Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus

Engineering

PhD Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States

Programme overview

Candidates for the Doctor of Philosophy or Doctor of Science are expected to enroll in those basic graduate subjects that prepare them for the general examination, which must be passed no later than in the seventh term after initial enrollment. Students are required to take two subjects in the candidate's doctoral research area (specialty requirement) and two subjects outside the candidate's field of specialization (breadth requirement).

Department: Physics  |  Study mode: full-time  |  Location: Cambridge, MA, United States

Official programme page

Application information

Entry requirements

Department-level graduate admission text (applies to the department's graduate programmes): Students intending to pursue graduate work in physics should have as a background the equivalent of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science in Physics from MIT. However, students may make up some deficiencies over the course of their graduate work.

USD 66,720 a year (2026-27). Standard MIT graduate tuition for 2026-27, 9-month academic year ($33,360 per fall/spring term; the 12-month figure including the summer session is $89,775). Same rate for all graduate students; excludes the $420 fee, health insurance, housing and living Source

Graduate applications are made to individual departments, which run their own admissions processes and timelines; online applications open in early fall and most deadlines fall around the end of the fall semester.

Graduate deadlines vary by department; most departments use the unified portal at apply.mit.edu/apply. Fee waiver requests are due November 18 for programmes with a December 1 deadline, December 1 for deadlines of December 15-23, and December 15 for deadlines in January or later. Funding offers are honoured until April 15.

Apply through the official page: https://oge.mit.edu/graduate-admissions/

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