Helping your student in their first year (MIT Orientation Q&A session resources)

Access this presentation for family & supporters to understand how MIT Career Advising and Professional Development (CAPD) helps your first-year student at MIT.

Find more answers in CAPD’s introduction to family & supporters

For more answers to your questions, don’t miss our page designed to answer key questions from family & supporters — and introduce you to several CAPD faces.

Key takeaways from CAPD’s family & supporter orientation Q&A session

We empower students, postdocs and alumni to explore their life and career goals by helping them to develop core competencies and build professional networks. Our goal is to engage students and alumni in self-discovery to craft lives that are intellectually challenging, personally enriching, and of service to the world.

We have five main service areas:

All students, postdocs, and recent alums are able to take part in…

  • One-on-one advising for career/major exploration, internship or job searches, career document review (from resumes to portfolios and graduate school statements), and more
  • Career fairs hosting hundreds of organizations
  • Micro-internship and experiential learning opportunities to build skills and explore interests
  • Access to internship/job postings on Handshake, MIT’s career management platform

You can get to know the CAPD staff on our staff page.

Our skilled and approachable advisors are here for your student from the moment they step onto campus! Here are a few highlights of what we’ve provided to first-year undergrads:

  • Orientation programming: A grounding in career resources, offered during FPOPs and orientation
  • Bi-weekly first year newsletter: Updates on events, resources, and opportunities to build their skills
  • MIT Future programs: Events that provide professional primers, including workshops and panels
  • Launch Into Spring event series: Prepares first-years for their first summer experience

You can learn more on the first-years page and the CAPD events calendar.

Our skilled and approachable advisors are here for your student from the moment they step onto campus! Here are a few highlights of what we’ve provided to first-year undergrads:

  • Orientation programming: A grounding in career resources, offered during FPOPs and orientation
  • Bi-weekly first year newsletter: Updates on events, resources, and opportunities to build their skills
  • MIT Future programs: Events that provide professional primers, including workshops and panels
  • Launch Into Spring event series: Prepares first-years for their first summer experience

You can learn more on the first-years page and the CAPD events calendar.

The data speaks clearly: Students graduating from MIT are well-positioned for lifelong career success!

  • Students pursue both graduate school and employment with their degrees. For students seeking employment, 97% found it within 6 months of graduation (statistics last updated in 2026).
  • In the 2025 senior class, 56% of students chose to work for an employer they previously interned at during their time at MIT, and 19% who chose employment after graduation went to work at a start-up company.
  • As for those who pursued graduate school, 80% of MIT seniors from the 2025 class went to MIT, Stanford, Georgia Tech, Princeton, UC Berkeley, and Harvard.
  • For the 2025 class, their top five factors for accepting a job offer were 1) job content, 2) career advancement, 3) challenging work, 4) salary, and 5) fit with culture.
  • While at MIT, students have the opportunity to participate in meaningful experiential learning opportunities to support their rigorous academic coursework. For example, 94% of the class of 2025 completed a UROP, while 78% completed an internship, 49% did an experience abroad, and 22% completed a leadership activity.

You can find more data on our outcomes page.

CAPD Q&A session slides

If you experience any accessibility issues in these slides, please email capd@mit.edu.

Parent Orientation Q&A Session 2026Download