How to Apply to the MBA Program

Tell us about your academic journey, so we can understand what experience and skills you might bring to the classroom as an MIT Sloan student. You will include details for every undergraduate and graduate institution you've attended, or are currently attending.

Please scan and upload your transcript(s) from all colleges and universities you attended or are currently attending. If you are currently earning a degree, please upload your most up-to-date transcript. We review transcripts carefully, so please double-check that what you have uploaded is legible; if you can’t read it, neither can we!

Some important details:

• All applicants to the program must hold a four-year undergraduate degree or three-year equivalent undergraduate degree from outside of the U.S., by the time of matriculation. 
• Do not mail any hard copies of official academic records or transcripts.
• If you received an undergraduate degree as part of a Master's program, please include an undergraduate entry in addition to your Master's degree.
• If your transcripts are not in English, please scan and upload both the original and the certified translation.
• We cannot accept “digitally signed” or encrypted transcripts. If you’re having difficulty uploading your document, this may be the reason. Print out your transcript, scan it, and upload the PDF.
• We do not accept transfer credits. Any MIT classes taken pre-matriculation cannot be counted toward your degree at MIT Sloan.

If admitted to the program, you will be required to provide an official signed and sealed transcript from all schools attended. Any discrepancies between the scanned transcripts and official transcripts may result in a candidate’s rejection or a withdrawal of our offer of admission.

MIT Sloan seeks students whose personal characteristics demonstrate that they will make the most of the incredible opportunities at MIT, both academic and non-academic. We are on a quest to find those whose presence will enhance the experience of other students. We seek thoughtful leaders with exceptional intellectual abilities and the drive and determination to put their stamp on the world. We welcome people who are independent, authentic, and fearlessly creative — true doers. We want people who can redefine solutions to conventional problems, and strive to preempt unconventional dilemmas with cutting-edge ideas. We demand integrity and respect passion.

Taking the above into consideration, please submit a cover letter seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA program. Your letter should conform to a standard business correspondence, include one or more professional examples that illustrate why you meet the desired criteria above, and be addressed to the Admissions Committee (300 words or fewer, excluding address and salutation).

We are interested in learning more about the impact you have made as a professional. Please share details beginning with your current or most recent position. You may list up to three entries. Each entry will include details of the organization, your role, and compensation. Entrepreneurs will provide additional details of their experience(s) including company formation, partnership, and revenue model.

In addition, please submit a one-page resume. This will help us easily track your academic and career path. Try to focus on your work results, not just your title or job description.

Here are some pointers on formatting:

• One-page limit
• Times New Roman font
• Size 10 font
• Word or PDF formats only

Provide the following information in reverse chronological order:

• Education: Please include relevant awards, scholarships, and professional societies
• Work Experience: Please include company name, title, results-oriented bullets that demonstrate your skill set, and dates
• Additional Information: Please include extracurricular activities/community service, technical skills/certifications, and special skills/interests, and languages spoken (if applicable)

A detailed recommendation can tell us a lot about you. Make sure you select an individual qualified to speak about your results as a professional and your potential as a leader.

Some important details:

• MBA applicants must submit one letter of recommendation.
• A recommendation from a professional contact is preferred, ideally a manager or supervisor.
• We do not accept recommendations from family members.
• Your letter of recommendation must be received by the deadline date for the round you are applying (see above for our deadlines). It is your responsibility to remind your recommender to make sure it is submitted on time.

You will be instructed to add your recommender's contact information and they will be sent instructions on how to submit their letter. You should choose a recommender who can answer the following questions:

• How long and in what capacity have you known the applicant?
• How does the applicant stand out from others in a similar capacity?
• Please give an example of the applicant's impact on a person, group, or organization.
• Please give a representative example of how the applicant interacts with other people.
• Please tell us anything else you think we should know about this applicant.
• Describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant's response.

To help us better understand your current role and the impact that you have on your team and department, please submit an organizational chart. We should be able to clearly understand the internal structure of your organization, where you sit in your organization, and your line of reporting.

Organizational charts should not be more than two pages and keep the following in mind:

• Give us as much detail as possible (names, titles, etc.) but it’s ok to redact names if you need to.
• Please circle your role in red so that your position is easily identifiable.
• Make sure we can easily identify where you are, to whom you report, and if applicable, who reports to you.
• If your recommender or references are on your organizational chart (they may not be, and that’s ok!), please highlight them for us.
• If you are a consultant, entrepreneur, or affiliated with the military, review our FAQs for suggestions on how to approach the organizational chart.

View Organizational Chart Samples

We welcome applicants from many types of academic backgrounds and do not have any academic prerequisites. That being said, we want to understand what relevant coursework you have already completed in order to assess how prepared you are for our core MBA courses.

