most essays requires over 100 words—you might find it difficult to restrain yourself while talking about your favorite activity. In order to get your point across, you need to put less emphasis on describing the activity—limit it to one or two sentences - and more on what brings you joy about it. Why is it your favorite? How does it recharge you in a way others may not? Has it shaped your perspective in a significant way?

Since admissions officers will see your activities list through MyMIT, you should find ways to include anecdotes which will convey additional information about yourself. While you should not pick a purely academic activity or something that you think MIT wants to hear, you also should think of something beyond sleeping, eating, or hanging out with friends. Your outlook on the activity should be unique, and help you stand out among your peers.

At MIT, we bring people together to better the lives of others. MIT students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way in which you have contributed to your community, whether in your family, the classroom, your neighborhood, etc. (200–250 words)

Since the prompt clearly states that there are no specific boxes which your choice of community has to check, think about a place where you’ve actually made an impact. Think about how to differentiate yourself—while service trips abroad definitely could count as community service, they won’t help paint a memorable picture of you because lots of students participate in them. You could write about the smaller circles such as your family, friend group, or neighborhood. You may have helped the community as a whole or you could have helped one or two individuals who belong to it. 

To think about the kinds of contributions to elaborate on, ask yourself the following questions:

• How have you collaborated with others in your community?
• Have you taken any risks to help others? How have they paid off?
• Have you spearheaded any initiatives towards change?
• Are there any service examples that portray your curiosity and creativity?
• Why do you care about this community? How have you shown it? 

If you choose a larger community—like your whole school or city—make sure your essay still focuses on your own contribution and role. A response to such a prompt needs to follow the classic “show, not tell” advice. Admissions officers won’t be satisfied with just “I helped my family.” You need to dig deeper and convince them through the MIT application essays 2021-2022 that you are the kind of hardworking and passionate individual who can thrive at MIT.

Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation? (200-250 words)

MIT values candidates “ who are not only planning to succeed but who are also not afraid to fail .” When admissions officers read prompts about challenges students have overcome, they don’t want to know every single detail about the hurdle. The response should be more focused on the way the student reacted in the situation and how they’ve grown from the circumstances. Don’t pick an experience where you gave up easily after failing to do something. Your essay should highlight your strength and resilience in the face of an obstacle.

The definition of a “challenge” may vary from person to person. The keyword here is “significant.” Avoid writing about situations such as a bad grade or a sprain playing soccer that might be minor in comparison to issues other students have faced. Instead, think about an instance which showcases how your ability to recover from a struggle and proves your determination as well as humility. Instead of writing general statements, focus your essay on your actions you took during the situation and the lessons you picked up. 

This is a great opportunity to tell admissions officers about the way you respond to tough moments - end your essay on a positive note!

There is also one final, open-ended, additional-information text box where you can tell us anything else you think we really ought to know.

Next, MIT gives you a space of 500 words to describe any additional information you might wish to share with the admissions officers that has not yet been mentioned in the application. 

You should always be very careful when filling out this section. Admissions officers go through a lot of applications. You do not want to waste their time with something that could have been mentioned elsewhere in the application. It could be used to provide context on whether any unforeseen circumstances, such as illness or a death in the family, impacted your school performance. You could use it to build upon any research abstract or include your art or writing portfolio. You could also use it to address any disciplinary action that might exist on your record. 

This section is not a place to extend your essays or add to your activities list. Those word limits and guidelines exist for a reason. You absolutely do not have to fill out this section if you don’t have anything else to add. It will not make or break your application.

More Tips to Answer the MIT Application Essays 2021-2022

• Use Your Common Application Profile As Inspiration: Chances are, other schools on your list use the Common Application so you’ve already filled it out. The Common App can be a great source of letting you know the kind of context colleges want to know about you. If there’s anything that you’ve mentioned in the Common App that you haven’t gotten a chance to express for MyMIT—whether it’s mentioned in your personal statement topic or an impressive award—you may be able to include it somewhere in your response to the MIT application essays 2021-2022!
• Read the Website Very Carefully: Research is extremely important before sitting down to answer school-specific questions and the MIT application essays 2021-2022 are no different. Luckily, MIT has very detailed information for prospective students that can help you go deeper into admissions officers’ minds. Use the information given on the “ What we look for ” page to get an idea of which characteristics you should emphasize in your responses.
• Use Strong Examples : The MIT application essays 2021-2022 are all about gauging your intellectual pursuits, community involvement, and engagements outside the classroom. Since the word limits for the prompts aren’t generous, each of your essays should focus on being as specific as possible in depicting your personality and interests. Adding specific examples lets admissions officers understand your perspective better and envision the areas of campus where you’d contribute and how you’d fit in with the MIT community.

The questions asked by MIT act as your personal statement and supplemental essays all in one. So when thinking about the MIT application essays 2021-2022 , make sure your responses show your passions and perspective in a way that distinguishes you from other applicants. If admissions officers understand your context and agree with the ways you would be a strong fit for MIT, you’ll be one step closer to that acceptance letter. Good luck!

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MIT Supplemental Essays 2023-2024

By Eric Eng

This comprehensive guide will delve into the specifics of MIT’s supplemental essays 2023-2024, plus insights and strategies.

How Many Supplemental Essays Does MIT Have?

For the 2023-2024 admissions cycle, MIT requires applicants to complete five supplemental essays . This requirement is a significant aspect of the application process, as it allows the admissions committee to understand better who you are beyond your academic achievements and test scores.

Each of these essays, ranging between 100 and 200 words, is an opportunity to reveal different facets of your personality and intellect. MIT’s supplemental essays 2023-2024 are designed to probe into your passions, thought processes, and ability to reflect on your experiences. They are a critical tool in MIT’s holistic review process, allowing you to stand out in a pool of highly qualified applicants.

What are the MIT Supplemental Essays 2023-2024?

Diving into the specifics, the five supplemental essays required by MIT for the 2023-2024 application season are concise yet profound. Each essay, with a word limit of 100 to 200 words, is a brief but powerful medium for expression.

What field of study appeals to you the most right now? Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you.

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.

How has the world you come from—including your opportunities, experiences, and challenges—shaped your dreams and aspirations?

MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together.

How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it?

How to Write the MIT Supplemental Essays 2023-2024?

Writing the MIT supplemental essays for the 2023-2024 admissions cycle is a task that requires introspection, creativity, and precision. The key to crafting compelling essays is understanding what each question seeks to uncover about you. It’s not just about answering the questions; it’s about weaving your story, experiences, and aspirations into your responses in a way that resonates with the ethos of MIT.

As you embark on this journey, remember that MIT’s supplemental essays 2023-2024 allow you to show the admissions committee why you are a perfect fit for their community.

MIT Supplemental Essay Question 1

The first of MIT’s supplemental essays for 2023-2024 asks you to discuss the field of study that appeals to you the most. This question will gauge your academic interests and how they align with MIT’s offerings.

It’s not just about stating your chosen field; it’s about articulating why this particular area fascinates you and how studying it at MIT will help you achieve your goals. This essay is your chance to demonstrate your passion for your chosen field and to show that you have thought deeply about your academic journey.

Understanding MIT Supplemental Essay Question 1

To effectively address this essay prompt, it’s essential to understand its two-fold purpose. Firstly, it seeks to understand your current academic interests. This is not just about what you want to study but why it captivates you. What drives your interest in this field?

Secondly, the prompt asks why this field of study at MIT, in particular, appeals to you. This part requires research about MIT’s offerings. What specific programs, resources, or opportunities at MIT excite you? How do they align with your academic and career goals? This essay is an opportunity to showcase your knowledge about MIT and to demonstrate a clear connection between your interests and what MIT uniquely offers.

Brainstorming Your Response: MIT Supplemental Essay Question 1

• Reflect on your academic journey : Take a moment to delve deeper into your past and recall the vivid moments or experiences that triggered your curiosity and fascination with this field.
• Identify specific aspects of the field that excite you : Know more about your preferences regarding the topics, issues, or queries that catch your attention the most in this particular field. It would be helpful if you could research more detailed information.
• Research MIT’s programs : Take a closer look at the educational programs, renowned faculty members, cutting-edge research opportunities, and engaging extracurricular activities that MIT offers in your field of study. Exploring MIT’s diverse resources can broaden your horizons and enrich your academic experience.
• Connect your interests with MIT’s offerings : Identify and list the areas or aspects of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) program that closely correspond to your interests. This could include a specific course, research project, extracurricular activity, or any other facet of the program that resonates with your passions and goals.
• Think about your future : As you contemplate the prospect of attending MIT, take some time to ponder how embarking on a journey in this particular field of study can assist you in realizing your long-term academic and career aspirations. Consider MIT’s unique opportunities, resources, and expertise and how they can help you shape your academic journey and career trajectory meaningfully and fulfilling.

Structuring Your Answer for MIT Supplemental Essay Question 1

Begin your essay by briefly introducing your chosen field of study. This introduction should state the field and explain why it intrigues you. Follow this with a section that delves deeper into your passion for the field. You can include personal anecdotes or experiences highlighting your interest and dedication here.

The next part of your essay should focus on MIT. Discuss specific aspects of MIT’s program in your field that appeal to you. Be detailed – mention particular courses, professors, research opportunities, or facilities that excite you and explain why.

Finally, conclude by linking how MIT’s program will help you achieve your academic and career aspirations. This structure ensures that your essay is cohesive and engaging. Remember, throughout your response to MIT’s supplemental essays 2023-2024, your goal is to paint a picture of a motivated, curious, and goal-oriented individual who is a perfect match for MIT.

MIT Supplemental Essay Question 2

The second of MIT’s supplemental essays for 2023-2024 invites applicants to share a glimpse into their lives beyond academic and obligatory activities. This prompt is an opportunity to showcase your personality, interests, and what genuinely brings you joy.

It’s a chance to reveal another layer of who you are, separate from your academic achievements and responsibilities. The admissions committee at MIT is interested in understanding who you are as a whole person, and this essay allows you to share a part of your life that is purely for your enjoyment.

Understanding MIT Supplemental Essay Question 2

To effectively respond to this essay prompt, it’s crucial to understand what it seeks to uncover: your interests and what you do for self-enjoyment. This question is designed to understand your personality and what you value in your free time.

It’s an opportunity to show the admissions committee what you are passionate about outside of your academic and extracurricular obligations. The key here is authenticity. Choose an activity or interest that genuinely excites you and that you engage in regularly.

Brainstorming Your Response: MIT Supplemental Essay Question 2

• Reflect on your hobbies : Identify and reflect upon the leisure activities or hobbies you enjoy engaging in your free time unrelated to your academic or professional responsibilities. These activities can be anything enjoyable, like playing a musical instrument, reading books, watching movies, hiking, cooking, or anything else that helps you relax and unwind.
• Consider what relaxes you : Share some activities or practices you usually engage in when you feel stressed or overwhelmed. These activities help you unwind and rejuvenate your mind, body, and soul, feeling relaxed, refreshed, and recharged. It could be anything from taking a long walk, listening to music, reading a book, practicing yoga, or indulging in any hobby or leisure activity that brings you joy and peace.
• Think about what makes you happy : Identify the activities that make you happy and give you a sense of purpose and accomplishment. Engage in those activities regularly to increase your overall satisfaction and sense of well-being. Remember to take time out of your busy schedule to do things that bring you joy and help you relax. Your mental and emotional health will thank you for it.
• Recall memorable moments : Reflect on the most remarkable and unforgettable experiences you have had while engaging in your hobbies. It would be highly beneficial to recall the intricate details of those experiences, including the sights, sounds, and emotions you felt. By doing so, you may be able to relive those moments and further enrich your passion for your hobbies.
• Analyze why you enjoy it : Contemplate what aspects of this activity please you. Consider how it makes you feel, what emotions it evokes, and what it reveals about your values, motivations, and personality traits. Delve deeper into your thoughts and feelings to better understand yourself and your relationship with this activity.

Structuring Your Answer for MIT Supplemental Essay Question 2

Begin your essay by introducing the activity or interest that you do for pleasure. This introduction should not only name the activity but also explain its significance.

In the next section, delve deeper into your engagement with this activity. Describe what you do, how you got involved, and what a typical experience looks like. This part of the essay should paint a vivid picture for the reader, allowing them to visualize and understand your passion. Following this, reflect on why this activity is meaningful to you. Discuss what it brings to your life, how it complements or contrasts with your academic and extracurricular responsibilities, and what it reveals about your personality or values.

Conclude by tying this hobby or interest to the broader picture of who you are. This structure ensures that your response to MIT’s supplemental essays 2023-2024 is descriptive and reflective, providing a well-rounded view of your character and interests.

MIT Supplemental Essay Question 3

The third question in MIT’s supplemental essays 2023-2024 probes into the depths of your background, asking you to reflect on how your unique experiences, opportunities, and challenges have molded your dreams and aspirations.

This essay is a chance to provide the admissions committee with a narrative of your life journey and how it has influenced your future goals. It’s an invitation to share your story, highlighting the factors significantly shaping who you are today.

Understanding MIT Supplemental Essay Question 3

To effectively respond to this prompt, it’s essential to understand that it seeks to explore the intersection of your personal history and future goals. This question is not just about listing your experiences; it’s about articulating how these experiences have influenced your aspirations.

It requires introspection and a deep understanding of how your background has contributed to your current interests and plans. This is your opportunity to show how your unique experiences have given you a distinct perspective and how this perspective will contribute to the diverse MIT community.

Brainstorming Your Response: MIT Supplemental Essay Question 3

• Reflect on essential life experiences : Contemplate and delve deeply into the events or periods that have profoundly impacted your personal growth and development. These could be moments of great triumph or times of hardship and struggle that have shaped you into who you are today. Allow yourself to fully immerse in the memories and emotions associated with these experiences, and consider how they have influenced your beliefs, values, and perspectives.
• Analyze challenges and how you overcame them : Recollect the hurdles you encountered in the past and ponder upon the insights and skills you gained from those experiences. Consider how those obstacles shaped and helped you become who you are today.
• Identify opportunities that shaped you : Reflect on any specific choices or opportunities that have significantly shaped your present path or interests. Consider any instances where you had to decide or had the chance to take a specific path that ultimately led you to where you are today.
• Connect experiences to your aspirations : “Reflect on the various experiences you have had and how they have shaped your aspirations for the future. Consider the impact of each experience and how it has contributed to your personal and professional growth. This exercise can help you better understand your motivations and guide you towards achieving your goals.”
• Consider your unique perspective : Examine how your life experiences, cultural upbringing, family background, and other significant events have helped form and shape the unique lens through which you view and make sense of the world around you. Identify how these factors have influenced your beliefs, values, attitudes, and overall outlook on life.

Structuring Your Answer for MIT Supplemental Essay Question 3

Begin your essay by setting the scene of your background, briefly introducing the essential experiences, opportunities, or challenges that have significantly influenced you.

