Despite preconceived notions of MIT, students here are not cut throat; rather, more like the cliché “we’re all in it together”. Although, as much as they say it’s not competitive, it really is. The attitude/atmosphere doesn’t feel competitive like everyone is at your throat, but it’s still there. Most technical classes are curved, and you ARE competing with everyone else in that class for your grade. MIT requires all its graduates to have a significant breadth across math, science, and humanities; however, any undergraduate degree will leave you inches deep and miles wide in terms of specialization Most freshman attending MIT already have a sense of direction, and now that the masters is the ‘new bachelors’, specialization is even more important. That being said, yes, an MIT education is very demanding and you will learn a lot, but everyone nowadays will agree that a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering hardly makes you an engineer, let alone a master’s. Regardless, MIT has an excellent program in Course 6 (EE) called M.Eng, which allows MIT undergrads to enroll in a special one year masters program in engineering. In lieu of academics, a primary source of motivation to get good grades as an undergrad is that acceptance into this program is dependent only your undergrad performance; in particular, an A/B average will almost guarantee acceptance. After one year at MIT, my focus narrowed greatly as I now know my interest and exactly what role MIT will play in my specialization, just as it will for you.
Do you enjoy the experience at your school?
The collaborative nature of the student body is fantastic, being the best resource for undergrads. Then there are office hours, which in many cases are one on one with the professor, and personal tutoring services available to help students manage MIT. Many classes are video-taped, and can be (re)viewed (hopefully) on ocw.mit.edu. OCW has been an invaluable resource that has the most exhaustive, public collection of all lectures for most MIT courses that you won't find anywhere else (note a distinction at MIT is Course refers to a specific department like EE or Physics, whereas course refers to classes within each Course, like Physics I or Single Variable Calculus). In addition, MIT has an exceptional gym (it’s huge and new) and sits on the Charles River. So if you fancy swimming, lifting, basketball, fencing, sailing, crew, etc., MIT has it.
Do you feel you’re getting value for the money you’re spending on college?
What you get from MIT is what you make of your education. There are resources available, but it is up to you to take advantage of them. Otherwise, MIT is not worth $55k unless you have masochistic tendencies. The UROPs alone (see Tips below) validate the cost of attendance. Generally speaking, the opportunity to publish as an undergrad is dismal and often times difficult. MIT is designed to be collaborative (the problem sets are so difficult they’re nearly impossible to complete individually), and professors love help in their research, especially from whom better than an MIT student? Making it through your first year already shows competence and reliability, so remember to be assertive and outgoing because you’ve earned it.
Do you have any tips for prospective students?
I came to MIT expecting instruction by professors to be excellent, very much similar to most of my high school teachers. The sad truth is MIT is a research institution and the quality of instruction depends solely on the professors doing the research, which often is less than adequate. However, make good to take advantage of this fact by doing undergrad research opportunity projects (UROP), which far too few undergrads actually do. The job of MIT professors is to do research, not to teach. While they are required to teach and some professors put their heart into lecturing, in general, this is not the case. Having 6k grads and only 4k undergrads, these numbers alone show what kind of institution MIT is. Regardless, expect to make very good friends who will help you get through MIT together. Prove to yourself that MIT is best for you, not the other way around. The most important thing to exhume on your application is to demonstrate perseverance if you think MIT is a great match for you.
Which types of students will excel at your college?
The reason I am attending MIT is that I want to do research, so I feel most if not all students should have some sort of desire to do research (because MIT is primarily a graduate, research school). But then again, I feel all MIT students have unique learning-styles with a touch of masochism. Whatever your calling, remember MIT is difficult because the students (who, as a given, were all top of their class) are driven to succeed, which should motivate your own ambition. You don’t have to be valedictorian to get accepted into MIT. You just need to show you’re motivated and capable of competing with students from across the world that were, otherwise MIT will be very, very difficult. Even if you were the best at your high school, MIT still won’t be smooth sailing, but it’s up to you to make the most out of it.