In the application, we ask you to tell us which courses (if any) in the following subject areas you have taken. We’ll also ask what grade you received in each course.

• Calculus
• Communications
• Microeconomics
• Organizational Behavior
• Probability
• Statistics

Additionally, if you earned special certifications or took professional development courses in your spare time, please tell us about them! Feel free to submit academic evidence not already on your transcripts, such as: professional certifications (CFA, CPA, ACCA, among others); non-degree coursework such as MITx MicroMasters, CORe, edX, MBA Math, or any other non-degree coursework you completed.

We want to make sure we give you the best chance to show us your strengths, so please provide us with contact information for two additional professional references. If we still have questions after reading your application, we might reach out to one or both of these references. Similar to your recommender, these additional references should be able to speak to your professional and/or academic background. These two individuals should be different from your recommender.

All applicants must submit a valid GMAT (Focus Edition or 10th Edition) or GRE score by the application deadline. We accept self-reported scores from both online and test center exams, with no preference between formats.

Please also send official scores using the following codes:

• GMAT: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – MIT Sloan School of Management
• GRE: 3791

If you took the GMAT, select the correct edition from the dropdown in the application. The current version, the GMAT Focus Edition (available since November 2023), has a Total Score range of 205–805. The previous version scored 200–800. Though similar, the scales differ due to updated percentile distributions. Learn more about GMAT exam scores.

GMAT Superscore will appear as an additional data point on GMAT Official Score Reports sent to our program. For the current admissions cycle, our evaluation process will continue to focus on single attempt scores as we evaluate how GMAT Superscore may inform future admissions decisions. Candidates should not be concerned that the presence of a GMAT Superscore will negatively impact their application.

Every applicant has a story that can't be captured in a resume. Take up to 90 seconds to share yours: who you are, where you come from, and what's shaped the person you are today. Be conversational, be yourself. We can't wait to meet you.

Videos should adhere to the following guidelines:

• No more than 90 seconds long
• Single take (no editing)
• Speaking directly to the camera
• Do not include background music or subtitles
• Speak authentically to the camera — in your own words, as if talking to a friend. Avoid reading from a script or pre-written response

All MBA applicants will be prompted to respond to a randomly generated, open-ended question. We want to hear how you think and communicate in your own words. No prior preparation is required.

The following are examples of questions that may be asked in the Video Question 2:

• What achievement are you most proud of and why?
• Tell us about a time a classmate or colleague wasn’t contributing to a group project. What did you do?

The non-refundable application fee of $250.00 USD must be paid online to submit your application.

Please note that we cannot grant retroactive fee waivers if the application fee has already been paid online. If you are submitting a request, please wait to hear back from us.

You may be eligible for a fee waiver if any of the following apply:

• Current Peace Corps Members
• Veteran or Active Duty U.S. Military Personnel

The LGO program allows you to pursue two degrees from the MIT School of Engineering (SoE) and the MBA program at the MIT Sloan School of Management in two years. To learn more about the LGO program and read about the application requirements please visit the LGO website.

LGO Applicants are automatically considered for LGO and MBA. You may not submit separate applications to LGO and MBA. If you are unsuccessful in gaining admission to LGO, you will still be considered for the MBA program.

The MIT Sloan MBA program and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (HKS) offer a dual-degree program that can be completed in three years:

• First year in residence at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government
• A second year in residence at the MIT Sloan School of Management
• A third year with one semester at each school

Applicants who wish to pursue the dual degree option must receive:

• Concurrent admission to the MIT Sloan MBA program and the Harvard Kennedy School; and
• Permission from MIT Sloan to pursue the dual degree option in three years

Applicants intending to pursue the dual degree option with the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (HKS) should follow the MBA applicant instructions above. All applicants intending to apply for the dual degree program must be applying concurrently to HKS and MIT Sloan; applicants must submit their application to MIT Sloan in Round 2.

Concurrent applicants to MIT Sloan and HKS must notify MIT Sloan immediately if accepted into HKS so that we can review and approve you to pursue the dual degree program.

This program allows students to pursue an MBA and a Master in City Planning (MCP) in three academic years.

Applicants who wish to pursue the dual degree option must receive:

• Concurrent admission to the MIT Sloan MBA program and DUSP; and
• Permission from MIT Sloan to pursue the dual degree option in three years

All applicants intending to apply for the dual degree program must be applying concurrently to DUSP and MIT Sloan; applicants must submit their application to MIT Sloan in Round 2.

For applicants who applied for entry in a previous year, we require that you complete and submit a new and complete application. We strongly encourage you to submit new application materials and emphasize what has changed since you last applied. Reapplicants may submit their applications in any round and will have an opportunity to highlight changes since their previous application in a short-answer question. LGO reapplicants must submit their applications by the LGO deadline. You can find more information in our FAQs.