mit eecs phd requirements

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Regular Graduate Admissions

A regular graduate student is an individual who has been admitted to the Institute and who is registered for a program of advanced study and research leading to any of the post-baccalaureate degrees offered by MIT.

To be admitted as a regular graduate student, an applicant must normally have received a bachelor's degree or its equivalent from a college, university, or technical school of acceptable standing. Applicants are evaluated by the department in which they propose to register on the basis of their prior performance and professional promise. These are evidenced by academic records, letters of evaluation from individuals familiar with the applicant's capabilities, and any other pertinent data furnished by the applicant. While high academic achievement does not guarantee admission, such achievement, or other persuasive evidence of professional promise, is expected.

MIT’s offer of admission may be withdrawn or rescinded if it is determined that an applicant accepted the simultaneous offer of admission of another college or university.

A student registered in a program of study leading to the simultaneous award of the bachelor's degree and master's degree must apply for graduate study and be registered as a graduate student for at least one academic term (not the summer session) of their program of study.

Some engineering departments require students seeking a doctoral degree to qualify first for a master's degree.

Undergraduate Requirements for Advanced Degrees

In addition to preparation in the specific field of interest, most departments require significant work in mathematics and the physical sciences, but some require as little as a year of college-level work in these disciplines. Requirements of individual departments are described in their chapters of this catalog. Students with minor deficiencies in preparation may be admitted for graduate study; however, deficiencies in prerequisite or general or professional subjects must be made up before the student can proceed with graduate work dependent on them.

Application Procedures

Students normally begin graduate study in September. However, in select departments, suitable programs can be arranged for students entering in June or February. Prospective applicants should check with individual departments about their dates for admission and matriculation. Application deadlines vary by department. Deadlines are noted on the graduate admission application.

All applicants are required to apply online. Each department or program has its own online application with specific instructions. Department websites and application instructions may be found on the MIT Graduate Admissions website.

Inquiries about specific application and testing requirements, deadlines, and notification of decision for admission should be addressed to the appropriate graduate department or program.

International Graduate Admissions

Graduate student applicants who are citizens of countries other than the United States must have received a bachelor's degree or its equivalent from a college, university, or technical institute of acceptable standing. The academic record and all credentials must indicate the ability of the candidate to complete the approved program of graduate study and research. Applicants are evaluated by the academic departments. Admission is granted on a competitive basis. Competence in written and spoken English is expected.

English Language Proficiency Test Requirements

All applicants whose first language is not English, including those currently enrolled in US institutions, must present evidence of their ability to carry on their studies in English.

Qualifying applicants must take the International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic), the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL iBT), or the Cambridge English Test (Advanced or Proficiency test); refer to department information for specific testing requirements, which vary.

Students who have received instruction in English in their primary and secondary schools may be eligible for a waiver of the English proficiency exam requirement. Also, students who have been in residence in the United States, or in another country where English is an official language, for three years or longer and have received a degree from an accredited institution there where English is the primary language of instruction, may be eligible for a waiver of this requirement. In both cases, applicants may send a written request to the department or program to which they are applying, and should be prepared to provide verification of the institution’s language of instruction. If the applicant is admitted, the department or program will keep this information with the student’s records.

Please see Graduate Admissions for more information about considerations for international applicants.

Special Graduate Student Admissions

A special graduate student is one whose intended program of study is essentially graduate in nature but who is not a candidate for an advanced degree. Students holding a bachelor's degree or higher who are not currently enrolled in an MIT degree program and are interested in taking classes as a non-degree student at MIT must apply through MIT's Advanced Study Program . Deadlines for filing applications are May 1 for fall term and December 1 for spring term. The application and additional information may be found on the Advanced Study Program website.

Admission is valid only for one term; a student must seek readmission each term to continue at the Institute. Those applying for special graduate student status for the first time must pay an application fee. To be allowed to continue as a special graduate student, satisfactory academic performance must be maintained. Admission as a special graduate student does not imply any commitment toward an individual's admissibility to regular graduate student status.

A student who is neither a United States citizen nor a United States Permanent Resident is considered an International Student. The form I-20 or DS-2019 will not be issued for subject registration of less than 36 units. Most subjects at MIT are either 9 or 12 units each. Detailed information about policies and procedures can be found at the Office of Graduate Education website.

