First-year applicants: Essays, activities & academics

Rather than asking you to write one long essay, the MIT application consists of several short response questions and essays designed to help us get to know you. Remember that this is not a writing test. Be honest, be open, be authentic—this is your opportunity to connect with us.

You should certainly be thoughtful about your essays, but if you’re thinking too much—spending a lot of time stressing or strategizing about what makes you “look best,” as opposed to the answers that are honest and easy—you’re doing it wrong.

Our questions

For the 2023–2024 application, we’re asking these short answer essay questions:

  • What field of study appeals to you the most right now? (Note: Applicants select from a drop-down list.) Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you.
  • We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.
  • How has the world you come from—including your opportunities, experiences, and challenges—shaped your dreams and aspirations?
  • MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together.
  • How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it?

Depending on the question, we’re looking for responses of approximately 100–200 words each. There is also one final, open-ended, additional-information text box where you can tell us anything else you think we really ought to know.

Please use our form, not a resume, to list your activities. There is only enough space to list four things—please choose the four that mean the most to you and tell us a bit about them.

Self-reported Coursework Form

How you fill out this form will not make or break your application, so don’t stress about it. Use your best judgment—we’re simply trying to get a clear picture of your academic preparation by subject area. We see thousands of different transcripts, so it really helps us to view your coursework and grades in a consistent format.

Here are a few quick tips to help you complete this section:

  • The self-reported coursework should be completed by students in U.S. school systems only. If you attend an international school, we’ll just use your transcript.
  • The information you provide does not replace your official high school transcript, which must be sent to us from your school to verify your self-reported information (in order to avoid accidental misrepresentation, it might help to have a copy of your high school transcript in front of you while completing this form).
  • Avoid abbreviations, if at all possible, and enter the names of your school courses by subject area. Please include all classes you have taken and are currently taking. If your courses were taken outside of your high school (at a local junior college or university, for example), tell us where they were taken in the “Class Name” field.
  • In the “Grade Received” field, list term and/or final grades for each class, as found on your school transcript (semester, trimester, quarter, final, etc.). Use one entry only per class. For example, it’s not necessary to use a separate entry for each semester of the same class. Place all grades for a class in the same field, separating grades with commas.

MIT Supplemental Essays 2023-24 – Prompts and Tips

September 8, 2023

When applying to MIT, a school with a 4% acceptance rate where a 1500 SAT would place you below the average enrolled student (seriously), teens should be aware that it takes a lot to separate yourself from the other 26,000+ applicants you are competing against. While trying to be among the 1 in 25 who will ultimately be accepted sounds like (and is) a rather intimidating proposition, every year around 1,300 individuals accomplish this epic feat. We’ve worked with many of these students personally and can tell you one thing they all had in common—exceptionally strong MIT supplemental essays.

(Want to learn more about How to Get Into MIT? Visit our blog entitled:  How to Get Into MIT: Admissions Data and Strategies  for all of the most recent admissions data as well as tips for gaining acceptance.)

There are few schools that offer as many essays as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All applicants are required to respond to five prompts as they work through the MIT application. Your mission is to write compelling, standout compositions that showcase your superior writing ability and reveal more about who you are as an individual. Below are the MIT supplemental essays for the 2023-24 admissions cycle along with tips about how to address each one.

MIT Supplemental Essays – Prompt #1: 

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. (200-250 words)

There are many different ways that you can approach this prompt, but the first step is to take MIT at their word that they are sincerely interested in what you do “simply for the pleasure of it.” While this may be something that also happens to be high-minded and/or STEM-oriented in nature, there is no expectation that this will be the case.

In essence, you want to ask yourself, what brings you great pleasure and happiness? Universal experiences of joy like family, a beautiful sunset, smiling children, or your cat or dog curled on your lap are perfectly acceptable answers here. However, you could also talk about dreams for the future, more bittersweet moments, abstract thoughts, moments of glorious introversion, or even something semi-embarrassing and vulnerable. The only “wrong” answer to this question would be an insincere one. As you enter the brainstorming phase, just make sure to turn off your “resume mode” setting. Instead, allow yourself to embrace the limitless possibilities of this essay.

Essay Prompt #2 

What field of study appeals to you the most right now? Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you. (Note: You’ll select your preferred field of study from a drop-down list.) (100 words or fewer)

Generally speaking, we all have a story of what drives us to pursue a certain academic pathway and career. How did your interest initially develop? What was the spark? How have you nurtured this passion and how has it evolved over time? If you desire to go into engineering, this is a chance to talk about everything from your childhood fascination with how things work to your participation in an award-winning robotics program at your high school. Share a compelling (and, of course, true!) narrative about how your love of your future area of study has blossomed to its present levels.

In other words, this essay should show evidence of intense hunger for knowledge that extends well outside of the classroom. How do you learn about your favorite subjects? What books have you read on the subject? Which podcasts have you listened to? What museums have you visited?

You can also tie your passions into specific academic opportunities at MIT including courses , professors , hands-on research programs , or any other aspects of your desired major that appeals most to you.

MIT Supplemental Essays – Prompt #3 

MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together. (225 words)

How you interact with your present surroundings is the strongest indicator of what kind of community member you will be in your future collegiate home. This prompt asks you to discuss how you have collaborated with others (in any setting) in order to learn from them or contribute to a particular community. This could mean how you’ve collaborated with others during a group project, internship, extracurricular opportunity, sports event, or service project, to name a few.

Some words of warning: don’t get too grandiose in explaining the positive change that you brought about. Of course, if you and your team truly brought peace to a war-torn nation or influenced climate change policy on a global scale, share away. However, nothing this high-profile is expected. Essentially, MIT wants to understand how you’ve worked with other people—in any capacity—to expand your thinking or reach a common goal.

A few potential ideas for areas where you may have worked with/alongside others include:

  • Racial injustice
  • Assisting those with special needs
  • Climate justice/the environment
  • Making outsiders in a group feel welcome
  • The economically disadvantaged
  • Mental health awareness
  • Clean-up projects
  • Tutoring peers or younger students
  • Charitable work through a religious organization

This is, of course, by no means a comprehensive list of potential topics. Most importantly, your story should be personal, sincere, and revealing of your core character and developing values system.

Essay Prompt #4

How has the world you come from—including your opportunities, experiences, and challenges—shaped your dreams and aspirations? (225 words or fewer)

This essay encourages you to describe how your world has shaped your aspirations. We all have any number of “worlds” to choose from, and MIT is inviting you to share more about one of these worlds through the lens of how that has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

Take note of the wide-open nature of this prompt. You are essentially invited to talk about any of the following topics:

  • A perspective you hold
  • An experience/challenge you had
  • A community you belong to
  • Your cultural background
  • Your religious background
  • Your family background
  • Your sexual orientation or gender identity

Although this prompt’s open floor plan may feel daunting, a good tactic is to first consider what has already been communicated within on other areas of your application. What important aspect(s) of yourself have not been shared (or sufficiently discussed)? The admissions officer reading your essay is hoping to connect with you through your written words, so—within your essay’s reflection—be open, humble, thoughtful, inquisitive, emotionally honest, mature, and/or insightful about what you learned and how you grew.

You’ll then need to discuss how your chosen “world” has influenced your future, and in what ways.

MIT Supplemental Essays – Prompt #5

How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it? (225 words)

Note this prompt’s new wording: How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect ? Can you think of a time when you felt surprisingly overwhelmed? When something out-of-the-ordinary occurred? When you were caught off guard? Basically, MIT is trying to discover how you deal with unforeseen setbacks, and the important thing to keep in mind is that the challenge/story itself is  less important  than what it reveals about your character and personality.

Of course, some teens have faced more challenges than others, potentially related to an illness or medical emergency, frequent moving, socioeconomic situation, natural disaster, or learning disability, to name a few. However, you don’t have to have faced a significant challenge to write a compelling essay (and even if you have faced a significant challenge, you don’t have to write about it if you’re not comfortable doing so). Writing about a common topic like getting cut from a sports team, struggling in a particular advanced course, or facing an obstacle within a group project or extracurricular activity is perfectly fine. Any story told in an emotionally compelling, honest, and connective manner can resonate with an admissions reader. The bottom line here is that there are no trite topics, only trite answers.

Given the 225-word limit, your essay needs to be extremely tight and polished. In all likelihood, getting this one precisely right will involve a round or two of revision, ideally with some insight/feedback from a trusted adult or peer in the process.

Some tips to keep in mind include:

  • Firstly, make sure you share what you were feeling and experiencing. This piece should demonstrate openness and vulnerability.
  • Additionally, you don’t need to be a superhero in the story. You can just be an ordinary human trying their best to learn how to navigate a challenging world.
  • Don’t feel boxed into one particular structure for this essay. The most common (which there is nothing wrong with), is 1) introducing the problem 2) explaining your internal and external decision-making in response to the problem 3) Revealing the resolution to the problem and what you learned along the way.
  • Lastly, don’t be afraid that your “problem” might sound “trite” in comparison to those of others. This essay is about you. Y our job is to make sure that your response to the problem shows your maturity and resilience in an authentic way. That matters far more than the original challenge itself.

Essay Prompt #6 (Optional)

Please tell us more about your cultural background and identity in the space below. (150 words)

Unlike other optional essays, this one truly is optional. You don’t need to respond unless you have something significant to share about your cultural background and identity that hasn’t already been shared elsewhere on the application.

How important are the MIT supplemental essays?

There are 8 factors that MIT considers to be “very important” to their evaluation process. They are: rigor of secondary school record, class rank, GPA, standardized test scores, recommendations, extracurricular activities, and most relevant to this blog—the MIT supplemental essays.

Moreover, character/personal qualities are the only factor that is “very important” to the MIT admissions committee. Of course, part of how they assess your character and personal qualities is through what they read in your essays.

Want personalized assistance with your MIT supplemental essays?

In conclusion, if you are interested in working with one of College Transitions’ experienced and knowledgeable essay coaches as you craft your MIT supplemental essays, we encourage you to get a quote  today.

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 2023-24 Essay Prompt Guide

Regular Decision Deadline: Jan 5

You Have: 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)  2023-24 Application Essay Question Explanations

MIT Requirements: 3 essays of 200-225 words each, 1 essay of 150 words, 1 essay of 100 words

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Why , Community , Activity , Diversity

There’s an old cheesy joke that goes like this: A college student is standing in the “10 items or less” checkout lane at a grocery store in Boston. When she finally gets to the register, it turns out she has 12 items. The cashier rolls her eyes and says, “Okay, so either you’re from Harvard and you can’t count or you’re from MIT and you can’t read.” (Badum-chhh!) Sadly, you will be expected to read and write in college—even at MIT! In fact, MIT admissions cares so much about your writing that they’ve concocted their own separate application with five short essays. Don’t worry, though, you’ll also get to show off your counting skills thanks to each essay’s tight word count. So the real challenge of this application is crafting tight, incisive essays that tell focused stories about your life. Got it? Okay!

Rather than asking you to write one long essay, the MIT application consists of several short response questions and essays designed to help us get to know you. Remember that this is not a writing test. Be honest, be open, be authentic—this is your opportunity to connect with us.

You should certainly be thoughtful about your essays, but if you’re thinking too much—spending a lot of time stressing or strategizing about what makes you “look best,” as opposed to the answers that are honest and easy—you’re doing it wrong..

Alright, now let’s dig in!

For the 2023-2024 application, we’re asking these short answer essay questions:

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. (150 words or fewer).

MIT is explicitly asking you to back away from the resume, and forget your structured activities. It’s not about proving what you can do, but revealing what you love to do. Put another way, this prompt is about self-care: What always, without fail, brings a smile to your face? What helps you recharge your batteries? What do you do and where do you go when you’re feeling down? When you start to think of things that feel a little silly or personal, you’re heading in the right direction. The activity you choose should be informal and unique to you. 

Although MIT invites you to be honest, we also suggest you balance your honesty with specific details and storytelling. You might want to try to come up with something a little more original than sleep, read, or hang out with friends, but if these are your options, then you have to commit. If you like to spend time with your friends, what sorts of things do you do together? If you like to sleep, have you perfected the art of the power nap ? What are your favorite things to read and how do you organize your personal library? Let your personality and tastes shine through! And before you start to say, “But I really do love volunteering at the soup kitchen during my spare time,” don’t worry. There’s a community service essay a little later in this supplement.

What field of study appeals to you the most right now? (Note: Applicants select from a drop-down list.) Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you. (100 words or fewer)

This is MIT’s version of a classic Why Essay . Even if you’re not completely sure what you want to major in yet, MIT wants to both learn about your academic interests, and see how their offerings will suit your passions. If you can build a bridge between your own interests and the resources available at MIT, you’ll be well on your way to demonstrating your fit. So set aside a few hours and commit to some hardcore research on the MIT website. (Sorry, there’s no way around this, folks!) Beyond the basic departmental listings, look up information about news and research coming out of your department of interest, the kinds of courses available, and the opportunities other undergrads have had studying in your area of choice. Even if you have a wide array of interests, consider explaining how two or three departments might complement each other or foster your interest in a larger theme or cross-pollinating kind of way. Your ultimate goal is to show that your interest in MIT (just like your intellectual curiosity) runs deep!

How has the world you come from—including your opportunities, experiences, and challenges—shaped your dreams and aspirations? (225 words or fewer)

Admissions wants to know how your background, whether it was full of opportunity or obstacles, has shaped your dreams and aspirations. So, tell them a story, the more specific the better, that demonstrates your journey to your current goals. Maybe you watched your parents struggle to make ends meet, which is why you hope to pursue a degree in Economics, so you can teach financial literacy to communities in need. Perhaps you grew up solving relational and logic puzzles with your grandpa every weekend, which led to a love of complex problem solving and a dream of a career in engineering. Whatever your story is, use this opportunity to give admissions a clearer picture of the goals you’re striving to achieve and how they came to be in the first place. 

MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together. (225 words or fewer)

This question asks for a specific story: a collaborative one in which you either sought to learn from others or contributed to your community together. This is a great opportunity to write about a professional experience (your first time working in the kitchen as a line cook!) or community service (delivering meals to families in need!). Ideally, you should describe an experience that spans a decent amount of time—a few weeks or even months—so you can describe the phases of your collaboration and the end result. You should be driving at a lesson that you will be able to carry with you into the future (e.g., there’s something to learn from each person you meet or the power of local organizing). In other words: a takeaway that will positively impact your collaborative contributions at MIT. 

How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it? (225 words or fewer)

We’ve all had curveballs thrown our way, and admissions wants to hear about a time when you adjusted your sails. The situation or challenge you discuss here can really run the gamut, from covering for a colleague and taking on new responsibilities at your after-school diner job to dealing with a serious injury, though you’ll want to avoid topics that may seem trite (a pop quiz you didn’t study for!). Once you explain the situation or challenge to admissions, focus on what you took away from your experience. Maybe you learned that you work well under pressure (and can hold three milkshake glasses in one hand!) or that you are more resilient than you realized and capable of the hard work required to heal and rehabilitate after surgery. Give yourself time to brainstorm for this prompt, because we’re willing to bet you have a few stories to choose from here.

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How To Answer MIT's 2023/24 Application Essays: Tips & Insights

How To Answer MIT's 2023/24 Application Essays: Tips & Insights

What's New in 2023/24

What Are MIT's Essay Prompts?

Short Answer Questions

General Guidelines

The MIT essays are crucial to your application, offering a window into your character and aspirations. Highlight your unique experiences, challenges faced, and lessons learned. Approach these essays with authenticity, genuine introspection, and a focus on how you align with MIT's ethos. Ensure your essays resonate with MIT's pioneering spirit, showcasing not just your academic excellence but also your potential contributions to the MIT community. Our expert review services and consultations are here to guide and support you in this journey.

What did MIT students write their college application essays about?

MIT’s 2023/24 Essay Updates: What's Changed?

Securing a place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) , with its acceptance rate of approximately 4% , is an extraordinary feat. In the realm of elite college admissions, your essays are instrumental in illuminating your unique journey and alignment with MIT's ethos.

Each academic year, top-tier institutions like MIT meticulously refine their application process to ensure they gain a holistic understanding of their prospective students. For the 2023/24 admissions cycle, MIT has introduced several significant modifications to its essay questions .

The first notable change is the introduction of a prompt that asks applicants to select their desired field of study from a drop-down list and elaborate on why this field at MIT appeals to them. This change underscores MIT's commitment to understanding applicants' academic passions and reasons for choosing MIT as their ideal educational destination.

While the second question remains consistent, focusing on personal activities pursued for pleasure, the third question has been reworded for clarity. It now emphasizes the world the applicant hails from — its opportunities, experiences, and challenges, and its influence on their aspirations. This revision showcases MIT's interest in understanding applicants’ diverse backgrounds and experiences.

The fourth question has evolved to spotlight collaboration, not just in the context of community contributions but also in terms of mutual learning. Although rooted in understanding how applicants handle unexpected challenges, the fifth question now emphasizes the lessons derived from such experiences.

These updates reflect MIT's continuous efforts to evolve its admissions strategy, emphasizing the diverse experiences, aspirations, and values that applicants would infuse into its vibrant academic community.

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What Are MIT’s Essay Prompts for 2023/24?

For the 2023/24 application cycle, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has meticulously crafted specific essay prompts to understand its applicants better. These prompts explore your academic inclinations, personal narratives, collaborative experiences, and resilience in facing challenges. Applicants will need to answer all five questions, with responses ranging from 100 to 200 words each, through the MyMIT application portal .

Short Answer Essay Questions

MIT's short answer questions provide insights into your academic interests, personal pursuits, background, and experiences.

  • Field of Study : What field of study appeals to you the most right now? (Note: Applicants select from a drop-down list.) Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you.
  • Pleasure Activities : We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.
  • Personal Background : How has the world you come from—including your opportunities, experiences, and challenges — shaped your dreams and aspirations?
  • Collaborative Experiences : MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together.
  • Unexpected Challenges : How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it?

With an acceptance rate of around 4% , MIT's application process is highly competitive. These prompts give applicants a golden opportunity to highlight their academic passions, personal growth, collaborative spirit, and the unique perspectives they'll introduce to the MIT community.

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How to Answer MIT’s Essay Questions?

What field of study appeals to you the most right now (note: applicants select from a drop-down list.) tell us more about why this field of study at mit appeals to you., - 100 to 200 words.

MIT, at its core, is an institution that thrives on innovation, research, and pushing the boundaries of knowledge. This prompt aims to understand your academic inclinations, passions, and how they align with MIT's offerings . It's an opportunity to showcase your intellectual curiosity and eagerness to delve deep into a specific field at one of the world's premier institutions.

Choosing Your Field

Begin by reflecting on:

  • Your academic interests and passions
  • Courses or projects that have particularly resonated with you
  • Articulating the appeal of the field of study you selected from the drop-down list
  • Future aspirations and how they align with the chosen field

Once you've identified your desired field of study, delve into:

  • Why this field intrigues you : Is it the challenges it presents, its potential impact on society, or personal experiences that have drawn you to it?
  • MIT's Unique Offerings : Research specific courses, professors, research opportunities, or facilities at MIT that make it the ideal place to pursue this field.
  • Future Aspirations : How does studying this field at MIT align with your long-term goals, be it in research, entrepreneurship, or any other endeavor?

Being Specific and Demonstrative

Avoid generic statements. Instead, demonstrate your genuine interest by mentioning specific courses, labs, professors, or projects at MIT that align with your interests. Showcase your understanding of the field and how MIT's offerings stand out.

  • "As someone deeply fascinated by quantum mechanics, the research being done at MIT's Center for Theoretical Physics, especially under Prof. XYZ, aligns perfectly with my aspirations. The blend of theoretical understanding and practical applications offered by MIT's courses would provide the ideal foundation for my goal of contributing to quantum computing solutions."
  • "Biomedical engineering at MIT stands out due to its interdisciplinary approach. The opportunity to work at the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) and collaborate with experts from various fields is precisely the kind of environment I seek to develop solutions for pressing medical challenges."

MIT's first prompt is your chance to demonstrate your academic interests and your understanding of what MIT offers in your chosen field. It's about showcasing your passion for the subject, awareness of MIT's unique strengths, and a vision for your future . Approach this essay with thorough research, genuine enthusiasm, and a clear understanding of why MIT is the best place to delve deep into your chosen field.

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.

MIT is keen on understanding the multifaceted nature of its applicants. Beyond academic achievements and extracurricular commitments, this prompt seeks to uncover what genuinely brings you joy, relaxation, or fulfillment . It's an opportunity to showcase a side of you that might not be evident in the rest of your application.

Identifying Your Source of Pleasure

Begin by reflecting on activities or moments that bring you genuine happiness. This could be:

  • Simple joys like reading a book, cooking a new recipe, or stargazing
  • Engaging in hobbies such as photography, gardening, or playing a musical instrument
  • Spending quality time with family, pets, or immersing yourself in nature
  • Delving into philosophical thoughts, writing poetry, or journaling

Articulating the Significance

Once you've identified your source of pleasure, delve into why it's meaningful:

  • Personal Growth : Does this activity offer introspection, relaxation, or a break from routine?
  • Skill Development : Perhaps it's a hobby where you've honed a particular skill or discovered a new passion.
  • Emotional Connection : Maybe it's an activity that connects you to cherished memories, people, or places.

Being Authentic and Personal

Avoid reiterating activities already mentioned in your application. Focus on personal experiences, feelings, and motivations behind your chosen activity. The aim is to offer a glimpse into your personal life, values, and what truly matters to you.

  • "Every Sunday, I bake bread from scratch. The rhythmic kneading, the aroma of fresh bread, and the joy of sharing it with my family transports me to my grandmother's kitchen – a haven of love and warmth."
  • "Late at night, I often find myself sketching. It's not about creating a masterpiece but capturing fleeting moments, emotions, and thoughts on paper. It's therapeutic, a silent conversation between my heart and hand."

MIT's second prompt is a canvas for you to paint a picture of your joys and passions. It's about showcasing the activities or moments that offer solace, happiness, or fulfillment. Approach this essay sincerely, detailing the emotions and motivations behind your chosen activity and providing a window into your world beyond academics and obligations .

How has the world you come from — including your opportunities, experiences, and challenges — shaped your dreams and aspirations?

MIT seeks students who are academically driven and deeply influenced by their surroundings and experiences. This prompt aims to understand the interplay between your environment and personal growth, aspirations, and dreams . It's an opportunity to showcase how your unique experiences have molded your ambitions and how you envision channeling them at MIT.

Reflecting on Your Background

Begin by considering:

  • The community or environment you grew up in
  • Key experiences, opportunities, or challenges that have had a significant impact on your life
  • How these factors have influenced your goals and aspirations

Narrating Your Journey

Once you've introspected on your background, focus on:

  • Specific anecdotes or experiences that were turning points in your life
  • The lessons you've learned from these experiences and how they've shaped your perspective
  • How these experiences have influenced your academic and personal aspirations

Connecting to MIT's Environment

Reflect on how your unique background and experiences will contribute to MIT:

  • How do your dreams align with MIT's mission and values?
  • Are there specific programs or initiatives at MIT that resonate with your journey and aspirations?
  • "Growing up in a multicultural neighborhood in NYC exposed me to many cultures and languages. This dynamic environment ignited my passion for urban planning, and I aspire to create inclusive urban spaces. At MIT, I aim to leverage the resources in the Urban Studies and Planning department to bring my vision to life."
  • "Having a father who served as a firefighter instilled in me a deep respect for public service and the sacrifices it entails. This inspired my interest in chemical engineering, with a goal to develop advanced safety equipment. MIT's cutting-edge research facilities would be the ideal platform for my endeavors."

MIT's third prompt is about introspection and understanding the symbiotic relationship between your environment and aspirations. It's about showcasing the influences that have shaped you and how you plan to channel them into meaningful contributions at MIT . Approach this essay with authenticity, clarity, and a clear vision of how your unique experiences align with MIT's ethos and offerings.

MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together.

MIT is renowned for its collaborative ethos, where students from varied backgrounds come together to innovate and solve real-world problems. This question seeks to understand your ability to collaborate, learn from diverse perspectives, and contribute to a collective goal .

Identifying Your Collaboration

  • Instances where you've worked with individuals from different backgrounds or experiences
  • The dynamics of the collaboration — how did you navigate differences, and what was the shared goal?
  • The outcomes and impact of this collaboration on you and the broader community

Narrating the Experience

Once you've identified a significant collaboration, delve into:

  • The challenges faced and how they were overcome
  • The lessons learned and how they have shaped your perspective on teamwork and diversity
  • The tangible outcomes, whether it's a project, an event, or a community initiative

Consider how this experience prepares you for MIT's collaborative environment:

  • Are there specific groups, clubs, or initiatives at MIT where you see yourself contributing?
  • How have your past collaborations equipped you for future teamwork at MIT?
  • "Collaborating with international students in my school's Model UN club, I learned the importance of understanding diverse perspectives. Together, we organized a cultural exchange event, bridging gaps and fostering a sense of unity in our community."
  • "Volunteering at a local shelter, I worked alongside individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds. This collaboration taught me the value of empathy and the power of collective effort. Together, we initiated a fundraiser that provided resources for the shelter's expansion."

MIT's fourth prompt is about understanding the power of collaboration in diverse settings. It's about showcasing how you've embraced diversity, learned from it, and contributed to collective goals. Approach this essay with authenticity, clarity, and a clear vision of how your collaborative experiences will enrich the MIT community and your future endeavors.

How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it?

MIT is interested in your resilience, adaptability, and problem-solving skills . This question seeks to understand how you handle unexpected challenges and what insights you gain from such experiences.

Identifying Your Unexpected Challenge

Reflect on:

  • A situation that caught you off-guard or was unforeseen
  • The immediate emotions and thoughts you experienced
  • The steps you took to address or navigate the situation

Narrating Your Response

Once you've pinpointed the challenge:

  • Describe the context and the unexpected challenge succinctly.
  • Detail your thought process and actions in response to the challenge.
  • Highlight any external support or resources you sought or utilized.

Drawing Lessons and Growth

Conclude by reflecting on the following:

  • The insights or lessons you derived from the experience
  • How the challenge and your response have influenced your subsequent actions or mindset
  • Any skills or perspectives you developed that will be beneficial in future endeavors, especially at MIT
  • "While leading a group project on environmental conservation, a key member, responsible for the data analysis, unexpectedly dropped out a week before the deadline. I had to quickly redistribute tasks, manage team morale, and ensure the project's timely completion. This experience taught me the importance of adaptability, clear communication, and contingency planning."
  • "During my junior year, I faced a sudden health challenge that required hospitalization, disrupting my academic routine. Navigating this unexpected hurdle, I reached out to teachers for extensions, prioritized my well-being, and sought peer assistance for notes. This ordeal underscored the value of seeking help, being compassionate towards oneself, and the importance of a supportive community."

MIT's fifth prompt offers a window into your character, resilience, and problem-solving abilities. You demonstrate your capacity to adapt, learn, and grow by detailing an unexpected challenge and your response to it. Approach this essay with honesty, introspection, and a focus on personal growth, showcasing how such experiences have prepared you for the rigors and unpredictability of life at MIT .

