<p>Hello guys,
I'm a HS junior atm. My primary interests are Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science and Physics. It is too early to set my future major as I'm not even admitted and haven't applied yet :) however I want to hear insights regarding those 3 if possible especially in terms of research and availibility of double majoring. Anyways let me state my questions:</p>
<p>1) What is the actual difference between Course16-1 and Course16-ENG?</p>
<p>2) Is it possible to double major in Course16 and Course6? I believe that it will be hard as hell but I'm confident that I'll be able to overcome the load. If I'm not mistaken, I have read somewhere that you can't double major 16 and 8, so thats why I need a clarification.</p>
<p>3) Is it possible to double major in Course16 and 8 or minor in physics while in Course 16?</p>
<p>4) Has one major access to more research facilities and labs compared to other? Do you think UROP gives the same importance to projects from each of those majors or does one stand out? One of the reasons I like MIT is because of UROP. I have read about SPL and many other research facilities, they look very promising. So I would like to learn whichever major one prefers, do they get the same priority in regards to UROP. I'm more space-oriented in regards to Aerospace Engineering, would that make a difference?</p>
<p>5) What is the procedure for use of labs like? Do you have to go thru a ton of paperwork before you are allowed to use the facility or is it more based on trust that you can use the labs so long you don't damage or there is a planned event?</p>
<p>I have been reading thru the forums for more than a year now. It seems that molie, you can shed some light to those questions, after reading -probably all- your posts regarding aerospace eng :D</p>
<p>Oh and a little irrelated question guys, is there any kind of MUN organization/club in MIT, I couldn't seem to find one?</p>
<p>16-ENG is a flexible option in 16, where you pick a concentration in another field. It’s useful if, say, you want to so something involving 16 and 3 (materials engineering) or 16 and 2 (mechE), or other overlapping fields.</p>
<p>It’s possible to double major in pretty much anything (I haven’t heard of 16/6 not being allowed - or 16/8 not being allowed. I have heard of 6/18C not being allowed, but 6/18 is completely fine IIRC). That said, most people end up not doing the double majors they plan because they underestimate the difficultly of MIT. Minors end up happening more often.
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<p>I haven’t heard any complaints. As someone who was course 7 (bio) and is now course 6 (EECS), I feel like there were opportunities everywhere either way. Also, don’t feel like your major by any means limits you to labs in your major. I’m course 6, but I’ll be working in a course 16 lab over the summer
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<p>I think I had to sign something before starting my bio UROP, but the process is by no means onerous.</p>
<p>Yeah, I heard most people couldn’t finish their double majors. If I get in somehow :D, I thought I can use the first semester to figure our how hard will it be, then have a final decission on which major to pursue and whatever to double major or not to double major. I think it would be fairly easy to do Course8 + Course16 compared to Course6 + Course16, but both ways it won’t be so easy it seems.</p>
<p>So Course-7 to Course-6… Hmm they must be very interrelated! Wow really interesting. I hope to be there in summer with ESP Junction, so maybe I can also see the labs if permitted.</p>
<p>Wait you didn’t read the little text just at the bottom of that paper? UROP now owns your soul Nice to hear that there isn’t much bureaucracy in regards to UROP. Are you given a schedule that permits you to use the lab in fixed dates/times or are you usually free to use the lab as long as it isn’t in use by others? BTW outside of UROP, as an MIT student, can you watch/observe labs or visit them without prior permission to see what people are doing etc.? I believe that each lab would have its own procedures in regards to visitors and such?</p>
<p>The university has assigned course numbers so that it is easy to tell which majors are so difficult it is impossible to add a second major. </p>
<p>Take your course number (say 10 for chem E), square it, add ten times the original number, add 25, take the square root (rounding to the nearest whole number), subtract your original number. </p>
<p>If the result of this calculation is an even number, then it is feasible to add a second major.
If the result of this calculation is an odd number, then double majoring will be impossible.</p>
<p>Oh, so <em>that</em> was the warm glow exiting my body. Thanks for explaining!