In the next section, delve into these experiences in more detail. Describe what happened and how these events or circumstances have shaped your perspective and aspirations. Be specific in illustrating how these experiences have molded your ambitions and who you are today. Then, transition to discussing your dreams and aspirations, linking them to your background. Please explain how your past has prepared you for your future goals and how it has motivated you to pursue specific paths.

Conclude by tying your story to how you envision contributing to and benefiting from the MIT community. This structure ensures that your response to MIT’s supplemental essays 2023-2024 reflects your past and indicates your future direction and potential impact at MIT.

MIT Supplemental Essay Question 4

The fourth question in MIT’s supplemental essays 2023-2024 focuses on collaboration, a cornerstone of the MIT experience. This prompt asks you to reflect on a time when you worked with others, whether to learn something new, teach, or contribute to your community.

The essence of this question lies in understanding your ability to engage with others, your teamwork skills, and how you view collaboration as a tool for mutual growth and community development. This essay is an opportunity to showcase your interpersonal skills, willingness to engage in shared learning experiences, and commitment to making a positive impact through teamwork.

Understanding MIT Supplemental Essay Question 4

To effectively respond to this prompt, it’s essential to understand that MIT values collaboration to foster innovation and solve complex problems. This question seeks to uncover how you function in a team setting and what you bring to collaborative efforts.

It’s not just about the task you accomplished but also about the process of working with others. Reflect on a situation where collaboration was vital – perhaps a group project, a community service initiative, or an extracurricular activity.

Consider the team dynamics, your role, and how the collaboration led to learning or community impact. This essay should highlight your ability to work effectively with others, your openness to different perspectives, and your capacity to contribute meaningfully in a team environment.

Brainstorming Your Response: MIT Supplemental Essay Question 4

• Identify a significant collaborative experience : Think of any specific instance when you had to work with a group of people towards a common goal, and the result made a substantial impact. It could be a project at work, a volunteer effort, or a personal accomplishment. Please provide as much detail as possible about the experience, including the challenges faced, the roles played by each team member, and how the collaboration led to something remarkable.
• Reflect on your role in the team : It’s essential to take some time to evaluate your contributions and how you interacted with your fellow team members. Think about how you positively impacted the team and the areas where you could have done better. Additionally, reflect on how you communicated and collaborated with your colleagues and identify any opportunities for improvement in this regard.
• Analyze the learning experience : Contemplate the knowledge and insights you have gained from your peers and colleagues throughout this collaborative effort. Consider the various perspectives and experiences shared with you, and think about how they have influenced your thinking and understanding of the subject matter. Reflecting on the lessons learned from others can be a valuable exercise that helps you grow personally and professionally.
• Recall challenges and resolutions : Reflect on any significant hurdles or difficulties your team experienced during a project or period. Describe these obstacles, how they affected the team’s progress, and how you collectively worked to overcome them. Think about any strategies or solutions implemented and the lessons learned from the experience.
• Consider the impact of the collaboration : As you look back on the collaboration, take some time to reflect on the specific ways in which it has had a positive impact on the team, yourself, or the community. Consider the various aspects of the partnership that have contributed to this success, including any challenges that were overcome or new opportunities that arose. By delving deeper into the details, you can gain a greater appreciation for this partnership’s value to all involved.

Structuring Your Answer for MIT Supplemental Essay Question 4

Begin your essay by setting the context of the collaborative experience. Describe the project or initiative, the team, and the goal.

In the next section, focus on your role within the group. Discuss your contributions, how you interacted with and learned from team members, and any leadership or support roles you played. Then, delve into the process of collaboration. Describe the team dynamics, challenges faced, and how you collectively worked to overcome them. Highlight any significant moments of learning or insight that occurred through this collaborative effort.

Conclude by reflecting on the impact of the collaboration. Discuss how it contributed to the team’s or community’s goals and influenced your understanding of teamwork and collaboration. This structure ensures that your response to MIT’s supplemental essays 2023-2024 effectively communicates your ability to work in diverse teams, your commitment to shared goals, and your capacity for mutual learning and growth.

MIT Supplemental Essay Question 5

The fifth and final question in MIT’s supplemental essays 2023-2024 invites applicants to reflect on their resilience and adaptability. This prompt asks you to describe how you managed an unexpected situation or challenge and what you learned from it.

The essence of this question is to understand your problem-solving skills, ability to navigate uncertainties, and capacity for personal growth. It’s an opportunity to showcase your ability to think on your feet, to remain composed under pressure, and to learn from experiences that don’t go as planned.

Understanding MIT Supplemental Essay Question 5

To effectively respond to this prompt, it’s essential to understand that MIT seeks evidence of your resilience and learning agility. This question aims to uncover how you handle unexpected challenges and what these experiences teach you.

It’s not just about the challenge itself, but more importantly, about your response to it and the lessons you derived. Reflect on a situation that caught you off guard and required you to adapt or think creatively. This could be a personal, academic, or extracurricular challenge.

Brainstorming Your Response: MIT Supplemental Essay Question 5

• Identify a significant unexpected challenge : Think of a time when you were faced with a situation that caught you off guard and demanded you to act quickly and decisively. Perhaps it was an emergency, a sudden change in plans, or a critical decision that needed to be made on the spot. Please share the details of the scenario, including what happened, how you responded, and what the outcome was.
• Reflect on your initial reaction : Recall the emotions you experienced initially when faced with the challenge and describe in detail the steps you took to overcome it.
• Analyze your problem-solving approach : Analyze and evaluate the strategies or solutions you implemented to manage the given situation effectively. Consider the various approaches you took, your actions, and the outcomes you achieved. This will help you better understand your problem-solving skills and how you can improve them in the future.
• Recall the outcome : Remember the specific steps or actions taken to resolve the situation, as well as the outcomes or consequences that immediately followed.
• Consider the lessons learned : After reflecting on the experience, take some time to delve deeper and analyze how this experience has impacted you as a person. Consider how you have grown or changed, what skills you have developed, and how you have learned to adapt to new and unexpected situations. Think about what challenges you faced and how you overcame them through problem-solving. By examining these aspects of the experience, you will better understand yourself and how you can continue to grow and develop in the future.

Structuring Your Answer for MIT Supplemental Essay Question 5

Begin your essay by setting the scene of the unexpected challenge. Please describe the situation briefly, focusing on why it was incredible and immediately impacted you.

In the next section, delve into your response to the challenge. Discuss your steps, the thought process behind your actions, and any creative or unconventional solutions you employed. Then, focus on the outcome of the situation. Describe how the challenge was resolved and the immediate effects of your actions.

Conclude by reflecting on the lessons you learned from this experience. Discuss how it impacted your approach to problem-solving, your understanding of resilience, and how it contributed to your personal or professional growth. This structure ensures that your response to MIT’s supplemental essays 2023-2024 effectively communicates your ability to handle unexpected situations, your capacity for learning and adaptation, and your growth mindset.

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College Essays

For the 2021-2022 admissions cycle, MIT admitted about 4% of applicants. If you want to be one of these lucky few, you'll need to write some killer MIT essays as part of your own Massachusetts Institute of Technology application.

In this article, we'll outline the MIT essay prompts and teach you how to write MIT supplemental essays that will help you stand out from the thousands of other applicants.

What Are the MIT Essays?

Like most major colleges and universities, MIT requires its applicants to submit essay examples as part of your application for admission.

MIT has its own application and doesn't accept the Common Application or the Coalition Application. The MIT essay prompts you'll answer aren't found on any other college's application.

There are four MIT supplemental essays, and you'll need to answer all four (approximately 200 words each) on various aspects of your life: a description of your background, what you do for fun, a way that you contribute to your community, and a challenge that you have faced in your life.

The MIT essay prompts are designed specifically to get to the heart of what makes you you . These essays help the admissions committee get a holistic picture of you as a person, beyond what they can learn from other parts of your application.

2022-2023 MIT Essay Prompts

The MIT supplemental essays are short, and each one addresses a different aspect of your identity and accomplishments.

You'll submit your essays along with an activities list and a self-reported coursework form as Part 2 of your MIT application. MIT structures its application this way because they rely on a uniform application to help them review thousands of applicants in the most straightforward and efficient way possible.

You need to respond to all five of the MIT essay prompts for your application.

Here are the 2022-2023 MIT essay prompts:

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.

Describe the world you come from (for example, your family, school, community, city, or town). How has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations?

MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds and experiences together to better the lives of others. Our students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way you have collaborated with people who are different from you to contribute to your community.

Tell us about a significant challenge you’ve faced (that you feel comfortable sharing) or something that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation?

Now that we know what the prompts are, let's learn how to answer them effectively.

MIT Essays, Analyzed

In this section, we'll be looking at each of the five MIT essays in depth.

Remember, every applicant must answer every one of the MIT essay prompts , so you don't get to choose which essay you would like to write. You have to answer all five of the MIT essay prompts (and do so strongly) in order to present the best application possible.

Let's take a look at the five MIT supplemental essay questions and see what the admissions committee wants to hear from each.

MIT Essay Prompt #1

This MIT essay prompt is very broad. The structure of the prompt indicates that the committee is interested in learning about your curiosity inside and outside of the classroom, so don't feel like you have to write about your favorite parts of school.

This MIT essay is your opportunity to show a different side of your personality than the admissions committee will see on the rest of your application. This essay is your chance to show yourself as a well-rounded person who has a variety of different interests and talents.

Choose a specific activity here. You don't need to present a laundry list of activities—simply pick one thing and describe in detail why you enjoy it. You could talk about anything from your love of makeup tutorials on YouTube to the board game nights you have with your family. The key here is to pick something that you're truly passionate about.

Don't feel limited to interests relating to your potential major. MIT's second prompt is all about that, so in this first prompt forget about what the school "wants to read" and be yourself! In fact, describing your experience in or passion for a different field will better show that you're curious and open to new ideas.

MIT Prompt #2

Don't repeat information that the committee can find elsewhere on your application. Take the time to share fun, personal details about yourself.

For instance, do you make awesome, screen-accurate cosplays or have a collection of rock crystals from caving expeditions? Think about what you love to do in your spare time.

Be specific—the committee wants to get a real picture of you as a person. Don't just say that you love to play video games, say exactly which video games you love and why.

MIT wants to know about your community—the friends, family, teammates, etc. who make up your current life. All of those people have affected you in some way—this prompt is your chance to reflect on that influence and expand on it. You can talk about the deep bonds you have and how they have affected you. Showing your relationships to others gives the committee a better idea of how you will fit in on MIT's campus.

All in all, this MIT essay is a great opportunity to have some fun and show off some different aspects of your personality. Let yourself shine!

MIT Prompt #3

This MIT prompt is by far the most specific, so be specific in your answer. Pick one experience that's meaningful to you to discuss here. The prompt doesn't specify that you have to talk about something academic or personal. It can be anything that you've done where you have contributed to any community—your dance troupe, gaming friends, debate team teammates. A community can be anything; it doesn't just refer to your hometown, scholastic or religious community.

The trick to answering this prompt is to find a concrete example and stick to it.

Don't, for instance, say that you try to recycle because the environment is meaningful to you, because it won't sound sincere. Rather, you can talk about why picking up garbage in the park where you played baseball as a child has deeper meaning because you're protecting a place that you've loved for a long time. You should talk about something that is uniquely important to you, not the other thousands of students that are applying to MIT.

Pick something that is really meaningful to you. Your essay should feel sincere. Don't write what you think the committee wants to hear. They'll be more impressed by a meaningful experience that rings true than one that seems artificial or implausible.

MIT Prompt #4

This question sets you up for success: it targets your area of interest but doesn't pigeon-hole you.

This essay is where your formal education will be most important. They want to know what kind of academic life you may lead in college so keep it brief, but allow your excitement for learning to drive these words. You are, after all, applying to MIT—they want to know about your academic side.

You should demonstrate your knowledge of and affinity for MIT in this essay. Don't just say that you admire the MIT engineering program—explain exactly what it is about the engineering program that appeals to you.

You can call out specific professors or classes that are of interest to you. Doing so helps show that you truly want to go to MIT and have done your research.

If you love playing games with kids at the Boys & Girls Club, the third MIT essay prompt is the time to talk about that passion.

MIT Open-Ended Text Box

This is one of the most open-ended options that you'll find on a college application! Here's one last chance for you to let MIT get to know the real you—the you that didn't quite get to come out during the previous four essays.

MIT wants to know exactly who you are, but, just as a word of caution, make sure your answer is appropriate for general audiences.

How to Write a Great MIT Essay

Regardless of which MIT essay prompt you're responding to, you should keep in mind the following tips for how to write a great MIT essay.

#1: Use Your Own Voice

The point of a college essay is for the admissions committee to have the chance to get to know you beyond your test scores, grades, and honors. Your admissions essays are your opportunity to make yourself come alive for the essay readers and to present yourself as a fully fleshed out person.

You should, then, make sure that the person you're presenting in your college essays is yourself. Don't try to emulate what you think the committee wants to hear or try to act like someone you're not.

If you lie or exaggerate, your essay will come across as insincere, which will diminish its effectiveness. Stick to telling real stories about the person you really are, not who you think MIT wants you to be.

You're the star of the show in your MIT essays! Make sure your work reflects who you are as a student and person, not who you think the admissions committee wants you to be.

#2: Avoid Clichés and Overused Phrases

When writing your MIT essays, try to avoid using clichés or overused quotes or phrases.

These include quotations that have been quoted to death and phrases or idioms that are overused in daily life. The college admissions committee has probably seen numerous essays that state, "You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take."  Strive for originality.

Similarly, avoid using clichés, which take away from the strength and sincerity of your work.

Your work should be straightforward and authentic.

#3: Check Your Work

It should almost go without saying, but you want to make sure your MIT essays are the strongest example of your work possible. Before you turn in your MIT application, make sure to edit and proofread your essays.

Your work should be free of spelling and grammar errors. Make sure to run your essays through a spelling and grammar check before you submit.

It's a good idea to have someone else read your MIT essays, too. You can seek a second opinion on your work from a parent, teacher, or friend. Ask them whether your work represents you as a student and person. Have them check and make sure you haven't missed any small writing errors. Having a second opinion will help your work be the best it possibly can be.

#4: Demonstrate Your Love for MIT

MIT's five essay prompts are specific to MIT. Keep that in mind as you're answering them, particularly when you attack prompt two.

Show why MIT is your dream school—what aspects of the education and community there are most attractive to you as a student.

MIT receives thousands of applications, from students who have different levels of interest in the university.

The more you can show that you really want to go to MIT, the more the school will be interested in your application. Your passion for MIT may even give you a leg up on other applicants.

What's Next?

Exploring your standardized testing options? Click here for the full list and for strategies on how to get your best ACT score .

Are you happy with your ACT/SAT score, or do you think it should be higher? Learn what a good SAT / ACT score is for your target schools .

Your MIT essays are just one part of your college application process. Check out our guide to applying to college   for a step-by-step breakdown of what you'll need to do.

Hayley Milliman is a former teacher turned writer who blogs about education, history, and technology. When she was a teacher, Hayley's students regularly scored in the 99th percentile thanks to her passion for making topics digestible and accessible. In addition to her work for PrepScholar, Hayley is the author of Museum Hack's Guide to History's Fiercest Females.