How Bobby Got Into MIT with Crimson

General Guidelines for Answering MIT's Essay Questions

  • Research and Specificity : MIT's essay prompts aim to understand your fit within its innovative and diverse community. Dive deep into MIT's offerings, from courses and professors to clubs and research opportunities. Demonstrating your knowledge about MIT specifics indicates genuine interest and a proactive approach.
  • Show Growth and Resilience : MIT values students who can adapt and grow from challenges. When discussing unexpected situations or your background, emphasize the events and lessons learned and how they've shaped your perspective.
  • Diversity of Experience : MIT's community thrives on diverse experiences and viewpoints. Highlight how your unique background, challenges, or interests will add a fresh perspective to classroom discussions and group projects.
  • Be Authentic : Authenticity is paramount. Write from the heart, focusing on genuine experiences and aspirations. Authentic narratives resonate more than manufactured stories tailored to what you think MIT wants to hear.
  • Depth Over Breadth : Given the word constraints, it's essential to delve deep into a few topics rather than skimming over many. This approach offers a richer insight into your character and experiences.
  • Narrative Storytelling : Engaging narratives can make your essay memorable. Whether discussing a community project or a personal challenge, a well-told story can convey your character and values effectively.
  • Proofread and Revise : Ensure your essays are polished and articulate. Beyond just grammar, your essays should have a logical flow and effectively communicate your thoughts. Feedback from trusted individuals can be invaluable.
  • Connect to MIT's Ethos : Always tie your responses back to how you'll contribute to MIT and how MIT's ethos and resources align with your goals. This shows a forward-thinking approach, emphasizing how you see MIT as being instrumental to your personal growth and vocational aspirations.
  • Embrace the MIT Spirit : MIT is known for its innovative spirit and problem-solving approach. Use the essays to showcase how you embody these qualities through past experiences or future aspirations.
  • Reflect on the Broader Impact : MIT is about improving the world through science, technology, and other fields. Ensure your essays reflect personal growth and how you aim to make a broader impact in your chosen field or community.

MIT's essays are a window into your personality, aspirations, and fit for the institution. By thoughtfully crafting your responses and showcasing your alignment with MIT's values and ethos, you can effectively convey why you'd be a valuable addition to the MIT community.

Final Thoughts

Embarking on the journey to MIT isn't solely about showcasing academic prowess; it's about weaving a narrative that aligns with MIT's pioneering spirit and the admissions committee's values. Your essays provide a unique opportunity to spotlight your character, aspirations, and the distinct contributions you'll bring to the MIT community.

Every MIT aspirant has a unique story waiting to be told. This is your moment to share yours. Approach your essays with authenticity, introspection, and a genuine passion for your narrative.

If you're unsure whether your essay truly captures your essence or stands out amidst the myriad of applications, our essay review service is here to guide you. Our seasoned experts will meticulously review and provide feedback, ensuring your essay resonates with MIT's admissions officers. Explore our  ebook , which features essays from students who secured places at elite institutions for added inspiration.

For those beginning their college application journey, consider booking a free consultation with our experienced college counselors. We're dedicated to guiding you in crafting an application that maximizes your chances of joining the ranks of MIT's innovative thinkers and doers. Your dream of becoming part of the MIT legacy is within reach, and we're here to support you every step of the way.

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  • Everything you need to know about US Application Supplemental Essays
  • Acing your College Application Essay: 5 Expert Tips to Make it Stand Out from the Rest
  • How to Tackle Every Type of Supplemental Essay
  • 2023-24 Common App Essay Prompts
  • What are the Most Unusual US College Supplemental Essay Prompts?

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College Essays

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For the 2021-2022 admissions cycle, MIT admitted about 4% of applicants. If you want to be one of these lucky few, you'll need to write some killer MIT essays as part of your own Massachusetts Institute of Technology application.

In this article, we'll outline the MIT essay prompts and teach you how to write MIT supplemental essays that will help you stand out from the thousands of other applicants.

What Are the MIT Essays?

Like most major colleges and universities, MIT requires its applicants to submit essay examples as part of your application for admission.

MIT has its own application and doesn't accept the Common Application or the Coalition Application. The MIT essay prompts you'll answer aren't found on any other college's application.

There are four MIT supplemental essays, and you'll need to answer all four (approximately 200 words each) on various aspects of your life: a description of your background, what you do for fun, a way that you contribute to your community, and a challenge that you have faced in your life.

The MIT essay prompts are designed specifically to get to the heart of what makes you you . These essays help the admissions committee get a holistic picture of you as a person, beyond what they can learn from other parts of your application.

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2022-2023 MIT Essay Prompts

The MIT supplemental essays are short, and each one addresses a different aspect of your identity and accomplishments.

You'll submit your essays along with an activities list and a self-reported coursework form as Part 2 of your MIT application. MIT structures its application this way because they rely on a uniform application to help them review thousands of applicants in the most straightforward and efficient way possible.

You need to respond to all five of the MIT essay prompts for your application.

Here are the 2022-2023 MIT essay prompts:

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.

Describe the world you come from (for example, your family, school, community, city, or town). How has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations?

MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds and experiences together to better the lives of others. Our students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way you have collaborated with people who are different from you to contribute to your community.

Tell us about a significant challenge you’ve faced (that you feel comfortable sharing) or something that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation?

Now that we know what the prompts are, let's learn how to answer them effectively.

MIT Essays, Analyzed

In this section, we'll be looking at each of the five MIT essays in depth.

Remember, every applicant must answer every one of the MIT essay prompts , so you don't get to choose which essay you would like to write. You have to answer all five of the MIT essay prompts (and do so strongly) in order to present the best application possible.

Let's take a look at the five MIT supplemental essay questions and see what the admissions committee wants to hear from each.

MIT Essay Prompt #1

This MIT essay prompt is very broad. The structure of the prompt indicates that the committee is interested in learning about your curiosity inside and outside of the classroom, so don't feel like you have to write about your favorite parts of school.

This MIT essay is your opportunity to show a different side of your personality than the admissions committee will see on the rest of your application. This essay is your chance to show yourself as a well-rounded person who has a variety of different interests and talents.

Choose a specific activity here. You don't need to present a laundry list of activities—simply pick one thing and describe in detail why you enjoy it. You could talk about anything from your love of makeup tutorials on YouTube to the board game nights you have with your family. The key here is to pick something that you're truly passionate about.

Don't feel limited to interests relating to your potential major. MIT's second prompt is all about that, so in this first prompt forget about what the school "wants to read" and be yourself! In fact, describing your experience in or passion for a different field will better show that you're curious and open to new ideas.

MIT Prompt #2

Don't repeat information that the committee can find elsewhere on your application. Take the time to share fun, personal details about yourself.

For instance, do you make awesome, screen-accurate cosplays or have a collection of rock crystals from caving expeditions? Think about what you love to do in your spare time.

Be specific—the committee wants to get a real picture of you as a person. Don't just say that you love to play video games, say exactly which video games you love and why.

MIT wants to know about your community—the friends, family, teammates, etc. who make up your current life. All of those people have affected you in some way—this prompt is your chance to reflect on that influence and expand on it. You can talk about the deep bonds you have and how they have affected you. Showing your relationships to others gives the committee a better idea of how you will fit in on MIT's campus.

All in all, this MIT essay is a great opportunity to have some fun and show off some different aspects of your personality. Let yourself shine!

MIT Prompt #3

This MIT prompt is by far the most specific, so be specific in your answer. Pick one experience that's meaningful to you to discuss here. The prompt doesn't specify that you have to talk about something academic or personal. It can be anything that you've done where you have contributed to any community—your dance troupe, gaming friends, debate team teammates. A community can be anything; it doesn't just refer to your hometown, scholastic or religious community.

The trick to answering this prompt is to find a concrete example and stick to it.

Don't, for instance, say that you try to recycle because the environment is meaningful to you, because it won't sound sincere. Rather, you can talk about why picking up garbage in the park where you played baseball as a child has deeper meaning because you're protecting a place that you've loved for a long time. You should talk about something that is uniquely important to you, not the other thousands of students that are applying to MIT.

Pick something that is really meaningful to you. Your essay should feel sincere. Don't write what you think the committee wants to hear. They'll be more impressed by a meaningful experience that rings true than one that seems artificial or implausible.

MIT Prompt #4

This question sets you up for success: it targets your area of interest but doesn't pigeon-hole you.

This essay is where your formal education will be most important. They want to know what kind of academic life you may lead in college so keep it brief, but allow your excitement for learning to drive these words. You are, after all, applying to MIT—they want to know about your academic side.

You should demonstrate your knowledge of and affinity for MIT in this essay. Don't just say that you admire the MIT engineering program—explain exactly what it is about the engineering program that appeals to you.

You can call out specific professors or classes that are of interest to you. Doing so helps show that you truly want to go to MIT and have done your research.

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If you love playing games with kids at the Boys & Girls Club, the third MIT essay prompt is the time to talk about that passion.

MIT Open-Ended Text Box

This is one of the most open-ended options that you'll find on a college application! Here's one last chance for you to let MIT get to know the real you—the you that didn't quite get to come out during the previous four essays.

MIT wants to know exactly who you are, but, just as a word of caution, make sure your answer is appropriate for general audiences.

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How to Write a Great MIT Essay

Regardless of which MIT essay prompt you're responding to, you should keep in mind the following tips for how to write a great MIT essay.

#1: Use Your Own Voice

The point of a college essay is for the admissions committee to have the chance to get to know you beyond your test scores, grades, and honors. Your admissions essays are your opportunity to make yourself come alive for the essay readers and to present yourself as a fully fleshed out person.

You should, then, make sure that the person you're presenting in your college essays is yourself. Don't try to emulate what you think the committee wants to hear or try to act like someone you're not.

If you lie or exaggerate, your essay will come across as insincere, which will diminish its effectiveness. Stick to telling real stories about the person you really are, not who you think MIT wants you to be.

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You're the star of the show in your MIT essays! Make sure your work reflects who you are as a student and person, not who you think the admissions committee wants you to be.

#2: Avoid Clichés and Overused Phrases

When writing your MIT essays, try to avoid using clichés or overused quotes or phrases.

These include quotations that have been quoted to death and phrases or idioms that are overused in daily life. The college admissions committee has probably seen numerous essays that state, "You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take."  Strive for originality.

Similarly, avoid using clichés, which take away from the strength and sincerity of your work.

Your work should be straightforward and authentic.

#3: Check Your Work

It should almost go without saying, but you want to make sure your MIT essays are the strongest example of your work possible. Before you turn in your MIT application, make sure to edit and proofread your essays.

Your work should be free of spelling and grammar errors. Make sure to run your essays through a spelling and grammar check before you submit.

It's a good idea to have someone else read your MIT essays, too. You can seek a second opinion on your work from a parent, teacher, or friend. Ask them whether your work represents you as a student and person. Have them check and make sure you haven't missed any small writing errors. Having a second opinion will help your work be the best it possibly can be.

#4: Demonstrate Your Love for MIT

MIT's five essay prompts are specific to MIT. Keep that in mind as you're answering them, particularly when you attack prompt two.

Show why MIT is your dream school—what aspects of the education and community there are most attractive to you as a student.

MIT receives thousands of applications, from students who have different levels of interest in the university.

The more you can show that you really want to go to MIT, the more the school will be interested in your application. Your passion for MIT may even give you a leg up on other applicants.

What's Next?

Exploring your standardized testing options? Click here for the full list and for strategies on how to get your best ACT score .

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Your MIT essays are just one part of your college application process. Check out our guide to applying to college   for a step-by-step breakdown of what you'll need to do.

Want to write the perfect college application essay?   We can help.   Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will help you craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. We learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. At the end, you'll have a unique essay to proudly submit to colleges.   Don't leave your college application to chance. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now:

Hayley Milliman is a former teacher turned writer who blogs about education, history, and technology. When she was a teacher, Hayley's students regularly scored in the 99th percentile thanks to her passion for making topics digestible and accessible. In addition to her work for PrepScholar, Hayley is the author of Museum Hack's Guide to History's Fiercest Females.

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September 8, 2023

2023-2024 MIT Supplemental Essay Prompts

One of the Maclaurin Buildings, Building 10, with the great dome at MIT.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has released its essay prompts for applicants to the Class of 2028. The Institute, one of the last highly selective universities to release its essay prompts for the 2023-2024 admissions cycle , poses five required essay prompts to this year’s applicants in addition to an optional text box in which applicants can include anything else they wish to share. So what are this year’s MIT essay prompts? Let’s check them out!

2023-2024 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Essay Topics and Questions

Required essays.

MIT applicants are asked to answer the following five short answer essay prompts in 100-200 words.

1. What field of study appeals to you the most right now? (Note: Applicants select from a drop-down list.) Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you.

This essay is an opportunity for students to articulate the origin story of their interest in a specific discipline — a discipline that is ideally showcased through their activities section and other MIT essays (always in complementary, never redundant ways). Students should focus on how they became interested in the field as high schoolers rather than as children.

2. We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.

When answering this essay prompt, so many students choose to write about an activity that brings them joy that fails to showcase intellectual curiosity. The activity an applicant chooses need not relate to their hook that they’ve ideally showcased in other essays and their activities section. But it  must  showcase how an applicant thinks. Tie-dyeing a t-shirt isn’t an intellectual pursuit — until a student zeroes in on the math behind tie-dyeing. Do you get the idea?

3. How has the world you come from—including your opportunities, experiences, and challenges—shaped your dreams and aspirations?

In the majority opinion striking down Affirmative Action , Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts penned a loophole for colleges to still factor in the influence of a student’s race or background. This essay is an opportunity for applicants to capitalize on this loophole.

Of course, students need not be underrepresented minorities to answer this prompt. Applicants could instead focus on their faith, community, or experiences that have shaped who they are and who they hope to be.

4. MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together.

MIT’s admissions committee wants to see that an applicant can play well in the sandbox with others. Too many know-it-alls apply to MIT. MIT is sifting through applications to identify students who have strong opinions but are malleable to change them when presented with differing viewpoints.

Through a specific anecdote, applicants should describe an example of a time they worked with others to address a problem in their community — ideally related to their hook so that their application sings with a singular talent rather than well-roundedness. If an applicant’s hook is environmental science, their answer will hopefully focus on an environmental issue in their community.

5. How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it?

Too many applicants choose to write about tough graders or rigorous exams. It’s a mistake. MIT’s admissions committee seek to admit students for whom learning comes easily rather than students who have to work hard to get great grades and scores. Besides, by writing about grades and tests, it implies that’s what matters to the applicant.

Students should instead focus on an anecdote that showcases their love of learning. It could be a time when an applicant was debating a hot-button political issue with a classmate in a political science course. Maybe the fellow student they were discussing raised a point the applicant didn’t foresee and for which they didn’t have a retort. So the applicant hit the library and learned more about the issue, only to come back the next day to either counter or further substantiate the fellow student’s position.