Graduate Student Status for Research Staff Members

In view of their full-time responsibilities on assigned research and their corresponding salary scales, Institute research staff or employees of the Lincoln Laboratory or Draper Laboratory may not be full-time regular graduate students while also employed by MIT, but may, under certain conditions, be granted the status of special graduate student. A research staff appointee or an employee of the Lincoln Laboratory or Draper Laboratory who wishes to pursue an advanced degree must first be admitted as a regular graduate student and must complete the residency and other requirements of the degree program to which the individual has been accepted. This individual may not continue to hold a research staff appointment, nor include any work completed while employed as part of the thesis for an advanced degree.

Any research staff appointee and any employee of the Lincoln Laboratory or Draper Laboratory may, by written permission from the director of the division (or their designate), apply for admission as a special graduate student for enrollment in one subject only per term (but not thesis), either as a listener or for academic credit.

Acceptance for such enrollment will be granted if, in the opinion of the instructor, the individual is qualified to undertake the subject and if section size permits. For this type of enrollment, the student will be assigned to an appropriate registration officer and will pay, whether as a student or listener, the fee established at the special student rate.

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Research Qualifying Examination (RQE)

Criteria for success.

• Apply to take the Research Qualifying Examination (RQE) at the appropriate time. The RQE is taken after completing the Technical Qualifying Evaluation (TQE) and producing sufficient research, typically in the 3rd or 4th year.
• Select an appropriate research committee: ideal committee members should work in an area related to your research, be familiar to you, and be engaged by asking questions and giving advice.
• Anticipate a long process. The RQE scheduling can take several months to complete, so it is good to apply soon after meeting the required criteria.
• Ask your committee for their expectations before your presentation. Although the RQE is a standard departmental requirement, different faculty members may have different expectations or preferences for the exam.
• Prepare your research talk with a central message in mind. Know the expertise of your committee, and provide sufficient background information to make your message understandable and compelling.
• Plan for a 30 minute presentation with an additional 30 minutes of questions.
• Be prepared to answer a lot of technical questions. Prepare background slides in anticipation.
• Get plenty of practice delivering your talk. Seek a technical audience that may help you prepare for questions from your committee.

Identify Your Purpose

The purpose of the RQE is to assess whether students in the MIT EECS PhD program have demonstrated the ability to carry out research effectively. The examination also tests your ability to effectively communicate the results of your research through a written report and an oral presentation. The examination is performed by two faculty members (the RQE committee), excluding your research advisor. There are three components to the exam: a letter from your research advisor, a written report on your research, and an oral presentation. In this article, we will focus on the oral presentation. 

Your goal is to present your research to an informed audience and demonstrate the ability to perform independent research. You must be prepared to answer many questions about your work, understand the limitations, and convey expertise in your area. Don’t think of the RQE as just a requirement you need to get over and done with! The presentation is a fantastic opportunity to develop your technical presentation and communication skills. The ability to prepare and deliver a clear and comprehensive talk and to answer difficult technical questions are skills that are indispensable in your career. The RQE is a great way to prepare for future important presentations, such conference talks, your thesis defense, or job talks.

Analyze Your Audience

The RQE exam is given by the RQE committee, which comprises two faculty members with expertise in areas related to your research. An important part of the process is to suggest which faculty members will be on your committee. While you don’t get to decide your committee independently, your committee doesn’t have to be random! You should suggest professors that are in similar research fields, that are familiar to you, and that are known to ask good questions and give good advice. A good starting point is to go through individual research group websites to find matching research areas. You may also seek recommendations from your research advisor and senior members in your research group that have completed their RQE. 

After the faculty members are assigned to your RQE committee, tailor your presentation around their areas of expertise. For example, if your research is in an applied field, such as machine learning for healthcare, and your committee members are professors in theoretical machine learning, you will need to spend a good deal of time explaining the clinical background. This is especially important to provide sufficient context for the challenges of your research problem. Knowing your committee, you should also anticipate questions that they may have about your work, and prepare sufficient background slides. Finally, you may also contact the committee members to ask them what they expect of your presentation. Meeting their expectations is an effective way to prepare a successful presentation.