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MIT Essays that Worked

Mit essays that worked – introduction.

In this guide, we’ll provide you with several MIT essays that worked. After each, we’ll discuss elements of these MIT essay examples in depth. By reading these sample MIT essays and our expert analysis, you’ll be better prepared to write your own MIT essay. Before you apply to MIT, read on for six MIT essays that worked.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university in Cambridge , Massachusetts. Since its founding in 1861, MIT has become one of the world’s foremost institutions for science and technology . With MIT ranking highly year after year, the low MIT acceptance rate is no surprise. Knowing how to get into MIT means knowing about MIT admissions, the MIT application, and how to write MIT supplemental essays.

MIT Supplemental Essay Requirements

The MIT application for 2022–2023 requires four short essays. Each essay should be up to 200 words in length.

MIT essay prompts :

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it., describe the world you come from (for example, your family, school, community, city, or town). how has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations.

• MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds and experiences together to better the lives of others. Our students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way you have collaborated with people who are different from you to contribute to your community.
• Tell us about a significant challenge you’ve faced (that you feel comfortable sharing) or something that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation?

MIT changes the wording of these prompts a little bit every year. As a result, our MIT essay examples may look a little different from the prompts to which you will be crafting your own responses. However, there is a lot of overlap between current and past prompts and often the underlying questions are the same. In other words, even if the prompts differ, most of our MIT essays that worked are still helpful. Even MIT essay examples for prompts that are gone can be useful as a general sample college essay.

As one of the best universities worldwide, MIT is nearly impossible to get into without a good strategy . Even if you don’t have a stellar ACT or SAT score , your essays may impress admissions officers. Let’s briefly analyze each prompt so we know what to look for in MIT essays that worked.

MIT Essay Prompt Breakdown

1. extracurricular essay.

First, you’ll write about an activity you enjoy, whether it’s baking, doing magic tricks, or writing fanfiction. Remember, strong MIT essay examples for this prompt show genuine enthusiasm and explain why the activity is meaningful. Choose a hobby you can write about with gusto while also showing what it means to you.

2. Your Background Essay

Next, we have a prompt asking about your background. This is a classic question; in every other sample college essay, you find answers to this prompt. This question is intentionally open-ended, allowing you to write about any aspect of your background you’d like. In the MIT essays that worked, the “world” has something important to say about the author’s values or outlook.

3. Community Essay

Then, the third essay asks how you work with diverse groups to contribute to a larger community. MIT wants to see that you can work toward community goals while valuing diverse perspectives. But don’t worry. They don’t expect you to have solved world hunger—pick something that demonstrates what community means to you.

4. Significant Challenge Essay

Lastly, we have the failure essay, which seeks to answer how you persist in the face of adversity. Notice the prompt doesn’t mention “overcoming,” so this can be a time that you completely flat-out failed. Everyone handles setbacks differently, so effective MIT essay examples illustrate the author’s unique way of managing failure. It doesn’t have to be a particularly unique or unusual failure, although that may help you stand out .

How to Apply to MIT

MIT doesn’t accept the Common or Coalition Application. Instead, there’s a school-specific application for all prospective students. The 2022 Early Action MIT application deadline was November 1. The Regular Action MIT application deadline is usually January 1, but it’s been extended this year to January 5, 2023. The financial aid information deadline is February 15, 2023.

Depending on your admissions round, you need to submit all materials to the Apply MIT portal by the specified deadline.

MIT application requirements

• Basic biographical information, including your intended area of study
• Four supplemental essays
• A brief list of four extracurricular activities that are meaningful to you
• Self-reported coursework information
• A Secondary School Report from your guidance counselor, including your transcript
• Two letters of recommendation : MIT recommends one from a STEM teacher and one from a humanities teacher.
• SAT or ACT scores —MIT is not test-optional for 2022–2023!
• The February Updates form with your midyear grades (goes live in mid-February)

Furthermore, interviews are offered to many—but not all—students; not being offered an interview doesn’t negatively reflect on your application. At the end of this article, we compile more resources regarding the rest of the application. If you have specific questions about your application, reach out to the MIT admissions office .

Now that we’ve discussed the prompts and MIT admissions process, let’s read some MIT essays that worked. We have six sample MIT essays to help you learn how to write MIT supplemental essays. And, if you’re looking to test your knowledge of college admissions, take our quiz below!

MIT Essay Examples #1 – Cultural Background Essay

The first of our MIT essay examples responds to a prompt that isn’t exactly on this year’s list. Let’s take a look. The prompt for this MIT essay that worked is:

Please tell us more about your cultural background and identity in the space below (100 word limit). If you need more than 100 words, please use the Optional section on Part 2.

Although the wording isn’t identical to any of this year’s prompts, it is similar to prompt #2. Remember, essay prompt #2 asks about the world you come from, which is essentially your background. However, MIT essay examples for this prompt speak more specifically about cultural background. With a shorter word limit, concise language is even more critical in MIT essays that worked for this prompt.

MIT Essays That Worked #1

My dad is black and my mom is white. But I am a shade of brown somewhere in between. I could never wear my mom’s makeup like other girls. By ten, I was tired seeing confused stares whenever I was with my dad. I became frustrated and confused. I talked to my biracial friends about becoming confident in my divergent ancestral roots. I found having both an understanding of black issues in America and of the middle class’ lack of exposure gave me greater clarity in many social issues. My background enabled me to become a compassionate, understanding biracial woman.

Why This Essay Worked

MIT essays that worked effectively show that the author can think about the bigger picture. This author describes their experiences as a biracial woman while addressing the wider scope of racial issues. While you shouldn’t reach to reference irrelevant societal problems, MIT essays that worked do often incorporate big ideas.

In addition, this author mentions conversations with biracial friends. MIT essay examples often include collaboration and community, and this one is no different. Often, sample MIT essays about cultural background will connect that heritage with one’s community. It shows that you value what makes you unique and can find it in others.

Lastly, strong MIT essay examples display reflection and personal growth. Do you understand the ways your experiences have shaped you, and can you write about them? Can you point to areas where you’ve grown as a result of your experiences? MIT essays that worked link the topic and the writer’s personal growth or values.

MIT Essays That Worked #2 – Activities Essay

The second of our MIT essay examples answers a prompt that’s on this year’s list.

In other words, write about a hobby or extracurricular activity—and what it says about you. As we mentioned above, MIT essays that worked for this prompt aren’t all about lofty ambitions. If you don’t read textbooks in your spare time, don’t write an essay claiming that’s your hobby. Be honest, thoughtful, and enthusiastic while finding a way to make your uniqueness show through. Let’s read one of many MIT essays that worked for this prompt.

MIT Essays That Worked #2

Adventuring. Surrounded by trees wider than I am tall on my right and the clear, blue lake on my left. I made it to the top after a strenuous hike and it was majestic. There is no feeling like the harmony I feel when immersing myself in nature on a hike or running through the mud to train for my sprint triathlon or even fighting for a pair of cute boots on black Friday. I take pleasure in each shade of adventure on my canvas of life, with each deliberate stroke leading me to new ideas, perspectives, and experiences.

MIT essays that worked use precise language to appeal to readers’ emotions. Note words like “strenuous,” “majestic,” “harmony,” and “deliberate.” The strategic use of vivid words like this can strengthen MIT essay examples and heighten their impact. But don’t overuse them—like paintings use a variety of shades, you should play with the intensity of your words.

Another benefit of colorful language is conveying meaning more deeply and precisely. Well-written MIT essay examples layer on meaning: this author likes adventuring through nature as well as life. With effective diction, you can make the most of the words you’re given. Consider using metaphors like in this MIT essay conclusion, comparing life to a canvas.

Now, think about your impression of the author after reading this. They’re active, ambitious, and, above all, adventurous. We know they like to challenge themselves (training for a triathlon) but also like fashion (buying cute boots). And we see from their concluding sentence that they have no intention of slowing down or pulling back. In under 100 words, we’ve got a clear snapshot of their worldview and see their adventuring spirit fits MIT.

MIT Essay Examples #3 – Why Major Essay

The third of our MIT essays that worked answers a prompt that isn’t on our list for 2022.

Although you may not yet know what you want to major in, which department or program at MIT appeals to you and why?

This is a classic “Why Major” essay, asked by hundreds of colleges every year. Obviously, the prompt asks about your academic interests . However, it subtly asks about school fit : why is MIT the best place for you to pursue this interest? Although this sample college essay prompt isn’t in this cycle, you should read as many sample MIT essays as possible. MIT essays that worked for the “Why Major” essay prompt illustrated the author’s academic interests and motivations. Let’s see what the next of our sample MIT essays has to say.

MIT Essays That Worked #3

My first step in to the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research was magical. My eyes lit up like Christmas lights and my mind was racing faster than Usain Bolt. I was finally at home, in a community where my passions for biology, chemistry, math, and engineering collided, producing treatments to save lives everywhere.

I pictured myself in a tie-dyed lab coat, watching a tumor grow in a Petri disk then determining my treatment’s effectiveness. If I am admitted to MIT, I look forward to majoring in bioengineering and shaping and contributing to the forefront of bioengineering research.

Earlier, we said that MIT essays that worked use vivid language to drive home their point. This sample college essay is no different. Describing their instantaneous reaction, the author pulls us into their headspace to share in their delight. Following that, they show us their vision for the future. Finally, they state directly how they’ll work toward that vision at MIT.

This author points out that bioengineering aligns with their interests across math and the sciences. There’s no rule saying you can’t be purely into math, but MIT strives to cultivate the world’s leading minds. Many MIT essays that worked present the author as a multifaceted person and intellectual. If you write a Why Major essay for a STEM field, it may be worth your while to take an interdisciplinary angle.

Among other parts of these MIT essays that worked in the author’s favor is the mention of an experience. Many model MIT essay examples directly reference the author’s life experiences to connect them with their interest. For instance, this author frames their essay with a visit to a cancer research institute. We don’t know if it’s a tour or an internship—the reason for their visit is less important than the impact.

MIT Essay Examples #4 – Community Essay

At this point, we’ve gone through half of our MIT essay examples. Moving on, we’ll read three MIT essays that worked for prompts (nearly) identical to this year’s. Next, we’ve got a prompt asking about community contributions.

At MIT, we bring people together to better the lives of others. MIT students work to improve their communities in different ways,  from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way in which you have contributed to your community, whether in your family, the classroom, your neighborhood, etc.

It’s very similar to this year’s third prompt, with one crucial difference. The current prompt asks for “one way you have collaborated with people who are different from you .” While past MIT essay examples for this prompt could have focused on individual efforts, now you should focus on group efforts. In particular, groups where “people who are different from you” also play key roles. This is intentionally open-ended, allowing for endless kinds of differences.

With that said, let’s continue with our MIT essay examples.

MIT Essays That Worked #4

“I’m going to Harvard,” my brother proclaimed to me. My jaw dropped. My little brother, the one who I taught to pee in the toilet, the one who played in the pool with me every day of the summer for 7 years, the one who threw me in the trash can 3 months ago, had finally realized the potential I have seen in him since he was a little kid. And I was thrilled.

He told me that after attending the Harvard basketball program, he knew that attending college was the perfect opportunity for him to continue playing the sport he loved as well as get a very good education. His end goal (this is where I almost cried) was to become an engineer at Nike. The best part, though, is that he asked me to help him achieve it. 

I was astounded that he thought so highly of me that he trusted me to help him. That night, we began discussing various fields of engineering that he could pursue, as well as the internship opportunities that he classified as “so cool.” As soon as school started, I bought him a planner and taught him to keep his activities organized. I go over homework with him and my baby brother almost every night.

I love using my knowledge to contribute to my family with my knowledge. I am so proud of my brother and our progress. I cannot wait to see him grow as he works to achieve his dream.

Perhaps while reading the prompt, you thought all MIT essays that worked discussed setting up a food bank or working at a hospital. Not so! What really matters for this essay is the impact the community has on you. In sample MIT essays like this one, we see just how important the writer’s family is to them. If your family means the world to you, don’t shy away from writing about them!

On the other hand, while many sample MIT essays discuss family, the best ones remember to center the author. It may seem selfish, but in an applicant pool of over 30,000 , you must stand out. You have to beat that low MIT acceptance rate by putting your best foot forward. Notice how the author’s feelings and thoughts show through in their interactions and reactions. Even in recounting their past with their little brother, you see them as a caring, playful older sibling. They’re thoroughly proud of their brother, his ambitions, and the trust he’s placed in them.

MIT Essay Examples #5 – Describe Your World 

The fifth of our MIT essay examples answers a prompt in circulation this year. Hooray!

This “world” is open-ended to allow writers to explore the communities and people that have shaped them. This essay calls for deep introspection; can you find a common thread connecting you to your “world”? Some MIT essays that worked discuss family traditions, other city identities, etc. Whatever you choose, it should reflect who you are now and who you want to become.

MIT Essays That Worked #5

I was standing on the top row of the choir risers with my fellow third graders. We were beside the fourth graders who were beside the fifth graders. My teacher struck the first chords of our favorite song and we sang together, in proud call and response “Ujima, let us work together. To make better our community. We can solve! Solve our problems with collective work and responsibility.”

Then the students playing African drums and the xylophones on the floor began the harmonious percussion section and we sang again with as much passion as nine-year-olds can muster. This was my world. As a child, my community was centered around my school. At my school we discovered that if you love something enough, and work hard enough for it, you can do great things for both yourself and others around you.

In the years since I left, I reflected back on the lessons I learned at school. I determined I wanted to focus on the things I love – mathematics, science, and helping others. I also want to harmonize my abilities with those of other people so that we can work together to make the world a better place. Today I aspire to work in integrative research as a bioengineer to address the pressing medical issues of today.

For those who don’t know, ujima is the Swahili word for collective work and responsibility. The most well-crafted MIT essay examples employ narrative devices like framing and theme to leave a lasting impression. This essay, for example, introduces ujima with the choir scene—which itself is collective work—then reflects on the general concept. In every sentence, this writer works with the idea of collaboration and the positive power of the collective.

Among sample MIT essays, this can be challenging if you haven’t thought critically about your past and present. This writer clearly values collective responsibility and sees their future through that lens. They speak directly to their interests and their aspirations of bioengineering. All in all, they show careful consideration of ideas that have influenced them and the direction they want to take.

MIT Essay Examples #6 – Significant Challenge

The last of our MIT essays that worked answers a prompt nearly identical to one from this year.

Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation? 

The only difference is that this year’s prompt indicates you should feel comfortable sharing what you write about. This seems obvious, but you may be surprised how many students dredge up traumatic experiences in sample college essays. The issue isn’t that these experiences are unpleasant to read; on the contrary, they may be painful to write about. Although many MIT sample essays are somewhat vulnerable, you don’t have to write about experiences you’d rather keep to yourself.

With that said, let’s read the last of our MIT essay examples.

*Please be advised that the following essay example contains discussions of anxiety and panic attacks. 

