Women's Technology Program

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Who should apply to WTP?

High school students now in grade 11 with a permanent family address in the US who:

• love and excel at math and science,
  but have no prior experience (or very little) in engineering
  
  
• would like to experience hands-on activities where they design and build engineering projects

• enjoy problem solving and collaborative learning
  
  
• want to focus for 4 summer weeks exclusively on learning about mechanical engineering in an intense academic environment

WTP is a women-focused collaborative community aimed at empowering young women and other students who are underrepresented and underserved in engineering, including students who:

• Attend a high school with limited access to STEM classes and activities
  


• Will potentially be the first family member to attend college
  
  
• Have no family members with science or engineering degrees
  
  
• Come from low socioeconomic means, which may be indicated by qualifiying for free/reduced school lunch


• Have otherwise been discouraged from pursuing their interest in STEM because of their background or who they are.

We strongly encourage applications from students who are African American, Hispanic, or Native American; however, all applicants will be reviewed equitably, regardless of their race or ethnicity.

Accepted students must be able to participate in all WTP required activities for the full four weeks.

Please check our Frequently Asked Questions and Calendar for more details about WTP.

Admissions Criteria

We expect to select up to twenty participants for WTP-ME from an applicant pool of the top 11th grade math and science students able to attend a four week residential program at MIT. In 2024 we receved 320 applications for the 20 WTP-ME spots.

All WTP applicants must live in the U.S. year round (your permanent family home address is in the U.S.). See the FAQ about residency for more details.

The primary criteria for acceptance are a strong curiosity about engineering and a demonstrated ability to excel in math and science. Students should be able to handle college-level material at a rapid pace, but should not have completed prior coursework or summer programs in the WTP curriculum.

Physics and calculus are not prerequisites (we realize that in many school systems students do not take these courses until Grade 12) but students should be taking the most advanced math and science classes available in their grade level at their high school. Having taken physics of any level (including AP C) does not constitute too much experience. 

We encourage students to apply who are not yet certain about their future college majors, who may have felt discouraged from participation in STEM activities, and who would like to explore engineering to determine whether pursuing future studies in engineering might be of interest.

Acceptance decisions are based on several criteria:

• Your responses in an online application which includes multiple choice and short answer questions as well as three personal essays.
  
  
• High school grades (predominantly A's, especially in math and science). Applicants should be taking the most advanced classes in science and math appropriate for their grade level at their schools.
  
  
• Teacher References: Online Forms completed by one math and one science teacher.
  
  
• We request standardized test scores in the application to provide additional information on your academic preparedness, but they are not a requirement. See the FAQ on standardized tests. 

It has come to our attention that there is inaccurate information about how WTP selects students on other websites not affiliated with WTP. Unfortunately, WTP has no way to take down or correct this wrong and misleading information. Please Do NOT believe anything about WTP admissions criteria and our selection process that you read on other websites. For the correct information read this page and our FAQ or email your question directly to WTP if you do not find the answer there.

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Curriculum

WTP is not a "summer camp" but an intense academic experience. WTP classes are ungraded so that students can feel free to stretch themselves and explore college level material and new areas of learning, without worrying about a grade. However, we do expect students to work hard and make the most of this opportunity; we pack a great deal of curriculum into the short 4 weeks.

The WTP-ME curriculum focuses on the engineering design process as used in mechanical engineering. If you have taken an engineering class or had extensive experience with engineering design, you will not be considered for WTP.

See the FAQ about prior experience to help determine if you have too much background in mechanical engineering to apply to WTP.

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Fees

FREE: To apply to WTP 

FREE: To attend WTP for students with family income less than $120,000 

Generous donations to WTP enable us to offer fee waivers and discounts for families with income less than $400,000 that cover more than half of the program expenses.

If paying the fees listed above would be a financial hardship, admitted students should contact us to explore the possibility of additional financial aid.

Housing and food during the program will be provided, as will all program materials. Students will be expected to bring a laptop to use for their coursework during the program. Loaners will be arranged free of charge for any student who needs one.    

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Apply to WTP- Summer 2025

WTP 2025 Application(click to access)
Deadline: Jan 15, 2025
Mechanical Engineering only

Applying to WTP is completely FREE

All WTP applicants must live in the U.S. year round (your permanent family home address is in the U.S.). See the FAQ about residency for more details.

If you have questions, please check the FAQ before contacting WTP. _____________________________________________

The WTP online application consists of:

* Forms:

Short answer questions about your previous coursework, activities, prior experience, and any standardized tests you have taken.

There are also 3 essay questions: each essay must be a minimum of 275 words, a maximum of about 330 words (2000 characters).

* Attachments (3):

1) High School Transcript - Grades 9 through 10 : Upload a .pdf of your high school transcript for Grades 9-10. This can be an UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT or Report Card. The size limit is 10MB. It must contain your full name, your school name, and if possible the school address. The document must be in English.

Many online Grade Reports do not meet these criteria, so you may have to request an unofficial transcript from your school registrar. Do not send us links to your online transcripts; we will not be able to access them.

2) High School Transcript - Grade 11 Fall Report : Upload a .pdf showing your Grade 11 fall grades (this can be one quarter, or the full fall semester, depending on what is available). This can be an UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT or Report Card, but it must contain your full name, your school name, and if possible the school address. The document must be in English. The size limit is 10MB.

