Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Undergraduate Program

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Undergraduate Program

The four-year university program, full-time majors maintains a balance between professional and arts and sciences, and is selective, admitting some transfer students and 9.7% of its candidates in the 2010 application season -2011. MIT offers 44 undergraduate degrees across its five schools. In the academic year 2010-2011, 1,161 were awarded Bachelor of Science degrees (abbreviated SB), the only type of degree MIT now awards. In the fall semester of 2011, among students who had been appointed a major, the School of Engineering was the most popular division, enrolling 62.7% of students in its 19 degree programs, followed by the Faculty of Science (28.5%), School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (3.7%), Sloan School of Management (3.3%), and the School of Architecture and Planning (1.8%). The greatest degree programs were in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Course 6-2), Computer Science and Engineering (Course 6-3), Mechanical Engineering (Course 2), Physics (Course 8) and Mathematics (Course 18).

All students are required to complete a curriculum called the General Institute Requirements (TBI). The science requirement, generally performed during the first year as prerequisites for classes in science and engineering students, comprises two semesters of physics, two semesters of calculus, one semester of chemistry, and one semester of biology . No laboratory is required, usually satisfied by an appropriate class in an important course. Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Requirement consists of eight semesters of classes in the humanities, arts and social sciences, including at least one half of each division as well as the courses required for a major division designated HASS . Under the Communication Requirement, two HASS classes, plus two of the classes taken at the designated lead must be "communication-intensive", including "substantial instruction and practice in oral presentation." Finally, all students must complete a swimming test, not college athletes must also take four quarters of physical education classes.

Most classes are based on a combination of lectures, recitals, led by faculty members or graduate students, weekly problem sets ("p-sets"), and testing. Despite keeping up with the pace and difficulty of MIT courses has been likened to "drinking from a fire hose," the retention rate of first year students at MIT is similar to other national universities research. The classification system "go / no-record" relieves some of the pressure for first-year students. For each class taken in the fall term, freshmen transcripts only report or that the approval of the class, or otherwise have no record of it. In the spring semester, good grades (A, B, C) appear on the transcript, while again not passing scores are not recorded. (Rank had previously been "Pass / no record" the first year, but was amended for the Class of 2006 to prevent students from gaming the system by completing required major classes in their first year.) In addition, students first year may choose to join alternative learning communities, such as Experimental Study Group, Concourse, and Terrascope.

In 1969, Margaret MacVicar founded the Program Undergraduate Research Opportunities (UROP) for students to collaborate directly with faculty and researchers. Students join or initiate research projects ("UROPs") for academic credit, pay, or voluntarily through advertisements on the UROP website or by contacting faculty members. A large majority of students participate. Students often published, file patent applications, and / or launch new companies based upon their experience in UROPs.

In 1970, then-Dean of Institute Relations, Benson R. Snyder, published The Hidden Curriculum, arguing that education at MIT was often overlooked in favor of following a set of unwritten expectations, and graduated with good grades was more often the product to find the system Instead of a solid education. The successful student, according to Snyder, was the one who was able to discern which of the formal requirements should be ignored in favor of undeclared standards. For example, students organized groups had compiled "course bibles", collections of problem set and examination questions and answers to be used as references for later students. This kind of cunning, Snyder argues, prevented the development of a creative intelligence and contributed to student discontent and unrest.