Mit essays that worked #6.

Ten o’clock on Wednesday, April 2016. Ten o’clock and I was sobbing, heaving, and gasping for air. Ten o’clock and I felt like all my hard work, passion, and perseverance had amounted to nothing and I was not enough. It was ten o’clock on a Wednesday, but it all started in August of 2015. I moved cities in August 2015. I knew the adjustment would be hard, but I thought if I immersed myself in challenging activities and classes I loved, I would get through the year just fine.

I was wrong. With each passing month I experienced increased anxiety attacks, lack of satisfaction in any and every activity, and constant degradation of my personal happiness. By April, I was broken. Naked, bent over the toilet, sweating, shaking, choking on the tightening of my own throat, thinking “not enough, not enough, not enough.” 

It was extremely challenging to pick myself up after such a hard fall. When I finally made it out of the bathroom, I crawled to my room and read “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou. Her struggle encouraged me to rise to this challenge stronger than I had been before. I prioritized my own happiness and fulfillment, taking care of my body and mind.

I finally realized I did not have to do everything on my own, and began collaborating with my peers to finish the year strong and begin initiatives for the next year. I became a stronger, more confident woman than ever before.

Now, you may understand why this year’s wording includes “that you feel comfortable sharing.” While the author’s vivid description helps immerse us in the moment, a reader may hope they’re okay now. Again, you don’t need to strictly avoid traumatizing moments—but don’t feel obligated to share anything you don’t want to. In any case, the diction is indeed very precise and helps convey just how shaken the author was.

Furthermore, we see how the author dealt with this challenge: they were inspired by Maya Angelou. This ability to seek and find strength beyond yourself is crucial, especially in an ever more connected world. At the end of the essay, the writer notes how they’ve changed by working with others to accomplish goals. Their renewed confidence has made them even stronger and more willing to face challenges.

MIT Essay Examples – Key Takeaways

So after reading six sample MIT essays, what do you think? What are the takeaways from these MIT essays that worked? It goes without saying that you should read more sample MIT essays if you can. Additionally, when you draft your own MIT essays, take time to revise them and have other people read them.

MIT Essays that Worked Takeaways

1. discuss experiences.

The best MIT essay examples keep it real by talking about the author’s experiences. Can you think critically about how they have made you who you are? Find ways to address the prompt with your background and life experiences. You may also find sample MIT essays easier to write when they’re rooted in your reality.

2. Use precise language

Two hundred words are, in fact, not that much space. MIT essays that worked use every word to paint a vivid picture of the writer and their world. Mark Twain said it best: “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is … the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.” Choose your words carefully to refine your meaning and strengthen your impact.

3. Reflect on yourself

In college essays, it’s all about you and your personal narrative . So don’t miss any opportunity to introspect on your experiences, community, and personal growth. Demonstrate that you know yourself well enough to point to specific influences on your worldview. We all move through the world in different ways—why do you move the way you do?

4. Be genuine

You’ve heard this a thousand times, and we’ll say it again: be yourself . While you hear all about the typical MIT student and what MIT looks for , we’re all unique individuals. As, or even more, important than good scores or a huge activities list is an accurate representation of you . Write about extracurriculars and subjects and communities that are important to you—not what you think will sound impressive.

Additional MIT Resources from CollegeAdvisor

We have a wealth of resources on how to get into MIT here at CollegeAdvisor.com. We’ve got a comprehensive article on the MIT admissions process, from the MIT acceptance rate to deadlines.

MIT Admissions

Speaking of the acceptance rate, we take a closer look at that, too.

MIT Acceptance Rate

If you’re wondering about MIT tuition and costs, read our breakdown .

MIT Tuition & MIT Cost

Finally, we’ve got a guide covering application strategy from start to finish.

Strategizing Your MIT Application

MIT Essays that Worked – Final thoughts

Placing among the top American universities, we see MIT ranking highly every year, and for good reason. By the same token, it’s very challenging to get admitted. So, in order to get in, you need to know how to write MIT supplemental essays.

We read through several MIT essays that worked and identified strengths in our MIT essay examples. Use these tips when writing your own essays to craft a strong application!

This article was written by  Gina Goosby . Looking for more admissions support? Click  here  to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how  CollegeAdvisor.com  can support you in the college application process.

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How to Write the MIT Supplemental Essays: Examples + Guide 2023/2024

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• How to write each supplemental essay prompt for MIT
• Prompt #1: "Why major?" essay
• Prompt #2: "Activity for pleasure" essay
• Prompt #3: “Community” essay
• Prompt #4: Extracurricular activity / community contribution essay
• Prompt #5: "Manage a challenge" essay
• Prompt #6: Activities list essay
• Prompt #7: Optional additional information essay

If you’re applying to MIT, odds are high that you’re a pretty exceptional student (and human). Your GPA sparkles, your test scores soar, and your activity list practically sings with meaningful accomplishments. This is great for you, and great for the 20,000+ other people applying annually. In a sea of highly successful seniors, your responses to MIT’s essay prompts will help distinguish you from the pack (or pod if we’re sticking with our aquatic metaphor). The best news: MIT gives you many  chances to make an impression. To this end, we’ve put together the following set of examples, tips, and ideas for each of MIT’s 7 supplemental essays. 

What are MIT's supplemental essay prompts?

A note from MIT’s website: "Depending on the question, we’re looking for responses of approximately 100–200 words each."

What field of study appeals to you the most right now? (Note: Applicants select from a drop-down list.) Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you. (100 words or fewer)

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. (225 words or fewer)

How has the world you come from—including your opportunities, experiences, and challenges—shaped your dreams and aspirations? (225 words or fewer)

MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together. (225 words or fewer)

How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it? (225 word or fewer)

Please list up to four activities—if you have more than four, choose the ones that are most important to you. (40 words or less per activity description)

Optional: No application can meet the needs of every individual. If there is significant information that you were not able to include elsewhere in the application, you may include it here. (Many students will leave this section blank—and that’s okay.)

Please note, we may not be able to access all links you share. If you have supplemental materials you would like to submit, please refer to our optional creative portfolios. (350 words or fewer)

How to Write Each Supplemental Essay Prompt for MIT

How to write mit supplemental essay prompt #1.

This is a super short “Why major?” essay, but since MIT goes out of its way to specify “why this field of study at MIT appeals to you,” you can ideally weave in some “Why us?” details. Because it’s so short, the key will be to briefly share the origin story for the major you’re considering. Here’s a guide to the “Why major” essay.

Example:  

Why Electrical Engineering? My decision to major in Electrical Engineering was inspired by my desire to improve security through technology. When I lived in Mexico, my father’s restaurant security system lacked the ability to protect our property from robbers, who would break in multiple times a year. Thanks to the influence of my cousin, who now studies Autonomous Systems, I developed an interest in electrical engineering. I am inspired to not only improve my father’s security system, but contributing to security innovations for larger companies and perhaps, one day, national security. (89 words) — — —

Here’s a simple outline for this essay:

Why Electrical Engineering?

Thesis: I want to improve security through technology

Robbers broke into dad’s restaurant

Cousin taught me about Autonomous Systems

In the future: work with large companies or on national security  

Note that your thesis statement should probably be clear and it could come either at the beginning, middle, or end.

How to Write MIT Supplemental Essay prompt #2

Picking a topic:.

Ideally, your topic will be something that is actually fun. (Not something that, for example, is actually academic that you’re trying to justify as also being fun.) Take a look at your brainstorming work and see if there are any random/odd/fun parts of you that haven’t yet made their way into your application. Past students have written about geocaching, doing impersonations, and “Jedi Juggling Club,” among others. 

Here’s an example we love, though since MIT dropped the word count this year, you’d have a bit less space to work with.

One activity which I simply do for the pleasure of it is playing cricket–not on a proper team or league, but casually along with friends and family. Though I have enjoyed competitively participating in soccer, ultimate frisbee, and table tennis in the past, the lack of competitive nature in cricket is refreshing, especially because I am not that great of a player. The whole playing experience with other casual cricket players is more enjoyable: Though the goal is to win, we can learn and grow without the stress of losing an “important” match. The connectivity with others is another reason I enjoy being a casual cricket player. I usually play with my family, and have taught many friends with non-cricketing backgrounds how to play. One time, my friends and I were playing at a local park, and a family of three generations joined us: representative of how casual cricket is welcoming to all. The accessibility of the sport in my backyard, where I can pick up the bat and hit a tennis ball around during an evening walk, and sometimes having my parents bowl at me/me bowl at them, shows the spontaneous fun that I can have at any time.   As someone who likes to watch cricket, Indian cricket specifically, it is enjoyable to be able to casually play a sport that many in the US have never properly experienced. It also connects to my identity as an Indian who grew up with stories of “gully cricket.” (248 words) — — —

Tips & Analysis:

Showcase something new about your personality. Use this prompt as a way to showcase a part of your personality that you haven’t been able to express elsewhere in your MIT application. For example, we love how this essay is about an activity that likely didn’t make the student’s activities list (since he only plays cricket for fun), but also how he’s able to find joy in playing cricket, even if he’s not “great” at it (#vulnerability).

Give specific examples to show why you like the activity. These details allow admission officials to learn about your way of viewing the world. So, don’t hold back on that color and specificity. Share details about how you became interested in the activity, what keeps you interested, and how the activity influences your connection to other aspects of your life. In this example, notice how the author weaves multiple stories together with specific examples that give the essay a nice flow from start to finish.

Connect it to your intellectual curiosity. MIT is looking for intellectually curious students. So, even though this prompt asks about an activity you do purely for pleasure, it helps if you can at least hint at how the experience of it also sparks your mind to think deeply in other ways—like how this student ties his cricket play to the benefit of not always being competitive and finding connection with others.

Here are two more great examples we encourage you to read for inspiration (though, again, the second one is a little over the current word count). 

I love collecting, whether it be playing cards or arrowheads, my most significant collection. I first started my arrowhead collection after a trip to an ancient adobe village in Sonoma, California. I was fascinated by the idea that ancient peoples had walked where I walked and had a life where I was standing. When I arrived, I realized how the stories behind the bricks of the buildings tell of the past and can predict the future, as trends repeat themselves. This principle of trends repeating themselves is important to me, and I strive to apply it through volunteering with the Smithsonian, transcribing and editing historical documents to preserve them digitally for future generations. By securing a moment in time, I can help protect future communities from mistakes of the past.  Now I seek out other places and stories that document moments in time, like a Boomtown from the gold-rush era in Jamestown, California. Arrowheads are often difficult to source; my collection of 13 represent my strategy of remembrance and preservation. (170 words) — — —

Beyond my busy life at school, I compose and perform music as a way to channel my creativity to escape the rigidity of my course curriculum through improvisation. When I was eight years old — after years of school-mandated recorder classes — I begged my mum to let me graduate to the clarinet. I spent hours each day practising scales and climbing the grade ladder in Classical music.  But I found myself gravitating towards the sounds of jazz — and the opportunities for improvisation that the genre provided. Through secondary school, I continued practising my favourite jazz short pieces, eventually performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue which I played for my mother’s birthday. Entering GCSE Music, I found a perfect opportunity to combine my talents as a musician with my passion for creating new things as a programmer. Specifically, I spent two years developing a piano-clarinet jazz duo that I premiered for the class at the end of the course. More recently, then, I have moved beyond the clarinet to begin composing music myself — not only jazz, but also electronic music that I can bring to life on my computer. Combining Icelandic vocals and California drum solos, I aim to create music that stretches across genre and geography. Whether I actually release anything, of course, a different story. But as I prepare to ship off to college, I look forward to the chance to find new collaborators that can both teach me new skills as a composer and play alongside me in the ensemble. (250 words) — — —

How to Write MIT Supplemental Essay prompt #3

One approach here is to treat this essentially as a “community essay,” with some focus going to how your community/ies have shaped your dreams and aspirations. Or uou can write about an extracurricular activity, a volunteer experience, your family—or something else entirely. The possibilities are pretty vast in terms of potential topics. That can feel empowering, or overwhelming. If you want to try the community approach and need help brainstorming a topic, check out our full guide on how to write the community essay for an in-depth explanation of how to approach this type of essay, and some quick tips you can follow after reading this great example essay.

My world is at once expansively big and recognisably small. Coming from a multiethnic European family, I’ve spent my childhood encountering an array of rich cultures across the continent and beyond. I learned about the Jewish holiday of love “Tu B'Av” to bring me closer to my extended family living in Tel Aviv. Further north, I joined my relatives in Ukraine to celebrate the Orthodox new year two weeks after all of my friends back home. Even in London, my world feels stretched across neighbourhoods, zones, and ethnic traditions. Whether it is making sense of the Islamic conception of peace on a school trip to our local mosque or losing myself in Caribbean music at the Notting Hill Carnival, I have learned to see the world through my city and the 300 languages spoken in it. Yet my world is also one of close-knit communities. As a volunteer, I have developed close relationships with a range of students who see me as a mentor in their ambitions to become a video game developer. Among my school friends, I have built a family of bandmates and co-conspirators that come together every week to make new music, work on joint programming projects, and train in Jiu-Jitsu. And in my actual family, I spend my nights playing geography games and attending cooking schools where we learn new cuisines that we can incorporate into our meals at home. Together, the big and the small combine to make my world one of exploration and intimacy. (250 words) — — —

Tips + Analysis

Show what makes your place in this “world” unique. Many students may come from the same “world” as you. So your goal here is to show the reader how your place in it is different. Notice, for example, how this author weaves together multiple parts of her identity to show her unique perspective within her family, city, and the world at large. 

Give examples of how you give and receive from your community. The community essay is important in helping admission officials see how you may fit in on their campus community. So think of this as an opportunity to show how you not only learn from your community but also contribute to it. In this example, we learn that the author is not only an active member of her communities through volunteer work and group activities, but she’s also curious about learning from the people whose identities are different from her own. 

Don’t forget to show how the community “has shaped your dreams and aspirations.” That’s an important part of the prompt, so be intentional in not only showing what you’ve learned from your community and how it’s helped you grow as a person and leader, but also how it’s shaped your vision of your future. This student, for example, ends with that insight—showing how the interactions and experiences she’s had “combine” to shape her world into one of “exploration and intimacy.” 

Here are two more great examples of essays we encourage you to read for inspiration (though—this feels like a trend—they’re both slightly over word count). 