Optional Open-Ended Additional Information Textbox

MIT’s admissions committee also includes a final, open-ended text box with the below instructions and 650 words available in the text box:

There is also one final, open-ended, additional-information text box where you can tell us anything else you think we really ought to know.

In this free response, many students include their Common Application Personal Statement. So long as it fits like a puzzle piece with the MIT supplemental essays, we at Ivy Coach fully support that since any optional essay in elite college admissions should not be considered  optional . Instead, it should be viewed as an opportunity to inspire admissions officers to root for an applicant.

Ivy Coach’s Assistance with MIT Essays

If you’re interested in optimizing your case for admission to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, fill out Ivy Coach ’s free consultation form , and we’ll be in touch to delineate our college counseling services for seniors.

You are permitted to use www.ivycoach.com (including the content of the Blog) for your personal, non-commercial use only. You must not copy, download, print, or otherwise distribute the content on our site without the prior written consent of Ivy Coach, Inc.

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How to Write the MIT Supplemental Essays 2023–2024

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The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a research institution located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a city just outside Boston. With a 4.8% acceptance rate for the Class of 2027, an average SAT score of 1550, and an average ACT score of 35, MIT is one of the most challenging universities to gain acceptance to in the world. But MIT admissions officers are emphatic that they “admit people, not numbers.” In this blog post, you’ll learn how to write the supplemental essays in a way that demonstrates your individual personality beyond test scores and grades so that you can stand out among the other applicants and get into MIT .

MIT does not use the Common App or the Universal College Application, instead utilizing its own application platform. As a result, there is no Common App essay to submit to MIT, but instead a series of MIT-specific shorter essays. This often stresses out potential applicants already writing supplemental essays and a Common App. It just seems like a lot of extra time to write another 4 essays just for MIT! But this blog post will give you the tools you need to complete the MIT essays efficiently, without too much extra time and effort, but with appropriate thoughtfulness and detail. As their admissions website says, “You should certainly be thoughtful about your essays, but if you’re thinking too much—spending a lot of time stressing or strategizing about what makes you ‘look best,’ as opposed to the answers that are honest and easy—you’re doing it wrong.

mit essay questions 2023

MIT’s 2023-2024 Prompts

Short answer essay questions , tell us more about why this field of study at mit appeals to you. (100 words or fewer), we know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. (150 words or fewer), how has the world you come from—including your opportunities, experiences, and challenges—shaped your dreams and aspirations (225 words or fewer), mit brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together. (225 words or fewer), how did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect what did you learn from it (225 words or fewer).

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General Tips

For all of these essays, particularly given that MIT does not use the Common App, recycling answers is an effective method of saving time without sacrificing thoughtfulness. If you’ve already crafted an excellent response to another college’s supplemental essay about community, then either of the two community-focused prompts in the MIT application (prompts 3 and 4) could draw from this response.

Conversely, if you complete your MIT application before completing any other applications, be sure to return to them when crafting essays for other schools. (The only type of essay question that you should never recycle is an institution-specific question, such as the “Why this school?” question or any other question that refers specifically to the relevant institution.)

Additionally, bear in mind that some essay responses benefit from specific reference to the school to which you’re applying, even if the school is not referenced in the prompt. For instance, in the “Describe your community” question for MIT, some students may wish to explain how their community influenced their decision to apply to MIT. If you recycle your answer to this question and refer to another school in the original essay, be sure to take that section out! The ability to recycle essays for another application should not be a deterrent from personalizing an application to a specific school, but it is something to bear in mind.

Lastly, when writing your MIT supplemental essays, remember that the information you put in your Common App will not be visible to your readers. Much of the MIT application replicates the Common App, but there are still notable differences. If there is information you feel was missed out on in the MIT application that is in your Common App, be sure to include this information either in the content of your essays or in the Additional Information section of the MIT supplemental essay section.

MIT’s Short Answer Essay Questions

By asking this question , the MIT admissions officers seek to understand what motivates you to pursue your academic passions. Even if your choice of field of study does not fully square up with courses or programs you have engaged with while in high school, you should be able to draw on some previous experience, however minor, when responding to this prompt. Showing how you have responded to your interest in this field of study in the past will strengthen your argument that you’ll be able to successfully spend the next four years interested in it.

You may also want to discuss your future career plans in this essay response. This discussion can be brief, given that your essay must be 100 words or fewer. Including a clause about how you chose your major “as an aspiring biochemical engineer,” or your “goal to become an entrepreneur in the mobile banking sector” motivates your academic intentions will demonstrate that you are forward-thinking and thoughtful about your future career path. 

And remember: you don’t have to be certain about your future career path, you can just offer up a few possibilities, or, conversely, express how your great interest in a particular field gives you confidence that you will discover an enriching career within that field as well. As long as you’re genuine and specific, and demonstrate excitement for your field of study, you’ll be golden.

This prompt asks you to describe what you do for fun, within the context of the many demands the average high schooler faces in their life. Based on the fact that you share your  extracurricular activities elsewhere in the MIT application, this essay is not the place to list the club you do because it’s in your area of academic interest, or the responsibilities you may have at home. Even though these activities demand much of your time and may often be enjoyable, they are still dictated by outside forces, such as your career goals or your family’s well-being. This essay also isn’t the place to talk about anything you’ve mentioned elsewhere in your MIT application, or anything school-associated, career-driven, work-related, or family-motivated.

Instead, this essay is the place to talk about what you do when you’ve got some spare time and no one is making demands upon you. Do you find yourself heading over to the piano, or watching your favorite sports team? Do you enjoy board games with your family, play video games with your friends, or take your dog on a long, long walk? These are all fairly standard ways of having unstructured fun, so they may resonate with you. If they don’t, though, or you can think of other activities, then you may be in luck: uniqueness is your friend.

As long as you’re being authentic, then describing a unique activity will make your MIT application much more memorable. Maybe you don’t have a dog, but a pet lizard. Maybe your favorite sport isn’t soccer or basketball, but kickboxing or curling. Or perhaps your family makes up their own rules for board games, or you record your video game sessions to upload with commentary to YouTube. Whatever it is that you do to have fun, be as specific as possible, searching for details that will highlight your personality. Whether your hobby seems “impressive” or “boring,” your essay should communicate the joy you take in it.

This essay works best when you sound genuine about both the positive and negative aspects of the world you come from. To help your essay sound genuine, you need to be genuine. Before you start writing this essay, consider free-writing (write without stopping or trying to write “correctly”) a few paragraphs about what you consider to be “the world you come from.” With these instinctual thoughts nearby, you can embark on responding to the question of how that world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

You can think big with these essays, but you can also think small. If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, you can always go about your day and write down every person you interact with. Consider the different types of people you interacted with that day and how they make up “the world you come from.” Then, consider how each of these people might have influenced (or not) your dreams and aspirations, whether that was a positive or negative influence.

The key with this essay is to not only describe your community but also yourself: ultimately, these are personal essays that should bring your hopes for your future self to life. How have your family, teachers, friends, coaches, etc. influenced your career plans? What have you learned from your community that widens or narrows the scope of who you hope to become? If, for instance, someone in your community encouraged you to pursue a specific area of STEM or to apply to MIT, then this would be a great topic to discuss. Linking who you are and hope to become with the world you grew up in will be key to making this essay shine.

This prompt once again permits you to think both big and small about your relationship with people in your life. Remember, although this prompt also has the word “community” in it, and your community should play a role in your response, it’s also important to describe how you interact with people who are different from you—including within your own community!

If you have ever participated in community service, this essay is a great place to explain what you did and how it impacted your community. If you have never participated in formal community service, though, don’t worry! Community contributions can be as big as fighting world hunger or as small as sitting next to the lonely person in the lunchroom. It’s also possible you’ve contributed to your ecological community, such as by picking up litter or planting flowers in your town, or you’ve contributed to your political community, such as by attending protests or raising awareness about issues important to you and your community.

Even if you’ve participated in formal community service, if you’ve discussed it elsewhere in your MIT application in detail, then you may want to avoid being repetitive. MIT asks this question to get a sense of how you will act as a part of the MIT community and how you will reflect on MIT by contributing to the world after graduation. Demonstrating how you move through communities in your life currently, particularly focusing on how you interact with people who are different from you, will help you answer this question effectively. Regardless, be sure to only focus on one interaction or way of collaborating, in order to stick to the prompt and write with specificity.

Think deeply about the people you’ve interacted with in your life who may have a differing socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability (i.e. disabled versus abled), and so on. Differences can also arise in ways that census bureaus don’t analyze, so although you don’t want to focus on details irrelevant to daily life, if a difference between a person you’ve collaborated with has influenced your collaboration, then it’s worth discussing in this essay.

This prompt seeks to understand who you are when you aren’t your best, or how you’ve overcome a low point in your life. As the prompt indicates, you can be as personal as you feel comfortable, but it’s generally good practice in a college essay to engage in some vulnerability. Vulnerability not only demonstrates your humanity but also draws a more authentic picture of you as a person and student in the world.

This essay, like the others on the MIT application, presents an excellent opportunity for thoughtful essay recycling. If you are writing essays for other schools in addition to MIT, it is highly likely that at least some of the topics of the essay prompts overlap between the different essays you are writing. 

The “facing a challenge”-type question is a particularly common essay topic. Many students also choose this topic for their Common App essay, and given that MIT does not accept the Common App, you may want to thoughtfully recycle your Common App essay for this MIT essay prompt. Even though it is a much shorter essay, you may be able to take a paragraph from your Common App essay and reuse it for this one. At a minimum, you could reuse the ideas you’ve already thought through to inform this essay.

If you need help polishing up your MIT supplemental essays, check out our College Essay Review service. You can receive detailed feedback from Ivy League consultants in as little as 24 hours.

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How to Write the MIT Application Essays 2022-2023

Padya Paramita

October 3, 2022

mit essay questions 2023

Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the dream university for many STEM-oriented students, and it comes as no surprise that it’s also one of the most selective schools in the world. If you’re set on majoring in Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Computation and Cognition, or one of the other highly specialized programs that MIT offers, it’s important to let admissions officers know who you are and what you’d bring through the MIT application essays 2022-2023 . 

Since MIT uses MyMIT , its own application system, you don’t have to worry about repeating your Common App personal statement topic here! But, this means that the essays act as your personal statement and supplemental responses all in one. Alongside conveying your love for MIT, you must take advantage of your supplemental essays to provide crucial context on your interests and background. You have five prompts to convince admissions officers why you’re an ideal fit for this highly competitive Boston institution, which only accepted 4% of students this year. To help guide you through the writing process , I’ve outlined each prompt, dos and don’ts for your responses, and more tips on the MIT application essays 2022-2023 .

MIT Application Essays 2022-2023 (answer all - appx. 200 words each)

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. 

MIT values students who are particularly invested in activities and topics that are meaningful to them, no matter what the scale. If you have a highly meaningful hobby that isn’t a conventional extracurricular per se, MIT is telling you to go for it. Just the introductory paragraph to most essays requires over 100 words—you might find it difficult to restrain yourself while talking about your favorite activity. In order to get your point across, you need to put less emphasis on describing the activity—limit it to one or two sentences - and more on what brings you joy about it. Why is it your favorite? How does it recharge you in a way others may not? Has it shaped your perspective in a significant way?

Since admissions officers will see your activities list through MyMIT, you should find ways to include anecdotes that will convey additional information about yourself. While you should not pick a purely academic activity or something that you think MIT wants to hear, you also should think of something beyond sleeping, eating, or hanging out with friends. Your outlook on the activity should be unique and help you stand out among your peers.

Describe the world you come from; for example, your family, clubs, school, community, city, or town. How has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations?

It’s crucial that you go through all of the prompts offered by the MIT application essays 2022-2023 before you decide on a topic for each of them because what you cover in this first prompt might also be a good fit for Prompt 4. And if you are invested in more than one community, then you’re in luck! Either way, your answer to questions 1 and 4 should not cover the same topic because each essay is meant to add new information about you.

A good clue on what to write here comes from the second part of the question, “how has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations?” It’s time to think about your goals again. Is there any community or group which has played a strong role in solidifying your goals? If the answer is yes, there’s your answer. Start your essay by introducing the chosen world—keep it brief as you have another segment to cover. The major focus of your essay should lie in elaborating on the connection between the topic you’ve chosen and your career aspirations. Use anecdotes as evidence to drive your point home for admission officers to better visualize the impact. 

At MIT, we bring people together to better the lives of others. MIT students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way in which you have contributed to your community, whether in your family, the classroom, your neighborhood, etc. 

Since the prompt clearly states that there are no specific boxes that your choice of community has to check, think about a place where you’ve actually made an impact. Think about how to differentiate yourself—while service trips abroad definitely could count as community service, they won’t help paint a memorable picture of you because lots of students participate in them. You could write about the smaller circles such as your family, friend group, or neighborhood. You may have helped the community as a whole or you could have helped one or two individuals who belong to it. 

To think about the kinds of contributions to elaborate on, ask yourself the following questions:

  • How have you collaborated with others in your community?
  • Have you taken any risks to help others? How have they paid off?
  • Have you spearheaded any initiatives towards change?
  • Are there any service examples that portray your curiosity and creativity?
  • Why do you care about this community? How have you shown it? 

If you choose a larger community—like your whole school or city—make sure your essay still focuses on your own contribution and role. A response to such a prompt needs to follow the classic “show, not tell” advice. Admissions officers won’t be satisfied with just “I helped my family.” You need to dig deeper and convince them through the MIT application essays 2022-2023 that you are the kind of hardworking and passionate individual who can thrive at MIT.

Tell us about a significant challenge you’ve faced (that you feel comfortable sharing) or something that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation? 

MIT values candidates “ who are not only planning to succeed but who are also not afraid to fail .” When admissions officers read prompts about challenges students have overcome, they don’t want to know every single detail about the hurdle. The response should be more focused on the way the student reacted in the situation and how they’ve grown from the circumstances. Don’t pick an experience where you gave up easily after failing to do something. Your essay should highlight your strength and resilience in the face of an obstacle.

