1,620 students admitted to Class of 2016
MIT Acceptance rate at a record low of 8.9%
On Pi Day at Tau Time (March 14 at 6:28 p.m.), MIT granted admission to 1,620 eager applicants. This year’s acceptance rate of 8.9 percent was a record low, with a record high of 18,109 applications overall. 6,008 of these applications were early action, a decrease from last year, and 680 of these students were accepted early. Last year, a total of 1,742 students were admitted. Dean of Admissions Stuart Schmill ’86 said that one of the factors that may have affected this year’s high application pool and decrease in early applications was the fact that Harvard and Princeton reopened their single-choice early action programs. This meant that students could only apply early to one school of their choice, resulting in fewer early action applications to MIT and more regular action applicants.
The class of 2016 is nine percent African-American, 31 percent Asian-American, 35 percent Caucasian, 14 percent Hispanic, and one percent Native American. Similarly to last year, 49 percent of admitted students are women. There was a slight increase in admitted international students, from eight percent last year to nine percent.
“The applicant pool keeps getting stronger even as it gets bigger,” Schmill said. For instance, the average SAT scores of the class of 2016 applicants are higher than in previous years, he said.
Schmill anticipates a slightly higher yield than last year due to the fact that students who applied and were admitted early to Princeton and Harvard did not submit applications to MIT at all. In previous years, however, those who may really want to go to Harvard or Princeton also apply to MIT regular action, and might later decide not to attend MIT.
Last year, MIT’s yield was about 65 percent.
—Stephanie Holden