As I have had a knack for fixing errors on computers for friends and family, building a computer was a valuable experience that has reaffirmed lessons and my values. I started with the motherboard, following unvaried instructions, which compares to how I’ve bettered my understanding of the strictness of Hindi grammar. I have learned all the endless grammar rules in Hindi in a monotonous but necessary process, which has taught me patience. Working on the heat sink has taught me to maintain calmness and patience during the mentally challenging troubleshooting phase of programming. The graphics card reminds me of my clarity of my thought process in life–-my long-standing ambition for a degree in computer science and clarity in my desire to contribute to non-profit organizations, such as Gurukul. The Wi-Fi adapter, and network connectivity, connects to how I have built a strong connection to my Indian heritage through learning about festivals such as Diwali, experiencing the rich cultural diversity, and learning the history of India’s fight for independence. RAM, the working memory of a computer, functions efficiently like how I process information and retain the most important, and overall have developed effective learning techniques–such as making sure to understand the derivation of an equation rather than mindlessly memorizing an equation. I have an understanding of hardware–having built a computer–but have reaffirmed my zest for a future in software in computer science through my various experiences. (235 words) — — —

I come from a world of knowledge, expertise, and wonder. My dad is a software engineer who has spent his life building code. A devout mathematician, he has inspired my love of math and analytical thinking, helping me think beyond the material at hand to the underlying concepts. My mom, on the other hand, teaches me to follow my dreams. So when I took an enlightening summer course on engineering at Vanderbilt, she immediately began to support me in my aspirations and helped me identify programs and resources in the engineering realm. In a world where new crises seem to arise without warning, I see engineering as a way to help protect society using intricate processes. Of the many college-level courses I have taken, my favorite has been a course on Materials Engineering. I particularly appreciated the applications of math and the state-of-the-art lab tour. I got to observe some real-life research projects and equipment, which included touring a military helicopter. I also participated in a final lab project, which tasked me with discovering the reason behind the catastrophic failure of a bolt and determining how much stress or strain it would have taken for the failure to occur, helping me to apply my math knowledge in the real world.  Engineering has numerous possibilities. Driven by the values instilled by my parents, I hope to further the field and find innovative ways to help and protect people as a materials or nuclear engineer. (243 words) — — —

How to Write MIT Supplemental Essay prompt #4

This prompt can be a great chance to talk about whichever extracurricular activity or community service project you’ve been most involved in, but notice that the prompt specifies things like “diverse backgrounds” and “collaboration.” Because of that, you’ll want to make sure whatever experiences/actions you discuss allow you to directly discuss collaboration (ideally with people from diverse backgrounds) and how that collaboration allowed you to directly contribute to your community, while also expanding your understanding.

To help you brainstorm ideas for this prompt, here’s a step-by-step guide we put together for this one based on two strategies we recommend: the uncommon connections technique and the Powerwall structure. 

Give it a read and see if you can:  

a) Come up with 1-2 ideas that may work  (making sure to look for community contributions that involved collaborating with others, ideally from diverse backgrounds ).

b) Pick which structure might work better.

Bonus points: Spend 10-15 minutes mapping out a basic outline based on either the uncommon connections technique or the Powerwall structure.

We don’t have an example that hits all the elements above, but check out this example, and the tips and analyses below for how it could be tweaked to fit.

From a young age, teaching has been my way to give back to my community, whether it’s my immediate family or neighbours on the opposite edge of London. My first teaching experience took place when I was 10. My five-year-old sister took a principled moral stand against homework by getting under the table and refusing to do her maths additions tables. After almost an hour of negotiations, our mother admitted defeat, so I jumped in to assist her. My sister and I worked patiently through the tables, finding new tricks to help her master the relationship between the numbers. And I found myself genuinely thrilled to have helped her — and my mother — in that difficult moment. I have been teaching regularly ever since. At Imperial College’s programming club, I volunteered to help show young people the creative side of coding through graphical programming. At people’s homes, I have adapted to people’s needs, from teaching Computer GCSE to helping a group of four girls make a moving Raspberry Pi robot. And during lockdown, I offered free Python coding classes to kids of essential workers. In each, I not only provided support to students to complete their stated assignments. I also found myself learning from the students along the way, helping me to find novel solutions to my own challenges as a programmer. It is this two-way exchange between teacher and student that I find so rewarding in this contribution to my community. (241 words) — — —

Demonstrate a different set of values. MIT is giving you lots of opportunities to show different sides of yourself. That also means multiple chances to show the diversity of your values. Since this prompt is narrowly asking for a specific way you’ve impacted your community, you may not have a ton of options for topics. But you can look for ways to expand on the values you’ve already shared. How? Check out this Values Exercise and scan your essays for the values that are already coming through, making a list as you go. Are some missing, even important ones? If so, look for ways to demonstrate those here. For example, this student was able to inject some humor in their description of their little sister taking “a principled, moral stand against homework” by planting herself under the table and refusing to come out—maybe they weren’t able to smuggle that value in elsewhere? 

Explain how your collaboration partner(s) was(were) different from you. Were you working with peers of the same age but vastly different backgrounds? Did you find opportunities to collaborate with unusual partners, like special-needs students or adults in a different country? Make sure the reader will understand the differences involved, and if they’re not obvious, make the space to explain what made your partners different, and what you gained from working with them. For example, if this student were writing to this prompt, they may have expounded on the “two-way exchange between teacher and student,” using that as the basis of their collaboration and showing how these students’ input and involvement led to “novel solutions to [the student’s] own challenges as a programmer.]”

Show the opportunities and obstacles of the collaboration. MIT admission officials want to see your collaboration skills in action. And when you’re collaborating with someone with a different point of view or background, things don’t always go smoothly. But it’s the friction that can create new solutions while also leading to personal growth. Your goal in this essay is to show both sides—so make sure to note your contributions to the collaboration, but also ways you grew from learning from others. If this student were to tweak this essay to fit the prompt, they may have, say, shared details on a challenging yet beneficial collaboration with a fellow programming tutor or an improvisation that arose from ongoing conversations with an argumentative student. 

How to Write MIT Supplemental Essay prompt #5

Essentially, MIT wants to see how you solve problems. Brainstorm a list of challenges you’ve overcome and times things didn’t go according to plan. 

Consider the following:

The “ Powerwall structure ” can work really well for this essay, since you don’t have to have solved the problem in order to write about it. 

This is a chance to show a side of yourself the admissions counselors haven’t seen yet. Read through the rest of your application and see if any activity or experience is missing. In most cases, something went wrong at some point, and that can be your topic. 

Finally: Most students write about something going wrong in a robotics competition (“Our robot broke!”), so we recommend thinking of other options.

Now, create a basic outline that answers:  

What was the problem?

Why was it a big deal? 

What did you do about it? 

How were you crucial to helping solve it or what gifts or talents were you able to bring to the situation?

How did it turn out? Were there any larger impacts or lessons learned?

Let’s check out an example of this structure coming to life (though, since MIT dropped its word count slightly this year from 250 to 225 words, you’d have a bit less room to work with). 

Off the crack of the bat I tracked the first two hops, but when I looked down, all I saw was a crooked finger. It was the game before CIF, our year to take the championship that had eluded us the year prior. I had received Honorable Mention All-League and Rookie of the Year awards my sophomore year, and this year was my time to help break school history. But a misplaced pebble guaranteed I wouldn’t have the opportunity to live my decade long goal of winning CIF. During the first playoff game, I simply watched from the dugout, restricted by my cast. I felt useless. In the next game, I completely altered my gameplan; I talked to our coach about my helping to manage the team. I traded my glove and bat for a clipboard and pencil, keeping score and tracking pitch counts; I used the data to alter defensive formations based on opponents’ batting tendencies and advise on pitching strategy, allowing us to conserve our ace for the championship. I applied my problem solving skills and led my team from the dugout.  Our team broke school history for the second year in a row, making it to the CIF championship, but fell two runs short of victory. While I could think “What if I had been playing?”I don’t have to, because I know I played a valuable role and was just as much of a threat at left bench as I was making diving stops at second.  — — —

Let’s take a look at how this student used the structure outlined above.

What was the problem? Although the crooked- finger image is a bit graphic, it makes it easy to see this student’s problem. Using a quick descriptive anecdote like this student did can be an effective way to set the scene and get to the juicier parts of this prompt: your actions. Right before you get there, though, let us know:

Why was it a big deal? Raise the stakes. In the example above, the author mentioned a championship and school history. Providing context for your challenge (what you had done to build up to this moment, the investments other people made in getting to this moment, etc.) will help the reader care. 

What did you do about it? Specifics, specifics, specifics. This student shares high-impact actions (tracking pitch counts, using data to alter defensive formations) and does the work for the reader, naming the higher-level skills required (problem solving and leadership). 

How were you crucial to helping solve it? This student doesn’t answer the question directly, but it’s clear that his unique circumstance—a player thrust into a different role—gave him the opportunity to leverage his skills (analyzing data on baseball strategy). If your prior experience (maybe taking a summer course on using Excel) helped you adapt on the fly or overcome a challenge (maybe by creating a spreadsheet to analyze how time of day impacted student conflict during class change time), share it! 

How did it turn out? Were there any larger impacts or lessons learned? Leave the reader with a satisfying conclusion, even if you haven’t fully resolved the challenge. If you’re still working to overcome that challenge, tell us how. And if you learned something valuable along the way, like this student’s new comfort with having a positive impact regardless of his role, don’t hesitate to share it explicitly. 

How to Write MIT Supplemental Essay prompt #6

Simple. 

Pick your top four activities (from your Common App list).

Write 40-word descriptions. Our tips for the Activities List live here , and apply them to this writing as well. 

Citizen Scientist Marine Protected Area Watch Monitor local Marine Protected beaches for illegal activity; coordinate with Park Rangers and fellow Citizen Scientists to deter visitors from abusing the beach habitats and creatures; complete surveys on activity at the beaches: published data 15 times for academic studies (40 words) — — — 2019 Captain; starter MHS Varsity Baseball Starter at 2nd or 3rd base; bat 2nd in lineup; made school history by making 2017 CIF semi-finals, 2018 CIF finals; 2017 Rookie of the Year Award, 2017 All-Frontier League Honorable Mention; to be Captain in 2019 Season (38 words) — — — Educator Heal the Bay’s Pier Aquarium Teach and engage in discussion with guests at touch tanks, shark tanks, and whale exhibit; coordinate whale watching events, encourage ocean respect and environmentalism; received Dolphin Pin for 150 hours of service (32 words) — — — Starting Driver MHS Water Polo Starter, sprinter; 2018 Conejo Classic Tournament Champions, 2018 Oxnard Tournament Champions; 2nd Team All-Frontier League 2017 Award, 2016 MVP of JV team, Frontier League Champions 2015-2018; club season: start for S&S Bruin Water Polo - driver, compete in local tournaments (40 words) — — —

For a comprehensive list of tips and ideas, head over to our full activities list writing guide . 

Most importantly:

Emphasize tangible, measurable impact.

Use active verbs.

Use lists and incomplete sentences

Cut extra words by using more specific words (i.e., “told people about” → advertised, “came up with” → brainstormed). 

How to Write MIT Supplemental Essay prompt #7

Optional: No application can meet the needs of every individual. If there is significant information that you were not able to include elsewhere in the application, you may include it here. (Many students will leave this section blank—and that’s okay.) Please note, we may not be able to access all links you share. If you have supplemental materials you would like to submit, please refer to our optional creative portfolios . (350 words or fewer)

This is basically the Additional Info section of your Common App. You can find a complete guide for that section here .

Special thanks to Ameer for his contributions to this blog post.

Ameer is a freelance writer who specializes in writing about college admissions and career development. Prior to freelancing, Ameer worked for three years as a college admissions consultant at a Hong Kong-based education center, helping local high school students prepare and apply for top colleges and universities in the US. He has a B.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Chicago and an M.A. in Spanish Linguistics from UCLA. When he’s not working, Ameer loves traveling, weight lifting, writing, reading, and learning foreign languages. He currently lives in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Top values: Growth / Diversity / Empathy

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How to Get Into MIT: Essays and Strategies that Worked

How hard is it to get into mit learn about mit’s application process and successful approaches to mit’s short-answer essay questions—which are not on the common app — to improve your child’s odds of being accepted.

LEARN HOW TO GET INTO MIT

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: mit requirements for admission, part 3: applying to mit early action vs. regular decision, part 4: 2023–2024 mit supplemental essays (examples included).

If your child has the grades and tests scores to be competitive for the best Ivy League schools and Ivy Plus schools (e.g., Caltech , Stanford ) and is interested in pursuing a career in a STEM-related field (science, technology, engineering, and math), you may want to encourage them to apply to one of the most prestigious Ivy Plus schools: MIT .

MIT—the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—is among the most prestigious, famous, and rigorous universities in the world (yes, in the same tier as its neighbor across the river, Harvard ). In this science and technology-crazed world, a degree from MIT is sure to impress employers. Moreover, the years spent on MIT’s futuristic campus in historic Cambridge, MA can change the course of your child’s life. 

At MIT, your child can conduct research in the lab where the human genome was sequenced, intern at a tech company like Google in nearby Kendall Square, collaborate with scientists on cutting-edge research in aeronautical engineering (actual rocket science), pursue an interest in art and technology at the famous MIT design lab, and even take a creative writing course with a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist. 

MIT students spend their summers pursuing research and prestigious internships thanks to MIT’s network and generous financial support for research grants. Some students may spend the summer interning in Silicon Valley at Facebook or on Wall Street at a top firm. They might even conduct research at NASA or design an innovative suspended bridge in Portugal. 

Because of MIT’s name recognition, students will stand out to recruiters in a variety of professions. 

And life after MIT? Alumni attend prestigious graduate schools, travel the world with Fulbright Fellowships , invent lucrative smartphone apps in Silicon Valley, design skyscrapers, enter politics, and much more—both in and out of STEM fields. In addition to a strong network that includes Nobel Laureates, astronauts, and CEOs, a degree from MIT might make people believe that your child is, well, a genius. 

From years of helping students navigate MIT’s application and essay questions, we’ve put together key tips for how to get into MIT, including how your child can write standout essays to earn a place there. 

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MIT ranking

MIT routinely ranks as one of the best universities in the U.S.:

U.S. News & World Report: 2

Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education: 3

Where is MIT?

MIT is located in Cambridge, MA, just a short walk away from Boston via the Longfellow Bridge or the Harvard Bridge. Take the Boston T (the subway) from Kendall Square to get to Boston in under 10 minutes. Cambridge’s population is approximately 121,000—a small yet densely populated city that is accessible to, but independent from, Boston. 4.9 million people live in the Boston metropolitan area. 

MIT setting

Composed of distinct “squares,” Cambridge is a suburban area that offers tasty food, vibrant cafes, bookstores, record stores, vintage clothing shops, and much more.

MIT student population

Undergraduate students: 4,657

Graduate students: 7,201

MIT acceptance rate

Here are the admissions statistics for the class of 2027:

Applications: 26,914

Acceptances: 1,291

Matriculants: 1,092

Acceptance rate: 4.8%

MIT tuition and scholarships

In 2023–2024, MIT projects the total cost of attendance (i.e., tuition, room, board, and fees) to be $82,730.

MIT is committed to covering 100 percent of demonstrated need, and 99 percent of MIT students receive some form of financial aid. For students with household incomes (including assets) of $140,000 or less, tuition is covered by the MIT scholarship fund. In 2021–2022, 58 percent of students received need-based MIT scholarships with the average amount being $53,997.

Among students receiving any form of financial aid, the average amount paid by families is currently $17,442 per year. Eight in ten MIT students graduate free of debt.

