Freshman Credit Limits
Freshmen are subject to a credit limit by faculty rule. The limit aims to help you adjust to MIT's workload while learning to live a balanced life with more autonomy than you may be used to. The credit limits for each term of your freshman year follow:
- Fall term = 54 units
- Independent Activities Period (known as IAP, which runs during January) = 12 units
- Spring term = 57 units
As a first-semester freshman, you may take no more than 54 units. Since most MIT subjects are worth 12 units of credit, this works out to 4 full subjects (48 units), plus an additional 6 units that you may or may not choose to use.
Popular options for using the extra 6 units in the fall are a Freshman Advising Seminar, one of the music performance groups like MIT Symphony or Concert Choir, or Mission 2015.
You do not have to take the full 54 units of credit. Many freshmen choose to forgo the units to spend non-academic time on varsity sports or student activities.
Note: Physical Education classes are based on a point system and do not count toward the credit limit. Further, ROTC subjects, while they carry academic credit, do not count toward the freshman credit limit.
