Standardized Test Requirements
The GRE (general) test is required of all applicants.
Self-report GRE results – general test only. Please ask ETS to send the official GRE scores to us. Inst. code 3514, Dept. code 1502.
IELTS (preferred) or TOEFL for international students whose native language is not English. Note, we only accept the Academic IELTS (not General Training). Minimum acceptable score for IELTS = 7.0; TOEFL = 100 IBT. Please ask British Council to send us the official IELTS score or ETS to send us the official TOEFL score (Inst. code 3514 and Dept. code 68). We will accept the TOEFL Home Edition as long as the result is officially sent to us directly from TOEFL.
The IELTS/TOEFL will be waived for any student graduating from a US school. Students from India who are citizens of that country are exempt from taking the IELTS or TOEFL exam.
IELTS scores must be requested from the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in order for a file to be considered complete. Please allow four to six weeks for ETS to send the “official” score reports to the department. Copies of these scores should be sent with the application and will be used only until “official” scores have been received. NO IELTS WAIVERS ARE GRANTED.
GRE and IELTS tests
Educational Testing Service (ETS) information:
ETS Telephone number: 1-800-529-3590
ETS website: http://www.gre.org/
MIT Code: 3514
ME Department Code: 1502
IELTS tests: The Institute address is sufficient for notification (no code number is required)
Writing Ability Requirement
All incoming graduate students must demonstrate satisfactory English writing ability or successfully complete appropriate training in writing. This requirement reflects the faculty’s conviction that writing is an essential skill for an engineer with an advanced degree.
All incoming graduate students, native as well as foreign, must take the Institute writing ability test, which is administered online over the Summer before matriculation, or before the start of the Fall semester, typically in September. Depending on the results, a student will either (a) pass the writing ability requirement; (b) be required to take a short, but intensive, seminar-workshop in expository writing during the Independent Activities Period in January.
Note that all graduate students for whom English has not been the language of instruction in both elementary and secondary school are also required by MIT to take an English Evaluation Test. This test is separate from the departmental writing ability test.