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About MIT

The MIT community is driven by a shared purpose: to make a better world through education, research, and innovation. We are fun and quirky, elite but not elitist, inventive and artistic, obsessed with numbers, and welcoming to talented people regardless of where they come from.

Founded to accelerate the nation’s industrial revolution, MIT is profoundly American. With ingenuity and drive, our graduates have invented fundamental technologies, launched new industries, and created millions of American jobs. At the same time, and without the slightest sense of contradiction, MIT is profoundly global. Our community gains tremendous strength as a magnet for talent from around the world. Through teaching, research, and innovation, MIT’s exceptional community pursues its mission of service to the nation and the world.

Mission and Values

Key Facts

History

  • Incorporated 1861
  • Motto “Mens et manus” (“mind and hand”)

Campus

  • Location Cambridge, MA USA
  • Size 168 acres (0.68 km2)
  • Student residences 19
  • Playing fields 26 acres (0.11 km2)
  • Gardens + green spaces 40+
  • Publicly sited works of art 60+

Admissions (Class of 2027)

  • Applicants 26,914
  • Admits 1,291

Selected Honors

  • Nobel laureates 101
  • National Medal of Science
 winners 61
  • National Medal of Technology and Innovation winners 33
  • MacArthur Fellows 83
  • A. M. Turing Award winners 17

More

MIT Facts
A brief history of MIT

Sepia photo of a large building with columns and stairs. Young trees are seen in the foreground.
A large, red sculpture sits on the grass. MIT buildings and people walking are seen in the background.

Community (as of 10/30/23)

  • Employees (including faculty) 17,180
  • Professors (all ranks) 1,089
  • Other teaching staff 1,020
  • Undergraduate student-to-faculty and instructional staff ratio 3:1
  • Students 11,920
  • Undergraduates 4,576
  • Women 2,231 (49%)
  • US minority groups 2,650 (58%)
  • Graduate students 7,344
  • Women 2,969 (40%)
  • US minority groups 1,617 (22%)
A professor writes an equation on a chalkboard.
Students sit in an auditorium-style classroom. Some are taking notes while others look straight ahead.

Faculty

For MIT’s faculty — just over 1,000 in number — cutting-edge research and education are inseparable. Each feeds the other. When they’re not busy pioneering the frontiers of their fields, MIT faculty members play a vital role in shaping the Institute’s vibrant campus community — as advisors, coaches, heads of houses, mentors, committee members, and much more.

A faculty member and a student look at a model.
A professor looks at a model under a bright light.

Leadership

President

Sally Kornbluth

MIT’s 18th president, January 2023 – present

The Institute’s board of trustees, known as “the Corporation,” includes 69 distinguished leaders in engineering, science, industry, education, and other professions.

Sally Kornbluth stands behind a lectern with the MIT logo. An image of the Great Dome is behind her.

Cambridge & Boston

MIT is an integral part of its host city of Cambridge, a diverse and vibrant community noted for its intellectual life, history, and thriving innovation climate. With a campus nestled between Central and Kendall Squares, and across the Charles River from Boston’s Back Bay, the Institute is optimally positioned to collaborate with its neighbors and to contribute to its community.

The MIT Dome and Killian Court are in the foreground, with the Charles River and Boston skyline in the background.