Understand the departmental requirements

The RQE is a departmental requirement to demonstrate that you are able to successfully conduct research. This is taken after completing the TQE, and typically in the 3rd or 4th year. You should have a plan with your research advisor for when “sufficient” research has been done. For many students, this will be after preparing a conference or journal paper, and the same submission can be used to fulfill the written research report requirement. The entire process can take several months to complete, from requesting a committee to delivering the oral presentation, so plan accordingly. While we provide general strategies for delivering a successful RQE, be sure that you are up to date on the department’s requirements for the exam, which are subject to change. As of the writing of this article, the current requirements can be found on the EECS website .

Plan for the oral presentation

The advice below focuses on general strategies for delivering a successful RQE presentation. See also the other CommKit articles on presentations, including on slide design and delivering a virtual presentation .

Planning for an effective presentation starts with knowing your audience’s expertise and expectations. During the RQE, the committee will assess your technical competence and will interrupt with questions throughout the talk. The exam is scheduled for one-hour, and you should plan for a 30-minute talk with an additional 30 minutes of questions throughout. Start planning your presentation by thinking of key messages or takeaways for the committee. From there, start with high-level planning by developing an initial outline. This will help ensure that your talk stays focused on delivering your intended message. To create your outline, write section and subsection headers. For example, you may start by modifying the standard Introduction, Methods, Experiments, and Results sections to fit your specific problem. Within the Introduction, you may dedicate subsections to providing background for your specific application.

After planning the outline of your talk, focus on individual slide design. For each slide, the content should emphasize the intended message. Having a descriptive slide title is an efficient way to directly state your message. Generic slide titles such as “Methods” add little value. Each slide should have one key message, and you should aim to maximize the signal (message) to noise (unnecessary equations, text, figures) ratio. Always ask yourself: does this content (text, figure, equation, graph, etc…) emphasize my message? Is this content extraneous information? Ensure that your slide reinforces what you plan to say and is clear to follow. Since the RQE is a technical talk, you will need to balance having sufficient technical content with creating a concise slide. Certain technical content may detract from the message but be of interest to the committee. Consider including the necessary technical content, such as additional equations or definitions, in a smaller font on the bottom of the slide. Using backup slides (hidden slides or extra slides at the end of your presentation) is another way to include additional details and technical content that you may need.

(The metaphor of “signal-to-noise ratio” comes from Jean-luc Doumont’s book Trees, Maps, and Theorems .)

Anticipate Questions

The RQE committee will interrupt you with questions throughout the presentation. This is a key feature of the RQE exam. You should not see these questions as adversarial but rather as the committee’s way to get a deeper understanding of your work and how you think about research. Don’t expect to get through even your first slide without being interrupted by a question! Being interrupted by questions, even early on, does not mean that you are doing something wrong. Remember, this is the job of the committee members, so it is critical to be prepared.

Preparing for questions in advance is essential. While going through your slides, think of potential questions the committee may ask you. The committee will ask both specific, slide-level and high-level questions. Prepare plenty of backup slides with additional methodological details, derivations, or experimental results that may come up. Think of common questions, and spend some time thinking about your answers. Some of these questions may be about the applications of your work, comparisons of your method with others, your work’s limitations, and future directions. When asked a question, don’t panic! Breathe, take a sip of water, think about your answer. If there is a question you don’t know the answer to, acknowledge the knowledge gap, and pivot to an answer on a similar topic. 

While the specific questions and your approach to answering them will vary depending on the nature of your work, the table below presents generic versions of some possible questions, and structures to think about using for your answers.

Get plenty of practice

The best way to deliver an effective RQE presentation is to practice! Practice in front of a technical audience: your advisor, your research group, and friends or colleagues in a similar research area. Make an appointment with an EECS Comm Lab Fellow to practice and get feedback at any stage of your preparation. Encourage your practice audience to ask you plenty of questions, and seek feedback from them to improve your presentation. Whether the RQE is your first technical talk or you are a seasoned presenter, it is a terrific opportunity to learn the art of effective oral communication of research.

Resources and Annotated Examples

Annotated example rqe slide 1.

The revised version of this slide was used in an RQE presentation by an MIT EECS PhD student 106 KB

Annotated Example RQE slide 2

This slide was prepared by an MIT EECS PhD student about their work 170 KB

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Below is a list of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing’s graduate degree programs. The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree is awarded interchangeably with the Doctor of Science (ScD).

Prospective students apply to the department or program under which they want to register. Application instructions can be found on each program’s website as well as on the MIT Graduate Admissions website.

