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MIT Class of 2026’s early admissions rate at record low 4.7%

MIT offered early admission to 697 students to the Class of 2026 out of 14,781 applicants, for an acceptance rate of 4.7%. MIT Admissions Assistant Director Chris Peterson SM ’13 announced the statistics in an MIT Admissions blog post on Dec. 18.

The acceptance rate is another record low, following Class of 2025’s early acceptance rate of 4.8%. The number of applications is a “small decrease from last year’s record high” but still “well above” the “pre-pandemic baseline” of around 9,000 applications, Peterson wrote. 

9,489 applicants (64.2%) were deferred to be “reconsidered without prejudice in Regular Action,” and 3,959 applicants (26.8%) were not offered admission. The remaining applicants either withdrew from the process or switched to Regular Action. 

Peterson wrote that it’s an “honor and a privilege” to read the applications. The students offered admission are “united by a shared standard of rigorous academics, high character, and a strong match with MIT’s mission to use science, technology, and the useful arts to make the world a better place.”

Peer institutions Harvard College and Yale College admitted 7.9% and 10.9% of early applicants, respectively.