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Before You Leave MIT
Book Your Flight
Passport & Visa
Medical Insurance
Attend Orientation
Cambridge Term Dates
The CME Office will notify the Registrar's Office, the Housing Office, Student Financial Services, and other appropriate offices that you will be studying abroad and will work closely with those offices to ensure that paperwork is in order. If you are living in an MIT residence hall, you are guaranteed on-campus housing in that same residence hall upon your return from Cambridge. CME will let the Housing Office know that you will be away for the 2009-2010 academic year. For questions contact Assistant Director Robin Baughman, W59-200, 258-5488.
However, if you are receiving financial aid, you need to meet with your account representatives to ensure that your accounts are in order, your loans and scholarships signed for, etc. You cannot arrive in the United Kingdom without a financial clearance letter from MIT!
The Cambridge-MIT Exchange office recommends the following flights below to London Heathrow Airport. If you are not taking one of the recommended flights, please try to make your way to the Heathrow airport around the same times these flights arrive for your transfer to Cambridge. Staff members from the Cambridge International Education Office will be at Heathrow to meet MIT students' flights arriving. They will have a bus to transport students to their Cambridge colleges.
Flight #1: British Airways (BA) #0214: Departs Boston Logan at 9:30pm on Tuesday September 29 and arrives in London Heathrow at 8:45am on Wednesday September 30.
Flight #2: Virgin Atlantic (VS) #012: Departs Boston Logan at 7:45pm on Tuesday September 29 and arrives in London Heathrow at 7:20am on Wednesday September 30.
When your travel plans are complete, it's important that you send your flight information to jacook@mit.edu. A spreadsheet with arrival information will be provided to the Cambridge International Education Office. Please note that you are not required to take the bus to Cambridge but you are required to arrive in Cambridge on scheduled arrival date (more information to follow), to begin orientation activities planned for all MIT CME students.
General
advice about travel is provided in the Life in Cambridge: An Insider's Guide for MIT Students. Travel safety tips for students are available from the US government at http://travel.state.gov/.
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To renew your passport contact the US State Department. You can download and print an application form and apply at the Post Office in Central Square (770 Mass. Ave) or at thousands of other locations.
The UK government
requires visas to study in the UK for more than six months for students
of many nationalities, including US citizens. To determine if you will need
a visa to study at Cambridge next year, please refer to the information
provided by the UK
government. To apply for a visa, US citizens will need to take the following steps:
1. Go to web page http://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/Welcome.htm
2. Complete the on-line form and on-line payment of 99GBP/$139 as of March 2009 (plus and additional fee for mail handling charges--US mainland only--of $12).
3. Send the following documents in original form or as certified copies by Federal Express to the British Consulate in New York:
Although you are eligible for coverage under the National Health Plan in the UK (free coverage for students whose duration of stay is longer than six months), MIT requires that you retain your extended care coverage as provided by the MIT Student Extended Health Plan (or by a similar plan). If you wish to waive or change your medical insurance coverage while you are away, you must complete a waiver form. For questions, contact the Student Health Program Office at stuplan@med.mit.edu or 617-253-4371.
An orientation for newly admitted MIT students will be held on Friday May 15 at 9:30am in the Student Center, Twenty Chimneys. Please check back for more information. Additionally, a CI Requirement orientation is held for all MIT-CME students at MIT beginning on Tuesday September 22, 2009. Also, CME alumni-run tutorials will be offered by some MIT departments to help prepare you for Cambridge material.
CME Planning Worksheet
CME Teaching & Learning Study Guide
CME Visa and Work Information Presentation
CME Financial Aid Presentation
For the 2008-2009 academic year, the following are the dates of each term:
| Term | Start Date | End Date |
| Michaelmas | Tuesday, October 7 | Friday, December 5 |
| Lent | Tuesday, January 13 | Friday, March 13 |
| Easter | Tuesday, April 21 | Friday, June 12 |
For the 2009-2010 academic year, the following are the dates of each term:
| Term | Start Date | End Date |
| Michaelmas | Tuesday, October6 | Friday, December 4 |
| Lent | Tuesday, January 12 | Friday, March 12 |
| Easter | Tuesday, April 20 | Friday, June 11 |
CME 09-10: Please note that, even though the term at Cambridge ends officially on Friday, November 30, you should plan to remain at least through the next week, since you may have supervisions or other work to do. So, don't plan to leave for the holidays until after Friday, December 4 .
There is a long break between the Lent and Easter terms: although you won't have classes, you will want to use that time for studying and "revision," so those weeks aren't really all vacation time! You will not be asked to leave your college during the break, although you may be asked to move from one room to another.
Finally, at the end of the year, the term ends on June 11. The week following is "May Week" and you will probably want to stay for at least some of the parties and balls. You will be asked to move out on the weekend following June 18.
Lecture schedule information for 2008-2009 is provided in the Cambridge University Reporter. The Reporter is the closest equivalent to the MIT Bulletin and Class Schedule List.