The EECS Undergraduate Office has launched several online portals for international students to request letters of support from the department.
Departmental support for CPT, OPT, and I-20 extensions is intended for students in their sophomore year and up (you must have officially declared and joined Course 6). The department cannot provide CPT/OPT support letters for first-year students; the earliest eligible term the department can support CPT is IAP sophomore year.
MIT’s International Student Office (ISO) has advised us that, to maintain compliance with federal regulations for CPT, CPT may not be authorized for students who have met or exceeded 180 units beyond general institute requirements (GIR) at the time they participate in the practical training experience. You may read more at ISO’s website here, items g. and h. under “how to apply”).
Therefore, if you will exceed 180 units beyond the GIRs by the time you wish to engage in practical training (or by the time you will complete practical training), we advise that you to instead request pre-completion OPT. Processing times for OPT are more lengthy than CPT, so make sure to request your letter from EECS well in advance (you do not need a confirmed job offer to make your request). You can read more about pre-completion OPT here (ISO’s site).
See additional policies and requirements on the ISO site, including important dates for these processes.