<p>Hello.
I am a Brazilian student, I will finish high school next year and I have a couple of questions in mind in which I thought this community would be able to help me.
I am interesting in majoring in Physics and pursuing an academic career. I became interested in studying abroad because opportunities for careers like that aren't just too good here in Brazil.
And MIT seems such a great school. They have a great philosophy - the OCW, for example, is wonderful, I learned Calculus and some other things thanks to it, the teachers, the materials seemed amazing, I loved the way how the problem sets are as important as tests (this doesn't quite happen here) etc. Moreover, campus life seems so much better than what I would experience here (some of the most important public universities are falling apart; you don't get to live in campus and you need to spend hours in the bus, there aren't that many fancy extracurricular activities etc.)..
Well, I was just trying to introduce myself. I know the chance I don't get accepted in MIT or another similar American university is big, but I find it interesting to have some plans in the case I get accepted and even more interesting to compare to other universities so I can make a decision.
My first question is about which courses I should take. Is it manageable to take, in the freshmen year, 18.014, 8.012, 3.091, 7.02x and a HASS?
I made some calculations, based in the number of hours they assume you to study the subject plus the number of hours in classes/recitations, and with 7 hours a day of sleep, I would have 8 hours of free time a day. It seemed manageable, but maybe it is just an illusion. I don't know, that is why I am asking. My aim would be to eliminate the Chemistry and the Biology requirements in the first year, so I would have more time to study Physics and Mathematics throughout the four years of graduation, or, if I changed my mind and decided math and physics are not the most interesting areas of all, I would have plenty of time to be flexible and choose subjects from more departments.
The thing I am kind of apprehensive is that 3 subjects of my area per semester seems not to much, comparing to what we're used here in Brazil. Here you have normally five subjects per semester, and all of them are related to your area - there are no HASS requirements, for example. But I don't know if that is necessarily a good thing. For example, here you need to take four semesters of Calculus, and the content is essentialy the same of the 18.01-18.03 sequence and probably less deep than the 18.014-18.034 sequence, which it is possible to finish in the first year. So the conclusion is that you would learn less here, but I cant really say for sure.
Anyway, I wanted to know more about the HASS requirement system. I know you need to take one course per semester, but I have some questions can I take whichever subjects I want? Some of them seem really fun, but are there any restrictions (for example, do you need to take at least one course in social sciences, at least one in history etc?). Another question: just how time-consuming are they? More than your standard science courses? Less? What if you need to take, for example, a Philosophy course and you struggle with Philosophy, how hard will you suffer? Final question: are there similar systems in other big universities like Harvard, Princeton, Caltech etc?
There is another thing that disturbs my mind. Am I in great disadvantage for not having any AP credit? We dont have this kind of thing here, but I probably would take such courses if I had the chance. Without having this credit, I may have to take some subjects my colleagues will not have to and I will have less freedom in choosing classes along my semesters. Does it make a big difference or I am exaggerating? Now, suppose I, for example studied a lot of Calculus by myself, just for fun, and I learned everything 18.01 has to offer, but without any AP credit. Would it be possible to skip the class, by doing an exam, or something?
(Anyway, this is just a supposition; I think I would really learn a lot with 18.014, it seems a wonderful course)
Well, that are the questions I have in mind for now. I thank you in advance for any response.</p>
<p>
As a freshman, you’re limited to 54 units (4 classes plus a 6-unit seminar) in the fall and 57 (4 classes plus a 9-unit class) in the spring. So a typical freshman fall would be 18.01 (or some variant), 8.01 (or some variant), the chemistry GIR, and a HASS, and a typical freshman spring would be 18.02 (or some variant), 8.02, the biology GIR, and a HASS.</p>
<p>So you could take all of those classes in your freshman year, but not all in your first semester.</p>
<p>
You don’t need to specifically take one HASS per semester – you just need to take eight in total. Most people do take one per semester, but if it works out better to double up one semester, that’s fine, too.</p>
<p>You have to take one class in each of the categories of humanities, arts, and social sciences, and you have to complete a “concentration” of two or three classes in a single subject. </p>
<p>
Most people feel that HASS courses in general are less time-consuming than technical courses.</p>
<p>
Yes, most US universities have particular core course requirements.</p>
<p>
No, it’s not a big deal, and it only really matters for freshman year, anyway.</p>
<p>
Yes, there are advanced standing exams offered for most typical freshman courses, so you can earn credit for a course even if you didn’t take an AP class or exam.</p>