The definition of a “challenge” may vary from person to person. The keyword here is “significant.” Avoid writing about situations such as a bad grade or a sprain playing soccer that might be minor in comparison to issues other students have faced. Instead, think about an instance that showcases how your ability to recover from a struggle and proves your determination as well as your humility. Instead of writing general statements, focus your essay on your actions you took during the situation and the lessons you picked up. 

This is a great opportunity to tell admissions officers about the way you respond to tough moments - end your essay on a positive note!

More Tips to Answer the MIT Application Essays 2022-2023

  • Use Your Common Application Profile As Inspiration: Chances are, other schools on your list use the Common Application so you’ve already filled it out. The Common App can be a great source of letting you know the kind of context colleges want to know about you. If there’s anything that you’ve mentioned in the Common App that you haven’t gotten a chance to express for MyMIT—whether it’s mentioned in your personal statement topic or an impressive award—you may be able to include it somewhere in your response to the MIT application essays 2022-2023!
  • Read the Website Very Carefully: Research is extremely important before sitting down to answer school-specific questions and the MIT application essays 2022-2023 are no different. Luckily, MIT has very detailed information for prospective students that can help you go deeper into admissions officers’ minds. Use the information given on the “ What we look for ” page to get an idea of which characteristics you should emphasize in your responses.
  • Use Strong Examples : The MIT application essays 2022-2023 are all about gauging your intellectual pursuits, community involvement, and engagements outside the classroom. Since the word limits for the prompts aren’t generous, each of your essays should focus on being as specific as possible in depicting your personality and interests. Adding specific examples lets admissions officers understand your perspective better and envision the areas of campus where you’d contribute and how you’d fit in with the MIT community.

The questions asked by MIT act as your personal statement and supplemental essays all in one. So when thinking about the MIT application essays 2022-2023 , make sure your responses show your passions and perspective in a way that distinguishes you from other applicants. If admissions officers understand your context and agree with the ways you would be a strong fit for MIT, you’ll be one step closer to that acceptance letter. Good luck!

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology | MIT

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology | MIT’s 2023-24 Essay Prompts

Why this major short response.

What field of study appeals to you the most right now? (Note: Applicants select from a drop-down list.) Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you.

Extracurricular Short Response

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.

Diversity Short Response

How has the world you come from—including your opportunities, experiences, and challenges—shaped your dreams and aspirations?

Community Service Short Response

MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together.

Overcoming Challenges Short Response

How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it?

Additional Info Short Response

No application can meet the needs of every individual. If there is significant information that you were not able to include elsewhere in the application, you may include it here. (Many students will leave this section blank—and that’s okay.)

Please note, we may not be able to access all links you share. If you have supplemental materials you would like to submit, please refer to our optional creative portfolios.

What will first-time readers think of your college essay?

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Decoding MIT's 2023-2024 Supplemental Essays

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Writing successful supplemental essays for MIT's admissions cycle can seem like a monumental task. However, with the right approach, you can craft a persuasive narrative. In this blog post, we'll dissect each of this year's prompts, provide strategic advice, and share examples from successful past applications.

Prompt 1: We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. (200-250 words)

This prompt provides an opportunity to showcase your personal interests beyond your academic pursuits. Here's an excellent example from a 2022 applicant:

"I've always found solace in origami, the art of paper folding. What began as a fascination with creating tiny paper cranes gradually turned into an exploration of complex geometrical figures. I enjoy the process—each fold, each crease, the transformation of a plain sheet of paper into something beautiful. It's my form of meditation, a departure from the rigor of my everyday academic life."

Prompt 2: Although you may not yet know what you want to major in, which department or program at MIT appeals to you and why? (100 words)

This prompt requires a clear indication of your academic interests and how they align with MIT's offerings. Here's an impactful response from a 2021 applicant:

"The Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT appeals to me greatly. The interplay of hardware and software, and the possibilities that arise from this intersection, intrigue me. I am excited by MIT's holistic approach, fostering an environment that encourages both practical skills and theoretical knowledge."

Prompt 3: At MIT, we bring people together to better the lives of others. MIT students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world's biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way in which you have contributed to your community, whether in your family, the classroom, your neighborhood, etc. (200-250 words)

This prompt invites you to demonstrate your impact on your community. Here's a compelling response from a 2020 applicant:

"My contribution to my community began when I initiated a coding workshop for the local middle school. I realized that despite our digital age, many students lacked basic programming knowledge. I coordinated with the school and started weekly workshops, focusing on Python and JavaScript. The excitement in the students' eyes when their code worked, their eagerness to learn more—it was infectious. Through this, I have contributed to creating a future generation fascinated by technology, just like me."

Prompt 4: Tell us about a significant challenge you’ve faced (that you feel comfortable sharing) or something that didn't go according to plan. How did you manage the situation? (250 words)

This prompt allows you to highlight your resilience and problem-solving skills. It's an opportunity to demonstrate your growth and learning from unexpected challenges or situations. Here's an inspiring response from a 2023 applicant:

"Last year, our robotics team was a week away from the regional championship when our main controller failed. As the team leader, the responsibility to manage this crisis fell on me. The initial panic was replaced by a surge of determination - we had worked too hard to let this setback defeat us. I immediately called a team meeting.

We considered various solutions, including writing a new code for a different controller. However, time was against us. Finally, we decided to approach a local tech firm for help. They agreed to lend us a compatible controller, but on one condition - we had to demonstrate that our robot could perform the required tasks effectively. After several long nights, we did it.

The experience taught me the importance of composure in the face of crisis, the power of collaborative problem-solving, and the value of community resources. It was a testament to our resilience as a team and a lesson in leadership I will carry with me."

As you approach MIT's supplemental essays, remember to be authentic, share your unique story, showcase your passions, and intellectual endeavors. Your distinct experiences and perspectives will make you stand out.

The admissions committee wants to see you . Let your personality shine through your essays.

Good luck, and happy writing!

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MIT Essays that Worked

Mit essays that worked – introduction.

In this guide, we’ll provide you with several MIT essays that worked. After each, we’ll discuss elements of these MIT essay examples in depth. By reading these sample MIT essays and our expert analysis, you’ll be better prepared to write your own MIT essay. Before you apply to MIT, read on for six MIT essays that worked.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university in Cambridge , Massachusetts. Since its founding in 1861, MIT has become one of the world’s foremost institutions for science and technology . With MIT ranking highly year after year, the low MIT acceptance rate is no surprise. Knowing how to get into MIT means knowing about MIT admissions, the MIT application, and how to write MIT supplemental essays.

MIT Supplemental Essay Requirements

The MIT application for 2022–2023 requires four short essays. Each essay should be up to 200 words in length.

MIT essay prompts :

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it., describe the world you come from (for example, your family, school, community, city, or town). how has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations.

  • MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds and experiences together to better the lives of others. Our students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way you have collaborated with people who are different from you to contribute to your community.
  • Tell us about a significant challenge you’ve faced (that you feel comfortable sharing) or something that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation?

MIT changes the wording of these prompts a little bit every year. As a result, our MIT essay examples may look a little different from the prompts to which you will be crafting your own responses. However, there is a lot of overlap between current and past prompts and often the underlying questions are the same. In other words, even if the prompts differ, most of our MIT essays that worked are still helpful. Even MIT essay examples for prompts that are gone can be useful as a general sample college essay.

As one of the best universities worldwide, MIT is nearly impossible to get into without a good strategy . Even if you don’t have a stellar ACT or SAT score , your essays may impress admissions officers. Let’s briefly analyze each prompt so we know what to look for in MIT essays that worked.

MIT Essay Prompt Breakdown

1. extracurricular essay.

First, you’ll write about an activity you enjoy, whether it’s baking, doing magic tricks, or writing fanfiction. Remember, strong MIT essay examples for this prompt show genuine enthusiasm and explain why the activity is meaningful. Choose a hobby you can write about with gusto while also showing what it means to you.

2. Your Background Essay

Next, we have a prompt asking about your background. This is a classic question; in every other sample college essay, you find answers to this prompt. This question is intentionally open-ended, allowing you to write about any aspect of your background you’d like. In the MIT essays that worked, the “world” has something important to say about the author’s values or outlook.

3. Community Essay

Then, the third essay asks how you work with diverse groups to contribute to a larger community. MIT wants to see that you can work toward community goals while valuing diverse perspectives. But don’t worry. They don’t expect you to have solved world hunger—pick something that demonstrates what community means to you.

4. Significant Challenge Essay

Lastly, we have the failure essay, which seeks to answer how you persist in the face of adversity. Notice the prompt doesn’t mention “overcoming,” so this can be a time that you completely flat-out failed. Everyone handles setbacks differently, so effective MIT essay examples illustrate the author’s unique way of managing failure. It doesn’t have to be a particularly unique or unusual failure, although that may help you stand out .

How to Apply to MIT

MIT doesn’t accept the Common or Coalition Application. Instead, there’s a school-specific application for all prospective students. The 2022 Early Action MIT application deadline was November 1. The Regular Action MIT application deadline is usually January 1, but it’s been extended this year to January 5, 2023. The financial aid information deadline is February 15, 2023.

Depending on your admissions round, you need to submit all materials to the Apply MIT portal by the specified deadline.

MIT application requirements

  • Basic biographical information, including your intended area of study
  • Four supplemental essays
  • A brief list of four extracurricular activities that are meaningful to you
  • Self-reported coursework information
  • A Secondary School Report from your guidance counselor, including your transcript
  • Two letters of recommendation : MIT recommends one from a STEM teacher and one from a humanities teacher.
  • SAT or ACT scores —MIT is not test-optional for 2022–2023!
  • The February Updates form with your midyear grades (goes live in mid-February)

Furthermore, interviews are offered to many—but not all—students; not being offered an interview doesn’t negatively reflect on your application. At the end of this article, we compile more resources regarding the rest of the application. If you have specific questions about your application, reach out to the MIT admissions office .

Now that we’ve discussed the prompts and MIT admissions process, let’s read some MIT essays that worked. We have six sample MIT essays to help you learn how to write MIT supplemental essays. And, if you’re looking for more tips on managing the application process, watch our webinar on Building Your College Applications Timeline!

MIT Essay Examples #1 – Cultural Background Essay

The first of our MIT essay examples responds to a prompt that isn’t exactly on this year’s list. Let’s take a look. The prompt for this MIT essay that worked is:

Please tell us more about your cultural background and identity in the space below (100 word limit). If you need more than 100 words, please use the Optional section on Part 2.

Although the wording isn’t identical to any of this year’s prompts, it is similar to prompt #2. Remember, essay prompt #2 asks about the world you come from, which is essentially your background. However, MIT essay examples for this prompt speak more specifically about cultural background. With a shorter word limit, concise language is even more critical in MIT essays that worked for this prompt.

MIT Essays That Worked #1

My dad is black and my mom is white. But I am a shade of brown somewhere in between. I could never wear my mom’s makeup like other girls. By ten, I was tired seeing confused stares whenever I was with my dad. I became frustrated and confused. I talked to my biracial friends about becoming confident in my divergent ancestral roots. I found having both an understanding of black issues in America and of the middle class’ lack of exposure gave me greater clarity in many social issues. My background enabled me to become a compassionate, understanding biracial woman.

Why This Essay Worked

MIT essays that worked effectively show that the author can think about the bigger picture. This author describes their experiences as a biracial woman while addressing the wider scope of racial issues. While you shouldn’t reach to reference irrelevant societal problems, MIT essays that worked do often incorporate big ideas.

In addition, this author mentions conversations with biracial friends. MIT essay examples often include collaboration and community, and this one is no different. Often, sample MIT essays about cultural background will connect that heritage with one’s community. It shows that you value what makes you unique and can find it in others.

Lastly, strong MIT essay examples display reflection and personal growth. Do you understand the ways your experiences have shaped you, and can you write about them? Can you point to areas where you’ve grown as a result of your experiences? MIT essays that worked link the topic and the writer’s personal growth or values.

MIT Essays That Worked #2 – Activities Essay

The second of our MIT essay examples answers a prompt that’s on this year’s list.

In other words, write about a hobby or extracurricular activity—and what it says about you. As we mentioned above, MIT essays that worked for this prompt aren’t all about lofty ambitions. If you don’t read textbooks in your spare time, don’t write an essay claiming that’s your hobby. Be honest, thoughtful, and enthusiastic while finding a way to make your uniqueness show through. Let’s read one of many MIT essays that worked for this prompt.

MIT Essays That Worked #2

Adventuring. Surrounded by trees wider than I am tall on my right and the clear, blue lake on my left. I made it to the top after a strenuous hike and it was majestic. There is no feeling like the harmony I feel when immersing myself in nature on a hike or running through the mud to train for my sprint triathlon or even fighting for a pair of cute boots on black Friday. I take pleasure in each shade of adventure on my canvas of life, with each deliberate stroke leading me to new ideas, perspectives, and experiences.

MIT essays that worked use precise language to appeal to readers’ emotions. Note words like “strenuous,” “majestic,” “harmony,” and “deliberate.” The strategic use of vivid words like this can strengthen MIT essay examples and heighten their impact. But don’t overuse them—like paintings use a variety of shades, you should play with the intensity of your words.

Another benefit of colorful language is conveying meaning more deeply and precisely. Well-written MIT essay examples layer on meaning: this author likes adventuring through nature as well as life. With effective diction, you can make the most of the words you’re given. Consider using metaphors like in this MIT essay conclusion, comparing life to a canvas.

Now, think about your impression of the author after reading this. They’re active, ambitious, and, above all, adventurous. We know they like to challenge themselves (training for a triathlon) but also like fashion (buying cute boots). And we see from their concluding sentence that they have no intention of slowing down or pulling back. In under 100 words, we’ve got a clear snapshot of their worldview and see their adventuring spirit fits MIT.

MIT Essay Examples #3 – Why Major Essay

The third of our MIT essays that worked answers a prompt that isn’t on our list for 2022.

Although you may not yet know what you want to major in, which department or program at MIT appeals to you and why?

