The Institute offers a variety of resources for advising, counseling, and personal support. By intention, they are not centralized in one counseling center. Students are free to choose the resource that appears to be most helpful, and support is available in many forms, including walk-in conversations as well as scheduled appointments, and with goals ranging from information dissemination to skilled psychotherapy.
Each student has a faculty advisor. In addition, there are faculty undergraduate and graduate officers in each academic department, as well as academic administrators who consult with students about their academic programs. The Student Support Services section of the Office of the Dean for Student Life offers counseling and advising to all students, whether the situation is academic or personal or both. It also provides a broad range of assistance to all students and has special responsibilities for supporting students who are women, members of underrepresented minorities, or lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered. In addition, students are frequently able to get the help they need from a fellow student or from an instructor who is not officially a faculty advisor. Coaches and activity advisors can be helpful as well.
Several campus offices specialize in particular areas, such as Student Financial Services (including student employment), the religious counselors, the MIT Careers Office, and the Office of Undergraduate Advising and Academic Programs, and the Study Abroad Office. The Campus Police can be helpful to students in many ways, and for students seeking information about particular fields, there is a Premedical Advisory Council, and a Prelaw Advisory Council.
The psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers in the Medical Department are considered by many students to be the Institute's most skilled counselors. In addition, the Health Education Service runs seminars ranging from stress management and smoking cessation to weight control and nutrition education, and the department's Social Work Service provides individual and group counseling for substance abusers.