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<p>It varies a lot with what project you want and what schedule you’re looking for :P</p>
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<p>You could always email a lab saying you’re interested in their work and would like a tour It’s a little unusual (people just tend to UROP in places they’re interested in!), but certainly not unreasonable.</p>
This is about as negative as anyone is ever going to hear me be, but I would not be so confident if I were you. </p>
<p>The difficulty of doubling in 16 and 6 (or 16 and just about anything else) is not actually that the material is hard – of course the material is hard, very hard, but it’s not as though it’s more hard for a double than for anybody else. It’s that there are so many courses required, and very few of them overlap, so you’d need to be taking heavy courseloads of very difficult classes every semester, which ends up being too much to handle.</p>
<p>To illustrate what I mean, look at the [second</a> major statistics](<a href=“Statistics & Reports | MIT Registrar”>Statistics & Reports | MIT Registrar). That year, 19 people were signed up to complete a second major in management. 43 had a second major in math. One had a second major in aerospace engineering.</p>
<p>But it doesn’t really matter, because being in one major, you’re free to take classes in a different department, and free to UROP in a different department, and so you can cobble together a great education full of some a la carte combination of the departments you really like. It’s just that in the case of course 16, it’s really unlikely that you would actually graduate with majors in two departments. But it’s not like anybody cares whether you graduate from MIT with one major plus courses in a different department vs. two majors.</p>
So there are no set-in-stone schedules just by faculty?</p>
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Heh, was expecting this I was also worried about that huge non-overlapping field. At the end, even if not for a second major, I can just take some programming classes while in Course16…,
Do you think doublemajoring Course16 and Course8 would be easier? There are still an important number of non-overlapping couses but I believe that it would come in handy in future as the topics are related. By the way, I’m not looking at the financial side of a double major diploma, yet. The educational side is a lot more important to me.</p>
<p>I… don’t know what you mean. The faculty isn’t going to set one single schedule for everyone to adhere to. That doesn’t make any sense. If you’re doing a summer UROP, you’ll probably do 9-5, but that depends on what you work out with your UROP adviser. If you’re doing a term-time UROP, you work that out on your own basis. Sometimes labs close (I couldn’t get in the Whitehead past 5pm or so), so that sort of set a time to be in lab. If you’re doing CS stuff, lab hours are less relevant.
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<p>Yep!
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<p>Probably, though still difficult.</p>
<p>What are you looking to get out of a double major?</p>
<p>There are several reason regarding double-majoring Course16 and Course8 but to summarize…</p>
<p>1) This would give me a very broad range of field to work in.
2) Deeper expertise in physics would make me a better engineer and I would be able to look at issues from different concepts.
3) I have an interest in both designing and physics(astrophysics to be more precise).</p>
<p>Maybe Course16 as major but astronomy as minor… Well I’m open to any kind of suggestions.</p>
<p>I think your general thinking is correct in points 1-3, but double majoring in course 16 and 8 is the wrong way to do it. There are too many courses to take, and they aren’t necessary to developing all the skills you are looking for. I would suggest that you major in course 8 and then take a year off to take Unified. If you take too many courses, then you are likely to get bogged down or overwhelmed and not learn the underlying skills and concepts. If you erased the knowledge base of an MIT aerospace prof, it would take them about 2.5-3 years to fulfill the major coursework for course 16. There is not much time for other courses. 8.03 and 18.03 are the only overlaps between course 8 and course 16. </p>
<p>Alternatively, you could major in physics for two years and then switch to aerospace for the final 3 years, graduating in 5 years. This would allow you to get a good grounding in physics up through quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics.</p>
<p>You are better off getting A’s in the core courses, then taking a bunch of courses and getting B’s or C’s in them. This is particularly true IMO in theoretical disciplines because learning is much more vertical, where more advanced concepts build directly on previous concepts.</p>
While seconding everything collegealum says above, I want to add that these are great reasons to, e.g., major in 16 and take some courses that interest you in 8, which is potentially a doable plan. You don’t have to actually be a declared double major to take some classes in a department – then you could take the classes you want to take without worrying about whether you’ll actually fulfill the requirements to graduate with the double. </p>
<p>In some sense, it’s fine, and you can come in with whatever plan you want. My husband, who’s smart and hard-working and passionate and all that, intended to major in 16 and minor in 8. He didn’t end up taking a single class toward that minor, because he was busy and intellectually fulfilled enough by his course 16 work and UROPs. There’s just no way he could have fit a minor on top of everything else he was doing. And I know a lot of other stories like that – Lulu, who was a blogger and used to post here on CC, intended to major in 16/8 and ended up just doing 8; my friend Woody planned on being 2/16 and ended up just being 16. I’m sure I know of others. </p>
<p>(Total aside for collegealum – a girl whose bench was next to mine in 7.02, who was the typical froshy overconfident TJ type, declared that she was going to take Unified to get out of taking 5.60 for course 7. Guess who showed up with an add form the second week of 5.60?)</p>
<p>My reasoning was that if I further study in physics, I would have a better understanding of structure durabilities, propulsion systems and celestial objects. In addition, it’d be beneficial for me in experimental projects and research since it would help me create a wider sight on the concepts. Which I believe, would come in really handy in future, whatever I choice a more research or industry oriented path.</p>
<p>Thanks for insights mollie, piper and collegealum. It seems time will show which path is more possible. Still I need to get in first, hehe :D</p>
Wow really interesting. I hope to be there in summer with ESP Junction, so maybe I can also see the labs if permitted.</p>
It’s a little unusual (people just tend to UROP in places they’re interested in!), but certainly not unreasonable.</p>