MIT, or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a world-renowned university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, right alongside Boston, that is best known for cutting-edge technological work and research. This doesn’t just mean building apps and the like, though, at MIT, technology touches every subject and field, from the obvious (say, computer science) to the more obscure (say, the classics). They admit that they are “obsessed with numbers.”

The university is home to 4,657 undergraduates, and the undergraduate to faculty/instructor ratio is an impressive 3:1. There are more than 65 research centers, programs, and labs at MIT, and students don’t just learn at MIT. They build there. The university prioritizes innovation, and adore creativity. More than 50% of undergraduates take arts courses each year, and more than 50% of incoming first-years have training in the arts. Remember this, as it’ll come into play later in this blog post.

Unsurprisingly, getting into MIT isn’t east. Students hail from 50 states and 136 countries. The acceptance rate is measly — only about 4.5%.

In this post, we’ll break down what you need to know to use your summers to improve your chances of being in that 4.5%.

If you’re applying to MIT, send us an email. We help outstanding students gain acceptance to exceptional universities.

What does MIT want to see from your summer?

First, let’s look at the big picture. MIT pairs a love of learning with a passion for excellence. So, they want to see this in what you do, too — and not just during the school year. We’ll explain this more, but let’s make clear that this blog post isn’t a formula. MIT doesn’t want X + Y = Admitted applicants. They want students who think and act for themselves, and who pursue their passions to the highest level. Below, we break down how you should be spending you summer to stand out to MIT. Take these suggestions and make them your own.

Emphasize Your Interests

At MIT, they want to see passion and focus. We highly recommend using internships and low-level jobs in fields related to what you want to study to exhibit this. Internships, in particular, paid, or unpaid, are a big deal for MIT. They don’t just show that you are seeking to learn and engage with a field. Internships also serve as evidence that someone (i.e., your supervisor) sees value in what you do. A letter of recommendation from an internship supervisor can strengthen your application come time to apply, and what you learn in your internship can improve your perspective on your prospective field.

If you decide to go the internship route, any position should be at least 2 months, and ideally longer. In our dream world, an internship should start during the school year and intensify during the summer, lasting at least 6 months.

In addition to or instead of an internship, you can emphasize your interests by volunteering with an organization or program that welcomes other students into STEM, such as a summer camp for younger students interested in technology and the sciences. Like with an internship, we strongly recommend volunteering when it is long-term. Short term experiences — a day here or a weekend there, or even a week far from home — do little to show MIT what your priorities are. When you commit to something over a longer period of time or in a more intensive way, whether it’s a few hours a week for months or the equivalent of a full-time job for part of the summer, you don’t just add an activity to your resume. You show character. You show focus. And you show that you care for your community.

Finally, we don’t want you to take all this talk about internships and volunteer positions and completely disregard any other passion you may have — especially an art. If there is a form of art that you care about and practice, pursue it. As we said, more than 50% of first-year students at MIT have training in the arts, and pursing an art, whether it be fine art, dance, music, ceramics, creative writing, photography, or graphic design (to name just a few), to the highest level you have access can make a big difference when you apply. This can include taking arts intensives, arranging to show your art in public, working with and mentoring younger artists or performers, or anything else that pushes your art forward.

Augment Your Academics

While internships, volunteering, and practicing an art are all most definitely forms of learning, MIT also wants to see you pursue more structured learning when you’re off the official clock. This could mean courses at a local college or university, an immersive summer program, or independent research. It could also be connected to that internship we were talking about earlier.

If MIT is your first choice, though, you should highly consider applying for one of the highly-selective summer programs that are run in partnership with MIT, many of which are free-of charge for accepted students. For example:

MITES Summer: A six-week residential intensive for high school juniors. Free for accepted students.
Research Science Institute (RSI): six-week research intensive for high school juniors. Free for accepted students.

And there are so many more.

Attending one of these programs can massively improve your chances of admission, because the programs themselves are very selective and show that you are already performing at the highest level.

MIT also shares a list of summer programs outside of MIT that they consider to be worth doing. If you are going to do a structured academic summer program, in particular one that charges a fee, and MIT is your dream school, we highly advise that you make sure that whatever program you do is on this long list.

Have Fun

We often see that students interested in applying to MIT are so serious and focused that they don’t allow time for anything else in their lives beyond their academic and professional goals. They want to have the most ‘impressive’ resume and the most enviable scores, and they often achieve that goal. But that doesn’t mean they get into MIT as a result.

There are way more qualified and impressive applicants to MIT than there are spots. So simply being the most impressive doesn’t guarantee you a place at MIT. You have to be more than a perfect score — you need to be a real human, with passions, friendships, and a desire to have fun.

Fun looks different for everyone, so we’re not proposing a singular cookie-cutter way of enjoying yourself. But you need to do things that are purely because they make your life more enjoyable, whether it’s learning to bake a perfect cake, training to run a half-marathon, or winning a sandcastle building contest by pairing your math brain with your artist’s eye.

Students at MIT build robots, but they don’t want robots as students.

As you plan your summer, keep this in the front of your mind. Pursue your passions, expand upon your academics, and push your art forward. Most of all, be you because that’s exactly who they want to see.

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