The report must show your course grades for at least the first fall quarter of Grade 11 -- NOT just list courses you are taking. If the Grade 9-10 report you previously uploaded also contains your fall semester Grade 11 course grades, please upload it a second time as the Grade 11 Fall Report (Attachment #2).

If you do not yet have a fall junior year Grade Report, or if it does yet have grades for your fall courses, please instead upload a .pdf note as Attachment #2 (you cannot leave this attachment slot empty). The note should say you do not yet have the fall grade report. As soon as your Grade 11 report becomes available, email it to wtp-app@mit.edu so we can add it to your submitted application.

Once you submit the first quarter grades you have completed this requirement.  Please DO NOT send us any additional Grade 11 updates after submitting your application unless you have significant changes in course grades (such as going from a B to an A, or from an A to a B in a science or math class).

3) Score Reports - Test Score Documents: Please upload your score reports for all the tests you listed in the Test Scores Form question. Note that WTP cannot get score reports directly from the College Board or ACT or follow links to your score reports.

Students who have not taken ANY of these tests may still apply to WTP. If you have no score reports, instead upload a .pdf note to the Score Reports Attachment saying you have not taken any of these tests (you cannot leave this attachment slot empty).

Your score reports can be scanned from paper or captured from online screen shots. NOTE that your FULL NAME MUST BE VISIBLE on the pages or screen shot with your scores. Here are some examples of score reports we accept for PSAT, SAT, ACT.

If possible, please combine all of your score reports into one .pdf document. . Size limit: 10MB. If you are unable to merge all of your scores into one document we have provided two additional score report attachment sites in the application.

If after submitting your WTP application you receive additional test score reports with significantly improved scores, you may email them to wtp-app@mit.edu until March 1 and we will add them to your application.

*Teacher Reference Forms Completed Online:

(1 Math Teacher and 1 Science Teacher)

We ask your Teaches to COMPLETE AN ONLINE FORM inside the WTP Application with specific evaluation questions and a place where they can write or upload a letter of recommendation for you.

Teachers have until January 22 to complete these Reference Forms. We will continue to accept References submitted after this date (until March 1), but it will delay evaluating your application.

To give your teachers a preview of what to expect, please send them the link to this Guidelines for Teacher References when you ask them to serve as a WTP Reference. If they agree, add them as a Reference to your application; they should then receive an email invitation to complete an online form (they must complete the form in one session).

If your teachers do not receive the email, have them check their spam file, and also make sure the email you listed for them in your application is correct (no typos). If your teachers still cannot find the email, visit the SlideRoom Applicant Help Center References Help link.

The Math and Science Teachers will answer questions about your class performance and teamwork. If you are not sure which math and science teachers to ask, read the answer to this question on our FAQ page.

DO NOT ask a Computer Science Teacher to be a Reference. We find information from a science teacher who teaches classes in physics, biology, or chemistry (or is a science team or robotics team coach) or from a math teacher who teaches algebra, pre-calculus, geometry, calculus, or statistics (or is a math team coach) much more useful for WTP admissions decisions.

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Confirmations and Completing your Application

When you submit your WTP application through SlideRoom you will see a brief pop up confirmation. However, your application is NOT complete until we receive both of your Teacher References and have your fall Grade 11 transcript (only send your transcript to us if you did not upload it to Attachments).

It is the applicant's responsibility to make sure their application is complete by taking the steps below. WTP does not send out email messages confirming that your application is submitted or complete.

Please do not contact us to add information about awards, competitions, or other activities you have been doing since you submitted your application in January. We do not include updates like this in your WTP application.

To Complete Your Application:

1) Check the status of your Teacher References by logging into SlideRoom -- you can do this even after submitting your application. Click on the word "Completed" in the left column. Talk to your Teachers if they have not completed the online forms, make sure they received the Reference request email. You can check and correct their email addresses, and resend the email reminder to your teacher yourself within SlideRoom even after you submit your part of the application.

If your Teachers have not submitted their References by the Teacher Reference deadline of January 22, please ask them to do so as soon as possible in order to complete your application to WTP. We will accept References after that date, but it delays evaluation of your application. If your teachers cannot find the email, contact SlideRoom directly for technical support at the Help Center link.

2) If you did not have any fall Grade 11 course grades yet when you submitted your application, you MUST EMAIL your fall Grade 11 report as soon as it becomes available to wtp-app@mit.edu. Your application is NOT COMPLETE until we have this information. Once you submit the first quarter grades you have completed this requirement.

Please DO NOT send us any additional Grade 11 updates unless you have significant changes in course grades (such as going from a B to an A, or from an A to a B in a science or math class).

3) If you receive additional test scores with significant score changes after submitting your application, email your score report or screen shot as an attachment to wtp-app@mit.edu and we will add them to your application ONLY until March 1 (we will not accept them after that). NOTE that your FULL NAME MUST BE VISIBLE on the pages or screen shot with your scores. Size limit: 10MB.

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Admissions Decisions

WTP Admissions Decisions will be sent in late April. If you need an earlier decision due to deadlines for other programs, please email wtp@mit.edu with your request, specifying the date by which you are requesting a decision from WTP.

If you have additional questions about appying to WTP, we suggest you check our Frequently Asked Questions page for answers before contacting our office by email at wtp@mit.edu.

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