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Undergraduate Program Cambridge-MIT Exchange Program
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The junior year can be a wonderful time for a student to study abroad, and to experience a different culture and educational style. Today’s world has become a place where knowledge and careers are often multinational. Learning how to live and work in another culture is a valuable part of your education that will prepare you to work in other countries and be a competent “citizen of the world”. One great way to explore another culture is to participate in the Cambridge/MIT exchange (CME). In this program, you will spend your entire junior year at Cambridge University in England. This is an excellent opportunity to combine complete some of your biology requirements, while experiencing a different culture and educational style. See the Cambridge-MIT Exchange (CME) program's page for more information.
Please apply online for the Cambridge-MIT Exchange program through the MIT Horizons website. Instructions for applying online are available.
January 15, 2012 - Applications and reference letters due.
You should be a sophomore, with a GPA of 4.0 or greater. You should have completed 7.01x, 7.02, 7.03, and 7.05. by the end of your sophomore year. You may still be able to participate if you have not completed these courses, but you will need to discuss this with the Biology CME advisor.
Yes you can! You will be able to complete and get credit for the equivalent of 7.06 and your three biology restricted electives depending on which triposes you complete in Cambridge.
You must receive permission from the Biology Department in advance of your year at Cambridge in order to receive credit. Departmental approval of a proposal to spend a year at Cambridge will depend on your having already completed the necessary prerequisite courses and having a very strong academic record.
Sets of courses at Cambridge University are organized into a unit
called a “tripos”. Students usually take at least two
biology-related triposes during their year abroad; a third tripos
is often taken in another field that can fulfill HASS requirements
(contact the HASS office). The following Natural Sciences 1B triposes are approved for MIT Biology credit: Biochemistry
and Molecular Biology, Cell
and Developmental Biology, Neurobiology,
Pathology, and Pharmacology. Information about the Biology-related courses in the Natural Sciences tripos can be found here.
For each tripos successfully completed, students receive 36 units of MIT credit that includes credit for two Biology courses. In order to receive credit for 7.06, you must take complete one of two triposes, either Biochemistry and Molecular Biology or Cell and Developmental Biology. For each tripos completed, you will receive credit for 7.39, 7.06, and one restricted elective OR credit for 7.39 and two restricted electives. For one tripos, you will receive 36 units of credit, for two triposes you will receive 72 units, and for three triposes, you will receive 108 units of credit. Students usually take two triposes that include Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and/or Cell and Developmental Biology and receive credit for 7.06 and three restricted electives. Their third tripos is in another field that can fulfill the HASS requirement.
It is your responsibility to propose courses to be taken at Cambridge that would fulfill Biology requirements. This information should be included in your personal statement with your application.
Course 7 degree students fulfill their CI-M requirement after completing project lab (7.13, 7.16, or 7.18) during their senior year upon returning from Cambridge. Project lab fulfills one of the two CI-M requirements for the course 7 degree (7.02 is the other required course that you would have taken prior to studying in Cambridge).
7A students have the option of taking 7.19 or another approved CI-M course for 7A majors when they return to MIT in their senior year.
It should also be possible to arrange to take courses equivalent to two HASS courses with your third tripos. These credits need to be negotiated in advance with the HASS office.
Yes. However, most students will need to take two triposes in order
to receive Biology restricted elective credit. You cannot fulfill
your project lab requirement at Cambridge University and should
plan to take project lab (if you are a course 7 major) during your
senior year when you return.
How do grades appear on my MIT transcript?
Grades for course credit obtained at Cambridge University will appear as "S" on the MIT transcript. For application to professional schools, you should make arrangements to have grades sent separately from Cambridge.
This can work out very well, and not only will be an enlightening experience for you, but may make you a very interesting candidate (of course, that’s not the reason to apply). However, you will need to plan exactly when you are going to do your required courses, and make sure they will fit in to your senior year. You will also want to decide who your referees for your Med. School application will be well before you leave for Cambridge. You will want to make a real connection to each, and then keep in touch with each referee while you are away. A short paragraph describing how things are going by email every two to three months is fine. That way, you will have everything in place when you return.
Prof. Anthony Sinskey, asinskey [at] mit.edu, Biology
CME Advisor
Dr. Janice Chang, jdchang [at] mit.edu, Educational Administrator
MIT CME Undergraduate Exchange Office, Room 12-189 (cme-mit-ue [at] mit.edu)
Dean Malgorzata Hedderick, Associate Dean, Global Education Office, Room 12-189 (malrh [at] mit.edu)
Dean Josh Nupp, Assistant Dean, Global Education Office, Room 12-189 (jnupp [at] mit.edu)
University of Cambridge International Office (international [at] admin.cam.ac.uk)
Dr. Rob Wallach (erw1 [at] cam.ac.uk)
rev 11/01/2011