How Big Is MIT?

August 6, 2022
By AdmissionSight

How Big Is MIT?

Is MIT A Large Campus?

MIT was established in Boston, but in 1916 it moved its headquarters to Cambridge. The Institute is an essential component of the city, which is a culturally rich and dynamic neighborhood with close to 119,000 residents. The city is renowned for its long history, active intellectual community, and thriving innovation climate.

If you’re intrigued how big is MIT, the medium-sized institution with a 169-acre campus situated in Cambridge? It has 26 acres of playing fields, 40 plus gardens, 19 student residences, and approximately 60 public artworks. That explains the response to the applicants’ common query “Is MIT a large campus?” More than 47,000 college and university students and many of them reside within the city’s 6.43 mi2 (16.2 km2).

Along the Charles River, the campus of MIT stretches for more than a mile (1.6 kilometers). At its core is a collection of interconnected buildings that were created by the architect W. Welles Bosworth (Class of 1889). These buildings make it easier for MIT’s schools and departments to collaborate and communicate with one another

The campus architecture features a wide variety of architectural styles, ranging from neoclassical to modernist, brutalist, and deconstructivist respectively. Buildings on campus designed by renowned architects such as Alvar Aalto, Frank Gehry, Steven Holl, Fumihiko Maki, I. M. Pei ’40, and Eero Saarinen are among the historic landmarks that have stood the test of time.

MIT building surrounded by grass and trees.

Inside, MIT’s research endeavors in a variety of fields are supported by facilities that are at the cutting edge of technology. These facilities include wind tunnels, test labs for robots and drones, wet labs, clean rooms, and maker spaces. Additionally, there is a nanotechnology and advanced imaging center that is 237,777 square feet (22,090 square meters) in size.

Education can be obtained at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at MIT. In addition to the Whitaker College of Health Sciences and Technology, you can see how big is MIT, having a total of six academic schools: the School of Architecture and Planning, the School of Engineering, the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Science, the MIT Sloan School of Management, and the School of Science.

There are a total of 19 residence halls on campus for students to choose from, 11 of which are designated specifically for undergraduates while the remaining 8 are designated for graduate students as well as families.

The campus is urban and easily accessible on foot, and it promotes environmentally responsible behaviors by providing gardens and other green spaces, bike share stations, and free shuttle service, among other things. The campus merges with a number of Cambridge neighborhoods at its periphery, one of which is Kendall Square. Thanks to the proximity of industry and research expertise in this area, Kendall Square is widely regarded as the most innovative square mile on the entire planet.

In addition to being friendly to pedestrians and cyclists, Cambridge is equipped with six subway stations, a commuter rail line, 24 bus routes, 68 bike-share stations, dedicated bicycle lanes, and numerous shuttles and bikeways. All of these make it possible for students, residents, and visitors to navigate the city without the use of a car despite the worry about how big is MIT’s neighborhood.

What Is the Area Around MIT Like?

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus can be found in Cambridge, just a short walk across the Charles River from Boston. The Harvard Bridge (ironic, isn’t it?), which spans the Charles River at a length of 2,164.8 feet, is the longest bridge in the area (or 364.4 smoots).

Group of students crossing the streets towards MIT campus.

If you are looking for some exciting things to do, here are some of recommendations for you to check out to see what is the area around MIT like.

MIT Museum

A showcase for the innovation that has occurred at MIT in the past, in the present, and in the future The Museum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology can be found in Kendall Square in Cambridge. Exhibits pertaining to science and technology can be found in abundance in the primary gallery. Upstairs, the crowd-favorite parts are the kinetic machines and the holograms.

Harvard Museum of Natural History

The Harvard Peabody Museum is the most popular museum on campus, and it houses more than 12,000 specimens, some of which are dinosaur fossils, meteorites, gemstones, and animals originating from all corners of the world.

The Harvard Museum of Natural History frequently offers free admission to residents of Massachusetts on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., in addition to hosting family programs, lectures, and classes

Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology

The Harvard Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is one of the oldest museums in the world that is dedicated to the study of anthropology. It is located right next door. The Museum provides a weekly program geared toward families, and admission on Sunday mornings is free of charge for residents of Massachusetts.

There is never a bad time to get some fresh air and take in the splendor of the many wonderful museums that Boston has to offer. A few favorite places that you simply must visit are included in this quick roundup. College students with valid ID can get discounts at most, and library passes are available to residents of Massachusetts through their respective public libraries.

