MIT CDO Faculty, Students, and Staff

Information for Current Students

Fall 2007: Opportunities for Current CDO Students

Graduate Resident Tutors: MIT Residential Life Programs is seeking graduate students to take on live-in positions as Graduate Resident Tutors (GRTs) in various undergraduate dorms for 2008-9. GRTs are compensated with a free room for twelve months per year, and a stipend of $1,460 for the 2008-2009 academic year. Detailed information and application available at http://web.mit.edu/rlp/grt/.

Graduate Student Life Fellows: One of five Fellows sponsored by the Dean of Graduate Students this year will focus on projects and programs that will enhance the lives of MIT international graduate students. Fellows will receive a stipend of $5,400 for the academic year as compensation for an average of 10 hours per week. Please visit http://web.mit.edu/gso/community/gcfellows.html to read about this opportunity. If interested, email Laura Koller, lkoller@mit.edu.

New Restricted Elective

The following course has been added to the list of CDO restricted electives:

18.085 Computational Science and Engineering I
Faculty: G. Strang
Prerequisites: 18.02, 18.03, or 18.034
Course description: Review of linear algebra, applications to networks, structures, and estimation, finite difference and finite element solution of differential equations, Laplace's equation and potential flow, boundary-value problems, Fourier series, discrete Fourier transform, convolution. Frequent use of MATLAB in a wide range of scientific and engineering applications.

Important Information for All CDO Students

Note to CDO-CE Students: In addition to this section, all CDO-CE students should also review the section below, which provides information specifically for those who are enrolled in the dual CDO-CE master's degree program.

Final Exam Schedule

The Fall Term 2007 final exam schedule is available at: http://web.mit.edu/registrar/www/schedules/exams.html.

Current Students: Pre-Registration for Fall 2007

You may continue to make changes to your Fall pre-registration until 5:00 pm on Thursday, August 16. NOTE There is a $75 fine for current students who do not pre-register by August 16.

Update Emergency Contact and Address Information: When pre-registering, please review and update your emergency contact and address information on WebSIS.

Writing and English Proficiency Exams

The CDO Program, in cooperation with MIT’s Department of Writing & Humanistic Studies, administers both a Writing Skills Exam and an English Evaluation Test. All incoming CDO students whose native language is English are required to take the Writing Skills Exam. All incoming CDO students whose native language is not English are required to take the English Evaluation Test. These exams, which are administered at the beginning of each student’s program, evaluate students’ writing skills and, if necessary, result in the assignment of specific course work in order to ensure that students develop adequate writing skills.

CDO Writing Skills Examination

The Graduate Writing Skills Examination (Writing Exam) is designed to test the technical and scientific writing skills of all admitted graduate students whose native language is English. The Writing Exam will be administered to CDO students on Friday, August 31, 2007 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at MIT, in Room 8-404. Students who do not pass the Writing Exam must complete remedial work by participating in a workshop offered during Fall semester. Attendance at all workshop sessions is mandatory.

English Evaluation Test (EET)

International graduate students whose language of instruction from primary school onward was not English must take the English Evaluation Test (EET) as a means of determining their current level of English language skills. All students not taking the Writing Exam will be required to take the EET. The exam will be administered MIT-wide on Tuesday, August 28 , 2007 in room 10-250. Pre-registration is not required. Please arrive at room 10-250 room between 8:30 a.m and 9:00 a.m. on the day of the exam. Students who do not pass the EET must complete remedial work by participating in a for-credit course offered during Fall semester.

International Students

The MIT International Students Office (ISO) is an important resource for all international students. In order to receive their MIT ID cards, international students must participate in an ISO orientation session as soon as possible after their arrival on campus. Please carefully review the information on the ISO web site so that you are fully apprised of the requirements for international students.

Program Documents and Links

CDO Master's Degree Requirements and Petition Procedure (pdf)
CDO Proposal for Master's Thesis (CDO-MT) (pdf)
MIT Housing Office
MIT Medical Form (pdf)

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Important Information Specifically for CDO-CE Students

Finding a Thesis/Research Advisor

CDO-CE students should begin contacting MIT faculty as soon as possible, in order to secure a thesis research advisor early in September following your arrival at MIT. We suggest the following guidelines when contacting MIT faculty:

• If you have more than one email address, use only your MIT email address for all correspondence.
• Identify yourself in the subject line or the first line of your email as a current MIT CDO graduate student.
• State up front in your email that you have a fully-funded fellowship and are looking only for a thesis research advisor—that is, you are not seeking research funding.

Travel Plans

The SMA office (Singapore) will coordinate your travel to MIT in late August 2007. You will be expected to arrive in time to participate in both MIT graduate student orientation activities during the last week of August, and in CDO orientation, which will take place on Friday, August 31, 2007. Please contact Lim Seow Ping at the SMA-Singapore office for travel information.

Medical Form

All CDO-CE students must complete the MIT Medical Form. The deadline for submitting the form is July 27, 2007. The completed form should be mailed directly to: MIT Medical, E23-177, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139 -4307, USA.

Housing

The MIT Graduate Housing office will accept applications for on-campus housing for the Fall 2007 semester until MAY 18, 2007. Please visit the MIT Graduate Housing website, http://web.mit.edu/housing/grad/, to confirm the fall housing lottery dates. If you plan to live on-campus during your residency at MIT, apply online as early as you can. All students must enter the online graduate student housing lottery in order to apply for on-campus housing.  Please be aware that applications received after the May 18 deadline will NOT be considered.

Graduate students will be able to view their housing assignments on the Housing web site for the week following May 25, 2007. Students will also be emailed their assignment if the housing office has a valid and accurate email address on record. You will then have one week to accept or reject the offer. Failure to accept or reject the offer within one week will result in a USD$250.00 cancellation fee.

Rooming together: It is possible for CDO-CE students to live together as a group at Ashdown House Dorm. You may also request who you want to room with. Each person who wants to room together must send an email to the Graduate Housing office and include the name of your desired roommate(s). Send this request a few days after applying online for housing. Your date of arrival must be included in this email to ensure access to your dorm upon arrival.

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