About MIT

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About MIT

The MIT community is driven by a shared purpose: to make a better world through education, research, and innovation. We are fun and quirky, elite but not elitist, inventive and artistic, obsessed with numbers, and welcoming to talented people regardless of where they come from.

Founded to accelerate the nation’s industrial revolution, MIT is profoundly American. With ingenuity and drive, our graduates have invented fundamental technologies, launched new industries, and created millions of American jobs. At the same time, and without the slightest sense of contradiction, MIT is profoundly global. Our community gains tremendous strength as a magnet for talent from around the world. Through teaching, research, and innovation, MIT’s exceptional community pursues its mission of service to the nation and the world.

Mission and Values

History

Incorporated 1861
Motto “Mens et manus” (“mind and hand”)

Campus

Location Cambridge, MA USA
Size 168 acres (0.68 km2)
Student residences 19
Playing fields 26 acres (0.11 km2)
Gardens + green spaces 40+
Publicly sited works of art 60+

Admissions (Class of 2027)

Applicants 26,914
Admits 1,291

Selected Honors

Nobel laureates 101
National Medal of Science  winners 61
National Medal of Technology and Innovation winners 33
MacArthur Fellows 83
A. M. Turing Award winners 17

MIT Facts
A brief history of MIT

Sepia photo of a large building with columns and stairs. Young trees are seen in the foreground. — MIT’s first building was in Boston, before the move to Cambridge in 1916. “Aesop’s Fables II,” by Mark di Suvero, is part of MIT’s public art collection.

A large, red sculpture sits on the grass. MIT buildings and people walking are seen in the background. — MIT’s first building was in Boston, before the move to Cambridge in 1916. “Aesop’s Fables II,” by Mark di Suvero, is part of MIT’s public art collection.

Employees (including faculty) 17,180
Professors (all ranks) 1,089
Other teaching staff 1,020
Undergraduate student-to-faculty and instructional staff ratio 3:1
Students 11,920
Undergraduates 4,576
Women 2,231 (49%)
US minority groups 2,650 (58%)
Graduate students 7,344
Women 2,969 (40%)
US minority groups 1,617 (22%)

A professor writes an equation on a chalkboard. — MIT’s low ratio of student-to-faculty and instructional staff promotes intensive teaching. In 2023–24, MIT students came from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and 136 foreign countries.

Students sit in an auditorium-style classroom. Some are taking notes while others look straight ahead. — MIT’s low ratio of student-to-faculty and instructional staff promotes intensive teaching. In 2023–24, MIT students came from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and 136 foreign countries.

For MIT’s faculty — just over 1,000 in number — cutting-edge research and education are inseparable. Each feeds the other. When they’re not busy pioneering the frontiers of their fields, MIT faculty members play a vital role in shaping the Institute’s vibrant campus community — as advisors, coaches, heads of houses, mentors, committee members, and much more.

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A faculty member and a student look at a model. — MIT faculty instruct undergraduate and graduate students, and engage in research. An MIT professor works on an architectural model.

A professor looks at a model under a bright light. — MIT faculty instruct undergraduate and graduate students, and engage in research. An MIT professor works on an architectural model.

President

Sally Kornbluth
 MIT’s 18th president, January 2023 – present

The Institute’s board of trustees, known as “the Corporation,” includes 69 distinguished leaders in engineering, science, industry, education, and other professions.

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MIT is an integral part of its host city of Cambridge, a diverse and vibrant community noted for its intellectual life, history, and thriving innovation climate. With a campus nestled between Central and Kendall Squares, and across the Charles River from Boston’s Back Bay, the Institute is optimally positioned to collaborate with its neighbors and to contribute to its community.