Who gets into MIT? 

MIT emphasizes its holistic admissions process and does not publish the average GPA or class rank of its incoming class, although they do publish average test scores. Below, we’ve compiled academic stats and demographic information for the class of 2027 to help you assess your child’s odds of getting in:

MIT average ACT score:

25th percentile: 34

75th percentile: 36

MIT average SAT Math score:

25th percentile: 780

75th percentile: 800

MIT average SAT ERW score:

25th percentile: 730

75th percentile: 780

International students: 10%

Public school attendees: 66%

Asian Americans make up 40% of the class. 38% are Caucasian, 16% are Hispanic or Latinx, 15% are Black or African American, 2% are American Indian or Alaskan Native, and 1% are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

Most MIT students major in STEM-related fields. Among those who don’t, architecture, urban planning, and management (at MIT Sloan) are popular choices. The interdisciplinary program “Humanities and Engineering” is a favorite among students interested in engineering, literature, history, and the arts.  

Many students pursue minors in non-STEM fields, such as writing, political science, and comparative media studies.

(Suggested reading: How to Succeed as an MIT Premed )

MIT academic requirements

Like its peer institutions in the Ivy League and the Ivy Plus schools, MIT looks for ambitious students who demonstrate academic excellence and passion, especially in science and technology.

To impress MIT, your child will need to demonstrate great potential in the STEM fields. MIT admissions officers are looking for students who took advantage of the educational opportunities that they were afforded in high school. If your child attended a high school with a rigorous IB or AP curriculum, MIT will look for a successful track record in those courses.

If your child’s school doesn’t have the means or resources to challenge them sufficiently, you should help your child seek outside STEM material and coursework, through community college, online, or summer programs. It’s unlikely that someone without a fairly advanced background in at least chemistry, physics, biology, and calculus stands a chance at MIT admissions. Your child should take AP Calculus AB or BC (or the equivalent) by their senior year, at the latest.

MIT does not specify requirements for what students completed in high school, but to prepare for their rigorous curriculum, the MIT admissions team recommends the following:

One year of high school physics

One year of high school chemistry

One year of high school biology

Math, through calculus

Two years of a foreign language

Four years of English

Two years of history and/or social sciences

But grades aren’t enough. MIT isn’t just looking to admit people who can ace science tests. Those people aren’t the ones who need access to cutting edge neuroscience labs, funding to conduct research abroad, and resources for launching startups. MIT wants to admit students who will utilize the university’s unparalleled resources. They are looking for students who take risks when designing robots and who take the initiative to create their own smartphone apps. 

They want to educate future leaders in STEM, meaning they’re also looking for intellectual creativity and curiosity, often demonstrated through extracurricular activities .

Has your child, for instance, taught themselves to code if their school didn’t offer computer science? Is she an advanced tinkerer who’s created a device to make solar energy more efficient in the school cafeteria? Are they a national robotics champion or a competitor in the Intel Science Fair? Has he excelled in his school’s math team by participating in competitions at the state or national level?

Here are the specifics.

MIT application requirements

MIT does not use Common App, Coalition App, or the Universal College Application. Instead, MIT uses its own application system and process, so your child will need to write new essays or reuse excerpts from the Common App Essay or UC essays .

Here are the MIT application components:

MIT Application , including short answer essay questions

ACT or SAT scores

2 teacher letters of recommendation (1 from a STEM teacher and 1 from a humanities/social science/language teacher)

Secondary School Report including transcripts, a counselor evaluation, and school profile

Optional: Your child may submit a third, supplemental evaluation. While most applicants do not submit this optional evaluation, it may be a good addition to your child’s application if he or she participated in an impressive internship, did research, or succeeded in an extracurricular activity. 

Optional: Creative portfolio

Want to know exactly what it takes to get into America’s most selective colleges?

Get the free 110-page guide we use to help our students routinely get admitted to schools like Stanford and Princeton: How to Get Into America’s Elite Colleges: The Ultimate Guide

Your child can apply early to MIT by November 1st and receive a decision of either accepted, deferred, or denied, by mid-December. 

MIT follows an early action model (in contrast to early decision), which means that your child does not need to attend MIT if they are accepted at this stage. Your child can apply to other universities and make their final decision in April.

If your child receives a deferral , then they will re-enter the regular admissions pool and find out on in mid-March whether or not they have been accepted, waitlisted, or rejected. 

Unlike Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, or Yale, MIT does not have restrictive or single-choice early action. MIT simply asks that students respect other colleges’ restrictive early action policies, so your child cannot apply to MIT early action if they are applying restrictive or single-choice early action elsewhere.

However, your child can apply to schools with non-restrictive early action, like Georgetown’s early action program , or to early decision programs, such as Columbia’s early decision program . If your child is accepted to the early decision program, they must withdraw their application from MIT.

Your child can also apply regular decision, by January 4th.

How do you know if your child should apply to MIT early? 

MIT early action might be the right choice for your child:

If MIT is one of their top choices

If there is no other school they’d like to apply to via early decision or restrictive early action

If your child is applying to their top choice early decision and is willing to withdraw their MIT application upon acceptance to the early decision school.

If their test scores and grades are strong by the end of junior year

MIT admits about half of their class early and half of their class in the regular decision pool. However, the regular pool is more competitive because it includes deferred applicants and regular decision applicants. 

Most importantly: MIT doesn’t offer preference to those who apply early.

(Note: While this section covers MIT’s admissions essays specifically, we encourage you to view additional successful college essay examples .)

MIT is posing the following short essay questions for the 2023–2024 application cycle: 

What field of study appeals to you the most right now? (Note: Applicants select from a drop-down list.) Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you. (200 words or fewer)

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. (200 words or fewer)

How has the world you come from—including your opportunities, experiences, and challenges—shaped your dreams and aspirations? (200 words)

MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together. (250 words)

How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it? (250 words)

A final, open-ended additional information text box, where your child can tell the Admissions Committee anything they need to know or explain some confusing aspect of their application (note: this is neither an essay nor required). Your child should treat this box like the Common App Additional Information Section .

(Suggested reading: The Ultimate Guide to Supplemental College Application Essays )

MIT essay #1

What field of study appeals to you the most right now? (Note: Applicants select from a drop-down list.) Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you.

Like other “Why us?” essays, this prompt offers students an opportunity to show why they are excited about MIT. While students are not required to declare a major, this prompt offers a chance to show MIT that your child has done their homework on their unique course offerings. 

Daniel, who has conducted research on how mosquitoes transmit viruses at the university in his hometown, wants to use this essay as an opportunity to discuss how his autoimmune disorder influenced his career ambitions.

Ever since I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder at thirteen, I have been passionate about genetics. My hours spent in the doctor’s office taught me how vital it is to develop better affordable diagnostic technologies. To pursue this interest, I’d like to major in Course 7, which offers courses in human diseases, neurobiology, evolutionary biology, and other topics related to genetics. The field of genetics is going to explode with life-improving discoveries, and my dream is to make a difference in the world through research such as that being done by Eric Lander into the human genome. 

Here’s how Daniel captured the attention of the Admissions Committee:

He connects his interest in MIT’s academics to his personal story. Daniel does not simply say that he wants to major in biology and become a doctor. Instead, he draws on personal experiences to identify a problem in the medical field that requires innovative research in science and technology. 

He demonstrates an understanding of MIT’s unique course offerings. Unlike the students who responded by saying that they wish to major in math, physics, chemistry, or biology, Daniel chooses an academic program that is unique to MIT. He even lists the course offerings that excite him the most. Of course, if your child does wish to major in the more traditional sciences, they can still pull off what Daniel does by connecting to a particular branch or application of those sciences.

He states his goals for the future. Beyond simply stating what he hopes to accomplish at MIT, Daniel expresses his goals for the future. As a bonus, Daniel demonstrates an interest in a specific faculty member in his field of interest and an ongoing project in which he may participate. 

MIT essay #2

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. (200 words)

MIT essay #3

Mit essay #4, mit essay #5.

Gain instant access to essay examples for every supplemental essay prompt from the top universities and BS/MD programs in the United States.

Final thoughts

Like other Ivies and Ivy Plus schools, MIT is a reach for even the most brilliant students. Success in AP and IB science and math courses and top grades are the norm in the matriculating class. By making unique accomplishments in extracurricular activities or by developing a project that demonstrates passion, your child will be well on their way to exhibiting the qualities that the MIT admissions committee looks for in their applicants.

About the Author

Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on college admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into top programs like Harvard, Stanford, and MIT using his exclusive approach.

THERE'S NO REASON TO STRUGGLE THROUGH THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS PROCESS ALONE, ESPECIALLY WITH SO MUCH ON THE LINE. SCHEDULE YOUR COMPLIMENTARY CONSULTATION TO ENSURE YOU LEAVE NOTHING TO CHANCE.

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

Your chancing factors

Extracurriculars.

3 Marvelous MIT Essay Examples

What’s covered:, essay example #1 – simply for the pleasure of it, essay example #2 – community, essay example #3 – overcoming challenges.

• Where to Get Feedback on Your MIT Essay  

Sophie Alina , an expert advisor on CollegeVine, provided commentary on this post. Advisors offer one-on-one guidance on everything from essays to test prep to financial aid. If you want help writing your essays or feedback on drafts,  book a consultation with Sophie Alina or another skilled advisor.

MIT is a difficult school to be admitted into; a strong essay is key to a successful application. In this post, we will discuss a few essays that real students submitted to MIT, and outline the essays’ strengths and areas of improvement. (Names and identifying information have been changed, but all other details are preserved). 

Read our MIT essay breakdown  to get a comprehensive overview of this year’s supplemental prompts.

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized. 

Prompt: We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. 

After devouring Lewis Carrolls’ masterpiece, my world shifted off its axis. I transformed into Alice, and my favorite place, the playground, became Wonderland. I would gallivant around, marveling at flowers and pestering my parents with questions, murmuring, “Curiouser and curiouser.” If Alice’s “Drink Me” potion was made out of curiosity, I drank liters of it. Alice, along with fairytale retellings like the Land of Stories by Chris Colfer, kickstarted my lifelong love of reading. 

Especially when I was younger, reading brought me solace when the surrounding world was filled with madness (and sadly, not like the fun kind in Alice in Wonderland ). There are so many nonsensical things that happen in the world, from shootings at a movie theater not thirty minutes from my home, to hate crimes targeted towards elderly Asians. Reading can be a magical escape from these problems, an opportunity to clear one’s mind from chaos. 

As I got older, reading remained an escape, but also became a way to see the world and people from a new perspective. I can step into so many different people’s shoes, from a cyborg mechanic ( Cinder ), to a blind girl in WWII’s France (Marie-Laure, All the Light We Cannot See ). Sure, madness is often prevalent in these worlds too, but reading about how these characters deal with it helps me deal with our world’s madness, too. 

Reading also transcends generational gaps, allowing me to connect to my younger siblings through periodic storytimes. Reading is timeless — something I’ll never tire of. 

What This Essay Did Well

This essay is highly detailed and, while it plays off a common idea that reading is an escape, the writer brings in personal examples of why this is so, making the essay more their own. These personal examples often include strong language (e.g. “devoured,” “gallivant,” “pestering” ), which make the imagery more vivid, the writing more interesting. More advanced language can add more nuance to an essay– instead of “ate,” the writer chooses to say “devoured, ” and you can almost see the writer taking the book in almost as quickly as they might polish off a tray of cookies. 

The writer also discusses how reading can not only be a solace from events that seem nonsensical, but a way to understand the madness in these events. By giving two different examples of how this can be so, that seem so varied from each other (the cyborg mechanic and the girl in WWII’s France), the writer creates more depth to this idea. 

What Could be Improved

At the beginning, the writer should consider cutting the introduction paragraph by a line to leave more room for the two major points of the essay in the following paragraphs. Instead of a long sentence about a love of reading being kickstarted, the writer could create a short, powerful sentence to kick off the next two paragraphs. “I was in love with reading.” 

The detail at the end about how reading also transcends generational gaps seems like an add-on that doesn’t connect to the past two ideas– instead, I would suggest that this author expand a little more on the prior two ideas and tie them together at the end. “In this timeless world of reading, I can keep drinking from the well of curiosity. In the pages of a book, I have a space to find out more about the world around me, process its events, and more deeply understand others.”

Prompt: At MIT, we bring people together to better the lives of others. MIT students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way in which you have contributed to your community, whether in your family, the classroom, your neighborhood, etc. (200-250 words)

“Orange throw!”

As I extended my arm to signal properly, the smallest girl on the orange team picked up the ball to throw it back into play. In AYSO, U10 players often lift their back foot when throwing the ball, so I focused my attention there.

Don’t lift it. Keep it down.

It shot straight up. 

My instincts blew the whistle to stop the game. The rulebook is simple: the rule was broken, give it to the other team. But the way she tried, eager to play, eager to learn and try again— I couldn’t punish that. So I made my way over to the sideline to try it myself.

“When we’re throwing it in, we wanna keep our back foot down. Try again!” After demonstrating, I backpedaled a bit and watched her throw again.

Don’t lift it. Keep it down… Ah, it stayed down.

“Nice throw!”

And just like that, we were off again. These short, educational encounters happen multiple times a game. And while they may not be prescribed, they provide so many learning opportunities. These kids, they’re the future of soccer. If they learn the basics, they can achieve greatness.

Every time I step out onto the pitch, that’s what I see: potential. Little Alex may not throw correctly now, but with work, she could become the next Alex Morgan. That’s why, in every soccer game I referee, every new situation I’m thrust into, I strive to see what’s more; I strive to see the potential.

What the Essay Did Well

There is so much imagery in this essay! It’s easy to see the scene in your mind. Through details such as “smallest girl” and describing the team as the “orange,” the reader can more easily picture the scene in their mind. Giving color, size, and other details such as these can make the imagery stronger and the picture clearer in the reader’s mind. 

The writer narrates their thought process through their use of italics, bringing the reader into the mind of the writer. The space for each line of dialogue separates each thought, so that the reader can feel the full emphasis of each line. The mingling of cognitive narration and details about the setting keep the momentum of the essay. 

Through this essay, we learn that this referee is supportive to the members of the youth soccer teams that they are refereeing; instead of seeing the role of referee as punitive (punishing), this writer sees it as a coaching experience. This idea of creating educational encounters as one’s contribution to the community is definitely a great idea to build upon for this essay prompt. 

What Could Be Improved

The contribution to the community is clear because of the emphasis on the coaching aspect of refereeing. However, especially thinking about structure, the author spends about half the essay on a single situation. Limiting this story to a third of the essay could give the writer more space to provide examples of other ways that the author has coached others. The author could have also connected this coaching experience to a mentoring experience in a different context, such as mentoring students at the YMCA,  to create more connections between other extracurriculars and give more weight to this author’s contributions to the community. 

The second to last paragraph ( “And just like that, we were off again…” ) could benefit from another example or two about showing, not telling. The sentence “And while they might not be prescribed, they provide so many learning opportunities” is already clear from the situation that the author has given; the author has already called these “educational encounters” in the prior sentence. Instead of that sentence, the writer could have given another example about a child thanking the writer for a coaching tip, or the expression on a different player’s face when they learned a new skill. 