Despite preconceived notions of MIT, students here are not cut throat; rather, more like the cliché “we’re all in it together”. Although, as much as they say it’s not competitive, it really is. The attitude/atmosphere doesn’t feel competitive like everyone is at your throat, but it’s still there. Most technical classes are curved, and you ARE competing with everyone else in that class for your grade. MIT requires all its graduates to have a significant breadth across math, science, and humanities; however, any undergraduate degree will leave you inches deep and miles wide in terms of specialization Most freshman attending MIT already have a sense of direction, and now that the masters is the ‘new bachelors’, specialization is even more important. That being said, yes, an MIT education is very demanding and you will learn a lot, but everyone nowadays will agree that a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering hardly makes you an engineer, let alone a master’s. Regardless, MIT has an excellent program in Course 6 (EE) called M.Eng, which allows MIT undergrads to enroll in a special one year masters program in engineering. In lieu of academics, a primary source of motivation to get good grades as an undergrad is that acceptance into this program is dependent only your undergrad performance; in particular, an A/B average will almost guarantee acceptance. After one year at MIT, my focus narrowed greatly as I now know my interest and exactly what role MIT will play in my specialization, just as it will for you.
The collaborative nature of the student body is fantastic, being the best resource for undergrads. Then there are office hours, which in many cases are one on one with the professor, and personal tutoring services available to help students manage MIT. Many classes are video-taped, and can be (re)viewed (hopefully) on ocw.mit.edu. OCW has been an invaluable resource that has the most exhaustive, public collection of all lectures for most MIT courses that you won't find anywhere else (note a distinction at MIT is Course refers to a specific department like EE or Physics, whereas course refers to classes within each Course, like Physics I or Single Variable Calculus). In addition, MIT has an exceptional gym (it’s huge and new) and sits on the Charles River. So if you fancy swimming, lifting, basketball, fencing, sailing, crew, etc., MIT has it.
What you get from MIT is what you make of your education. There are resources available, but it is up to you to take advantage of them. Otherwise, MIT is not worth $55k unless you have masochistic tendencies. The UROPs alone (see Tips below) validate the cost of attendance. Generally speaking, the opportunity to publish as an undergrad is dismal and often times difficult. MIT is designed to be collaborative (the problem sets are so difficult they’re nearly impossible to complete individually), and professors love help in their research, especially from whom better than an MIT student? Making it through your first year already shows competence and reliability, so remember to be assertive and outgoing because you’ve earned it.
I came to MIT expecting instruction by professors to be excellent, very much similar to most of my high school teachers. The sad truth is MIT is a research institution and the quality of instruction depends solely on the professors doing the research, which often is less than adequate. However, make good to take advantage of this fact by doing undergrad research opportunity projects (UROP), which far too few undergrads actually do. The job of MIT professors is to do research, not to teach. While they are required to teach and some professors put their heart into lecturing, in general, this is not the case. Having 6k grads and only 4k undergrads, these numbers alone show what kind of institution MIT is. Regardless, expect to make very good friends who will help you get through MIT together. Prove to yourself that MIT is best for you, not the other way around. The most important thing to exhume on your application is to demonstrate perseverance if you think MIT is a great match for you.
The reason I am attending MIT is that I want to do research, so I feel most if not all students should have some sort of desire to do research (because MIT is primarily a graduate, research school). But then again, I feel all MIT students have unique learning-styles with a touch of masochism. Whatever your calling, remember MIT is difficult because the students (who, as a given, were all top of their class) are driven to succeed, which should motivate your own ambition. You don’t have to be valedictorian to get accepted into MIT. You just need to show you’re motivated and capable of competing with students from across the world that were, otherwise MIT will be very, very difficult. Even if you were the best at your high school, MIT still won’t be smooth sailing, but it’s up to you to make the most out of it.