General Degree Requirements


  • Gathering at the columns

Codirector

“When I came to MIT for the first time in 1981 as a graduate student, my initial plan was simply to get a master’s degree, visit a bit the U.S., and then go back to France to work as an engineer … Thirty-five years later, I continue to be in awe of the ORC, a magical and unique place within MIT, where students and faculty continuously reinvent the field of operations research, developing new methodologies and using them to impact society in so many ways.”


The ORC PhD program offers a general degree track as well as three optional degree tracks in operations managementnetworked systems, and analytics.


The Operations Research Center (ORC) at MIT offers three top-tier graduate programs: a doctoral degree (PhD) in operations research, a master’s degree (SM) in operations research, and a master’s degree (MBAn) in business analytics.

Each program requires strong communication skills—both written and verbal—and to ensure your academic success, we ask you to demonstrate your English competency.

Once you’re enrolled at the ORC, you’ll complete a writing assessment so we can evaluate your writing skills and, if necessary, assign coursework to further develop your skills.

Both tests are administered in conjunction with MIT’s Comparative Media Studies/Writing and Global Studies and Languages programs.