Additionally, the role of the writer is not immediately clear at the beginning, although it’s suspected that this student is most likely the referee. The writer also provides details about “AYSO” (American Youth Soccer Organization) and “U10,” where they could have simply referred to the games as “youth soccer games” to get the point across that the players are still learning basic skills about throwing the ball in. 

To make all of this clear, the writer could have said “As a referee for youth soccer games, I have seen that players often lift their back foot when throwing the ball, so I focused my attention there.” Acronyms are usually best to be avoided in essays- they can take the reader’s attention away from what is actually happening and lead them to wonder about what the letters in the acronym stand for.

Prompt: Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation? 

“It’s… unique,” they say. 

I sag, my younger sister’s koala drawing staring at me from the wall. It always seemed like her art ended up praised and framed, while mine ended up in the trash can when I wasn’t looking. In contrast to my sister, art always came as a bit of a struggle for me. My bowls were lopsided and my portraits looked like demons. Many times, I’ve wanted to scream and quit art once and for all. I craved my parents’ validation, a nod of approval or a frame on the wall. 

Eventually, my art improved, and I made some of my favorite projects, from a ceramic haunted house to mushroom salt-and-pepper shakers. Even then, I didn’t get much praise from my parents, but I realized I genuinely loved art. It wasn’t something I enjoyed because of others’ praise; I just liked creating things of my own and the inexplicable thrill of chasing a challenge. Art has taught me to love failing miserably at something to continue it again the next day. If I never endured countless Bob Ross tutorials, I never would’ve made the mountain painting that I hang in my room today; if I never made pottery that blew up (just once!), I wouldn’t have my giant ceramic pie. 

I’m still light years from being an expert, but I’ll never tire of the kick of a challenge. 

The detail about the sister’s koala drawing being framed and praised while this writer’s portraits look like “demons” and bowls “lopsided” draws a nice contrast between the skills of the sister versus those of the writer.  In response to this “Overcoming Challenges” prompt , the author justifies that this is a significant challenge by saying that they “wanted to scream and quit art once and for all” and that they still desired their parents’ approval. 

The writer’s response to the situation— taking more tutorials online, creating many different pots before getting it right– is nicely framed. Many times, students forget to include examples that demonstrate how they respond to the situation, and this writer does a good job of including some of those details. 

The writer seems to emphasize the parents’ approval piece in the first paragraph, but then moves away from that point more to focus on the “thrill of chasing a challenge.” This essay could be improved by focusing a little more on how the writer emotionally moved past not getting that approval “Even then, I didn’t get much praise from my parents, but I finally realized I didn’t need to focus on that. I could focus on my love of art, on the inexplicable thrill of chasing the challenge…” 

Additionally, the sentence that starts with “Eventually, my art improved…” leaves the reader with the ques tion– how? Saying something like “Eventually, after many YouTube tutorials and a few destroyed pots, my art improved” would add detail, without taking away from the sentence about the Bob Ross tutorials and the pot blowing up. 

Where to Get Feedback on Your MIT Essay 

Do you want feedback on your MIT  essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

Essays That Worked

The essays are a place to show us who you are and who you’ll be in our community.

It’s a chance to add depth to something that is important to you and tell the admissions committee more about your background or goals. Below you’ll find selected examples of essays that “worked,” as nominated by our admissions committee. In each of these essays, students were able to share stories from their everyday lives to reveal something about their character, values, and life that aligned with the culture and values at Hopkins.

Read essays that worked from Transfer applicants .

Hear from the class of 2027.

These selections represent just a few examples of essays we found impressive and helpful during the past admissions cycle. We hope these essays inspire you as you prepare to compose your own personal statements. The most important thing to remember is to be original as you share your own story, thoughts, and ideas with us.

Ordering the Disorderly

Ellie’s essay skillfully uses the topic of entropy as an extended metaphor. Through it, we see reflections about who they are and who they aspire to be.

Pack Light, But Be Prepared

In Pablo’s essay, the act of packing for a pilgrimage becomes a metaphor for the way humans accumulate experiences in their life’s journey and what we can learn from them. As we join Pablo through the diverse phases of their life, we gain insights into their character and values.

Tikkun Olam

Julieta illustrates how the concept of Tikkun Olam, “a desire to help repair the world,” has shaped their passions and drives them to pursue experiences at Hopkins.

Kashvi’s essay encapsulates a heartfelt journey of self-discovery and the invaluable teachings of Rock, their 10-year-old dog. Through the lens of their companionship, Kashvi walked us through valuable lessons on responsibility, friendship, patience, and unconditional love.

Classical Reflections in Herstory

Maddie’s essay details their intellectual journey using their love of Greek classics. They incorporate details that reveal the roots of their academic interests: storytelling, literary devices, and translation. As their essay progresses, so do Maddie’s intellectual curiosities.

My Spotify Playlist

Alyssa’s essay reflects on special memories through the creative lens of Spotify playlists. They use three examples to highlight their experiences with their tennis team, finding a virtual community during the pandemic, and co-founding a nonprofit to help younger students learn about STEM.

More essays that worked

We share essays from previously admitted students—along with feedback from our admissions committee—so you can understand what made them effective and how to start crafting your own.

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Our interactive workshops—on topics like the college search process and essay preparation—will help you build your strongest application when you’re ready to apply.

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How to Meet MBA Admission Requirements: A Step-By-Step Guide

Getting a master's degree in business administration can open the door to an exciting career, new skills, and a better annual salary. But, are questions about MBA requirements holding you back? Discover the steps needed to apply to your top MBA programs.

Earning a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree can open the door to an array of exciting career opportunities and new skills in a wide range of industries. If you're interested in pursuing this educational path, but aren't sure where to start, learning about MBA admission requirements can help you get a better idea of what you'll need to do to make this exciting career move.

The precise requirements you'll have to fulfill when applying to an MBA vary from one program to another. But, there are some common overlap requirements that you should know about. Below, we outline the most common steps you need to take to be considered for an MBA program. 

1. Earn a bachelor's degree.

You will need to have earned a bachelor's degree prior to applying for an MBA program. While some candidates major in business-related fields like marketing , management , or finance , don't let a degree in engineering, music, or liberal arts stop you from applying to an MBA program. Business schools consider candidates from all fields as long as your undergraduate degree is from an accredited college or university.

2. Get relevant work experience. 

Most MBA candidates begin their program after acquiring several years of work experience – even though many schools don't usually require applicants to have any specific work experience. If you've supervised employees or volunteers, or have any kind of leadership experience, that's even better. When considering prospective MBA students, admissions officers look for qualities like personal growth, self-discipline, and leadership skills . 

To get work experience in advance of getting an MBA, try starting with an entry-level job in a business-related field. As you build up your career over the next few years, look for opportunities to develop your skills and advance your responsibilities.

A few examples of entry-level positions you might consider pursuing include:

Sales representative

Administrative assistant

Marketing assistant

Market research analyst

Human resources specialist

Read more: 10 In-Demand Jobs You Can Get with a Business Degree

3. Submit an application package.

Officially applying to an MBA program starts with filling out an application form. On your application, you'll supply information like:

Your name and address

Names, addresses, and dates of colleges or universities you've attended

Degrees you've received

Your undergraduate GPA (grade point average)

Past work experience

Names and addresses of references 

Entrance exam ( GMAT or GRE ) results

Typically, the application form can be sent electronically. However, some programs allow you to send paper copies of your application materials. Be prepared to pay an application fee of about $250. Once you've completed your application form, you’ll follow these additional steps. 

Read more: Applying to College: Your Step-by-Step Guide

4. Craft thoughtful essay responses.

Admissions officers want to get to know you, but they also want to evaluate your writing skills. As part of your application package, an MBA program may ask you to write one or two short-form essays—typically 500 words or less—or a statement of purpose . Examples of essay questions or prompts include the following options:

Explain why you want to pursue an MBA.

Choose a core value and describe why it's important to you.

How will you enrich the diverse educational environment at our business school?

The business world is always changing. Explain ways that you adapt to change.

Describe a personal failure in your life and what you learned from it.

Who is your most important role model and why?

Successful essay responses are well-written and authentic. When crafting your responses, be thoughtful and sincere, and make sure to proofread your work carefully. 

5. Include your resume.

When creating a resume for an MBA program, keep the length to one or two pages. Always list work experience in reverse chronological order. This means your current or most recent job should appear first. Expand on a few of your most recent jobs, and list company names and dates for the rest. In addition to your academic background and work experience, make sure to add:

Honors and awards you've received

Professional licenses you've earned

Membership in college clubs and organizations like National Honors Society

Publications you've authored or co-authored

If you're sending your resume electronically, save it as a PDF file to avoid any formatting issues. 

6. Add your college transcripts.

All graduate programs require access to your college transcripts. Typically, you can send scanned copies of your transcripts as part of your MBA application package. If you're invited to interview with an admissions officer, you'll likely need to supply an official copy of your transcripts. 

Most MBA programs expect applicants to have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0, and programs in top business schools often have higher standards. It's important to remember, however, that admissions officers look at your entire application package as a whole.

7. Ask for letters of recommendation.

Letters of recommendation are very important items to graduate program admissions officers. Before asking for a letter of recommendation, consider what this person might say about you. As a good rule of thumb, ask for recommendations from people with whom you have worked closely like:

College professors or advisors

Current or former supervisors

To be relevant, don't reach too far back into your past to come up with references. Choose people you've worked with over the last 10 years or less.  

Read more: How to Ask for a Letter of Recommendation (Template + Tips)

8. Take an entrance exam and provide results.

Most MBA programs expect candidates to take a GRE (Graduate Record Exam) or GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) within five years of application. Although many business schools accept the results of either test, the two tests are different. 

The GRE can be taken for entrance into many types of graduate schools, while the GMAT is designed specifically for business students. Therefore, if you haven't taken an entrance exam, you may want to consider the GMAT. Be prepared to pay $205 to take the GRE or $275 to take the GMAT (and more for enhanced or additional score reports).

Read more: GMAT vs. GRE: Which Should I Take?

Get started

If now feels like the right time to continue your business education, consider the  iMBA from the University of Illinois Gies College of Business . This competitively ranked program offers you the flexibility to learn from anywhere with an internet connection at a breakthrough price.

Start learning today by exploring specializations in  digital marketing ,  strategic leadership ,  financial management , and more.

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This content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.

What is cloud computing?

With cloud computing, organizations essentially buy a range of services offered by cloud service providers (CSPs). The CSP’s servers host all the client’s applications. Organizations can enhance their computing power more quickly and cheaply via the cloud than by purchasing, installing, and maintaining their own servers.

The cloud-computing model is helping organizations to scale new digital solutions with greater speed and agility—and to create value more quickly. Developers use cloud services to build and run custom applications and to maintain infrastructure and networks for companies of virtually all sizes—especially large global ones. CSPs offer services, such as analytics, to handle and manipulate vast amounts of data. Time to market accelerates, speeding innovation to deliver better products and services across the world.

What are examples of cloud computing’s uses?

Get to know and directly engage with senior mckinsey experts on cloud computing.

Brant Carson is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Vancouver office; Chandra Gnanasambandam and Anand Swaminathan are senior partners in the Bay Area office; William Forrest is a senior partner in the Chicago office; Leandro Santos is a senior partner in the Atlanta office; Kate Smaje is a senior partner in the London office.

Cloud computing came on the scene well before the global pandemic hit, in 2020, but the ensuing digital dash  helped demonstrate its power and utility. Here are some examples of how businesses and other organizations employ the cloud:

• A fast-casual restaurant chain’s online orders multiplied exponentially during the 2020 pandemic lockdowns, climbing to 400,000 a day, from 50,000. One pleasant surprise? The company’s online-ordering system could handle the volume—because it had already migrated to the cloud . Thanks to this success, the organization’s leadership decided to accelerate its five-year migration plan to less than one year.
• A biotech company harnessed cloud computing to deliver the first clinical batch of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate for Phase I trials in just 42 days—thanks in part to breakthrough innovations using scalable cloud data storage and computing  to facilitate processes ensuring the drug’s safety and efficacy.
• Banks use the cloud for several aspects of customer-service management. They automate transaction calls using voice recognition algorithms and cognitive agents (AI-based online self-service assistants directing customers to helpful information or to a human representative when necessary). In fraud and debt analytics, cloud solutions enhance the predictive power of traditional early-warning systems. To reduce churn, they encourage customer loyalty through holistic retention programs managed entirely in the cloud.
• Automakers are also along for the cloud ride . One company uses a common cloud platform that serves 124 plants, 500 warehouses, and 1,500 suppliers to consolidate real-time data from machines and systems and to track logistics and offer insights on shop floor processes. Use of the cloud could shave 30 percent off factory costs by 2025—and spark innovation at the same time.

That’s not to mention experiences we all take for granted: using apps on a smartphone, streaming shows and movies, participating in videoconferences. All of these things can happen in the cloud.

Learn more about our Cloud by McKinsey , Digital McKinsey , and Technology, Media, & Telecommunications  practices.

How has cloud computing evolved?

Going back a few years, legacy infrastructure dominated IT-hosting budgets. Enterprises planned to move a mere 45 percent of their IT-hosting expenditures to the cloud by 2021. Enter COVID-19, and 65 percent of the decision makers surveyed by McKinsey increased their cloud budgets . An additional 55 percent ended up moving more workloads than initially planned. Having witnessed the cloud’s benefits firsthand, 40 percent of companies expect to pick up the pace of implementation.

The cloud revolution has actually been going on for years—more than 20, if you think the takeoff point was the founding of Salesforce, widely seen as the first software as a service (SaaS) company. Today, the next generation of cloud, including capabilities such as serverless computing, makes it easier for software developers to tweak software functions independently, accelerating the pace of release, and to do so more efficiently. Businesses can therefore serve customers and launch products in a more agile fashion. And the cloud continues to evolve.

Introducing McKinsey Explainers : Direct answers to complex questions

Cost savings are commonly seen as the primary reason for moving to the cloud but managing those costs requires a different and more dynamic approach focused on OpEx rather than CapEx. Financial-operations (or FinOps) capabilities  can indeed enable the continuous management and optimization of cloud costs . But CSPs have developed their offerings so that the cloud’s greatest value opportunity is primarily through business innovation and optimization. In 2020, the top-three CSPs reached $100 billion  in combined revenues—a minor share of the global $2.4 trillion market for enterprise IT services—leaving huge value to be captured. To go beyond merely realizing cost savings, companies must activate three symbiotic rings of cloud value creation : strategy and management, business domain adoption, and foundational capabilities.

What’s the main reason to move to the cloud?