Center for Computational Science and Engineering

The Center for Computational Science and Engineering (CCSE) brings together faculty, students, and other researchers across MIT involved in computational science research and education. The center focuses on advancing computational approaches to science and engineering problems, and offers SM and PhD programs in computational science and engineering (CSE).

• Computational Science and Engineering, SM and PhD . Interdisciplinary master’s program emphasizing advanced computational methods and applications. The CSE SM program prepares students with a common core of computational methods that serve all science and engineering disciplines, and an elective component that focuses on particular applications. Doctoral program enables students to specialize in methodological aspects of computational science via focused coursework and a thesis which involves the development and analysis of broadly applicable computational approaches that advance the state of the art.
• Computational Science and Engineering, Interdisciplinary PhD. Doctoral program offered jointly with eight participating departments, focusing on the development of new computational methods relevant to science and engineering disciplines. Students specialize in a computation-related field of their choice through coursework and a doctoral thesis. The specialization in computational science and engineering is highlighted by specially crafted thesis fields. 

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

The largest academic department at MIT, the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) prepares hundreds of students for leadership roles in academia, industry, government and research. Its world-class faculty have built their careers on pioneering contributions to the field of electrical engineering and computer science — a field which has transformed the world and invented the future within a single lifetime. MIT EECS consistently tops the U.S. News & World Report and other college rankings and is widely recognized for its rigorous and innovative curriculum. A joint venture between the Schwarzman College of Computing and the School of Engineering, EECS (also known as Course 6) is now composed of three overlapping sub-units in electrical engineering (EE), computer science (CS), and artificial intelligence and decision-making (AI+D).

• Computation and Cognition, MEng*. Course 6-9P builds on the Bachelor of Science in Computation and Cognition to provide additional depth in the subject areas through advanced coursework and a substantial thesis.
• Computer Science, PhD
• Computer Science and Engineering, PhD
• Computer Science, Economics, and Data Science, MEng*. New in Fall 2022, Course 6-14P builds on the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Economics, and Data Science to provide additional depth in economics and EECS through advanced coursework and a substantial thesis.
• Computer Science and Molecular Biology, MEng*. Course 6-7P builds on the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Molecular Biology to provide additional depth in computational biology through coursework and a substantial thesis.
• Electrical Engineering, PhD
• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MEng* , SM* , and PhD . Master of Engineering program (Course 6-P) provides the depth of knowledge and the skills needed for advanced graduate study and for professional work, as well as the breadth and perspective essential for engineering leadership. Master of Science program emphasizes one or more of the theoretical or experimental aspects of electrical engineering or computer science as students progress toward their PhD.
• Electrical Engineer / Engineer in Computer Science.** For PhD students who seek more extensive training and research experiences than are possible within the master’s program.
• Thesis Program with Industry, MEng.* Combines the Master of Engineering academic program with periods of industrial practice at affiliated companies. 

* Available only to qualified EECS undergraduates. ** Available only to students in the EECS PhD program who have not already earned a Master’s and to Leaders for Global Operations students.

Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

The Institute for Data, Systems, and Society advances education and research in analytical methods in statistics and data science, and applies these tools along with domain expertise and social science methods to address complex societal challenges in a diverse set of areas such as finance, energy systems, urbanization, social networks, and health.

• Social and Engineering Systems, PhD. Interdisciplinary PhD program focused on addressing societal challenges by combining the analytical tools of statistics and data science with engineering and social science methods.
• Technology and Policy, SM . Master’s program addresses societal challenges through research and education at the intersection of technology and policy.
• Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Statistics . For students currently enrolled in a participating MIT doctoral program who wish to develop their understanding of 21st-century statistics and apply these concepts within their chosen field of study. Participating departments and programs: Aeronautics and Astronautics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Economics, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Political Science, and Social and Engineering Systems.

Operations Research Center

The Operations Research Center (ORC) offers multidisciplinary graduate programs in operations research and analytics. ORC’s community of scholars and researchers work collaboratively to connect data to decisions in order to solve problems effectively — and impact the world positively.

In conjunction with the MIT Sloan School of Management, ORC offers the following degrees:

• Operations Research, SM and PhD . Master’s program teaches important OR techniques — with an emphasis on practical, real-world applications — through a combination of challenging coursework and hands-on research. Doctoral program provides a thorough understanding of the theory of operations research while teaching students to how to develop and apply operations research methods in practice.
• Business Analytics, MBAn. Specialized advanced master’s degree designed to prepare students for careers in data science and business analytics.

