Introduction
The mission of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century. To help recruit, evaluate, admit, and enroll such qualified candidates, it is necessary to collect and process certain personal information about prospective students and their families. This privacy statement explains how MIT Graduate Admissions collects, uses, and processes personal information about prospective students and their families for purposes of recruitment, admissions and enrollment.
MIT Graduate Admissions is a decentralized network of graduate programs offering a range of degree plans. No two academic departments, nor degree programs, at the Institute are exactly alike; as such, there is no single application that fits all departments, and the information you may volunteer as part of your application may vary depending on the degree program to which you apply.
This privacy statement explains how MIT Graduate Admissions, through the GradApply online application system and the Graduate Admissions instance of the Slate application system, collects, uses, and processes personal information about prospective students and applicants for purposes of recruitment, admissions, and enrollment. The guidance provided below is intended to speak broadly as to the application process, and the information you are asked to submit as part of your application may not be exhaustive as the list below.
What personal information we collect
During the online application process, you may share different kinds of information about yourself, such as the types of data below. We collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal information to facilitate your application submission, along with other admissions procedures.
Biographic information
Please note that sensitive information related to your background is only collected with your explicit consent. The provision of such information is voluntary. Whether you consent to provide such information has no bearing on a program’s admissions decision, nor any other action MIT takes with respect to your application.
- Name
- Gender and pronouns
- Legally assigned sex
- Marital status
- Citizenship
- Race and/or ethnicity
- Sexual orientation
- Likeness (e.g. video, photograph)
- Immigration or visa status
Contact information
- Mailing address
- Permanent address
- Phone number(s)
- Email address(es)
- Social media information
- Emergency contact information
Educational history
- Current educational institution, if applicable
- Previous educational institutions
- Degrees earned
- Standardized test scores
- School and community activities
- Prior disciplinary history, if applicable
Employment history
To better understand your professional experience, we may collect the following types of information regarding your current and/or prior employers.
- Name of employer(s)
- Job title(s)
- Dates of employment
- Business address(es)
- Name and/or contact information of supervisor
- Work experience (e.g. duties, skills)
Financial information
To better identify and evaluate your funding needs for graduate study, we may collect the following information.
- Tax identification number
- Current or most recent wages
- Scholarships or fellowships
- Grants
- Other sources of support, such as personal or familial resources
- Names of supporting family members
- Employment history
- Educational history
- MIT affiliation, if applicable
To process your application fee payment, we will need to pass your credit card information onto a third party payment processor. We do not store this data.
How we collect your personal information
Information is gathered from a variety of sources: online application software such as GradApply or Slate, online forms, and email correspondence between yourself and graduate admissions offices. A significant portion of the information we maintain is that which you have provided to us via these sources. We may also augment the information we collect about you with information from other sources, such as third-party standardized testing services, recommenders or professional references, MIT alumni, and/or current MIT students with whom you may have a personal connection.
How we use your personal information
We collect, use and process your personal information (1) to process transactions requested by you and meet our contractual obligations; (2) to facilitate MIT’s legitimate interests; and/or (3) with your explicit consent, where applicable.
If you have concerns about any of these purposes, or how we communicate with you, please contact us at dataprotection@mit.edu. We will always respect a request by you to stop processing your personal information (subject to our legal obligations).
Who may access your personal information
To perform the functions listed above, it may be necessary to share your personal information with other MIT offices, such as the Registrar’s Office, Resource Development, Student Affairs, MIT Alumni Association, Student Financial Services, International Students Office, Career Advising and Professional Development, and academic programs. We may also share your personal information with third parties performing services under contract with us.
Additionally, if necessary, we may share your personal data with government agencies to comply with a legal process, subpoena, order, or other legal or regulatory requirement applicable to us, or to pursue available legal remedies or defend against legal claims.
How your information is stored and secured
MIT Graduate Admissions uses risk-assessed administrative, technical, and physical security measures to protect your personal information. Only authenticated users with specific permissions may access the data. We use firewalls and regular monitoring to evaluate any attempts at accessing the systems without permission. However, please remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. While we strive to use risk-assessed administrative, technical and physical security measures to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its complete security.
How long we keep your personal information
We consider our relationship with the MIT community to be lifelong. This means that we will maintain a student record for you, should you be admitted and enroll as a graduate student at the Institute, until such time as you request that we purge your information. Admissions data will be maintained for four years in the application system following the admissions cycle in which you applied, the date you graduate from your program of study at the Institute, or the date you withdraw from your program of study at the Institute, dependent on your enrollment status. After such time, we will retain a core set of information for MIT’s legitimate purposes, such as archival, scientific, and historical research and for the defense of potential legal claims.
Data Access Rights
You may have the right in certain circumstances to (1) access your personal information; (2) correct or erase information; (3) restrict processing; and (4) object to communications, direct marketing, or profiling.
To the extent applicable, international data protection laws, such as the E.U.’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), may provide further information about your rights. You may also have the right to lodge complaints with your national or regional data protection authority. If you are inclined to exercise these rights, we request an opportunity to discuss with you any concerns you may have.
To protect the personal information we hold, we may request further information to verify your identity when exercising these rights. Upon a request to erase information, we will maintain a core set of personal data to ensure we do not contact you inadvertently in the future, as well as any information necessary for MIT archival purposes. We may also need to retain some financial information for legal purposes, including U.S. IRS compliance. In the event of an actual or threatened legal claim, we may retain your information for the purposes of establishing, defending against, or exercising our rights with respect to such claim.
By providing information directly to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, you consent to the transfer of your personal information outside of your country of residence to the United States. You understand that the current laws and regulations of the United States may not provide the same level of protection as the data and privacy laws and regulations of other jurisdictions.
Additional information
We may change this Privacy Statement from time to time. If we make any significant changes in the way we treat your personal information, we will make this clear on our website or by contacting you directly.
The controller for your personal information is MIT. We can be contacted at dataprotection@mit.edu.
This policy was last updated in July 2025.
