research experience

[yukikolove]

<p>I was just wondering, is research experience (Intel,etc) very important for admission to MIT? I’m applying to MIT Sloan undergrad business program plus maybe an additional math major.</p>

[molliebatmit]

<p>First, you do not apply to a specific school at MIT as an undergraduate. All the prospective Sloan students are considered under the same criteria as the prospective scientists and the prospective engineers.</p>

<p>Research is a great EC to have when applying to MIT, but it is certainly not required, and applicants without research experience are not at an automatic disadvantage.</p>

<p>Incidentally, associate director of admissions [Matt</a> McGann](<a href=“http://matt.mitblogs.com%5DMatt”>http://matt.mitblogs.com) answered both of these questions in his latest [blog</a> entry](<a href=“http://matt.mitblogs.com/archives/2006/07/july_questions_1.html]blog”>http://matt.mitblogs.com/archives/2006/07/july_questions_1.html):

Claire wrote, “Does MIT give any admissions ‘weight’ to those wishing to major in a field that is not innately techical, such as Comparative Media Studies, Writing and Humanistic Studies, or History?”</p>

<p>When you apply to MIT, you don’t apply to a specific department, but rather to MIT as a whole. And when we admit a student, we admit that student to all of MIT, and at the conclusion of freshman year, that student may choose from any of MIT’s majors, regardless of what was written on the application. This means that every student we admit we know can do the work in both MIT’s science & math core (9 classes in math, science, engineering and technology) as well as the HASS requirement (8 classes in humanities, arts, and social science). So in short, no, we don’t weight specific majors.

Most students who are admitted to MIT have not performed any formal scientific research prior to coming to MIT.

</p>

[yukikolove]

<p>I see. Thanks a lot.</p>

[mathwiz]

<p>Does this mean that research experience is a big plus when it comes to admissions?</p>

[jessiehl]

<p>

Does this mean that research experience is a big plus when it comes to admissions?

</p>

<p>Well, it certainly isn’t likely to hurt you! Research experience can be used to demonstrate many, many important qualities that MIT looks for - academic ability, passion, work ethic, creativity, risk-taking…yeah, it can be a big plus, especially if you play it up well. Of course, if you don’t have research opportunities, you can demonstrate all these attributes in other ways - like Matt said, lack of research experience doesn’t disadvantage you. But it’s certainly convenient to have something that by itself can show so many of your positive qualities!</p>