To Do Before You Arrive

This page lists deadlines and testing dates, as well as the information that you need to consider and submit to MIT prior to arrival.

• MIT Housing: As a transfer student entering MIT in fall 2009, you are eligible for on-campus housing.  If you are interested in participating in the Undergraduate Housing System, please be sure to read the Housing Request Form that will be included in your mailing packet from the MIT Housing Office that needs to be completed immediately. The MIT Housing Office will provide you with the information you need prior to your arrival. If you need additional information, feel free to contact at residence@mit.edu or (617) 253-1493. 

• Register for an Athena Account with Kerberos ID: In your mailing packet, you will receive a personalized Kerberos/Athena account coupon with information on how to register for an account (if you already have an account, a coupon will not be included in this mailing). Make sure you register for an account as soon as possible. Once you have done this, and have obtained web certificates at http://mit.edu/ist/topics/certificates, you will be able to access the Off-Campus Housing website and other MIT affiliate-only sites. If you did not receive a coupon, or are having problems registering for an account, contact Leslie Bottari at bottari@mit.edu or (617) 324-7600.  For more information about Athena, go to the IS Resource page http://mit.edu/ist/start/students/.

• Medical Information: Massachusetts law requires new MIT students to meet a number of medical requirements before registering for classes.  All new MIT students must give MIT a medical history signed by a physician, have a complete physical exam, and document immunity against certain diseases.  Medical Report Forms can be downloaded online and information about requirements is available at http://web.mit.edu/medical/g-requirements.html.

• Financial Information: Students at MIT are assigned Financial Service Representatives, according to the letters of their last name. Your Financial Service Representatives will be able to assist you with your questions about financial aid applications, eligibility and awards and your student account and tuition payments. Financial Aid Counselors, Loan Counselors, and Student Account Counselors can be found on the Student Financial Services website at http://web.mit.edu/finaid/contact/index.html.

• Academic Department: We recommend that you contact the undergradudate Academic Administrator of your major's department prior to your arrival. When you are admitted to MIT, you are entering the Institute with a selection of major. A list of departmental administrators is at: http://mit.edu/acadinfo/deptcontacts/undergrad_administrators.html.

Note: If you change your mind as to your major department before you arrive, please inform Leslie Bottari (bottari@mit.edu) as soon as possible.

Academics:

• Freshman Essay Evaluation (FEE): The Freshman Essay Evaluation (FEE) is MIT's writing placement test and is your first step toward completing the first-year component of the Communications Requirement. The FEE is administered online twice during the summer, once in June and once in July. You may choose to take either online test; however, you should take the FEE as early as possible. Those who do not take the online FEE over the summer must take a written exam during Freshman Orientation.
  
  Depending on your FEE results, you will be required to take a "Writing Subject Required" subject (CI-HW), or be eligible to take any Communication-Intensive HASS subject (CI-H or CI-HW).
  
  You are not required to take the FEE if you receive a score of 5 on either the English Literature and Composition or the English Language and Composition Advanced Placement Exams. A 5 on either of these exams allows you to take any CI-H subject. See the First-Year Subjects section for more information on the Communication Requirement.
  
  
• Communication Requirement: All MIT undergraduates must fulfill the Communication Requirement. More information can be found at http://web.mit.edu/commreq/, or contact the Communication Requirement Office at (617) 253-2313 (email: commreq@mit.edu).
  
  
• Advanced Standing Exams: Advanced Standing exams are optional for transfer students and give you the opportunity to receive credit for subjects offered at MIT.  Exams are offered in August.  For more information go to http://mit.edu/firstyear/transfer/credit/asexams.html.
  

• Transfer Credit: To obtain credit for course work completed at your former college or university, you must make sure that you bring the names of texts used, syllabi, and papers from any class for which you are trying to gain credit. In addition, you must arrange to have an official transcript of your grades sent to MIT from your previous college. MIT handles each student's record individually and each academic department is responsible for its own transfer credit decisions. It is therefore difficult at this point to determine which classes will be accepted for credit.

  For more information, go to: http://web.mit.edu/firstyear/transfer/credit or contact Stephen Pepper at (617-253-4164 or spepper@mit.edu.

• Physics Credit: If you want to transfer credit for Physics (8.01 or 8.02) you must take the Physics Validation Exams offered in August during freshman orientation.
  

Note:  You can transfer credit only if you've received at least a grade of "B" in the Physics subject you took at your former university. If you take the validation exam, you will not receive a grade for it. Instead, if you pass, you will receive transfer credit for 8.01/8.02. If you don't pass, nothing appears on your record, but you will have to take physics at MIT. You will not receive a grade for the validation exam.

• HASS Requirement: MIT requires all undergraduate students to take at least eight subjects in HASS (Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.) This eight-subject HASS Requirement includes the HASS-Distribution (HASS-D) Requirement and the Concentration Requirement. For the HASS-D Requirement, students must take three HASS-D subjects in three of the five HASS-D Categories. HASS-D subjects are allotted through a lottery; if you plan on registering for a HASS-D subject in the fall term, your form must be received by the HASS Education Office no later than August 20, 2009.