Introduction

A Change Will Do You Good
If tradition and the college system make Cambridge Cambridge, then it is the boundless energy of novices and experts alike that sets the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, better known as MIT, apart from the rest. Time stands still for no one at MIT. With all the thinking and tinkering going around, it is hard to be a passive observer, all the more so when your grades rest on not being one! Even the line between work and play – which carry quite different connotations to the rest of the world – tends to get blurred at a place like MIT. Work is often play too. Strange, but true. The MIT experience can only thicken the dilemma of an international student having to fill in a landing card while enroute to Heathrow: which box to tick for purpose of visit, “business” or “pleasure”?
This hardly means that work is all one can, or should, do here. From PE classes to sailing on the Charles, from shopping and dining in downtown Boston to sipping (or gulping) beer in the “Thirsty”, from intramural sports to watching the Red Sox “struggle” at Fenway (careful what you say on home ground), from pop concerts to orchestra performances; there is ample opportunity to satisfy each person’s idea of fun and entertainment. Someone once came up with an interesting, albeit stereotypical, definition of the purpose of this exchange: in return for being infused with the values underlying American productivity, Cambridge students would teach these Americans at MIT how to work without sacrificing the “good life”. And so bring balance (disturbance?) to the force.
A Brief History
MIT was founded in 1861 by William Barton Rogers, a leading geologist and natural scientist of the 19th century. Dr Rogers was deeply impressed by the “highly cultivated nature and society of glorious New England”, which he visited as the leader of a geological expedition from Virginia. Recognising the need for an Institution “designed for the advancement of the Industrial Arts and Sciences and Practical Education” in a rapidly industrialising America, he set forth to establish MIT. The Institute opened to its first class of students in 1865, at Copley Square, close to the heart of present-day Boston and just across the river from where the current campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts lies.
MIT is, without a doubt, a young and dynamic Institute. Change is constant. The Institute has, since its inception, increased its breadth of study from the traditional fields of engineering to include interdisciplinary fields such as biomedical engineering and artificial intelligence, to disciplines such as economics, management, political science, psychology and linguistics. And what is more, the flexibility offered by the MIT academic system allows and even encourages students to explore beyond their own specialist fields.
The System
There is no single definitive view of the system, for in one so multifaceted as MIT’s, the tendency is to focus on what one sees and unwittingly overlook the rest. But one useful way for a student to look at the system is as three distinct entities:
(1)    Institute Administration; which serves as overseer and policymaker for the entire university, including Institute-wide programs;
(2)    Departments; which offer related courses and to which students are academically affiliated but are free to pursue courses from other Departments; and
(3)    Living Groups; campus houses, sororities (for girls), fraternities (for guys) and independent living groups, which provide accommodation for students.
Viewed this way, the life of an MIT student typically revolves around the department and living group. Notably, unlike the college system at Cambridge University, living groups at MIT only offer accommodation, plain and simple; they do not provide supervisions like Cambridge colleges.
Somebody, Anybody Help!
Academic support is provided on a course-specific, rather than collegiate basis, hence students taking the same course have access to the same “supervisory” staff, irrespective of where they live. At the same time, each CMI student, like others at MIT, is assigned an Undergraduate Advisor, whose role lies somewhere between a Cambridge college Tutor and a Director of Studies.
Welfare support at MIT, because of its Institute-wide nature, may seem less personal than at Cambridge. This unfortunate aspect means one thing to a student: personal initiative is key to getting help. The good news is that the advisory resources open to students cut across all three entities stated above.
There is the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education, which offers help on matters related to academic work or career advising, and the Office of the Dean for Student Life, which offers counselling and support services. Or you may approach some of your lecturers for advice or simply to chat, given the generally high degree of class interaction here.
And there is of course the CMI Office if you are confused and unsure as to whom to approach for help; people in the CMI Office are also more than willing to offer direct support where possible. But it is important to realise that there is always someone willing to listen and to help.
MIT Community
Undergraduate Enrollment 2001-2002
Undergraduate Enrollment    4,220
First Year    1,033
Undeclared Second-Year    14
Special Undergraduate Students    7
Architecture and Planning    72
Engineering    1,885
Humanities, Arts, and    130
Social Sciences     
Management    285
Science    794
source: MIT Facts 2002   
MIT today is a community of over 10,000 students (slightly more graduates than undergraduates), almost 1,000 faculty members (professors of all ranks) and about 9,200 non-teaching staff. As expected of a Tech institute, most students at MIT are science or engineering majors. And being the openly motivated people that they are, conversations on work occur with unabashed frequency, in class and outside. But more on academic life in the Academics section.
US Ethnic Minorities at MIT 2001-2002
     Undergrad    Grad
African American    256    126
Asian American    1,173    591
Hispanic    472    119
Native American    86    11
source: MIT Facts 2002
The diversity of MIT is evident – one need only walk along the Infinite Corridor on any given day of term to sense this. Although international students account for less than 10% of the undergraduate population, almost 50% of the same population consist of US ethnic minority groups. Also, 42% of undergraduates are women. This place has the feel of Bayswater, London to it, as far as diversity and youthfulness go. But it also has a distinctly American college outlook – from the seemingly free-for-all signboards along the Infinite Corridor, to the variety of clothing and hairstyles adopted by students. Safe to say, what is considered out-of-the-ordinary in Cambridge would be quite ordinary here.
Ain’t What It Used To Be
The American baseball star, Yogi Berra is reputed to have once said, “the future ain’t what it used to be”. To spend a year abroad is to venture beyond one’s comfort zone, and is bound to be eye opening at the very least. A change in academic and social atmosphere can be refreshing, but also discomforting at times. Yet, people do it, and many enjoy the change (eventually), and relish the challenge.
Apart from enhancing CVs, an MIT experience is likely to develop one’s thinking and doing skills, as well as personal values and attitudes. Could such individual experiences translate into an accelerated change in social norms and mores in our respective communities? Maybe. But for each of us who has gone through this exchange, one thing is certain: the future ain’t what it used to be.