How To Get Into MIT Sloan

MIT Sloan Program Overview

At the MIT Sloan School of Management, it’s about the four Hs: the heart to strive, the head to keep up, the hands to get things done, and the home to take risks in a supportive environment. Ideal Sloan candidates have a “can do” spirit and look outside the box to solve problems, with interests in innovation-driven entrepreneurship, market disruption, and economic transformation.

Sloan is perhaps best known for its technology offerings, but the school’s students enter various industries after graduation, ranging from consulting (28.3% of the Class of 2021 accepted jobs in this field) to finance (21.4%), pharmaceuticals/health care/biotech (9.8%), and consumer products (4.0%). Technology is, however, admittedly popular among “Sloanies”: more than 21% of the Class of 2021 chose positions in software and Internet.

Sloan’s culture is diverse, collaborative, and driven by a passion for solving problems, and the school uses the term “OneSloan” to emphasize its sense of community. The student body is diverse not only in their nationalities (64 countries were represented within the latest incoming class) but also in their perspectives and intellectual interests. In addition, Sloan’s deeply ingrained values of respect and thoughtfulness toward others support the connection among students throughout their studies.

At Sloan, “past is prologue,” meaning that Sloanies are far more interested in what you have accomplished in the past than your aspirations for the future. Showcasing your individuality and ideas, even if they are a bit unorthodox, is encouraged. After all, this is MIT, where being a little less traditional and maybe even not as good at math as some isn’t a problem; it’s an opportunity!

Sloan offers its students a notable amount of flexibility: the Sloan Intensive Period, for example, takes place midway through each semester and allows students to focus on immersive, hands-on experiences instead of more traditional coursework. Action learning is further embedded into the curriculum in the form of the Sloan Action Learning Labs, which allow students to work with real companies to solve real business challenges in such areas as finance, entrepreneurship, and analytics. Flexibility is further demonstrated in the program’s first-semester core; Sloanies can start exploring electives (more than 140 are available!) in the second semester of the first year and can also take up to three graduate-level courses at other MIT schools or Harvard.

Sloanies stay connected outside the classroom through such activities as the annual Sloan Follies; social gatherings called C-Functions, which typically take place on campus and often have themes; and the more than 80 student-led clubs that revolve around sports, special interests, culture, arts, and various industries. One Sloan student and former Stratus client told us, “I found it surprising how nice the Sloan community is. Students are not cutthroat competitive, which is what I thought business school would be. For example, Sloan students who recruit for the same internships or full-time roles will help each other in the process, and everyone wants everyone else to succeed. There is no ‘winner takes all’ mentality.”

In short, Sloan is a meritocracy, a place where you can be more mature and less traditional—as well as a little more adventurous in your thinking but accomplished in your results. If this sounds appealing, then Sloan might be the right place for you!

MIT Sloan Curriculum

Incoming Sloan students are divided into six cohorts of approximately 70 individuals—and further into smaller learning teams. During Sloan’s one-semester core, students develop fundamental business skills with a focus on teamwork and leadership, including the first Sloan Intensive Period (SIP), an interactive and experiential learning opportunity that takes place at the midpoint of each semester.

These are Sloan’s five core courses:

• “Communication for Leaders”
• “Data, Models, and Decisions”
• “Economic Analysis for Business Decisions”
• “Financial Accounting”
• “Organizational Processes”

The curriculum is extremely flexible. Sloan recognizes that management education is constantly changing and has adapted its offerings to meet the needs of business leaders.

In their second year, students can take up to three courses at other MIT schools or write a thesis. Three tracks—Finance, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Enterprise Management—are also available, as are certificates in Sustainability, Healthcare, Digital Product Management, and Analytics.

Sloan prides itself on its offerings in experiential learning, and the school’s opportunities in this area are indeed robust: the 15 Action Learning labs range from the Finance Lab and Entrepreneurship Lab to the Israel Lab, China Lab, and USA Lab. Students can also take part in the Independent Activities Period to pursue independent projects.

Extracurriculars at MIT Sloan

The grandfather of all business plan competitions, the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition connects Sloan students with colleagues from across MIT and other universities. Such companies as Akamai, Brontes Technologies, and HubSpot are products of the MIT $100K. Since the first competition 30 years ago, the MIT $100K has helped launch more than 160 companies, which have gone on to build more than $16B in market capitalization.

