<p>Hi! I am trying to decide between MIT and another school so I would really appreciate it if anyone can tell me what they liked most about MIT and what they disliked most about MIT (work load, social life...etc), or anything else that comes to mind. Please be 100% honest! Thanks!!!</p>
<p>I and a few other parents have started an MIT Parents Facebook Group and we have a discussion thread on this. </p>
<p>See [Things</a> to think about when deciding to apply to or attend MIT | Facebook](<a href=“Facebook”>Facebook)</p>
<p>Pros: Nerds.
Cons: Nerds.</p>
<p>Looks pretty even to me.</p>
<p>This is a really, really big question, and you’ll get more informative responses if you can break it down into smaller questions. It will also help if you can tell us more about yourself – what do you want to study? what do you want out of college? what sorts of activities do you want to participate in? what kinds of things are you excited about?</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for your input!!! @mollie, I understand your point about the difficulty of answering the question I asked. But I was hoping to receive just some totally spontaneous responses about MIT that’s not tailored to my particular interests or to my specific questions. I just want to get a feel for what MIT is in your impressions as I already know about the academics…etc. of the institution. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>Very useful info, thanks posting!</p>
<p>Well, I mean, for me, what I liked about MIT was that it was home. It was the place where I lived with my best friends, and where I met my husband.</p>
<p>But everybody’s different – MIT was home for me, but I know it’s not home for everyone.</p>
<p>From my D’s perspective, the kids are the nicest, most down-to-earth that she has met after attending three different Admit Weekends this month. Just really, really nice folks :)</p>
<p>I’m also one of those people who call MIT “home”. I started saying “I’m going home” when referring to my dorm a few weeks into Fall semester (I’m a freshman) I like how I can connect with my friends on so many levels. Back in high school I had one friend who really got me, here I met a whole bunch of them! I love how I can go on and on about how awesome this or that class is or how my cells are doing, and people just get it.
The other huge positive for me is how easy it was to get involved in real research. I just emailed professors, and a few days later I had a UROP.</p>
<p>Negatives? Coming from a British system, where you choose you major before you apply to uni and only take classes in your major, I thought all the core requirements will be a huge hassle. I still feel that way about some of them, though not all. e.g. I took a really awesome writing class last semester. I guess this is not really relevant to most people on here though…</p>
<p>Overall, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, but a lot of people wouldn’t be happy here. It does get overwhelming. I just happen to be an academic masochist/lab rat/quirky club athlete and even when I’m up at stupid-o’clock working on that pset (or doing something completely un-academic) I’m still really happy to be here.</p>
<p>What I like about MIT:</p>
<p>A lot of very smart and down-to-earth people. Very intellectually stimulating environment, intense yet very unpretentious. You will be judged almost completely on merit. No one cares how rich you are, what clothes you are wearing. It is truly a paradise if you want an raw intellectual experience. Challenging coursework, extremely smart professors and interesting spontaneous discussions. It is perfectly socially acceptable to start the conversation with a discussion about physics or math, and you will learn a lot from your peers. You’ll definitely have a nerd-gasm here. Amazing freedom: you get to choose your living group, and you get to take as many classes as you want in whatever subject you want. No one cares about prerequisites here.</p>
<p>What I dislike about MIT?</p>
<p>The food.</p>
<p>Note: This comes from a math/physics double major at MIT. I can tell you that your experience here might differ as a engineering major. For one thing, I know a lot of your life as an EECS major will revolve around the labs in building 36…</p>
<p>^ You’re saying that an MIT engineering major will have a harder time than a math/physics dual major?</p>
<p>No, I’m saying that an EECS student will spend a lot more time building/coding stuff in labs than a physics/math student, so their experience of what might be called “intellectual stimulation” is very different.</p>
<p>Note I did not mention engineering in general, because I have not taken enough courses in other engineering classes in order to make sweeping comments. Of the courses I have taken, EECS lecture courses were not particularly more difficult than physics/math. I actually would say they were easier if you compare what typical juniors/seniors in EECS and math/physics take. However, what is hard about EECS are the labs. They are very, very time consuming. Physics majors will say the same about Junior Lab, except that Junior lab count for 18 units, while EECS labs count for 12.</p>