MIT Class of 2022 Early Action Statistics

The data is in for the Early Action round at MIT this year (photo credit: John Phelan).

Admissions figures are in for the Early Action round at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the Class of 2022. In all, 9,557 students applied to MIT this Early Action cycle, marking a 13.9% increase in EA applications from last cycle. Of these 9,557 students, 664 earned admission. This equates to an admission rate of 6.9% for the Early round, an all-time record for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. An additional 6,210 students were deferred admission to the Regular Decision round (65% of applicants). 2,498 students were denied admission outright (26.1% of applicants).

MIT Class of 2022 Early Action Statistics

As Jessica Shi reports for “The Tech” in a piece entitled “MIT admits 664 students to the Class of 2022 in EA admissions,” “In comparison with last year, the total number of early action applicants is up from 8,394 (representing a 13.9 percent increase); the acceptance rate is down from 7.8 percent; the deferral rate is down from 69.7 percent; and the rejection rate is up from 20.5 percent. More broadly, the acceptance rate has been steadily decreasing since 2014, while the deferral and rejection rates have fluctuated with less consistency. This is also the third year the early action option has been open to international students. Several natural disasters, including Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, as well as wildfires in California, have ravaged on throughout the fall semester, perhaps affecting the number of students who chose or were able to submit applications. In an earlier blog post published Sept. 25, MIT admissions member Elizabeth Choe ’13 wrote that they would ‘try to be as flexible as possible in these situations’ and emphasized that applying early action bears no ‘bonus points.'”

The Early Action Advantage

Oh and yes, that last bit — the bit about how there is no advantage in applying Early — is nonsense. Utter nonsense. But, Ivy Coach, you’re saying that an admissions officer isn’t telling it like it is? Yes, we’re saying that! Admissions officers also tell students and parents that colleges are need-blind when it comes to ability to pay. If that were the case, then why do the vast majority of highly selective colleges ask if a student needs financial aid on the application supplement? Why wouldn’t it be on a separate document admissions officers aren’t privy to? Admissions officers tell fallacies all the time. One such fallacy is that there is no advantage to applying Early. You see, admissions officers can’t say there’s an advantage in applying Early. When so many folks believe the Early round caters to the privileged elite, it behooves admissions officers to reiterate there is no advantage in applying by November 1st. But of course that isn’t the case.