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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 general information, and the specific CME information for MIT students.
Your application (pdf form), including statement of objectives and the 2008-2009 exchange reference form (pdf), is due in the Biology Education Office, 68-120, by Tuesday, January 15, 2008.
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. In addition you will be able to get HASS credit as well as General Institute credit.
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). Students in the past have taken the following triposes: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Cell and Developmental Biology, Molecular Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Pathology.
For each tripos successfully completed, students receive 36 units of MIT credit. You will receive credit for 7.39, 7.06, and one restricted elective ORcredit 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.
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.
For students who are course 7A degree candidates, a special course (21W.797 Units 1-0-1; [P/D/F]) has been been developed for students in the Cambridge-MIT exchange. This course is taught in the fall for 4-5 days before students leave for Cambridge and includes assignments that students send to the writing instructor for feedback while they are studying in Cambridge.
7A students also 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.
Course 7 degree students will complete their CI-M requirement after completing project lab (one of 7.13, 7.15, 7.17, 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).
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
Nancy Crosby, ncrosby [at] mit.edu, Cambridge-MIT Exchange,
Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education
Malgorzata Hedderick, malrh [at] mit.edu, Assistant Dean,
Study Abroad, Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education.
Prof. Alan Weeds, agw22 [at] cam.ac.uk, Cambridge University
Coordinator for the MIT CME Exchange
rev 10/3/07