There are no un-funded graduate (PhD) students in the sciences and engineering at MIT (or any other top-ranked graduate program). The number of graduate student admissions is directly tied to the amount of external funding. If the faculty do not have the grants, their departments cannot admit students.

Isn't that what the article is saying? Less research funding == Fewer admissions.

> The number of graduate student admissions is directly tied to the amount of external funding.

Minor quibble: It's not merely external funding. In many sciences (math, physics, chemistry), it's common for the department to promise funding through non-research means for a number of years. In my top school, I think physics students were guaranteed TA funding for 2 years (until they pass the qualifying exams and find a professor). Math students are almost always funded as TAs (the department guaranteed 6 years).

It's mostly engineering departments that don't do this.

This is simply not true towrards the end of time limits as well as lower-ranked programs.