Special Instructions for applying to the MIT Microbiology Graduate Program
Applications are submitted online at : https://gradapply.mit.edu/microbiology/
Application System Opens: October 1st
Application Deadline: December 1st

All completed applications will be reviewed and invitations to interview will be sent mid-January.

In-person interviews are required to be considered for admission to the program.
Interviews will be held on the Open House dates below.

• Please note: You will be asked to attach a scanned (pdf) of your transcript(s), your GRE exam document, and (for international applicants), your IELTS or TOEFL exam document.  Please have these documents prepared before beginning the application. Email will be the primary method of contacting you, please do not change your email address once you have submitted your application as this will result in a record mismatch.
   
• Application Deadline: December 1st.  For fullest consideration, it is in your best interest to complete ALL parts of the application including applicable data entry fields and attaching required transcript(s), test score documents, all evaluation letters, and the application fee, by or before the deadline of December 1st. Incomplete applications may not be reviewed.  The scanned and attached copies of your transcript(s), GRE and IELTS/IELTS scores are considered unofficial, but are sufficient for review purposes. Official documents will be required before a positive admissions decision can be made. To avoid delay, have all your official test scores transmitted electronically to MIT Admissions before the December 1st deadline. Mail one copy of your transcript from each school you list in your application to the address below.
  
  Three letters of recommendation (if you are presently in school, at least two must be academic recommendations).  We require that all recommendations be submitted electronically, using this system. Use Evaluations and then Letter Status to ask for electronic recommendations and to check whether recommendations have arrived. If letters are missing, you must e-mail your recommenders the instructions shown in Letter Status.
  
  You can check the status of your application (complete or missing materials) online by logging into your application.
  
  Please Note: When a drop-down menu is provided for input fields, please use them as much as possible. Because your information needs to be transmitted to multiple databases, if an item is manually input instead of selected from the drop-down menu, and it causes a mismatch, that can prevent the application from being transmitted. For example: When indicating your major, if you do not see your major included in the drop down menu, choose the closest major from the list provided.  You can always provide information specific to your major in your personal statement.

• Academic Transcript: Only one transcript from each school you list is required.  Please attach a pdf of your transcript(s) to your online application. If you are invited to interview, have an official transcript from each college or university you have attended mailed as soon as possible to:

MIT Microbiology Graduate Program
Building 68-139
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139 USA

• The Subjects Taken Page is optional only if you have attached a pdf of your transcript. Attaching your transcript is strongly preferred for the completion of your application. If no transcript has been attached, this page must be filled in to complete your application and you must follow up with an official transcript sent to the address indicated on the Overview/Help page. Please complete the subjects taken in the following order: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math, Engineering/Other Sciences.
  
  
• The GRE General Test is required of all applicants.  Please plan to take the exam with enough time to have the scores submitted before the December 1st deadline.  Students who must take them in December should make note in their applications stating when the official scores will arrive. The GRE Subject Exam is not required but scores may be submitted.  MIT Microbiology does not post minimum GRE scores. To avoid delays, have your scores electronically transmitted by the Educational Testing Service to MIT Admissions before the December 1st deadline.
  
  The MIT code is 3514, the departmental code is 0212 – Microbiological Sciences. When sending score reports through the GRE website, test takers should type the name or partial name of the department, and the computer will list all department codes that match alphabetically.  Test takers should NOT enter a department code number because the computer does not conduct a numeric match.
  Test takers are asked to enter the four digit department code (see list at www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/dept_major_field_codes.pdf) only if they are sending scores through the automated phone service.  
  The vast majority of test takers send their scores online however, in which case they should type in the NAME of the department and not the number.

  Additional Requirements for International Students
  English language proficiency test scores are required of all applicants whose primary language is not English. Test scores must be from within the past two years. Registration information is available at ielts.org
  IELTS: Minimum score required: 6; most applicants should have scores of 7 or higher.
  Please Note:  While we will not reject a TOEFL test score, we strongly prefer the IELTS. 
  Minimum TOEFL score required: PBT: 600, CBT: 250, iBT: 95 or higher
  
  International students should not complete the ethnicity section. Only U.S. citizens or U.S. Permanent Residents are requested to complete this section.

• Submitting Adjunct Application Materials
  Scanned pdf transcripts and GRE, IELTS and TOEFL scores are considered unofficial documents but are sufficient for review purposes.  Official documents are required before a positive admissions decision can be made. 
  Please have all your exam scores electronically transmitted to MIT Admissions before the December 1st deadline.
  If you are invited to interview, mail one official transcript from each school you listed in your application to:
   
  MIT Microbiology Graduate Program
  Building 68-139
  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  77 Massachusetts Avenue
  Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
  
  Please address questions about MIT Microbiology Graduate Program and the application process to microbiology@mit.edu . Please send technical questions about this web site to eecs-apply-help@pdos.csail.mit.edu. You can find more information about MIT graduate admissions in general here.
  
  Privacy Policy
  MIT is committed to protecting the individual privacy of applicants and students by restricting the use of all collected information as specified by Institute policies. In accordance with these policies, the information in your application may be used by MIT officials only for appropriate administrative and research purposes.
  This site uses cookies to maintain a session identifier while you are actively using the site, but does not use cookies for any other purpose.
  The software we use to process credit card payments uses secure encryption technology (SSL) to reduce the possibility of theft, manipulation, and other alteration of information that you provide to us.
  Any changes to our policy will be posted on this page. If you have questions or concerns about this policy, please send email to eecs-apply-help@pdos.csail.mit.edu.

“Is the MIT Microbiology Graduate Program the right program for me?”
This is a question we often hear, especially if applicants are considering or applying to other departments within MIT.  As you can see from our website, we have over 60 faculty from over 10 different departments participating in the Microbiology Graduate Program.

One way to help you decide where best to apply is for you to determine whether all, or almost all, of the faculty in whose research you are interested are in one department.  If that is the case, applying to that individual department would be more appropriate.  If you are equally interested in faculty and labs from different departments, then a program like MIT Microbiology can provide you the flexibility to bridge different departments and disciplines, both in your coursework and your research. 

You may also want to consider whether a smaller program is the right environment for you.  Some large departments may admit 50 or more students each year.  MIT Microbiology is intended to be a smaller program, admitting a class of less than 10 students each year.

You can still apply to more than one program / department if you determine that a few of the scenarios described above could work equally well for you.

We hope this was helpful to you as you decide on a graduate program that is a good fit for you and can best help you accomplish your goals.

If you have any questions, please contact the program administrator, B L Whang, at microbiology [at] mit.edu.

We look forward to receiving your application.