Academics

Academics
In a Nutshell: The Basics
MIT is a university with 5 academic schools. Each school consists of various affiliated departments. Each department is known by its name and course number, e.g. Mechanical Engineering is Course 2. In fact, almost everything inanimate goes by numbers at MIT: class rooms, buildings, departments, subjects, etc. Sounds ridiculous and terribly uncreative but that’s just the way it is – one very quickly catches on with the lingo anyway.
By “declaring a major” in the sophomore year, a student states his or her intent in specialising in a particular field, e.g. Chemical Engineering, and becomes affiliated to the corresponding department. But majoring in a course does not limit a student’s choice of subjects. Quite the contrary, MIT students have to fulfil a minimum requirement of subjects outside their major, while taking a suitable combination of subjects within their major, in order to graduate. Furthermore, the American education system does not offer an equivalent of British A-levels, hence the broad subject requirements in the freshman year to equip everyone with a broad range of basic skills.
American Lingo
Year 1                Freshman
Year 2              Sophomore
Year 3  Junior (that be you)
Year 4                      Senior
The academic year consists of 2 semesters: Fall and Spring. Each semester has exactly 65 class days, spread over 14-15 weeks, including numerous (and most welcome) short breaks during the semester.
MIT academics come in all ranks and titles – most of them are professors. It is not unusual to address a faculty member as professor so-and-so. But that is as far as the formality goes, usually.
Choices, choices
CMI students do not graduate from MIT; so there is a great deal of flexibility in terms of subject choices. A wise idea, however, would be to choose “core” subjects which correlate to those back in Cambridge, and build your timetable around these subjects. Having started this way, one quickly discovers that while there are no limits imposed by the system, in practice, a clash of class schedules may limit one’s options. Advice on choosing subjects at MIT can be obtained from your CMI Course Advisor in Cambridge, or from your predecessors (that be us), who are probably more in-tune with current events.
A “Course Guide” will be issued at the beginning of the semester, complete with subject descriptions and up-to-date class schedules. You are likely to meet your MIT Undergraduate Advisor to discuss your choice of subjects before finalising them – this meeting is usually arranged within the first week of your arrival. But to make the task less daunting at the last minute, it would be preferable to have a shortlist of subjects before coming to MIT. Subject descriptions are available online at http://student.mit.edu, just click on the link to “Subject Offerings and Schedule”.
HASS Courses
An interesting experience for most CMI students was venturing into subjects beyond our major. Most of these subjects were offered by the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, and hence called HASS subjects or simply HASSes. Introductory courses in the HASSes often open up whole new worlds of thought and reasoning to engineers and scientists.  Some of the HASS subjects CMI students have taken include those in the fields of economics, management, history, psychology and art. You are bound to find something that suits your tastes and interests.
Course Assessment: Working Hard Lately?
Poll of CMI-Cam Exchange Students '02
Did you find your course overall:    Easy    Difficult    Just Right
    -    -    100%*
Did you work harder at MIT?    Yes    No    Same
    81.2%    -    18.8%
Are you satisfied with your grades?    Yes    No    Indifferent
    93.7%    6.3%    -
*On average. Students found a varied level of difficulty from course to course; mostly easy or just right, with a few on the difficult side
Subjects, also called courses, are taught very differently at MIT. Course instructors (lecturers) are given a great degree of freedom (some say too much) to shape their own courses in terms of syllabus, teaching and grading methods. Because of this, the level of difficulty and teaching styles employed vary considerably from subject to subject.
Assessment of student performance at MIT is usually a continuous process. A course can be graded in terms of quizzes (mid-term exams), problem sets (examples papers), class participation, labwork, projects, presentations and final exams. The grading structure varies from course to course. It is outlined in the “Course Guide” handed out at the beginning of term – it is recommended that you look into this to understand the grading structure of your courses. Continuous assessment can mean a continuous flow (or torrent) of work, but it also means less stress towards the end of the year.
Credit for each course is denoted in terms of “units”, which represent the hours of work expected per week, give and take quite a bit. Course units are broken down into lectures, labwork and homework; hence a “3-0-9” units course entails 3, 0 and 9 hours per week of lectures, labwork and homework respectively. The standard advice is to take a total of 48 units per semester. But this serves only as a guide. Some students take less and others, much more – up to 72 units in fact. Rumour has it that those who bring so much to bear upon them are very, very busy people. But it is possible to add or drop subjects along the way, so no harm in experimenting at the beginning.
Instead of being “classed” Cambridge-style, students obtain a Grade Point Average (GPA), which at MIT, unlike the rest of the world, is on a scale of 0 to 5 (rest of the world: 0 to 4). What is a GPA? A student obtains a final grade (A, B, C, etc.) for each course taken. Each grade is assigned a certain number of points: an A is 5 points, B is 4, etc. The GPA is – as its name suggests – an average of all grade points obtained. For those obtaining a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree at Cambridge from their year at MIT, a GPA of 3.5 (as of 2002) is the qualification mark for engineers, which may appear tough, but isn’t really provided you don’t slack off completely!
Lectures and Recitations
Talking and thinking out loud in class is encouraged at MIT, most of the time. Class participation even makes up a certain percentage of your final grade in some courses. Imagine getting credit for listening … to yourself!
