MIT offers admission to 1,337 applicants for Class of 2026
33,796 students applied, a 2% increase from last year
MIT admitted 1,337 out of 33,796 applicants via early and regular round applications, for an overall acceptance rate of 3.96%. This is a 2% increase in number of applicants from last year, with both years being significantly greater than the pre-pandemic baseline of about 20,000 applications.
MIT suspended the SAT/ACT requirement last year due to disruptions faced by many students in scheduling tests because of the pandemic. Dean of Admissions and Student Financial Services Stu Schmill ’86 had attributed the spike in applications to this suspension. However, although the SAT/ACT requirement was not waived this year, application numbers were similarly high.
The acceptance rate from this year is a slight decrease from last year (4.03%), with both marking a sharp decrease from pre-pandemic acceptance rates (approximately 7%).
As per MIT tradition, the decisions were released on Pi Day, March 14, at 6:28 p.m. Admitted students must decide whether or not to attend by May 2.
In addition to comments in a blogpost on MIT Admissions, Director of Special Projects Chris Peterson SM ’13 spoke on the admissions process in an email to The Tech, stating that “With this many applications, it really takes a tremendous amount of dedicated work from our entire team, many of whom spent 8+ hours a day in Zoom committee for weeks on end, trying to select the best class possible.”
On behalf of the admissions office, he wrote that “we’re very excited about this year’s applicants, and can’t wait to welcome them to campus at the first CPW [Campus Preview Weekend] since 2019 in a few weeks,” and encouraged current students to sign up to host prospective students for CPW at community.mitcpw.org/host/ by March 20.