This is a classic “Why Major” essay, asked by hundreds of colleges every year. Obviously, the prompt asks about your academic interests . However, it subtly asks about school fit : why is MIT the best place for you to pursue this interest? Although this sample college essay prompt isn’t in this cycle, you should read as many sample MIT essays as possible. MIT essays that worked for the “Why Major” essay prompt illustrated the author’s academic interests and motivations. Let’s see what the next of our sample MIT essays has to say.

MIT Essays That Worked #3

My first step in to the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research was magical. My eyes lit up like Christmas lights and my mind was racing faster than Usain Bolt. I was finally at home, in a community where my passions for biology, chemistry, math, and engineering collided, producing treatments to save lives everywhere.

I pictured myself in a tie-dyed lab coat, watching a tumor grow in a Petri disk then determining my treatment’s effectiveness. If I am admitted to MIT, I look forward to majoring in bioengineering and shaping and contributing to the forefront of bioengineering research.

Earlier, we said that MIT essays that worked use vivid language to drive home their point. This sample college essay is no different. Describing their instantaneous reaction, the author pulls us into their headspace to share in their delight. Following that, they show us their vision for the future. Finally, they state directly how they’ll work toward that vision at MIT.

This author points out that bioengineering aligns with their interests across math and the sciences. There’s no rule saying you can’t be purely into math, but MIT strives to cultivate the world’s leading minds. Many MIT essays that worked present the author as a multifaceted person and intellectual. If you write a Why Major essay for a STEM field, it may be worth your while to take an interdisciplinary angle.

Among other parts of these MIT essays that worked in the author’s favor is the mention of an experience. Many model MIT essay examples directly reference the author’s life experiences to connect them with their interest. For instance, this author frames their essay with a visit to a cancer research institute. We don’t know if it’s a tour or an internship—the reason for their visit is less important than the impact.

MIT Essay Examples #4 – Community Essay

At this point, we’ve gone through half of our MIT essay examples. Moving on, we’ll read three MIT essays that worked for prompts (nearly) identical to this year’s. Next, we’ve got a prompt asking about community contributions.

At MIT, we bring people together to better the lives of others. MIT students work to improve their communities in different ways,  from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way in which you have contributed to your community, whether in your family, the classroom, your neighborhood, etc.

It’s very similar to this year’s third prompt, with one crucial difference. The current prompt asks for “one way you have collaborated with people who are different from you .” While past MIT essay examples for this prompt could have focused on individual efforts, now you should focus on group efforts. In particular, groups where “people who are different from you” also play key roles. This is intentionally open-ended, allowing for endless kinds of differences.

With that said, let’s continue with our MIT essay examples.

MIT Essays That Worked #4

“I’m going to Harvard,” my brother proclaimed to me. My jaw dropped. My little brother, the one who I taught to pee in the toilet, the one who played in the pool with me every day of the summer for 7 years, the one who threw me in the trash can 3 months ago, had finally realized the potential I have seen in him since he was a little kid. And I was thrilled.

He told me that after attending the Harvard basketball program, he knew that attending college was the perfect opportunity for him to continue playing the sport he loved as well as get a very good education. His end goal (this is where I almost cried) was to become an engineer at Nike. The best part, though, is that he asked me to help him achieve it. 

I was astounded that he thought so highly of me that he trusted me to help him. That night, we began discussing various fields of engineering that he could pursue, as well as the internship opportunities that he classified as “so cool.” As soon as school started, I bought him a planner and taught him to keep his activities organized. I go over homework with him and my baby brother almost every night.

I love using my knowledge to contribute to my family with my knowledge. I am so proud of my brother and our progress. I cannot wait to see him grow as he works to achieve his dream.

Perhaps while reading the prompt, you thought all MIT essays that worked discussed setting up a food bank or working at a hospital. Not so! What really matters for this essay is the impact the community has on you. In sample MIT essays like this one, we see just how important the writer’s family is to them. If your family means the world to you, don’t shy away from writing about them!

On the other hand, while many sample MIT essays discuss family, the best ones remember to center the author. It may seem selfish, but in an applicant pool of over 30,000 , you must stand out. You have to beat that low MIT acceptance rate by putting your best foot forward. Notice how the author’s feelings and thoughts show through in their interactions and reactions. Even in recounting their past with their little brother, you see them as a caring, playful older sibling. They’re thoroughly proud of their brother, his ambitions, and the trust he’s placed in them.

MIT Essay Examples #5 – Describe Your World 

The fifth of our MIT essay examples answers a prompt in circulation this year. Hooray!

This “world” is open-ended to allow writers to explore the communities and people that have shaped them. This essay calls for deep introspection; can you find a common thread connecting you to your “world”? Some MIT essays that worked discuss family traditions, other city identities, etc. Whatever you choose, it should reflect who you are now and who you want to become.

MIT Essays That Worked #5

I was standing on the top row of the choir risers with my fellow third graders. We were beside the fourth graders who were beside the fifth graders. My teacher struck the first chords of our favorite song and we sang together, in proud call and response “Ujima, let us work together. To make better our community. We can solve! Solve our problems with collective work and responsibility.”

Then the students playing African drums and the xylophones on the floor began the harmonious percussion section and we sang again with as much passion as nine-year-olds can muster. This was my world. As a child, my community was centered around my school. At my school we discovered that if you love something enough, and work hard enough for it, you can do great things for both yourself and others around you.

In the years since I left, I reflected back on the lessons I learned at school. I determined I wanted to focus on the things I love – mathematics, science, and helping others. I also want to harmonize my abilities with those of other people so that we can work together to make the world a better place. Today I aspire to work in integrative research as a bioengineer to address the pressing medical issues of today.

For those who don’t know, ujima is the Swahili word for collective work and responsibility. The most well-crafted MIT essay examples employ narrative devices like framing and theme to leave a lasting impression. This essay, for example, introduces ujima with the choir scene—which itself is collective work—then reflects on the general concept. In every sentence, this writer works with the idea of collaboration and the positive power of the collective.

Among sample MIT essays, this can be challenging if you haven’t thought critically about your past and present. This writer clearly values collective responsibility and sees their future through that lens. They speak directly to their interests and their aspirations of bioengineering. All in all, they show careful consideration of ideas that have influenced them and the direction they want to take.

MIT Essay Examples #6 – Significant Challenge

The last of our MIT essays that worked answers a prompt nearly identical to one from this year.

Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation? 

The only difference is that this year’s prompt indicates you should feel comfortable sharing what you write about. This seems obvious, but you may be surprised how many students dredge up traumatic experiences in sample college essays. The issue isn’t that these experiences are unpleasant to read; on the contrary, they may be painful to write about. Although many MIT sample essays are somewhat vulnerable, you don’t have to write about experiences you’d rather keep to yourself.

With that said, let’s read the last of our MIT essay examples.

*Please be advised that the following essay example contains discussions of anxiety and panic attacks. 

Mit essays that worked #6.

Ten o’clock on Wednesday, April 2016. Ten o’clock and I was sobbing, heaving, and gasping for air. Ten o’clock and I felt like all my hard work, passion, and perseverance had amounted to nothing and I was not enough. It was ten o’clock on a Wednesday, but it all started in August of 2015. I moved cities in August 2015. I knew the adjustment would be hard, but I thought if I immersed myself in challenging activities and classes I loved, I would get through the year just fine.

I was wrong. With each passing month I experienced increased anxiety attacks, lack of satisfaction in any and every activity, and constant degradation of my personal happiness. By April, I was broken. Naked, bent over the toilet, sweating, shaking, choking on the tightening of my own throat, thinking “not enough, not enough, not enough.” 

It was extremely challenging to pick myself up after such a hard fall. When I finally made it out of the bathroom, I crawled to my room and read “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou. Her struggle encouraged me to rise to this challenge stronger than I had been before. I prioritized my own happiness and fulfillment, taking care of my body and mind.

I finally realized I did not have to do everything on my own, and began collaborating with my peers to finish the year strong and begin initiatives for the next year. I became a stronger, more confident woman than ever before.

Now, you may understand why this year’s wording includes “that you feel comfortable sharing.” While the author’s vivid description helps immerse us in the moment, a reader may hope they’re okay now. Again, you don’t need to strictly avoid traumatizing moments—but don’t feel obligated to share anything you don’t want to. In any case, the diction is indeed very precise and helps convey just how shaken the author was.

Furthermore, we see how the author dealt with this challenge: they were inspired by Maya Angelou. This ability to seek and find strength beyond yourself is crucial, especially in an ever more connected world. At the end of the essay, the writer notes how they’ve changed by working with others to accomplish goals. Their renewed confidence has made them even stronger and more willing to face challenges.

MIT Essay Examples – Key Takeaways

So after reading six sample MIT essays, what do you think? What are the takeaways from these MIT essays that worked? It goes without saying that you should read more sample MIT essays if you can. Additionally, when you draft your own MIT essays, take time to revise them and have other people read them.

MIT Essays that Worked Takeaways

1. discuss experiences.

The best MIT essay examples keep it real by talking about the author’s experiences. Can you think critically about how they have made you who you are? Find ways to address the prompt with your background and life experiences. You may also find sample MIT essays easier to write when they’re rooted in your reality.

2. Use precise language

Two hundred words are, in fact, not that much space. MIT essays that worked use every word to paint a vivid picture of the writer and their world. Mark Twain said it best: “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is … the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.” Choose your words carefully to refine your meaning and strengthen your impact.

3. Reflect on yourself

In college essays, it’s all about you and your personal narrative . So don’t miss any opportunity to introspect on your experiences, community, and personal growth. Demonstrate that you know yourself well enough to point to specific influences on your worldview. We all move through the world in different ways—why do you move the way you do?

4. Be genuine

You’ve heard this a thousand times, and we’ll say it again: be yourself . While you hear all about the typical MIT student and what MIT looks for , we’re all unique individuals. As, or even more, important than good scores or a huge activities list is an accurate representation of you . Write about extracurriculars and subjects and communities that are important to you—not what you think will sound impressive.

Additional MIT Resources from CollegeAdvisor

We have a wealth of resources on how to get into MIT here at CollegeAdvisor.com. We’ve got a comprehensive article on the MIT admissions process, from the MIT acceptance rate to deadlines.

MIT Admissions

Speaking of the acceptance rate, we take a closer look at that, too.

MIT Acceptance Rate

If you’re wondering about MIT tuition and costs, read our breakdown .

MIT Tuition & MIT Cost

Finally, we’ve got a guide covering application strategy from start to finish.

Strategizing Your MIT Application

MIT Essays that Worked – Final thoughts

Placing among the top American universities, we see MIT ranking highly every year, and for good reason. By the same token, it’s very challenging to get admitted. So, in order to get in, you need to know how to write MIT supplemental essays.

We read through several MIT essays that worked and identified strengths in our MIT essay examples. Use these tips when writing your own essays to craft a strong application!

This article was written by  Gina Goosby . Looking for more admissions support? Click  here  to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how  CollegeAdvisor.com  can support you in the college application process.

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mit essay questions 2023

  • College Application

MIT Supplemental Essay Examples

MIT Supplemental Essay Examples

Knowing what to write for your MIT essays might be difficult, but the process is made much easier by reading over MIT supplemental essay examples.

Checking out sample college essays gives you a good grasp of what supplemental college application essays should look like.

It also helps to read up on how to write a college essay . However, while learning through instruction is good, pairing that instruction with examples lets you see the practical application of that knowledge before attempting your own essay.

This article contains sample essays for the current MIT supplemental essay prompts.

>> Want us to help you get accepted? Schedule a free strategy call here . <<

Article Contents 15 min read

Mit supplemental essay example #1:.

Describe the world you come from; for example, your family, clubs, school, community, city, or town. How has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations.

Word Count: 250 words or fewer

Example Essay #1:

The place where I live isn’t the worst community in our city, and I’m thankful that crime is relatively low, but it’s still pretty run-down. If you want to find employment, our section of town is not for you – even more so if you’re looking for a good job; anything you’d think of as a “career” doesn’t exist here.

We couldn’t afford aspirations; we were too busy worrying about where the rent and grocery money was coming from.

One day, I started asking myself, “Why can’t our neighborhood have jobs and nice houses? Why can’t we have hope be something other than tomorrow’s disappointment?”

I’m dreaming big these days. I want to be a community leader – a local politician. I know this is strange, but I’m not worried about the national right now, I’m worried about the municipal – making sure that everybody gets enough in my city.

I got in touch with several alderpersons on my city’s council and asked how I could help my neighborhood. They spoke with me and one of them asked if I could address my city’s government at a meeting. I prepared a speech about my neighborhood’s poverty and delivered it. Then I volunteered with the reelection campaign for the alderperson who recommended me.

The place where I live is who I am, and who I am today will let me be somebody better tomorrow, if I choose to aspire to hope, and dream of every place being the nice part of town.

When you’re little, you don’t understand why your parents are getting divorced, you only know that they are. You beat yourself up over it, then you come to accept it, but it takes a while to see the silver lining.

I’m not saying it’s “good” that they split up, although I recognize that it’s at least better for them. After a while my mom and dad even got remarried. Then something weird happened: I didn’t have evil step-parents from fairy tales.

In fact, not only were my step-parents not evil, they were lovely people who really cared about me. My step-mom is a psychiatrist, and hearing about how she helps patients has inspired me to learn about therapy.

My step-dad works as a police officer. The world of law enforcement is a harsh one, especially on the psyches of law enforcement officers. Learning about that hardship from my step-father, and thinking about how my step-mother helps people, has led me to study psychology. I want to practice therapy for police officers and participate in research, looking for methods to keep stressors away and heal officers who have suffered as part of their “routine” jobs.

My family is big – four parents and eight grandparents, and a lot of love – and that largess has opened my eyes to a calling in the world that I otherwise might not have found. I think that’s most why I want to help find healing for others: I know the opportunities that healing can create.

Be sure to check out some MIT interview questions , too!

Example essay #3:.

We were moving away from my home of thirteen years to go miles and miles away, from my whole life. Worst of all: away from New York City – the only place in the world worth knowing – or so I thought.