Most courses require textbooks. The lecture material and homework may be based on the text. This is a shock to unsuspecting Cambridge students accustomed to lecture handouts, having to suddenly fork out some pennies for textbooks. But for hints on saving on textbooks, refer to the Living and Dining section.
Class sizes vary. As a general rule of thumb, the more specialised the course, the fewer the number of pupils. Sometimes there are only about 10 students for the more advanced courses. When the total class size is in the hundreds, some courses split their classes by offering both lectures and recitations for students to choose; a recitation is simply a euphemism for a class with a smaller group of pupils, usually but not always taught by a graduate student. The term “recitation” is misleading – such classes can be more interactive and easier to follow. Students are allowed to try recitation styles during the first few weeks, and can change sections before making a final choice.
Writing notes on the blackboard is probably the most common method of teaching here. For all the tech hype, good old chalkie makes a return after all.
Problem Sets
Problem sets are the MIT sort-of-equivalent to Cambridge examples papers. Unlike examples papers, however, problem sets at MIT come without cribs – a horrifying thought, if not for the fact that they are usually less demanding in terms of theoretical depth.
However, mind-numbing number crunching can get on anyone’s nerves, more so on the night before the due date. When this occurs, it makes one wonder if there is any useful purpose to such tedium. Except for getting a good grade, the answer is probably no. Fortunately, not all problem sets are fiendishly tedious.
The teaching assistant (TA) of the course, usually a graduate student, is tasked with grading problem sets. Having your learning curve graded is a weird experience. TAs are not unknown for grading errors, which is why you should speak up if you suspect an error. But don’t get too stressed with below-par grades. Usually problem sets account for only 10-20% of the final grade, which when divided by the total number of problem sets, means that each problem set is no big deal, really. “Off-form” days are to be expected anyway. In other words: relax, dammit!
Academic Support
Academic support is provided in the form of “office hours”, during which the course lecturer and TA are available for help. Unlike Cambridge supervisions however, office hours at MIT are not compulsory, nor exclusive. The importance of being earnest could not be over-emphasised. There is no such thing as shame when seeking help on problem sets.
Exams
Some classes have three or four exams/quizzes whereas others have the more traditional midterm and final exam approach.  In some classes, the final exam (called the “final”) is longer (3 hours) and weighted more heavily than the midterm (1-2 hours); and in others, equally.  In some classes, equally weighted “quizzes” held throughout the term count towards the final grade.
Some exams are “open-book” and “open-notes”, which means that you can take anything you want into the exam (and do your final revision at the same time, if you must). But in other exams, Tripos-type conditions prevail. Basically, examination practices vary widely from class to class.
Some people like to choose classes without finals so that there isn’t much pressure at the end of term, but finals at MIT are not as stressful as Tripos exams at Cambridge.  The final might even be an opportunity to pull up your grade considerably – it all depends on the person.
Examinations are held in classrooms, multipurpose halls or the central gym. Often, there is sufficient space to work in.  Graded quizzes are handed back in class or recitation, except in the case of finals.  Your final grades can be found on “Websis” (www.student.mit.edu), the student information site.
Grad Courses
Some of you may be required, or advised, to take graduate courses while at MIT. Grad courses certainly have a different feel from undergrad ones. From the kind of questions students ask (often very specialised questions) to the way lectures are conducted (with higher expectations of background knowledge), grad courses may seem, well, too theoretical sometimes. Perhaps they are meant to be. But the material covered is certainly within the reach of any good Cambridge undergraduate.
UROP
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, that’s what the acronym stands for. Hands-on experience is strongly encouraged at MIT. For good reason too: engineers and scientists are not bred to hide away from the real world. And there are very few places where undergraduates are actually given the chance to be a part of a research group.
Be it for pay, for credit, or as a volunteer, UROPs are the way forward if you are interested in experiencing research. And while some research groups may require specific skills, most UROPs do not require extreme specialisation. In fact, many UROPers actually do UROPs outside their academic field, e.g. an engineer could be doing a UROP in economics. Or you could start a UROP of your own and apply for funding from the CMI Office!
Getting a UROP is not complicated, but may involve some extra effort. Which field of research interests you most? If you can decide on a specific area, then looking for a UROP on the MIT web is pretty straightforward. Most research groups have their own webpages. Even if the webpage doesn’t advertise a UROP position, there is no harm asking. Like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get.
For further information on UROP, go to: web.mit.edu/urop
Independent Activities Period
The Independent Activities Period, or IAP, runs for 4 weeks in January. Officially, it serves the purposes of promoting student-faculty interaction, encouraging new methods of teaching and learning, and strengthening the sense of community at MIT. But to a student, it is really an opportunity to do the kind of activities that interest you, but in a more relaxed and hectic-free environment: from sporting activities to art classes or leadership events; there is a broad range of fun activities to choose from. You could do academic subjects for credit (limited to 12 units), learn from fellow students on specialised topics like programming, or participate in some events just for fun! You could also organise your own activities and invite others from within the MIT community to take part.
An IAP Guide will be published in the Fall semester, so look out for it. It will include a list of subjects offered, and instructions on registration.
For further information on IAP, go to: web.mit.edu/iap/