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Requirements for Off-cycle Admission

A student can only apply for off-cycle admission with very strong support from a faculty member in the form of guaranteed funding and guaranteed advising support. If no faculty member can formally guarantee funding in writing, the student cannot be considered for off-cycle admissions.

Reasons for Off-cycle Admission

In some cases, it may be desirable to allow a student to apply to the department outside the normal admissions cycle. Two reasons for this are:

  • the student is completing an SM in another department at MIT, and wishes to continue with his or her doctoral studies in Aero. The student may want to apply for early admission to be allowed to take the Qualifying exam (In 2010, the Graduate Committee determined that only students admitted to the department would be allowed to take the Qualifying exam).
  • a faculty member has an immediate need associated with a specific research project, and has identified a specific student for the project.
Process for Off-cycle Admission

The process is the following:

  1. The sponsoring faculty writes to the Graduate Program Administrator, sponsoring the student and providing a formal guarantee of funding and advising support.
  2. The Graduate Program Administrator records the guarantee of funding and support, and approves the student to apply for off-cycle admission after a decision is made by the GAC Chair..
  3. The student replies with a full application, ideally using the GradApply electronic system.
  4. The GAC chair and co-chair both read the folder. If, in the judgement of the GAC chair and co-chair, the folder would be accepted by the sector during the normal admissions process (i.e., with strong support from the advisor and guaranteed funding), then the applicant will be admitted.
  5. If, in the judgement of the GAC chair and co-chair, it is not clear that the folder would be accepted by the sector, the folder will be sent to 3 members of the GAC for a full review, and the admission decision will be made by a simple majority.
  6. The admissions decision will be communicated by the Graduate Program Administrator to the applicant and sponsoring advisor.
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