Relationship to professional programs (e.g., LGO)

There have historically been professional programs at MIT (some in the School of Engineering) that require students to first be admitted by a home department before being admitted to the professional program. At the time of this writing (Fall 2014), LGO (Leaders for Global Operations) is the only such program. LGO students must be accepted by all of Sloan, an SoE department, and the LGO program. (A no-bid by any one of the 3 programs means the student will not be admitted to LGO.) However, in XVI, the LGO Dept. Rep (Fall 2014 is Oli de Weck, Fall 2011-2013 was Debbie Nightingale) can directly accept/admit students on behalf of XVI that have already been admitted by Sloan & LGO. Note that many LGO applicants, while otherwise excellent students, do not match the profile of the traditional XVI Grad student. They may not have strong research credentials or even strong research interests, but have very strong leadership credentials and very strong interests in global operations. 

Students in the LGO program are primarily LGO students, but those with a home department in XVI are part of the larger XVI community. They must follow our departmental course requirements (with the exception of the writing requirement) which means they will typically take some of our courses, and also that their progress through the graduate program is audited by the XVI Graduate Program Administrator. LGO students in XVI therefore interact with our other graduate students during their coursework, attending seminars, etc. However, LGO students have no expectation of funding from XVI, are advised by the LGO faculty, and are not discussed at the XVI grades meetings each semester. The LGO program specifies how the LGO funding model works, so if there were questions, the student should be referred to the LGO documentation.

Our XVI faculty who are LGO Advisors bear some load in terms of advising, so LGO works with them before each admissions cycle to determine how many LGO students can be advised by XVI. The number of students has been very small in past years (1-2 per year). GAC is not involved in this aspect.

 

Admissions notes:

  • All students applying to LGO through XVI will be told that because of their application to a joint program, we cannot guarantee a decision before March 1, which is our notification date for our own program.

  • LGO folders will be read by the GAC and also be sent to the LGO Dept. Rep (as of Fall 2014, Oli de Weck).
    • If the student is selected for admission by the GAC and also by a sector, they will receive a standard offer of admission from our department, specifying their advisor and source of funding, and be told that their LGO specific decision is forthcoming, since their process ends later than ours.
    • If the student is not selected for admission by XVI, they will still be evaluated by the LGO Dept. Rep. as well as the LGO admissions committee.
      • If the student is selected for admission by LGO, they will receive an LGO offer letter. Since the student was not selected for admission by XVI, but is selected for admission by LGO, they get an LGO offer letter and a letter from XVI welcoming them to the XVI community as part of the LGO program. I.e., the LGO Dept. Rep admits them to XVI.
      • If the student is not selected for admission by LGO (therefore by neither LGO or XVI), then they will receive an offer declining admission from XVI.
  • If a student applies through the Sloan school, they must choose an engineering home as well. In that case, we may receive some application folders from Sloan for students who wish to be part of XVI as part of LGO. These folders will be sent to the LGO Dept. Rep., and will be treated as if they applied to XVI but were declined by the GAC.
  • LGO is interested in maintaining diversity in their student population, so they may ask that a student who originally applied to another engineering department be admitted to XVI to ensure an LGO presence in the XVI community (and vice versa). These folders will also be sent to the LGO Dept Rep, and will be treated as if they applied to XVI but were declined by the GAC. I.e., the LGO Dept. Rep can admit them to XVI.

 

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