Places to go sightseeing in and around Cambridge:

  • Central Square is home to a variety of restaurants and music clubs from around the world
  • Harvard Square is home to a plethora of shops, bars, and restaurants in addition to a number of bookstores and street performers.
  • Kendall Square, the center of the high-tech and biotechnology industries in Massachusetts
  • Porter Square, home to the region’s largest concentration of Japanese eateries and shops
  • Davis Square, where the vibrant arts community as well as many shops, bars, and restaurants are located
  • Inman Square, a place filled with restaurants, bars, and coffee houses
  • Porter Square, the region’s largest concentration of Japanese eateries and shops
  • Davis Square, which is home to a thriving local arts community in addition to a wide variety of shops, bars, and restaurants

How Many People Apply to MIT in A Year?

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the United States due to the breadth and depth of its academic offerings, as well as the expertise of its teaching staff.

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise on the number of how many people apply to MIT in a year. Thousands of aspirants need to work hard to be accepted into this school that requires more than just outstanding academic performance on standardized tests and grades.

Students working on a school work while sitting.

Even though up until recently the university has had a more favorable acceptance rate than the Ivies, MIT is still highly ranked and is considered to be more selective than the Ivies. This is despite the fact that MIT is not a member of the Ivy League.

So, how big is MIT’s number of admissions? Applications increased by 66 percent last year, when 1,457 students were accepted out of a pool of 33,240 applicants (a figure that stood at 20,075 for the Class of 2024). This resulted in an admission rate that was at a record low of 4.03 percent at the time.

Therefore, it wouldn’t have come as much of a surprise if the number of applications to the MIT Class of 2026 had decreased slightly this year after such a record-breaking year.

However, MIT has raised the bar even further for the students in the Class of 2026. Applications for general first-year admissions reached 33,767 and 1,337 were admitted to MIT. U.S. citizens and permanent residents made up 24,165 of the applicants, of which 1,201 were accepted; international students made up 9,602 of the applicants, of which 136 were accepted.

What Is MIT’s Acceptance Rate?

The outcomes have been determined, and it appears that the level of competition is higher than ever before. Students from more than 900 different high schools across 50 states and 65 countries made up the 3.9 percent of students who were informed of the positive development.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced the results of its regular admissions competition for the class of 2026 on Pi Day, March 14, at 6:28 p.m. The committed group of admissions officers at MIT read through thousands of applications and evaluated each one using a holistic perspective.

On March 14, a blog post written by the MIT Admissions Office was where the statistics for the MIT Class of 2026 were first announced. According to the post, there was an all-time high number of 33,796 students who applied to be a part of the MIT Class of 2026, which represents a 2 percent increase over the previous year’s Early and Regular action applicant pool. In December 2021, MIT released their Early Admission results. Only 697 of the 14,781 applicants were accepted by MIT as shown below:

Admission Type Total Number of Applications Total Number of Accepted Students Total Admissions Acceptance Rate
Regular Applications 33,796 1,337 3.90%
Early Applications 14,781 697 4.70%

The numbers for the previous two years were significantly higher than the average of 20,000 applicants prior to the pandemic. The classes of 2025 and 2026 received over 66 percent more applications than the class of 2024. The comparison chart that can be found below elucidates what is MIT’s acceptance rate over the course of the past three years.

Class Total Number of Applicants Total Number of Admitted Applicants Overall Admission Rate
Class of 2024 20,075 1,457 7.30%
Class of 2025 33,240 1,340 4.10%
Class of 2026 33,796 1,337 3.90%

What Is the Average Class Size At MIT?

Education and cutting-edge research are inseparable components of the mission of MIT’s faculty, which numbers just over 1,000 people. Each one helps to sustain the other.

When they are not breaking new ground in their respective fields, MIT faculty members contribute significantly to the development of the Institute’s dynamic campus community by serving in a variety of capacities, including those of advisors, coaches, heads of houses, mentors, committee members, and many others.

Students taking an exam in their desk.

To give you a clear idea of what is the average class size at MIT, the student-to-faculty ratio is 3:1, and the institution offers 70.1% of its courses with fewer than 20 students.

How Many Majors Does MIT Have?