Courses, clubs, lunches, conferences, and trips focused on sustainability are core to Sloan’s DNA and the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative. Students can gain a better understanding of “green” business or do a deep dive by obtaining a certificate in sustainability.

More than 80 student-run clubs exist at Sloan. The MIT Venture Capital & Private Equity Club, one of the largest clubs on campus, hosts the MIT Venture Capital Conference, speakers, treks, case competitions, job placement, and networking opportunities. There’s a club on campus for everyone, including the Education Club, the Sloan Pride Club, the European Business Club, Sloan Women in Management, the Sloan Runners Club, and the First Generation/Low-Income Club. Many clubs organize treks and trips to visit relevant companies and to socialize. One recent Sloan graduate and former Stratus client said, “I found the treks and trips to be the most rewarding experiences during business school. Treks/trips are a great way to get to know your fellow classmates on a deeper level. I really enjoyed the Sloan ski trip in Colorado, the Japan Trek, and the Israel Trek.”

MIT Sloan takes great pride in its neighborhood, Kendall Square, Cambridge. Across the street are Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and the Cambridge Innovation Center. There is nowhere else in the world where the “big three” are so close to each other, and the difference in cultures can be seen just by the fronts of their buildings. Venture capital firms nearby include Atlas Venture and Highland Capital Partners—so close, you can throw them your business plan! For the biotech inclined, the Broad Institute, Pfizer, Biogen, Novartis, and Genzyme are also Sloan neighbors.

The annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference is one of the largest student-led events on campus. The conference, in its 16th year in 2022, brings together sports analytics professionals and students for two days of panel discussions, workshops, a “hackathon,” a trade show, and a startup competition. The 140+ speakers who participated in the 2022 conference included professional athletes, sports writers, and industry executives. The event featured dozens of panels and workshops, research papers, and a women’s networking luncheon.

MIT Sloan School of Management Statistics

Class Profile (Class of 2023)

Class Size: 450
Average Work Experience: 5 years
Median GPA: 3.59

Women: 44%
International Citizenship: 43%
Median GMAT: 730
Middle 80% GMAT Range: 690−760

Career Placement (Industries, Class of 2021)

• Consulting: 28.3%
• Finance: 21.4%
• Software/Internet: 21.4%
• Pharmaceutical/Healthcare/Biotechnology: 9.8%
• Consumer Products: 4.0%
• Automotive/Aerospace: 3.6%
• Computers/Electronics: 2.9%
• Energy: 1.8%
• Media/Entertainment/Sports: 1.8%
• Other Manufacturing Industries: 1.8%
• Retail: 1.1%
• Other Service Industries: 0.7%
• Nonprofit: 0.6%
• Government: 0.4%
• Education: 0.4%

Geographic Placement (Class of 2021)

• International: 10.8%
  • Asia: 3.3%
  • Latin America and the Caribbean: 3.0%
  • Europe: 3.0%
  • Canada: 1.5%

• United States: 89.2%
  • Northeast: 40.4%
  • West: 28.1%
  • Mid-Atlantic: 6.3%
  • Southwest: 6.3%
  • South: 4.4%
  • Midwest: 3.7%

MIT Sloan 2023−2024 Application Essays

It may just be the glory days of MIT Sloan. Located in the middle of the booming Boston economy, centered in the emerging world of biotech, leading a movement in sustainability, and sitting one block (yes, really one block) away from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and more venture capital firms than you can count, MIT Sloan has never been better positioned as a business school.

The prompts for this year:

Cover Letter

• MIT Sloan seeks students whose personal characteristics demonstrate that they will make the most of the incredible opportunities at MIT, both academic and non-academic. We are on a quest to find those whose presence will enhance the experience of other students. We seek thoughtful leaders with exceptional intellectual abilities and the drive and determination to put their stamp on the world. We welcome people who are independent, authentic, and fearlessly creative — true doers. We want people who can redefine solutions to conventional problems, and strive to preempt unconventional dilemmas with cutting-edge ideas. We demand integrity and respect passion.
• Taking the above into consideration, please submit a cover letter seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA program. Your letter should conform to a standard business correspondence, include one or more professional examples that illustrate why you meet the desired criteria above, and be addressed to the Admissions Committee (300 words or fewer, excluding address and salutation).

Video

• Introduce yourself to your future classmates. Here’s your chance to put a face with a name, let your personality shine through, be conversational, be yourself. We can’t wait to meet you!
• Videos should adhere to the following guidelines:
  • No more than 1 minute (60 seconds) in length
  • Single take (no editing)
  • Speaking directly to the camera
  • Do not include background music or subtitles
• Note: While we ask you to introduce yourself to your future classmates in this video, the video will not be shared and is for use in the application process only.