The town might as well have been called “Miniscule Ville”. I resented every second of it. The real shocking thing to me was almost that anything existed outside of New York City. NYC is a world of its own, with its own pulses and lifeblood. I still think it’s a great place, and I’ll likely at least visit it someday, but right now, I want to visit everywhere.

My move humbled me. I began to love nature walks, the friendly camaraderie of the small town, and saw a world I never imagined. I thought I knew it all just because I lived in New York. Here was a great place, hidden from view. I loved experiencing that new world, learning local history, and most of all, learning the life stories of my new neighbors, each one of whom had a fascinating life.

My greatest dream is to be a journalist, covering other countries, and learning about new worlds and neighbors. My old perspective feels so limited. If I can share global stories, I can open up my perspective, and I can share those stories with a thousand homes so readers can learn about other perspectives as well. The world is full of different lives. Everywhere is somebody’s home.

Wondering how to write your supplemental college essays?

Pick what field of study at MIT appeals to you the most right now, and tell us more about why this field of study appeals to you.

Word Count: 100 words or fewer

My neighborhood is run-down and hangdog. Buildings are collapsing, practically on top of the homeless who could use a place to stay. I am sad for the people who have no place to go and for the beauty in design that is decaying all around.

I want to restore my neighborhood. Architecture and design are my academic interests, because they help restore neighborhoods and cities into communities where everybody has a place. I hope to redesign and give a new life to my neighborhood. With the help of MIT’s Architecture and Urbanism program, my dream is bound to come true.

Example Essay #2:

The current state of economics is more complicated than ever.

Hustle culture is burning people out. Job-seekers complain of a lack of good employment, while prospective employers complain of a lack of worthy candidates. We are abandoning traditional work models, payment models – even the concept of money is being tinkered with since the advent of cryptocurrencies.

These innovations require new technology, business models, and currencies; I will embrace this future at the Economics program at MIT, and help blaze the financial trails we will all someday walk.

We are meant to be a nation of liberty and unity, so much that we made it our motto: e pluribus unum. But tribalism and division have been on the rise – we are more divided as a nation than ever.

Recently I have seen people striving to start good-faith conversations. On a new political podcast, for instance, opposing politicians discuss instead of argue.

The arena of political science has never been more dangerous, divisive, or exciting. I need to help keep our nation of “many” as one nation. I will start my journey at the Political Science department at MIT.

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.

Word Count: 200-250 words

I take the path less travelled, if I may reference Frost for a moment. When it came to choosing a sport, I couldn’t just do any sport, so, I chose HEMA: Historical European Martial Arts.

This is the study of the longsword, the mace, the dagger, and the rapier. It is as much a study of history and anthropology as it is exercise. All of the moves and strategies come from old manuscripts, many of which need decoding to get into a recognizable language.

Connecting with the past in such a way is a fun, engaging way to learn history and get exercise – and it is considerable exercise! Swinging a longsword about, or fighting with shields and arming swords, often while wearing armor, is no easy task.

The community of HEMA is a welcoming and wonderful one. I found out about HEMA in a video somebody posted to my social media only to discover that there is a chapter near where I live. I went around to ask about classes, and they were very friendly and affirming.

There is always more to learn, too, whether knowledge of circumstances for the various manuals, different fighting styles, or a variety of weapons. Through HEMA, I fuel my mind, exercise my body, and am part of a friend-filled community of historical combat buffs.

When the wind is up, I cannot wait to go to the park with my latest kite.

As a kid, my mum and dad would take me kite-flying. I’d have done it every day, and no matter how old I got, I still wanted to fly.

Soon I was trying to do maneuvers too complicated for my dinky little kite, and I begged mum and dad for a better one. I got one for my birthday, but even that much more advanced model didn’t satiate my desire to vicariously soar above the park. I realized that the kites we bought from the store do not exactly meet my vision of how I wanted my kites to perform. This meant that I would need to start designing my own kites.

It took a lot of trial and error, and my father and I almost destroyed one of my special kites trying to improve it, but we eventually got the hang of it. After that, we started “modding” more kites, and I have now built three myself, special kites designed for specific maneuvers. It takes a lot of problem-solving to get there, but figuring it out and flying those kites is so rewarding.

It’s almost like I’m up there with the kite, floating on the wind. It’s relaxing, challenging, and a wonderful way to spend a day.

My love of poetry came from my love of hip-hop music. 

One evening, I found myself in a café in a basement – one of those places with steps leading below street-level, into a room that reminds you of how you think a speakeasy would look. It was slam-poetry night, and my friend Trisha was performing. He told me it was just like hip-hop.

I was in awe of my friend and his group, spitting lines that were fierce and which moved me deeply. I got involved with the group and was soon writing my own stuff. My verses were clunky at first, but they were mine; I was learning to express myself.

Every aspect of slam poetry fascinated me: rhythm, metaphor, stress, and the ever-elusive emotions between the lines.

Slam poetry is wonderful, but in my study of the art, I came to love other verse forms. The slam poet group’s leader told me to check out the Elizabethan sonnets for some tight beats – she was referring to the about iambic pentameter, which led me to a love of a form of poetry with one phrase – tight beats. Something that my English teacher didn’t accomplish with a whole class unit.

My favorite poems I have encountered are haikus. The all-encompassing focus on syllables makes the rhythms of masterfully-written haikus flow in my mind’s ear.

Poetry is my passion. I can’t wait to put down verses, whether for a slam poetry night, and some just for my journals at home.

At MIT, we bring people together to better the lives of others. MIT students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way in which you have contributed to your community, whether in your family, the classroom, your neighborhood, etc.

My dad’s a smoker, and mom’s always on him to quit. I don’t mind too much – I understand that it’s hard to quit – but he chucks his cigarette butts everywhere, and I hate that.

One day I’d had enough of it, and when he whipped his cigarette butt out the car window, I actually spoke up and chewed him out for littering. He wasn’t happy about that, and it made the car ride home unpleasant.

But the next day, he came and apologized, saying I was right. That event inspired by responsibility to our community, and I decided to help gather up trash in our neighborhood. I volunteered with the city, got a little grabber and a garbage bag, and started picking up litter, including a bunch of cigarette butts, many of which were, statistically-speaking, my dad’s.

I felt good, and encouraged my family to come out with me. Dad was the first one to cave, and we actually had fun, talking and picking up litter. But we needed more help. I’m fourth out of five kids and I convinced most of my siblings to join in as well.

Dad and I wound up bonding a lot, chatting about life and sharing our news at the side of the road, plucking debris from the street. He doesn’t smoke as much, either, but I don’t know if that’s because of me or just that he hates picking up his old butts.

The bullying at our school, and in my class in-particular, had boiled up. It wasn’t uncommon to see one or more students in tears because of some cruelty or other, a lot online, but plenty of it live and in-person.

I stayed out of it as much as I could. I didn’t want to be a target.

My friend Mark got it bad one week. Somebody decided to start accusing him of being “the problem” whenever anything went wrong, calling him cursed. He lost a lot of friends that week, and though I didn’t abandon him, I didn’t stick up for him like I should have.

That festered in me. I hated feeling helpless, so, after the Christmas break, I came to school with a purpose. I went straight to our teacher and asked what I could do to help stop bullying, besides just not participating in it. We came up with an anti-bullying campaign. We knew posters wouldn’t do it alone, so we created a program where bullied students could come forward safely and anonymously. We put together a mechanism for dealing with accusations, and the school was very supportive.

It was slow going at first, but gradually we saw a lowering in the amount of bullying being done in our class and across the school. I might not have been able to stop Mark getting hurt, but I did my best to stop it happening again.

I’m a soup kitchen volunteer. My mom said it’d be good for me to volunteer and see what poverty did to people. I wasn't thrilled about it. I was fifteen and had better places to be, or so I thought.

What I found out was that there are people who need a lot of help, and it just took one shift for me to know that I was coming back. I needed to be there, helping people, because where else are they going to get help?

Community aid programs are often underfunded, and our community has a severe dearth of available funds to help people in need. Support for the local food banks and shelters is low in our municipality. Volunteering is an integral part to bring a little humanity into these people’s lives.

I’m not going to pretend it’s sunshiny, because it’s not: it’s harsh. But I can help make my neighborhood a better place. I can give people food and comfort.

What matters is making a difference. I can’t make a huge difference right now, unless you’re one of our customers – then I’m making up the difference between a night of comfort and one of despair. Small differences still make a difference, and I want to help my community however I can.

Tell us about a significant challenge you’ve faced or something that didn’t go according to plan that you feel comfortable sharing. How did you manage the situation?

The sixth letter in the alphabet shouldn’t make your stomach feel like a frozen stone is rolling around in there, but the F on my test paper was doing that. I was trying to envision a future I could actually look forward to.

Yes, that’s a bit dramatic, but I’d never gotten an F before, and my brain was panicking with the non-future into which I had cast myself. Chemistry had beaten me.

I kept that F from my parents as long as possible, assuming a furious volley of punishments and lectures would be my comeuppance. I couldn’t have anticipated the reaction.

“Hm.” A syllable which sat there for a long time before dad said, “Well, what are you going to do about it?”

It hadn’t even occurred to me that there was a next. I was busy with melancholic despair; I forgot about “what next?”

My parents asked if I wanted to switch the course, but I want to study the sciences, my answer was no. Mom helped me put together a new rubric for studying and I stuck to it. My next text was a C+. After that? An A.

Failing a test taught me something more valuable than any class ever did: how to dust myself off, know what I really want, and try again with everything I have in me. Ultimately, my only failure was giving up on myself and focusing on one failure. My lesson is learned, and from now on, I will always focus on what I can do next.

I was unable to breathe, or even move, really, and covered in dust. I was one, big bruise all over my body. Samson was responsible, having thrown me to the ground for the seventh time that day.

Samson had come to the stables with a warning that this would happen. He was a problem horse, young, headstrong, and seemingly impossible to train. For days I tried the approaches that had worked on other horses, but worked on Samson.

The barn owner was in one day, watching me fail. She called me over and said, “He’s stressed because you’re stressed. Try to be calm. When you’re calm, go over there and don’t ask anything of him. Just be there with him. See what happens. Make some offers, but don’t do anything he doesn’t want to do.”

I went over to Samson and patted him, and he stepped in. Little by little, I’d make a move and he’d make a move. He got nervous when I tried to get on him, so I backed off. I didn’t ride him that day, but eventually, after a few days of just making friends, the good advice worked. Samson was soon a great riding horse, and one who had tremendous empathy with his rider.

Too often we go to people with our stresses, needing them to be something they aren’t. I try to remember to expect less and just be there. The results are great. When you don’t pile on, you never get thrown off.

I had said, “Yes,” because I always said, “Yes,” regardless of how busy I was. That was how I wound up on the track team, mathletes, and a dozen other things I had no time for. I was stressed out and in denial.

This time, I had said, “Yes,” to organizing a fundraising event to buy new instruments for the school’s music program. A variety show seemed like a good idea until it became clear that somebody would have to organize talent, balance schedules, as well as create decorations, and everything else for the event. Guess who this “somebody” was?

Mr. Kowalski had offered to help and I’d said, “No.” I should clarify that I always said, “Yes,” when taking on responsibility, but “No,” when it came to delegating. I felt I wouldn’t be pulling my weight.

My grades were slipping, I was losing sleep, and the fundraiser almost collapsed: no new instruments for the band. Mr. Kowalski came back, luckily for me, and offered his help again. Learning my lesson, this time I did not miss my chance for getting help. The fundraiser got back on track. He didn’t take over, but gave me the assistance I needed to get it done without punishing myself too much.

I learned how important it is to ask for help and delegate responsibility. I learned that being a good leader or project head doesn’t mean being a superhuman who handles it all.

And I learned how to better employ the word, “No”.

Want more tips?

Please note that the supplemental essay section has an additional-information text box within it. MIT suggests that students can use this box to tell them anything you think they really ought to know.

MIT says it is optional, but we would advise you to take advantage of the extra space; give yourself every opportunity to stand out as the perfect applicant and to be unforgettable to the admissions committee.

In MIT’s case, they are required for your application, but even if they weren’t, as with the additional-information box, we would still counsel you to take any option that can make your application soar.

No. In fact, MIT says specifically that this is not a writing test, and encourages applicants to, “Be honest, be open, be authentic – this is your opportunity to connect with us.”

That doesn’t mean you should use colloquialisms or ignore spelling and grammar, but it does mean that you won’t need to worry about a specific style, or avoid the use of the first-person – which you will be using most of the time – or cramming in citations.

However, remember that this is still an essay, so your submission must follow the academic essay style, with a strong introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

If they fit with your schedule, yes, but MIT doesn’t give preference to early applicants.

Check with other schools you would like to apply to, see what their application schedules are like, and build an application schedule that works best for you.

Do note that some schools don’t allow you to submit multiple early applications. MIT is not one of those schools, but they do specify that you must respect exclusivity rules from other schools.

There is a lot you can do, but starting with reading up on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a good start.

Beyond that, finding good mentors will benefit you tremendously, and using university and college admissions consulting will cover all angles and give you the best edge you can find.

Potentially, yes. How to get into college with a low GPA is harder, but not impossible.

Grades are only one puzzle piece that you’ll be sending to MIT, and their reviewing panels and admissions boards won’t just reject your application because of low grades. They provide an “additional information” section on the application which will allow you to provide insight into anything you need to explain on your transcript.

No. Don’t let the name fool you, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers a wide variety of courses across disciplines, and they have programs for all kinds of students.

Most students with family incomes below $140,000 (US) do not pay tuition. According to their website, 82% of MIT’s students graduate debt-free.

In short, MIT offers robust financial aid, and can be very affordable for students from all income brackets.

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3 Marvelous MIT Essay Examples

What’s covered:, essay example #1 – simply for the pleasure of it, essay example #2 – community, essay example #3 – overcoming challenges.

  • Where to Get Feedback on Your MIT Essay  

Sophie Alina , an expert advisor on CollegeVine, provided commentary on this post. Advisors offer one-on-one guidance on everything from essays to test prep to financial aid. If you want help writing your essays or feedback on drafts,  book a consultation with Sophie Alina or another skilled advisor.