The pandemic demonstrated that the digital transformation can no longer be delayed—and can happen much more quickly than previously imagined. Nothing is more critical to a corporate digital transformation than becoming a cloud-first business. The benefits are faster time to market, simplified innovation and scalability, and reduced risk when effectively managed. The cloud lets companies provide customers with novel digital experiences—in days, not months—and delivers analytics absent on legacy platforms. But to transition to a cloud-first operating model, organizations must make a collective effort that starts at the top. Here are three actions CEOs can take to increase the value their companies get from cloud computing :

• Establish a sustainable funding model.
• Develop a new business technology operating model.
• Set up policies to attract and retain the right engineering talent.

How much value will the cloud create?

Fortune 500 companies adopting the cloud could realize more than $1 trillion in value  by 2030, and not from IT cost reductions alone, according to McKinsey’s analysis of 700 use cases.

For example, the cloud speeds up design, build, and ramp-up, shortening time to market when companies have strong DevOps (the combination of development and operations) processes in place; groups of software developers customize and deploy software for operations that support the business. The cloud’s global infrastructure lets companies scale products almost instantly to reach new customers, geographies, and channels. Finally, digital-first companies use the cloud to adopt emerging technologies and innovate aggressively, using digital capabilities as a competitive differentiator to launch and build businesses .

If companies pursue the cloud’s vast potential in the right ways, they will realize huge value. Companies across diverse industries have implemented the public cloud and seen promising results. The successful ones defined a value-oriented strategy across IT and the business, acquired hands-on experience operating in the cloud, adopted a technology-first approach, and developed a cloud-literate workforce.

Learn more about our Cloud by McKinsey and Digital McKinsey practices.

What is the cloud cost/procurement model?

Some cloud services, such as server space, are leased. Leasing requires much less capital up front than buying, offers greater flexibility to switch and expand the use of services, cuts the basic cost of buying hardware and software upfront, and reduces the difficulties of upkeep and ownership. Organizations pay only for the infrastructure and computing services that meet their evolving needs. But an outsourcing model  is more apt than other analogies: the computing business issues of cloud customers are addressed by third-party providers that deliver innovative computing services on demand to a wide variety of customers, adapt those services to fit specific needs, and work to constantly improve the offering.

What are cloud risks?

The cloud offers huge cost savings and potential for innovation. However, when companies migrate to the cloud, the simple lift-and-shift approach doesn’t reduce costs, so companies must remediate their existing applications to take advantage of cloud services.

For instance, a major financial-services organization  wanted to move more than 50 percent of its applications to the public cloud within five years. Its goals were to improve resiliency, time to market, and productivity. But not all its business units needed to transition at the same pace. The IT leadership therefore defined varying adoption archetypes to meet each unit’s technical, risk, and operating-model needs.

Legacy cybersecurity architectures and operating models can also pose problems when companies shift to the cloud. The resulting problems, however, involve misconfigurations rather than inherent cloud security vulnerabilities. One powerful solution? Securing cloud workloads for speed and agility : automated security architectures and processes enable workloads to be processed at a much faster tempo.

What kind of cloud talent is needed?

The talent demands of the cloud differ from those of legacy IT. While cloud computing can improve the productivity of your technology, it requires specialized and sometimes hard-to-find talent—including full-stack developers, data engineers, cloud-security engineers, identity- and access-management specialists, and cloud engineers. The cloud talent model  should thus be revisited as you move forward.

Six practical actions can help your organization build the cloud talent you need :

• Find engineering talent with broad experience and skills.
• Balance talent maturity levels and the composition of teams.
• Build an extensive and mandatory upskilling program focused on need.
• Build an engineering culture that optimizes the developer experience.
• Consider using partners to accelerate development and assign your best cloud leaders as owners.
• Retain top talent by focusing on what motivates them.

How do different industries use the cloud?

Different industries are expected to see dramatically different benefits from the cloud. High-tech, retail, and healthcare organizations occupy the top end of the value capture continuum. Electronics and semiconductors, consumer-packaged-goods, and media companies make up the middle. Materials, chemicals, and infrastructure organizations cluster at the lower end.

Nevertheless, myriad use cases provide opportunities to unlock value across industries , as the following examples show:

• a retailer enhancing omnichannel  fulfillment, using AI to optimize inventory across channels and to provide a seamless customer experience
• a healthcare organization implementing remote heath monitoring to conduct virtual trials and improve adherence
• a high-tech company using chatbots to provide premier-level support combining phone, email, and chat
• an oil and gas company employing automated forecasting to automate supply-and-demand modeling and reduce the need for manual analysis
• a financial-services organization implementing customer call optimization using real-time voice recognition algorithms to direct customers in distress to experienced representatives for retention offers
• a financial-services provider moving applications in customer-facing business domains to the public cloud to penetrate promising markets more quickly and at minimal cost
• a health insurance carrier accelerating the capture of billions of dollars in new revenues by moving systems to the cloud to interact with providers through easier onboarding

The cloud is evolving  to meet the industry-specific needs of companies. From 2021 to 2024, public-cloud spending on vertical applications (such as warehouse management in retailing and enterprise risk management in banking) is expected to grow by more than 40 percent annually. Spending on horizontal workloads (such as customer relationship management) is expected to grow by 25 percent. Healthcare and manufacturing organizations, for instance, plan to spend around twice as much on vertical applications as on horizontal ones.

Learn more about our Cloud by McKinsey , Digital McKinsey , Financial Services , Healthcare Systems & Services , Retail , and Technology, Media, & Telecommunications  practices.

What are the biggest cloud myths?

Views on cloud computing can be clouded by misconceptions. Here are seven common myths about the cloud —all of which can be debunked:

• The cloud’s value lies primarily in reducing costs.
• Cloud computing costs more than in-house computing.
• On-premises data centers are more secure than the cloud.
• Applications run more slowly in the cloud.
• The cloud eliminates the need for infrastructure.
• The best way to move to the cloud is to focus on applications or data centers.
• You must lift and shift applications as-is or totally refactor them.

How large must my organization be to benefit from the cloud?

Here’s one more huge misconception: the cloud is just for big multinational companies. In fact, cloud can help make small local companies become multinational. A company’s benefits from implementing the cloud are not constrained by its size. In fact, the cloud shifts barrier to entry skill rather than scale, making it possible for a company of any size to compete if it has people with the right skills. With cloud, highly skilled small companies can take on established competitors. To realize the cloud’s immense potential value fully, organizations must take a thoughtful approach, with IT and the businesses working together.

For more in-depth exploration of these topics, see McKinsey’s Cloud Insights collection. Learn more about Cloud by McKinsey —and check out cloud-related job opportunities if you’re interested in working at McKinsey.

Articles referenced include:

• “ Six practical actions for building the cloud talent you need ,” January 19, 2022, Brant Carson , Dorian Gärtner , Keerthi Iyengar, Anand Swaminathan , and Wayne Vest
• “ Cloud-migration opportunity: Business value grows, but missteps abound ,” October 12, 2021, Tara Balakrishnan, Chandra Gnanasambandam , Leandro Santos , and Bhargs Srivathsan
• “ Cloud’s trillion-dollar prize is up for grabs ,” February 26, 2021, Will Forrest , Mark Gu, James Kaplan , Michael Liebow, Raghav Sharma, Kate Smaje , and Steve Van Kuiken
• “ Unlocking value: Four lessons in cloud sourcing and consumption ,” November 2, 2020, Abhi Bhatnagar , Will Forrest , Naufal Khan , and Abdallah Salami
• “ Three actions CEOs can take to get value from cloud computing ,” July 21, 2020, Chhavi Arora , Tanguy Catlin , Will Forrest , James Kaplan , and Lars Vinter

Want to know more about cloud computing?

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Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot – your copilot for work

Mar 16, 2023 | Jared Spataro - CVP, AI at Work

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Humans are hard-wired to dream, to create, to innovate. Each of us seeks to do work that gives us purpose — to write a great novel, to make a discovery, to build strong communities, to care for the sick. The urge to connect to the core of our work lives in all of us. But today, we spend too much time consumed by the drudgery of work on tasks that zap our time, creativity and energy. To reconnect to the soul of our work, we don’t just need a better way of doing the same things. We need a whole new way to work.

Today, we are bringing the power of next-generation AI to work. Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot — your copilot for work . It combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with your data in the Microsoft Graph and the Microsoft 365 apps to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet.

“Today marks the next major step in the evolution of how we interact with computing, which will fundamentally change the way we work and unlock a new wave of productivity growth,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “With our new copilot for work, we’re giving people more agency and making technology more accessible through the most universal interface — natural language.”

Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 in two ways. It works alongside you, embedded in the Microsoft 365 apps you use every day — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more — to unleash creativity, unlock productivity and uplevel skills. Today we’re also announcing an entirely new experience: Business Chat . Business Chat works across the LLM, the Microsoft 365 apps, and your data — your calendar, emails, chats, documents, meetings and contacts — to do things you’ve never been able to do before. You can give it natural language prompts like “Tell my team how we updated the product strategy,” and it will generate a status update based on the morning’s meetings, emails and chat threads.

With Copilot, you’re always in control. You decide what to keep, modify or discard. Now, you can be more creative in Word, more analytical in Excel, more expressive in PowerPoint, more productive in Outlook and more collaborative in Teams.

Microsoft 365 Copilot transforms work in three ways:

Unleash creativity. With Copilot in Word, you can jump-start the creative process so you never start with a blank slate again. Copilot gives you a first draft to edit and iterate on — saving hours in writing, sourcing, and editing time. Sometimes Copilot will be right, other times usefully wrong — but it will always put you further ahead. You’re always in control as the author, driving your unique ideas forward, prompting Copilot to shorten, rewrite or give feedback. Copilot in PowerPoint helps you create beautiful presentations with a simple prompt, adding relevant content from a document you made last week or last year. And with Copilot in Excel, you can analyze trends and create professional-looking data visualizations in seconds.

Unlock productivity. We all want to focus on the 20% of our work that really matters, but 80% of our time is consumed with busywork that bogs us down. Copilot lightens the load. From summarizing long email threads to quickly drafting suggested replies, Copilot in Outlook helps you clear your inbox in minutes, not hours. And every meeting is a productive meeting with Copilot in Teams. It can summarize key discussion points — including who said what and where people are aligned and where they disagree — and suggest action items, all in real time during a meeting. And with Copilot in Power Platform, anyone can automate repetitive tasks, create chatbots and go from idea to working app in minutes.

GitHub data shows that Copilot promises to unlock productivity for everyone. Among developers who use GitHub Copilot, 88% say they are more productive, 74% say that they can focus on more satisfying work, and 77% say it helps them spend less time searching for information or examples.

But Copilot doesn’t just supercharge individual productivity. It creates a new knowledge model for every organization — harnessing the massive reservoir of data and insights that lies largely inaccessible and untapped today. Business Chat works across all your business data and apps to surface the information and insights you need from a sea of data — so knowledge flows freely across the organization, saving you valuable time searching for answers. You will be able to access Business Chat from Microsoft 365.com, from Bing when you’re signed in with your work account, or from Teams.

Uplevel skills. Copilot makes you better at what you’re good at and lets you quickly master what you’ve yet to learn. The average person uses only a handful of commands — such as “animate a slide” or “insert a table” — from the thousands available across Microsoft 365. Now, all that rich functionality is unlocked using just natural language. And this is only the beginning.

Copilot will fundamentally change how people work with AI and how AI works with people. As with any new pattern of work, there’s a learning curve — but those who embrace this new way of working will quickly gain an edge.

The Copilot System: Enterprise-ready AI

Microsoft is uniquely positioned to deliver enterprise-ready AI with the Copilot System . Copilot is more than OpenAI’s ChatGPT embedded into Microsoft 365. It’s a sophisticated processing and orchestration engine working behind the scenes to combine the power of LLMs, including GPT-4, with the Microsoft 365 apps and your business data in the Microsoft Graph — now accessible to everyone through natural language.

Grounded in your business data. AI-powered LLMs are trained on a large but limited corpus of data. The key to unlocking productivity in business lies in connecting LLMs to your business data — in a secure, compliant, privacy-preserving way. Microsoft 365 Copilot has real-time access to both your content and context in the Microsoft Graph. This means it generates answers anchored in your business content — your documents, emails, calendar, chats, meetings, contacts and other business data — and combines them with your working context — the meeting you’re in now, the email exchanges you’ve had on a topic, the chat conversations you had last week — to deliver accurate, relevant, contextual responses.

Built on Microsoft’s comprehensive approach to security, compliance and privacy. Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 and automatically inherits all your company’s valuable security, compliance, and privacy policies and processes. Two-factor authentication, compliance boundaries, privacy protections, and more make Copilot the AI solution you can trust.

Architected to protect tenant, group and individual data. We know data leakage is a concern for customers. Copilot LLMs are not trained on your tenant data or your prompts. Within your tenant, our time-tested permissioning model ensures that data won’t leak across user groups. And on an individual level, Copilot presents only data you can access using the same technology that we’ve been using for years to secure customer data.

Integrated into the apps millions use every day. Microsoft 365 Copilot is integrated in the productivity apps millions of people use and rely on every day for work and life — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more. An intuitive and consistent user experience ensures it looks, feels and behaves the same way in Teams as it does in Outlook, with a shared design language for prompts, refinements and commands.

Designed to learn new skills.  Microsoft 365 Copilot’s foundational skills are a game changer for productivity: It can already create, summarize, analyze, collaborate and automate using your specific business content and context. But it doesn’t stop there. Copilot knows how to command apps (e.g., “animate this slide”) and work across apps, translating a Word document into a PowerPoint presentation. And Copilot is designed to learn new skills. For example, with Viva Sales, Copilot can learn how to connect to CRM systems of record to pull customer data — like interaction and order histories — into communications. As Copilot learns about new domains and processes, it will be able to perform even more sophisticated tasks and queries.

Committed to building responsibly

At Microsoft, we are guided by our AI principles and Responsible AI Standard and decades of research on AI, grounding and privacy-preserving machine learning. A multidisciplinary team of researchers, engineers and policy experts reviews our AI systems for potential harms and mitigations — refining training data, filtering to limit harmful content, query- and result-blocking sensitive topics, and applying Microsoft technologies like InterpretML and Fairlearn to help detect and correct data bias. We make it clear how the system makes decisions by noting limitations, linking to sources, and prompting users to review, fact-check and adjust content based on subject-matter expertise.

Moving boldly as we learn  

In the months ahead, we’re bringing Copilot to all our productivity apps—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Viva, Power Platform, and more. We’ll share more on pricing and licensing soon. Earlier this month we announced Dynamics 365 Copilot as the world’s first AI Copilot in both CRM and ERP to bring the next-generation AI to every line of business.

Everyone deserves to find purpose and meaning in their work — and Microsoft 365 Copilot can help. To serve the unmet needs of our customers, we must move quickly and responsibly, learning as we go. We’re testing Copilot with a small group of customers to get feedback and improve our models as we scale, and we will expand to more soon.

Learn more on the Microsoft 365 blog and visit WorkLab to get expert insights on how AI will create a brighter future of work for everyone.

And for all the blogs, videos and assets related to today’s announcements, please visit our microsite .

Tags: AI , Microsoft 365 , Microsoft 365 Copilot

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