<p>My son will be a freshman at MIT in the fall. He does not want residence-based advising. He's interested in two of the FAS choices (Physics and Music, and Operations Research) but is concerned about overextending himself the first semester, as he plans to try out for the MITSO, pursue a UROP, and deal with the PE requirement (in addition to taking four 12-unit classes). We know that heavy workloads CAN be handled by students who are very well-organized, but is adding a FAS typically done by students who also pursue these other extracurriculars?</p>
<p>Freshman advising seminars are not typically a large time commitment -- although they do give 6 units of credit (which is theoretically the equivalent of three hours of class/homework per week), I don't know of any freshman advising seminar which actually took 6 hours per week. Mostly they are just a two hour per week commitment which includes dinner.</p>
<p>A freshman advising seminar is not likely to stop a student from participating in extracurriculars generally. MITSO and a UROP and the PE requirement could be kind of a handful first semester, though -- why not put off PE until IAP?</p>
<p>PE never seemed a big time commitment to me =P I'd suggest not starting up with a UROP from the beginning - give it a couple of weeks to adjust. I think that's by far the biggest time commitment.</p>
<p>I am an incoming freshman too, and I thought that because of the 54 unit limit, I can't take 4 12-unit classes, be in MITSO/MITWE, and an advising seminar, because both of the last two are 6 units. So is this true? Or can I do both?</p>
<p>I started off with a UROP, varsity sport, and traditional advising and was absolutely fine.</p>
<p>Sports are a great way to ditch PE (a varsity sport counts as PE credit) and a UROP is a great way to earn extra credit or money. I went for traditional advising just because I didn't want too many "I have to go to this" requirements (classes, seminars, etc) Traditional worked GREAT for me and I don't regret it at all. A lot of people end up regretting the seminars because about 2 months in they just don't care anymore but have to show up and sit through it.</p>
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I am an incoming freshman too, and I thought that because of the 54 unit limit, I can't take 4 12-unit classes, be in MITSO/MITWE, and an advising seminar, because both of the last two are 6 units. So is this true? Or can I do both?
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You don't have to take MITSO for academic credit -- you can just be in it as an extracurricular. So yes, you can take 54 units and be in MITSO, you just can't take MITSO for the 6 units of credit it offers.</p>
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Sports are a great way to ditch PE (a varsity sport counts as PE credit)...
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</p>
<p>Just to clarify...only varsity sports count as PE credit, and a varsity sport played for at least a year (the novice team on a varsity sport, if it has a novice team, doesn't count, as I learned from personal experience) will fulfill half your PE requirement. So you'd still have to take PE, but only two classes instead of four.</p>
<p>A few club sports, like American Jiu-Jitsu, have PEs attached to their intro classes in some terms.</p>
<p>thank God this came up. I was so confuzd abt this bt I guess it's ok now. The whole seminar thing seems not to suit me so............</p>
<p>choose seminar-based man. all it is is you get fed for free once every week and go on trips and listen to some guy talk for an hour or two. easiest 6 units you'll ever earn at MIT trust me</p>
<p>how hard is it to get into a specific seminar? I really want to do the mathematical problem solving one...</p>
<p>Pebbles, u r really confuzn me. Thought it will eat into tym for sports n all that.
so :confused:</p>
<p>look, you can spare the two hours a week. The math problem solving one is the only slightly intense seminar.</p>
<p>laloo6, I imagine the lottery for seminars is similar to other MIT lotteries, so your chances of getting a particular seminar depend on how popular a choice that seminar is among other students interested in seminar-based advising. This is probably particularly true since seminars must be so small.</p>
<p>Take MITSO for credit! ;) <em>thumbsup</em></p>
<p>@Jessie</p>
<p>Actually, DAPER says you need 8 PE Points and then goes on to say:</p>
<p>"Students can earn physical education points for participation on varsity athletics teams. Upon the completion of each varsity season, the team head coaches submit physical education grades. The number of possible points is based on the sport and season of participation.</p>
<p>For all varsity sports, students can earn up to 4 points in their main season of competition. For sports with a split season (fall and spring), students can earn up to 4 points in their main season of competition and 2 points for the alternate season.</p>
<p>Students who quit the team, are cut from the roster, or asked to leave the team will not be awarded points."</p>
<p>Two seasons, 4 points each, 8 points. You don't have to do PE if you do a varsity sport.</p>
<p>Now, I have a question similar to that of the thread starter. I'm interested in the math problem solving/operations research FAS, trying out for the MITSO/MITWE, participating in College Bowl, and taking PE in addition to 4 classes. Is this too much?</p>
<p>just a head up about the math problem solving. my friend signed up for it this year, he later dropped it because everyone in it was already those super math geniuses and it didn't talk much about math problem solving. The problem solving part felt more like a prerequisite</p>
<p>And for "Is it too much?" it is different for everyone</p>
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And for "Is it too much?" it is different for everyone
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Exactly. And you'll figure out what "too much" is for you at some point during freshman year. And if it is too much, you'll drop a class, or drop MITSO, or drop College Bowl, or drop your PE. No big deal. You can pick up the dropped thing in another semester.</p>
<p>I'll put in another plug for taking PE classes during IAP: there is no class, you have more free time, and it feels good to be forced to exercise when it's dark and cold outside. I never took a PE class during the semester, because my schedule was busy enough as it was.</p>
<p>Incidentally, and I don't know if this applies to anyone, you can get the "varsity sport" PE points for a sport you play that MIT doesn't field a team for. My husband was a competitive mogul skiier, and he was awarded PE points for competing, even though he competed on his own without any official MIT support.</p>
<p>(OT: Lalaloo6, sorry for screwing up your name upthread! Grad school is frying my neurons. :))</p>
<p>if you choose to take PE during IAP, will that prevent you from taking the other classes offered during IAP?</p>
<p>Only if there's a schedule conflict -- PE doesn't count for academic credit, so it wouldn't count toward the 12-unit IAP credit limit. But there are a lot of PE classes offered at different times of day during IAP, so it shouldn't be difficult to find one that doesn't conflict with a class you want to take.</p>