EECS Graduate Handbook

From gradbook.

The EECS Graduate Handbook is a resource for EECS graduate students to share information about the department, MIT, and Boston. Feel free to browse through the wiki or add content by clicking "log in" in the upper right corner, which will prompt you for MIT certificates, and then using the "edit" tab at the top of any wiki page after logging in. This wiki is for students by students so please share your wisdom!

Disclaimer: Please note there is only light moderation of the content found on the wiki so there may be inaccuracies or out-of-date information. Be sure to verify anything you read with outside sources. Also, feel free to post advice on the Gradbook but make sure the information is factual and can be supported with documentation (especially related to departmental policies). Interpretations, opinions and hearsay will be removed from the Gradbook.

Vision Statement ( pdf ) ( ps )

Editors' Overview and Wiki Users' Guide

For New Students

• EECS Orientation
• MIT Orientation
• CSAIL New Student Info
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General Resources

• The Graduate Students' Office | Graduate Policies and Procedures | GSO FAQ
• EECS Department website
• The ATIC Lab : resources for ergonomic office environment and repetitive strain injury (RSI) mitigation
• student.mit.edu : records 6.8* course listings calendar
• lecture notes for MIT classes from previous years on MIT OpenCourseWare
• Role of an Academic Advisor
• Underground Guide to Course VI - Fall 2004 Edition (has grad courses too)
• Letters and the Petition process
• Official Requirements and timeline for a PhD.
• The MEng program
• The SM program
• The Technical Qualifying Examination (TQE)
• The Research Qualifying Examination (RQE)
• MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography / Applied Science and Engineering
• Harvard-MIT Health Science and Technology
• Libraries and Resources within EECS
• Graduate Areas of Study
• Description of the Graduate Program
• Description of RA
• Who can be my research advisor?
• Role of a Research Advisor
• Selecting: styles, students, accepting?
• Surviving: common problems, how to talk, how to get help
• Multiple Advisors
• Switching Advisors
• MEng Thesis Guide
• Thesis and Thesis Proposal Guide
• Research FAQ
• Mayfield Handbook of Technical & Scientific Writing
• NSF statistics on grad school
• Nationwide median times until graduation EE 6.9 years, CS 7.7 years
• MIT OpenLabWare
• Professor Ernst's advice
• Inside Higher Ed tips
• wisdom in brief from Attila Kondacs (pdf)
• How to do Research at the MIT AI Lab ( ps ) 1988
• Technology and Courage (pdf) by Ivan Sutherland
• grad how-to bib
• Grem's adviceBrary
• Embrace Procrastination!
• Feynman on Cargo Cult Science
• Official TA Description
• Teaching Assistants
• EECS TA Guide - Please help contribute to this growing guidebook!
• The Teaching and Learning Lab
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You can leave a note in this section by clicking "edit" near the right hand margin. If you have questions or problems, don't hesitate to email [email protected].

• this site is great, please contribute to it if you can! -nina, eecs area vi, ntandon-at-mit-dot-edu
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Doctoral Degrees

A doctoral degree requires the satisfactory completion of an approved program of advanced study and original research of high quality..

Please note that the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Doctor of Science (ScD) degrees are awarded interchangeably by all departments in the School of Engineering and the School of Science, except in the fields of biology, cognitive science, neuroscience, medical engineering, and medical physics. This means that, excepting the departments outlined above, the coursework and expectations to earn a Doctor of Philosophy and for a Doctor of Science degree from these schools are generally the same. Doctoral students may choose which degree they wish to complete.

Applicants interested in graduate education should apply to the department or graduate program conducting research in the area of interest. Some departments require a doctoral candidate to take a “minor” program outside of the student’s principal field of study; if you wish to apply to one of these departments, please consider additional fields you may like to pursue.

Below is a list of programs and departments that offer doctoral-level degrees.

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We tackle problems — the harder, the better — and we generate solutions.

Graduate study is not for the faint-hearted, but the rewards match the risks. When it is your job to generate knowledge, you need to go where no one has gone before. And, we’ll give you what you need to get there.

From the day they step on campus, our grad students are not afraid to go after the hardest problems. Even the ones that might take a miracle (or two) to realize, like practical fusion and imaging black holes .

In the end, it is our students who show us where the most important problems are — and how to solve them.

