Biological Engineering — known internally at MIT as Course 20 — is the Institute's dedicated department for applying quantitative engineering methods to biology and medicine: synthetic biology, biomolecular engineering, cell and tissue engineering, and computational and systems biology. It sits alongside MIT's more famous Course 6 (EECS) and Course 2 (Mechanical Engineering) as one of MIT's undergraduate degree programs, explicitly listed among MIT's popular undergraduate programs. For students who want the quantitative, hands-on, lab-first engineering culture MIT is known for, but applied to biology and life sciences rather than software or hardware, Biological Engineering is MIT's flagship path — and it plugs directly into the surrounding Cambridge/Boston biotech corridor, one of the densest concentrations of biotech and pharma companies in the world.
This guide walks through what it takes to get into MIT with an eye toward Biological Engineering — acceptance rate realities, cost, requirements, English-test rules, and what graduates in the life sciences at MIT go on to do.
Acceptance Rate: What MIT Actually Publishes
MIT does not admit students by department at the undergraduate level and does not publish a Biological Engineering-specific acceptance rate. All undergraduate applicants go through MIT's single, unified admissions process and declare (or change) their department after arriving.
- MIT undergraduate overall acceptance rate: 4.6% (most recently reported entering class), per MIT's own admissions statistics.
- For international applicants specifically, MIT's rate is meaningfully lower: in the most recent cycle, roughly 6,900 international students applied for about 136 undergraduate offers, an acceptance rate near 2%, well below the institute-wide 4.6% figure.
- Biological Engineering (Course 20) is explicitly named among MIT's popular undergraduate programs, alongside Computer Science and Engineering, EECS, Mechanical Engineering, and Brain and Cognitive Sciences — but MIT does not publish separate, department-level admit rates, so there is no way to compare Course 20's selectivity directly against Course 6's.
Bottom line: treat the university-wide 4.6% (or ~2% for international applicants) as the correct proxy figure — there is no published Biological Engineering-specific rate, and MIT's admissions process does not evaluate department fit as a separate competitive gate the way graduate admissions does.
Fees and Cost of Attendance
MIT charges the same tuition to every undergraduate regardless of department, including Biological Engineering. Approximate annual figures (2025-2026, per MIT's published cost of attendance):
| Cost Item | Amount (USD/year) |
|---|---|
| Tuition | $66,720 |
| Living expenses (Cambridge/Boston) | $25,620 |
| Total estimated cost of attendance | $92,760 |
Over four years, sticker-price cost of attendance runs roughly $371,000 before financial aid. MIT's undergraduate application fee is $75, with fee waivers available for applicants who demonstrate financial hardship. International and domestic students pay identical tuition.
MIT is unusual among elite US universities in that its need-blind, full-need financial aid policy extends equally to international undergraduates, not just domestic ones. Starting with the 2025-2026 academic year, MIT covers tuition in full for students from families with income under $200,000, and expects no parental contribution at all for families with income under $100,000. About 58% of undergraduates receive aid, with an average award around $63,000/year — so most admitted Biological Engineering students pay significantly less than the sticker figures above. MIT does not offer merit, athletic, or academic scholarships of any kind; all institutional aid is need-based.
Admission Requirements
Biological Engineering applicants go through MIT's standard, unified undergraduate admissions process. Based on MIT's published undergraduate requirements:
- Common Application or Coalition Application
- MIT-specific Short Answer Questions and Essays
- Secondary School Transcript
- SAT or ACT scores — mandatory for all first-year applicants, domestic and international alike (MIT reinstated its standardized testing requirement); the recently enrolled class's middle 50% scored 1520-1580 SAT / 34-36 ACT
- Two Letters of Recommendation — one from a math/science teacher, one from a humanities/language/social science teacher
- School Report and Counselor Recommendation
- English Proficiency Test Scores — recommended for non-native speakers, not mandatory (see English Proficiency section below)
- Application Fee ($75) or an approved fee waiver
MIT does not publish a minimum GPA, and applicants do not need to have taken formal biology or bioengineering coursework before applying — MIT's holistic review does not screen by declared department. That said, MIT's application places heavy weight on demonstrated engagement with STEM outside the classroom (research, competitions, independent projects), so applicants aiming for Biological Engineering benefit from concrete evidence of hands-on science or engineering work — a lab internship, a biology-adjacent research project, a science fair project, or similar — rather than coursework alone.
Intake deadlines: November 1 (Early Action, decisions mid-December) or January 5 (Regular Decision, decisions mid-March).
How to Get Into MIT as a Prospective Biological Engineering Student
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Show hands-on engagement with biology or life-sciences engineering, not just good grades in biology class. MIT's application (particularly its short-answer essays) rewards applicants who can point to something they built, tested, or investigated — a research project, a science fair entry, an independent study, a lab internship — over applicants who simply list AP Biology and AP Chemistry on a transcript.
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Use your math/science recommender strategically. Because MIT requires one recommendation from a math/science teacher specifically, choose someone who can speak concretely to your quantitative and analytical ability, which matters enormously for an engineering-based biology program like Course 20 that blends wet-lab work with quantitative modeling.
