| Cambridge Students Home | How to Apply | Academics at MIT | Living at MIT | Admitted Students | Contacts & Advice |
For Cambridge Students: Academics at MIT |
Overview of Academics at MIT
Choosing Your Subjects: Classes in Your Major
Choosing Your Subjects: Classes Outside Your Major
Undergraduate Research Opportunity Programs
Independent Activities Period
Academic Advising and Counseling
Alumni Comments on Academics
Registration
Getting Credit Back to Cambridge
At MIT, subjects are taught very differently from Cambridge. Course instructors (lecturers) are given a great deal of freedom to shape their own courses in terms of syllabus, teaching and grading methods. Assessment of student performance is usually a continuous process, and may include quizzes (mid-term exams), problem sets (examples papers), class participation, labwork, projects, presentations and final exams. Many Cambridge students at MIT have enjoyed venturing into subjects outside their major by taking courses in languages, arts, humanities, finance and management, and by participating in undergraduate research as well as the physical education and sports program. In addition, Cambridge students at MIT are able to take courses at Harvard University as part of a cross-registration program.
Be sure to refer to the Cambridge Guide to MIT and the Cambridge Guide to Academics for lots more helpful information about MIT.
Choosing Your Subjects: Classes in Your Major
Prior to leaving for your year at MIT, please talk with your Director of Studies
and your Subject Coordinator to confirm
your choice of subjects for the Fall Term. Consult the MIT
catalogue and class schedule for assistance. The MIT Academic Calendar is also a useful reference.
At MIT, you will be assigned an academic advisor within your major department, who you will likely meet with during your first week at MIT to register for classes (see below). A "Course Guide" will be issued at the beginning of the semester, complete with subject descriptions and class schedules. It will be useful to plan your schedule around a set of "core" subjects that correlate to those back in Cambridge, and build your timetable around those subjects. From there you can select additional subjects in other departments.
Choosing Your Subjects: Classes Outside Your Major
One of the benefits you will have at MIT is the flexibility to take a variety of subjects in different areas of interest.
HASS Subjects: These are classes in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Introductory courses in the HASSes often open up whole new worlds of thought and reasoning to engineers and scientists. Previous CME students have taken classes in the fields of economics, foreign languages, history, psychology, art, music and more.
Sloan School of Management: Many CME alums have taken subjects in management while at MIT. Students who are interested in taking subjects in the Sloan School of Management should review the guidelines and advice contained in the document on subjects at the Sloan School of Management prepared by the Sloan School.
Physical Education: Unlike varsity or club sports at Cambridge, the PE program at MIT offers you the chance to learn a sport from scratch. The sports facilities at MIT are state of the art, with ten buildings, 26 acres of playing fields, an Olympic size swimming pool, and a new 11,000-square-foot fitness center (the Zesiger Center). The academic year for PE subjects is divided into five sections: four quarters and Independent Activities Period (IAP). Most classes meet for an hour twice a week. During IAP, classes meet about four times a week. Not all classes are offered year-round, so it is worth planning ahead.
To register for PE subjects, you need to apply online through the PE lottery. You then need to check again to see what you have been assigned, and turn up to the first class. If you didn't get into the class you wanted, then just turn up anyway on the first day. There are always people on the list who don't turn up, so often (though not always) you can get into the class you want by turning up early and asking.
Harvard Subjects: As an MIT student, you will be able to cross-register for Harvard subjects. Foreign language subjects at Harvard have been especially popular among CME students. You may register for subjects in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences or in one of their professional schools, excluding the Business School. To register, you will need to obtain a registration form from the HASS office and have the Harvard instructor, the MIT faculty advisor, and the Director of the HASS office sign it. More information is available from the HASS web site.
UROPs: Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program
Founded in 1969, MIT’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program invites undergraduates to work with MIT faculty on research-based intellectual collaborations. Be it for pay, for credit, or as a volunteer, UROPs are the way forward if you are interested in experiencing research. While some research groups may require specific skills, most UROPs do not require extreme specialization. In fact, many students do UROPs outside their academic field, e.g., and engineer could be doing a UROP in economics.
Getting a UROP is not complicated, but may involve some extra effort. Which field of research interests you most? If you can decide on a specific area, then looking for a UROP on the MIT web is pretty straightforward. Most research groups have their own web pages. Even if the web page doesn't advertise a UROP position, it is worth asking. It is also helpful to speak directly to professors with whom you might be interested in working.
For more information, visit web.mit.edu/urop/
IAP: Independent Activities Period
IAP runs for four weeks in January. Officially, it serves the purposes of promoting student-faculty interaction, encouraging new methods of teaching and learning, and strengthening the sense of community at MIT. But to a student, it is really an opportunity to do the kind of activities that interest you, in but in a more relaxed and less hectic environment than usual. From sporting activities to art classes or leadership events, you will have a broad range of fun activities from which to choose. You could do academic subjects for credit (limited to 12 units), learn from fellow students on specialized topics like programming, or participate in some events just for fun! You could also organize your own activities and invite others from within the MIT community to take part.
An on-line IAP Guide will be available in the fall semester. It will include a list of subjects offered, and instructions on registration. For more information, visit web.mit.edu/iap/
Academic Advising and Counseling
Academic support is provided on a course-specific, rather than collegiate or residential basis, hence students taking a course have access to the same "supervisory" staff, irrespective of where they live. At the same time, each CME student, like others at MIT, is assigned an departmental faculty Academic Advisor, whose role lies somewhere between a Cambridge college tutor and a Director of Studies. Your Academic Advisor will help you with your choice of courses, with registering you for the term, and with any other difficulties you may encounter. In some departments, an Assistant Advisor is also assigned to you. All academic departments at MIT have undergraduate offices and are staffed by administrators willing and able to help you with a range of issues and concerns.
The Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education also offers help on matters related to academic work or career advising. Or you may approach some of your lecturers for advice or simply to chat, given the generally high degree of class interaction here.
In addition, MIT provides generous counseling and support assistance through the Office of the Dean for Student Life as well as the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education. The CME Office is available for the specific and particular needs and concerns of students in the exchange program.
To assist you in planning your subjects we surveyed Cambridge students at MIT in 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, and 2005-06.
Registration
In general, you will wait to register for classes until you arrive at MIT. Check the online student information site at MIT for complete information about course offerings and class schedules.
Getting Credit Back to Cambridge
At the end of each of your academic terms, MIT will issue a transcript of your
grades for that term. At the end of your academic year, an official copy of
this transcript will be forwarded to the International Education Office in Cambridge
for distribution to your Senior Tutor and to your department.