But you don’t need to take our word for it. Our grad students revel in telling their stories — the amazing days, the challenging days, and of course, where to score free food.

https://engineering.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/square_AeroAstro.jpg

Shape the next century of flight.

https://engineering.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/square_BE.jpg

Crack the code of biology.

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Go from the lab bench to the patient bedside.

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Redefine the material world.

https://engineering.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/square_meche.jpg

Be at the heart of the maker movement.

https://engineering.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/square_NSE.jpg

Advance nuclear technologies.

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What you need to know

At MIT, graduate degree requirements are determined by the individual departments or programs and approved by the Committee on Graduate Programs (CGP). Each graduate student is officially enrolled in an individual degree program. MIT graduate programs are full-time and work is done chiefly on campus in collaboration with faculty, peers, and the Institute community.

• Read more about Master’s degree requirements .
• Read more about Doctoral degree requirements .

Additional information can be found in the MIT Bulletin:

• Programs and degrees by School and department
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Quick Links

MIT EECS GAAP

Graduate application assistance program, search form.

The Graduate Application Assistance Program (GAAP) is a student-run initiative offered by PhD students in the MIT EECS department. We pair   applicants with current student volunteers, who mentor them 1:1 through the graduate application process, meeting periodically with applicants all the way up to the deadline. Since 2020, GAAP mentors have helped ~1,000 applicants through the application process!

GAAP signups for applicants applying to graduate school in Fall 2024 are open! Sign up here  by October 15th!

Note: GAAP is a program primarily aimed at underrepresented groups, defined as those groups for which representation in the EECS PhD program at MIT is significantly less than representation in the general US population. 

For current MIT graduate students

Mentor for gaap.

For just a couple of hours of time commitment, you can make a lasting positive impact on a young researcher's career. It's also a special opportunity to gain valuable mentoring experience, which is an important part of any academic or industry CV. All current MIT EECS graduate students are eligible to mentor. We will provide you with mentoring resources if you need them!  Sign up  here  by October 8th!

Join the GAAP Team

GAAP is run by a team of dedicated student volunteers.  We could always use some help! To join the team, reach out to the GAAP team (see Contact ).

For prospective donors

GAAP is funded by generous donations from organizations and individuals committed to promoting equity in the graduate school admissions process. If you would like to support our program to ensure its long-term continuity, please reach out to the GAAP team (see  Contact ). We would like to thank the MIT/IBM Watson AI Lab, MIT Quest for Intelligence, and MIT EECS Department for their support over the years.

Some more resources for applicants

• The official MIT EECS graduate admissions website
• Helpful information on statements of purpose from the MIT EECS Communication Lab
• Quotes from MIT faculty about what they are looking for in statements of purpose

Meet the GAAP team

GAAP is run by a team of graduate student volunteers at MIT! Alphabetically, the 2023-24 team is:

Alan Chen (lead) Eric Li (lead) Haoyuan Sun (mentor training) Peter Deutsch (finance) Sharut Gupta (tech) Abhishek Mukherjee (tech) Yo Akiyama (office hours) Hannah Schlueter (office hours) Abhinav Agarwal (outreach) Hannah Gold (outreach) Shuvom Sadhuka (mentor training)

Recent News

Get the Reddit app

This subreddit is for anyone who is going through the process of getting into graduate school, and for those who've been there and have advice to give.

MIT EECS PhD

Just got an acceptance to MIT EECS (Nanotech) program for PhD today! The letter was sent at 4:30 EST and the admission packages will arrive next week

I was feeling quite down for the past two weeks because out of all the schools I applied to only Berkeley bothered to send me an interview(and a last minute one at that), so I was always the one sitting at the table with nothing to share when my STEM friends discussed their interviews.

In the EECS packet attached to the email, there’s a timeline that states 1/28 as “email sent to applicants admitted to doctoral program.” However, I might still hold out hope at least until 2/14(deadline to sign up for visit days)

Who knows, maybe different sub fields have different timelines/delays, and no news doesn’t necessarily mean bad news.

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World-renowned for both rigor and innovation, EECS is the largest undergraduate program at MIT. Our flexible curriculum and inventive, hands-on approach to coursework gives students a holistic view of the field, an understanding of how to solve problems, and a focus on modeling and abstraction that prepares them for success in a wide range of fields, from research to industry and beyond.

The majority of undergraduate programs in EECS are administered by the EECS Undergraduate Office , who can be reached at [email protected] .