BE Application Assistance Program

The Biological Engineering (BE) Department is committed to advancing a respectful and caring community that enables all of our students to succeed at MIT. We are looking for applicants who bring a diversity of thought and experience to our student body, including students from groups underrepresented in STEM, students with non-traditional academic backgrounds, and students from academic institutions which have not historically sent many students to MIT. We recognize that applicants receive disparate degrees of support during the graduate admission process, and encourage applicants with less support to use the BE Application Assistance Program (BEAAP).

BEAAP is a volunteer-based, student-run program which provides assistance to BE applicants from underrepresented groups. Applicants are paired with a graduate student who can answer questions about BE and MIT, provide feedback on materials to create a stronger application, and guide applicants through the BE application process. BEAAP is supported by the BE Graduate Admissions Committee and the BE Graduate Student Board. BEAAP mentors are trained by a faculty member on the Graduate Admissions Committee on BE's admissions criteria and by the Communication Lab on providing feedback for application materials. This support is by no means a guarantee of admission as the MIT BE admissions process is completely separate from BEAAP. Participation in BEAAP is not considered by the Graduate Admissions Committee during application evaluation. 

The BE Department is excited that you are considering us in your application process! The application to participate in BEAAP for the 2023 application cycle is now open. To join the program, please fill out a short application here. After we receive your application, we will contact you for more information and pair you with a volunteer graduate student mentor. Mentor pairing occurs on a rolling basis beginning in early October. You can email us with questions related to BEAAP at beaap@mit.edu. For questions about the BE graduate program in general you can email be-acad@mit.edu.

Please note that BEAAP is purely volunteer-based: graduate students are offering their time to support prospective applicants, and this support is not considered as part of the admission process. BEAAP will accept requests until December 1 in order to provide assistance before the December 15 BE application deadline. We encourage applicants to connect with BEAAP early, as we may not be able to guarantee a mentor match late in the application season.

In the fall of 2022, BEAAP held webinars on October and November 2022 to help answer common questions and to support those who may not need one-on-one mentorship. The webinars included an overview of the PhD application process as well as a student panel. Recordings of the 2022 webinars can be found on the BE Graduate Students website. BEAAP is holding a webinar on November 6th from 11:30-1PM ET. Registration is required and now open.

Not sure if BE is the right fit for you, but still want support? If you are considering applying to other graduate programs at MIT (including Biology, Computational and Systems Biology, and Brain and Cognitive Sciences), check out this list of other Graduate Application Assistance Programs from the Office of Graduate Education.


Statements of support

The Biological Engineering (BE) Graduate Admissions Committee enthusiastically supports the BE Application Assistance Program (BEAAP). Our department is committed to advancing a respectful and caring community that enables all of our students to succeed at MIT. We value applicants who bring a diversity of thought and experience, and recognize that many of these applicants have not had the same support in the graduate admission process as other students. We are excited for BEAAP to help fill that gap and have made ourselves available to the graduate student leaders and volunteers in support of BEAAP.

Christopher A. Voigt
Biological Engineering Department Head
Paul Blainey
Biological Engineering Graduate Admissions Committee Chair

The Biological Engineering (BE) Graduate Student Board is excited to support the BE Application Assistance Program (BEAAP). The Board values and actively supports diversity among our graduate community, and we are committed to promoting a collegial and respectful environment for all graduate students. We look forward to assisting BEAAP in its goal to support applicants from underrepresented groups.

Viraat Goel
Abigail McShane
Biological Engineering Graduate Board Coordinators