<p>John - recall from a past thread, I think, that MIT offers only a Ph.D. in EECS to those who hold an undergrad degree from somewhere other than MIT. This might explain the especially low acceptance rate partially (of course, MIT is sought after in general, but I wouldn't discount this fact). Unless I'm forgetting what was actually said.</p>
<p>Look into schools which offer terminal Master's, and check their acceptance rates too, as well as the suggested background. Often they post this sort of thing on the website. </p>
<p>I know two people personally who went from my school onto MIT EECS PhDs, and I'm pretty sure they had mastered EECS fundamentals insanely well and done a lot of research, and especially with one of them, I basically can't imagine much one could do to have a better application at all (sure, win a Turing Award at age 20 is a plus point he could not boast of), and I've seen quite a few impressive people out there.</p>
<p>Basically what I'm saying is, if you're looking to mix and match fields, you <em>really</em> have to convince them this is what you want, and that you have convincing evidence that it's what you want. The profile of someone wanting a master's degree, interested in biotech, and keeping EE as an option open seems unrealistically suited for MIT, unless you develop very, very specific research interests which are best developed in the EECS program (i.e. you can be good enough, but not a fit for the program possibly).</p>
<p>The other thing is, if you're set on receiving a terminal master's, your mindset would probably be a little different as an undergrad than if you were most likely interested in a PhD.</p>