MIT is a difficult school to be admitted into; a strong essay is key to a successful application. In this post, we will discuss a few essays that real students submitted to MIT, and outline the essays’ strengths and areas of improvement. (Names and identifying information have been changed, but all other details are preserved). 

Read our MIT essay breakdown  to get a comprehensive overview of this year’s supplemental prompts.

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized. 

Prompt: We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. 

After devouring Lewis Carrolls’ masterpiece, my world shifted off its axis. I transformed into Alice, and my favorite place, the playground, became Wonderland. I would gallivant around, marveling at flowers and pestering my parents with questions, murmuring, “Curiouser and curiouser.” If Alice’s “Drink Me” potion was made out of curiosity, I drank liters of it. Alice, along with fairytale retellings like the Land of Stories by Chris Colfer, kickstarted my lifelong love of reading. 

Especially when I was younger, reading brought me solace when the surrounding world was filled with madness (and sadly, not like the fun kind in Alice in Wonderland ). There are so many nonsensical things that happen in the world, from shootings at a movie theater not thirty minutes from my home, to hate crimes targeted towards elderly Asians. Reading can be a magical escape from these problems, an opportunity to clear one’s mind from chaos. 

As I got older, reading remained an escape, but also became a way to see the world and people from a new perspective. I can step into so many different people’s shoes, from a cyborg mechanic ( Cinder ), to a blind girl in WWII’s France (Marie-Laure, All the Light We Cannot See ). Sure, madness is often prevalent in these worlds too, but reading about how these characters deal with it helps me deal with our world’s madness, too. 

Reading also transcends generational gaps, allowing me to connect to my younger siblings through periodic storytimes. Reading is timeless — something I’ll never tire of. 

What This Essay Did Well

This essay is highly detailed and, while it plays off a common idea that reading is an escape, the writer brings in personal examples of why this is so, making the essay more their own. These personal examples often include strong language (e.g. “devoured,” “gallivant,” “pestering” ), which make the imagery more vivid, the writing more interesting. More advanced language can add more nuance to an essay– instead of “ate,” the writer chooses to say “devoured, ” and you can almost see the writer taking the book in almost as quickly as they might polish off a tray of cookies. 

The writer also discusses how reading can not only be a solace from events that seem nonsensical, but a way to understand the madness in these events. By giving two different examples of how this can be so, that seem so varied from each other (the cyborg mechanic and the girl in WWII’s France), the writer creates more depth to this idea. 

What Could be Improved

At the beginning, the writer should consider cutting the introduction paragraph by a line to leave more room for the two major points of the essay in the following paragraphs. Instead of a long sentence about a love of reading being kickstarted, the writer could create a short, powerful sentence to kick off the next two paragraphs. “I was in love with reading.” 

The detail at the end about how reading also transcends generational gaps seems like an add-on that doesn’t connect to the past two ideas– instead, I would suggest that this author expand a little more on the prior two ideas and tie them together at the end. “In this timeless world of reading, I can keep drinking from the well of curiosity. In the pages of a book, I have a space to find out more about the world around me, process its events, and more deeply understand others.”

Prompt: At MIT, we bring people together to better the lives of others. MIT students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way in which you have contributed to your community, whether in your family, the classroom, your neighborhood, etc. (200-250 words)

“Orange throw!”

As I extended my arm to signal properly, the smallest girl on the orange team picked up the ball to throw it back into play. In AYSO, U10 players often lift their back foot when throwing the ball, so I focused my attention there.

Don’t lift it. Keep it down.

It shot straight up. 

My instincts blew the whistle to stop the game. The rulebook is simple: the rule was broken, give it to the other team. But the way she tried, eager to play, eager to learn and try again— I couldn’t punish that. So I made my way over to the sideline to try it myself.

“When we’re throwing it in, we wanna keep our back foot down. Try again!” After demonstrating, I backpedaled a bit and watched her throw again.

Don’t lift it. Keep it down… Ah, it stayed down.

“Nice throw!”

And just like that, we were off again. These short, educational encounters happen multiple times a game. And while they may not be prescribed, they provide so many learning opportunities. These kids, they’re the future of soccer. If they learn the basics, they can achieve greatness.

Every time I step out onto the pitch, that’s what I see: potential. Little Alex may not throw correctly now, but with work, she could become the next Alex Morgan. That’s why, in every soccer game I referee, every new situation I’m thrust into, I strive to see what’s more; I strive to see the potential.

What the Essay Did Well

There is so much imagery in this essay! It’s easy to see the scene in your mind. Through details such as “smallest girl” and describing the team as the “orange,” the reader can more easily picture the scene in their mind. Giving color, size, and other details such as these can make the imagery stronger and the picture clearer in the reader’s mind. 

The writer narrates their thought process through their use of italics, bringing the reader into the mind of the writer. The space for each line of dialogue separates each thought, so that the reader can feel the full emphasis of each line. The mingling of cognitive narration and details about the setting keep the momentum of the essay. 

Through this essay, we learn that this referee is supportive to the members of the youth soccer teams that they are refereeing; instead of seeing the role of referee as punitive (punishing), this writer sees it as a coaching experience. This idea of creating educational encounters as one’s contribution to the community is definitely a great idea to build upon for this essay prompt. 

What Could Be Improved

The contribution to the community is clear because of the emphasis on the coaching aspect of refereeing. However, especially thinking about structure, the author spends about half the essay on a single situation. Limiting this story to a third of the essay could give the writer more space to provide examples of other ways that the author has coached others. The author could have also connected this coaching experience to a mentoring experience in a different context, such as mentoring students at the YMCA,  to create more connections between other extracurriculars and give more weight to this author’s contributions to the community. 

The second to last paragraph ( “And just like that, we were off again…” ) could benefit from another example or two about showing, not telling. The sentence “And while they might not be prescribed, they provide so many learning opportunities” is already clear from the situation that the author has given; the author has already called these “educational encounters” in the prior sentence. Instead of that sentence, the writer could have given another example about a child thanking the writer for a coaching tip, or the expression on a different player’s face when they learned a new skill. 

Additionally, the role of the writer is not immediately clear at the beginning, although it’s suspected that this student is most likely the referee. The writer also provides details about “AYSO” (American Youth Soccer Organization) and “U10,” where they could have simply referred to the games as “youth soccer games” to get the point across that the players are still learning basic skills about throwing the ball in. 

To make all of this clear, the writer could have said “As a referee for youth soccer games, I have seen that players often lift their back foot when throwing the ball, so I focused my attention there.” Acronyms are usually best to be avoided in essays- they can take the reader’s attention away from what is actually happening and lead them to wonder about what the letters in the acronym stand for.

Prompt: Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation? 

“It’s… unique,” they say. 

I sag, my younger sister’s koala drawing staring at me from the wall. It always seemed like her art ended up praised and framed, while mine ended up in the trash can when I wasn’t looking. In contrast to my sister, art always came as a bit of a struggle for me. My bowls were lopsided and my portraits looked like demons. Many times, I’ve wanted to scream and quit art once and for all. I craved my parents’ validation, a nod of approval or a frame on the wall. 

Eventually, my art improved, and I made some of my favorite projects, from a ceramic haunted house to mushroom salt-and-pepper shakers. Even then, I didn’t get much praise from my parents, but I realized I genuinely loved art. It wasn’t something I enjoyed because of others’ praise; I just liked creating things of my own and the inexplicable thrill of chasing a challenge. Art has taught me to love failing miserably at something to continue it again the next day. If I never endured countless Bob Ross tutorials, I never would’ve made the mountain painting that I hang in my room today; if I never made pottery that blew up (just once!), I wouldn’t have my giant ceramic pie. 

I’m still light years from being an expert, but I’ll never tire of the kick of a challenge. 

The detail about the sister’s koala drawing being framed and praised while this writer’s portraits look like “demons” and bowls “lopsided” draws a nice contrast between the skills of the sister versus those of the writer.  In response to this “Overcoming Challenges” prompt , the author justifies that this is a significant challenge by saying that they “wanted to scream and quit art once and for all” and that they still desired their parents’ approval. 

The writer’s response to the situation— taking more tutorials online, creating many different pots before getting it right– is nicely framed. Many times, students forget to include examples that demonstrate how they respond to the situation, and this writer does a good job of including some of those details. 

The writer seems to emphasize the parents’ approval piece in the first paragraph, but then moves away from that point more to focus on the “thrill of chasing a challenge.” This essay could be improved by focusing a little more on how the writer emotionally moved past not getting that approval “Even then, I didn’t get much praise from my parents, but I finally realized I didn’t need to focus on that. I could focus on my love of art, on the inexplicable thrill of chasing the challenge…” 

Additionally, the sentence that starts with “Eventually, my art improved…” leaves the reader with the ques tion– how? Saying something like “Eventually, after many YouTube tutorials and a few destroyed pots, my art improved” would add detail, without taking away from the sentence about the Bob Ross tutorials and the pot blowing up. 

Where to Get Feedback on Your MIT Essay 

Do you want feedback on your MIT  essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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  1. Essays, activities & academics

    Our questions. For the 2023-2024 application, we're asking these short answer essay questions: What field of study appeals to you the most right now? (Note: Applicants select from a drop-down list.) Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you. We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required ...

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    For the 2023-2024 application cycle, MIT is requiring students to complete 5 additional essays, all of which, understandably, can seem quite intimidating upon first glance. However, CollegeVine is here to help and offer our guide on how to tackle MIT's essays! Read these MIT essay examples to inspire your writing.

  4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Essay Guide 2023-24

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 2023-24 Application Essay Question Explanations MIT Requirements: 3 essays of 200-225 words each, 1 essay of 150 words, 1 essay of 100 words Supplemental Essay Type(s): Why, Community, Activity, Diversity There's an old cheesy joke that goes like this: A college student is standing in the "10 items or less" checkout lane at a grocery store in ...

  5. How To Ace MIT's 2023/24 Application Essay Prompts?

    For the 2023/24 admissions cycle, MIT has introduced several significant modifications to its essay questions. The first notable change is the introduction of a prompt that asks applicants to select their desired field of study from a drop-down list and elaborate on why this field at MIT appeals to them.

  6. 4 Top Tips for Writing Stellar MIT Essays

    Here are the 2022-2023 MIT essay prompts: We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. ... Let's take a look at the five MIT supplemental essay questions and see what the admissions committee wants to hear from each. MIT Essay Prompt #1. We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are ...

  7. How to Write the MIT Application Essays 2023-2024

    Additional Tips for Writing the MIT Application Essays 2023-2024. Use Your Common Application Profile As Inspiration: Chances are, other schools on your list use the Common Application so you've already filled it out. The Common App can be a great source of letting you know the kind of context colleges want to know about you.

  8. MIT Essay Prompts

    MIT has published its essays for the 2023-2024 college admissions cycle (photo credit: John Phelan). The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has released its essay prompts for applicants to the Class of 2028. The Institute, one of the last highly selective universities to release its essay prompts for the 2023-2024 admissions cycle, poses ...

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    The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a research institution located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a city just outside Boston. With a 4.8% acceptance rate for the Class of 2027, an average SAT score of 1550, and an average ACT score of 35, MIT is one of the most challenging universities to gain acceptance to in the world.

  10. How to Write the MIT Application Essays 2022-2023

    The questions asked by MIT act as your personal statement and supplemental essays all in one. So when thinking about the MIT application essays 2022-2023, make sure your responses show your passions and perspective in a way that distinguishes you from other applicants. If admissions officers understand your context and agree with the ways you ...

  11. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    200 Words. MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world's biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together. Read our essay guide to get started.

  12. MIT Supplemental Essays 2023-2024

    For the 2023-2024 admissions cycle, MIT requires applicants to complete five supplemental essays. This requirement is a significant aspect of the application process, as it allows the admissions committee to understand better who you are beyond your academic achievements and test scores. Each of these essays, ranging between 100 and 200 words ...

  13. MIT Supplemental Essays 2022-2023

    The MIT supplemental essays 2022-2023 allow applicants a certain amount of freedom when choosing their supplemental essay topic. Still, we're going to look at each essay prompt and discuss the best way to respond to each topic. ... we're going to go over each essay prompt one by one. For the 2022-2023 MIT application, the essay questions ...

  14. Decoding MIT's 2023-2024 Supplemental Essays

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  15. How to Write the MIT Supplemental Essay

    Prompt #3: "Community" essay. Prompt #4: Extracurricular activity / community contribution essay. Prompt #5: "Manage a challenge" essay. Prompt #6: Activities list essay. Prompt #7: Optional additional information essay. If you're applying to MIT, odds are high that you're a pretty exceptional student (and human).

  16. MIT essays that worked & MIT essay examples

    Check out our guide to MIT essay examples with several real essays to help you get started today! ... The MIT application for 2022-2023 requires four short essays. Each essay should be up to 200 words in length. MIT essay ... there is a lot of overlap between current and past prompts and often the underlying questions are the same. In other ...

  17. How to Get Into MIT: Essays and Strategies that Worked

    Part 4: 2023-2024 MIT supplemental essays (examples included) (Note: While this section covers MIT's admissions essays specifically, we encourage you to view additional successful college essay examples.) MIT is posing the following short essay questions for the 2023-2024 application cycle: What field of study appeals to you the most ...

  18. PDF MIT Solve 2023 Global Challenges: Application Questions

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  19. MIT Supplemental Essay Examples

    Example Essay #3: We were moving away from my home of thirteen years to go miles and miles away, from my whole life. Worst of all: away from New York City - the only place in the world worth knowing - or so I thought. The town might as well have been called "Miniscule Ville". I resented every second of it.

  20. 3 Marvelous MIT Essay Examples

    What's Covered: Essay Example #1 - Simply for the Pleasure of It. Essay Example #2 - Community. Essay Example #3 - Overcoming Challenges. Where to Get Feedback on Your MIT Essay. Sophie Alina, an expert advisor on CollegeVine, provided commentary on this post. Advisors offer one-on-one guidance on everything from essays to test prep to ...