Optional Short Answer Question

• Applicants are invited to expand on their background by responding to the following optional 250 word short answer question: How has the world you come from shaped who you are today? For example, your family, culture, community, all help to shape aspects of your identity. Please use this opportunity if you would like to share more about your background.

• This question is truly optional; applicants will not be evaluated more positively or negatively should they choose to respond. This is an opportunity for you to share more about yourself with the Admissions Committee, should you choose to do so.

Reapplicants

• For applicants who applied for entry in a previous year, we require that you complete and submit a new and complete application. We strongly encourage you to submit new application materials and emphasize what has changed since you last applied. Reapplicants may submit their applications in any round, and will have an opportunity to highlight changes since their previous application in a short-answer question.

Organizational Chart

• To help us better understand your current role and the impact that you have on your team and department, please submit an organizational chart. We should be able to clearly understand the internal structure of your organization, where you sit in your organization, and your line of reporting.

Application Requirements for MIT Sloan

Bachelor’s degree and transcripts

Sloan requires all applicants to have completed a four-year bachelor’s degree (or its equivalent if the applicant graduated outside of the United States) and to provide unofficial academic transcripts with their application. If the applicant is admitted, they are expected to provide official academic transcripts.

Resume

All Sloan applicants must submit a one-page resume with their application. “Try to focus on your work results, not just your title or job description,” the Sloan website reads. Sloan also asks applicants to include an organizational chart of no more than two pages with their application. “We should be able to clearly understand the internal structure of your organization, where you sit in your organization, and your line of reporting,” the school’s website notes.

Recommendations

Sloan requires one recommendation letter from each applicant. In business school applications, obtaining a recommendation from a direct supervisor or a manager is usually the best option. If you do not have a current direct supervisor or manager, consider past supervisors, colleagues, or clients, based on your work situation. Family members, friends, and professors are typically not suitable recommenders. “We want to make sure we give you the best chance to show us your strengths, so please provide us with contact information for two additional professional references. If we still have questions after reading your application, we might reach out to one or both of these references,” the school says on its website.

Test scores

Sloan accepts the GMAT and the GRE to fulfill the test score requirement. Usually, all applicants must provide a test score, although the school does not stipulate a minimum score. However, during the 2022–2023 application season, Sloan applicants can submit a request for a test waiver if they are not able to safely access a GMAT/GRE test. For the Class of 2024, the median GMAT score was 730.

Anything else?

A cover letter, a video statement, and an interview are also required of Sloan applicants. The cover letter is Sloan’s version of an application essay: “Your letter should conform to a standard business correspondence, include one or more professional examples that illustrate why you meet the desired criteria [for applicants], and be addressed to the Admissions Committee,” the school’s instructions read.

Sloan interviews are conducted on an invitation-only basis by members of the admissions committee. All interviews are hosted virtually. All candidates who are invited to interview are asked to respond in writing to two questions prior to the interview. These are some of the questions that are commonly asked during Sloan interviews:

• Anything new since you submitted your application?
• Why Sloan?
• What do you think about MIT?
• Tell me what you do in your current role as if I was sitting next to you on an airplane.
• Tell me about a time when you were overwhelmed.

MIT Sloan FAQ

What is Sloan best known for?

MIT Sloan is best known for its innovative, hands-on learning style and rigorous curriculum. MIT is one of the most prestigious STEM schools in the world and has educated countless notable thinkers. The Cambridge area is bustling with innovation and top-ranked education, providing Sloan students with the perfect setting for their studies.

How much does tuition cost?

Estimated tuition for the Sloan full-time MBA program is $109,180 for the 2023–2024 academic year. This includes program charges for two terms, room and board, food, health insurance, transportation, and such additional fees as books and supplies.

How difficult is it to get accepted into Sloan?

As is the case with all top-ranked business schools, Sloan has a competitive acceptance rate—in 2021, the school received 7,112 applications and admitted 859 applicants. This means that approximately 12.1% of applicants received an invitation to join the program. Out of the 859 applicants who were admitted, 450 decided to enroll.

Are you considering applying to MIT Sloan? Whether you are looking for comprehensive MBA admissions consulting, hourly help, or perhaps interview prep, we at Stratus Admissions Counseling can help you! Sign up for a free consultation today!