MIT BCS PhD Application FAQ

What are the most important things for candidates?

• Recommendation letters matter the most.

  • It’s very helpful if you can get recommendations from someone our faculty knows. (For MIT BCS specifically, it is beneficial if you can get recommendations from MIT BCS faculty, former MIT BCS graduates, or postdocs. I had two recommendations from MIT BCS faculty.)

• Your story matters!

What should I include in my Statement of Purpose (SOP)?

• In interviews, you will always be asked three main questions, so it's a good idea to prepare for these in your SOP. These three questions need to align well:

  • Tell me about yourself.

    • What are you passionate about?

  • What is your research experience?

    • If you are passionate about something, you should have done some research on that!

  • What do you want to do in our program? (List the PIs you are interested in.)

    • How can our program help you fulfill your passion?

    • Why is our program specifically the best fit for you?

      • Many SOPs are written almost exactly the same except for the last paragraph. If your reason for wanting to join a specific program could easily apply to another, that’s not a good sign.

Should I contact PIs beforehand?

• Yes! What do you have to lose except your time?

• MIT BCS PhD admissions are committee-based.

• However, if a PI is willing to advocate for you, you are much more likely to be admitted to the program.

  • It’s like a lottery. PIs may not respond to you, but if they find you interesting, they might reply and even schedule a few Zoom calls!

    • My MIT journey actually started with a single cold email!

What do you like the most about the program?

• They care about graduate students.

  • BCS, including the faculty, genuinely listens to our feedback. Things actually change when we speak up! (For example, coursework adjustments, moving funds.)

  • We have lunch talks throughout September. Every lunch, we get free food and hear pitches from some of the brightest minds in the field!

  • They show they care by providing financial support (e.g., moving funds, conference funds for first-year students).

Why did you choose MIT BCS?

• I want to understand depression and help people.

  • There are a good number of PIs who are interested in depression.

• Depression is rooted in biology but is also a very cognitive disease.

  • Our department covers a wide range, from the molecular and cellular levels to the cognitive level. It’s a unique approach.

• I have an engineering background. As an engineer, it's hard not to aspire to MIT.

Are people in the program heavily focused on computation?

• We have four tracks (Molecular/Cellular, Systems, Computational, Cognitive), and we try to balance them.

• However, I do feel that we place significant emphasis on the computational aspects of neuroscience. I think this is a general trend, as the data is getting too large!

I don’t know exactly what I want to do—I think everything is interesting.

• You need to convince others that you want to study for 6+ years.

  • It could be hard if you don’t have a clear story yet.

  • You might consider becoming an RA. Learning and doing research are surprisingly different, so it would be beneficial to find something you truly want to pursue before grad school!

How many people have research technician/post-bachelor experience before applying to graduate school?

• Around 70–80%, if you include RAs, master’s students, visiting students, technicians, and post-bachelor researchers.

• In my cohort, only 4 out of 17 came directly from undergrad. All of them also had significant research experience.

What is the ratio of international students?

• Around 40% (7 out of 17 in my cohort).

Does GPA matter?