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Don't neglect the mandatory SAT/ACT. Unlike many peer schools, MIT reinstated standardized testing as a hard requirement for all applicants. A strong quantitative score in particular supports an engineering-track application, so this is not an area to under-prepare relative to essays.
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Submit an English test score only if it clearly strengthens your file. MIT does not require one for undergraduates and evaluates any submitted score in context, so applicants confident in their English-medium schooling can skip it entirely and focus prep time on essays and SAT/ACT instead.
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Apply Early Action if MIT is genuinely your top choice. MIT's Early Action is non-binding, giving you an admissions decision by mid-December with no binding commitment, while still requiring a fully complete application by November 1.
English Proficiency Requirement (IELTS/TOEFL)
MIT does not require an English proficiency test score at all for undergraduate admission. It is only "strongly recommended" for applicants who have used English for fewer than five years or do not speak it at home or at school. For applicants who choose to submit a score, MIT publishes these thresholds:
- IELTS: minimum 7.0, recommended 7.5
- TOEFL: minimum 90, recommended 100
- PTE: minimum 65
- Duolingo: minimum 120
- Any submitted score is evaluated in context alongside the rest of the application rather than against a hard cutoff, and MIT does not offer conditional or provisional admission tied to English scores.
This undergraduate policy is notably more relaxed than MIT's graduate-level rules — MIT's Office of Graduate Education sets a recommended floor of TOEFL 100 / IELTS 7.0 for most graduate applicants, and individual departments (including some engineering programs) can set stricter minimums that override the university-wide guideline. If you're considering graduate study at MIT after a Biological Engineering degree — a PhD or SM in bioengineering-adjacent fields, for instance — it's worth understanding those graduate rules early. For the full breakdown of MIT's testing policy, see MIT IELTS requirements.
Career Outcomes
MIT does not publish outcomes broken out specifically by department, so there is no Biological Engineering-specific salary or employment figure to cite. The figures below are MIT's university-wide undergraduate outcomes, offered as a proxy — note that these are likely skewed upward by MIT's very large software/tech and finance recruiting pipeline (EECS, in particular), and Biological Engineering graduates often follow different paths (biotech/pharma R&D roles, medical school, PhD programs in bioengineering or the life sciences) that may not track the blended average closely:
- Graduation rate: 96%
- Employment rate after 6 months: 92% (university-wide undergraduate figure)
- Average starting salary: ~$118,100 (university-wide undergraduate figure; skewed by MIT's heavy software-engineering and quant-finance placement, not necessarily representative of biotech/pharma entry-level compensation)
- Top recruiters (university-wide): Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Bloomberg, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Company, Citadel and Citadel Securities, Accenture, Databricks
For Biological Engineering specifically, MIT's proximity to the Kendall Square/Cambridge biotech cluster (home to major pharma and biotech R&D operations) means graduates commonly move into biotech and pharmaceutical R&D roles, medical device engineering, or continue directly into PhD programs in bioengineering, synthetic biology, or related life-sciences fields — paths that don't necessarily show up in MIT's blended, tech-and-finance-heavy "top recruiters" list above.
FAQ
Does MIT publish a separate acceptance rate for Biological Engineering (Course 20)? No. MIT admits undergraduates to the Institute as a whole, not by department, so there is no Biological Engineering-specific acceptance rate. The correct figure to use is MIT's overall undergraduate acceptance rate of 4.6% (or roughly 2% for international applicants specifically).
Do I need to declare Biological Engineering when I apply to MIT? You can indicate an interest, but MIT does not admit by department, and most students finalize their major after their first year on campus, once they've taken MIT's common first-year curriculum.
Do I need IELTS or TOEFL to apply to MIT for Biological Engineering? No, not as an undergraduate. MIT only recommends (does not require) an English test for applicants with less than five years of English-medium education. The SAT or ACT, by contrast, is mandatory for all first-year applicants regardless of citizenship.
How much does Biological Engineering cost at MIT? Tuition is $66,720/year, with total cost of attendance (including living expenses) around $92,760/year — roughly $371,000 over four years before financial aid. MIT's need-blind, full-need aid (extended equally to international students) brings this down substantially for most admitted students; about 58% receive aid, averaging around $63,000/year.
What SAT/ACT score do I need to be competitive for MIT? The middle 50% of the recently enrolled class scored 1520-1580 SAT / 34-36 ACT, but with a 4.6% acceptance rate (and closer to 2% for international applicants), even top-range scores don't guarantee admission. Essays, recommendations, and demonstrated hands-on STEM work all matter heavily.
What kind of careers follow an MIT Biological Engineering degree? Common paths include biotech and pharmaceutical R&D, medical device engineering, synthetic biology and bioprocessing roles, and graduate study (PhD or SM programs) in bioengineering or life-sciences fields. MIT does not publish department-specific salary data, so the university-wide undergraduate average (~$118,100, heavily influenced by tech and finance placements) should be treated as a broad proxy rather than a Biological Engineering-specific figure.