Despite the fact that MIT is perhaps most well-known for its academic programs in engineering and the physical sciences, the institute also excels in a variety of other fields, particularly economics, political science, urban studies, linguistics, and philosophy. The admissions process is notoriously difficult, but undergraduate students frequently have the opportunity to conduct their own original research.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is primarily a research university that caters to the academic requirements of graduate and professional students.

Group of students smiling in the camera.

The Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at MIT, also known as “Course 6” on campus, is consistently ranked as the school’s most sought-after major.

In fact, the only thing that is used to refer to a student’s major or individual classes at MIT is either an acronym or a number. For instance, students refer to Linguistics and Philosophy as Course 24, while Civil and Environmental Engineering is referred to as Course 1, and so on.

The names of individual classes are derived from the combination of the course number assigned by the department and the class number. For instance, course number 2.03 is also used to refer to the Mechanical Engineering Dynamics and Control II class.

The undergraduate program at MIT lasts for four years and is primarily geared toward professional majors, although there are some electives available in the arts and sciences. Undergraduate students at MIT have access to 44 different degree programs, which are distributed across the institution’s five academic schools. The Bachelor of Science degree is the only undergraduate degree that can be earned at MIT (SB).

Approximately 63 percent of students enrolled in undergraduate programs choose to major in engineering. In addition to science, other popular undergraduate majors include the humanities, business management, architecture, and business administration. Electrical engineering and computer science are currently the two most sought-after majors for undergraduate study.

Other well-liked majors for students in their first year of the college include computer science and engineering, mathematics, mechanical engineering, and computer engineering. Here are the fields of study available to show how many majors does MIT have:

Field of Study Course
Aerospace Engineering 16 & 16-ENG
African and African Diaspora Studies 21
American Studies 21
Ancient and Medieval Studies 21
Anthropology 21A
Applied International Studies 17
Archaeology and Materials 3-C
Architecture 4
Art and Design 4-B
Art, Culture and Technology 4
Asian and Asian Diaspora Studies 21
Astronomy 8 or 12
Atmospheric Chemistry 12
Biological Engineering 20
Biology 7
Biomedical Engineering 20
Brain and Cognitive Sciences 9
Business Analytics 15-2
Chemical Engineering 10 & 10-C & 10-ENG
Chemical-Biological Engineering 10-B
Chemistry 5
Chemistry and Biology 5-7
Chinese 21G
Civil and Environmental Engineering 1-ENG
Civil and Environmental Systems 1
Civil Engineering 1
Comparative Media Studies CMS
Computation and Cognition 6-9
Computer Science and Engineering and Computer Science CS&E/6-3
Computer Science and Molecular Biology 6-7
Data Science 6-14
Design 4
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences 12
Economics 14
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 6-2
Electrical Science and Engineering 6-1
Energy Studies 12
Entrepreneurship & Innovation E&I
Environmental Engineering Science 1
Environment and Sustainability Inter-school
Finance 15-3
French 21G
German 21G
History 21H
History of Architecture, Art and Design 4
Humanities and Engineering 21E
Humanities and Science 21S
International Development 11
Japanese 21G
Latin American and Latino/a Studies 21
Linguistics 24-2
Literature 21L
Management 15-1
Materials Science and Engineering 3 & 3-A
Mathematical Economics 14-2
Mathematics 18
Mathematics with Computer Science 18-C
Mechanical Engineering 2 & 2-A
Mechanical and Ocean Engineering 2-OE
Middle Eastern Studies 21
Music 21M
Nuclear Science and Engineering 22
Flexible Nuclear Science and Engineering Degree 22-ENG
Philosophy 24-1
Physics 8
Planning 11
Political Science 17
Polymers and Soft Matter Interdisciplinary
Public Policy 17
Russian and Eurasian Studies 21
Science, Technology and Society STS
Spanish 21G
Statistics and Data Science IDSS
Theater Arts 21M
Toxicology and Environmental Health 20
Urban Science and Planning with Computer Science 11-6
Urban Studies and Planning 11
Women’s and Gender Studies 21
Writing 21W

MIT is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the United States. Consequently, many students harbor hopes of being accepted there. If getting into MIT is one of your goals for the future, you should get ready for the competition because of the school’s high ranking and competitive admissions process. You need to consider how big is MIT’s admissions and how would you stand out. AdmissionSight would make sure that you are well-prepared and tailor your attributes to fit what MIT (or any other school) is looking for.

You may reach AdmissionSight for an initial consultation to start your college admissions journey right.

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