<p>I'm currently at senior in high school and deciding whether I should go to MIT. The one thing that I'm most worried about is what I've heard is a horrifying workload at MIT, especially for math/science classes. I'm not particularly strong in math or science, and certainly not physics (the only physics I've ever been exposed to was at a summer course at a local state college). </p>
<p>I know tha the workload is difficult, as I would expect it to be, but how much are we expected to know for math and science courses going into MIT? The only related APs I've ever taken are AP Calc BC, AP Chem, and AP Bio. </p>
<p>The first year will get everyone to the same level. You’ll be fine with the preparation you have.</p>
<p>The workload is only as difficult as you make it. A lot of people take on more classes and extracurriculars than they can handle, and the workload of course ends up intense. If you manage your time and don’t take more than four classes a term then the workload should be very manageable.</p>
<p>You also learn to deal with the workload - it’s not like you’re automatically thrown into advanced-level classes right off the bat (well, unless you choose to be).</p>
<p>There’s a flipside to doing a lot of work - you get pretty good at it. It’s a useful skill to be able to sit down and just do something. One of the biggest changes I actually saw was in my driving abilities - before, I never had the focus to drive for more than an hour at a time and I was bored to death in cars. Last winter, some friends and I drove straight from Chicago to Boston (about 18 hours) without batting an eye. It’s definitely nice to be able to just buckle down and do things sometimes.</p>
It’s absolutely true that MIT students work hard, and that MIT academics are serious business, though I totally agree with lidusha that some amount of the difficulty is self-imposed.</p>
<p>Still, the workload at MIT for the average student cannot be described as “horrifying” with a straight face. Most people take four classes per semester, and most classes are worth twelve units of credit. Each unit is supposed to equal one hour of time per week, so a typical 48-unit courseload would mean about 50 hours of class/lab/homework per week. Forty-eight hours a week isn’t a vacation, to be sure, but it leaves 120 hours for whatever else you want to do.</p>
<p>The people who squawk the loudest about their workloads, of course, are the people who are taking heavy courseloads, or difficult classes, or working long hours in their UROP labs. But absolutely no one requires them to do these things – they do them because they want to. When I was an undergrad, I had a few semesters of 75 units, plus a club sport, plus my UROP. But nobody held a gun to my head and made me do all of those things.</p>
<p>Do students that have to work have time for any extra curricular? Could a student actually manage 4 classes, work 10-15 hours a week, and be involved in music? What about an occasional trip to a Boston Red Sox game for relief? Possible?</p>
<p>Yes, absolutely. As I said above, I was taking 5-6 classes per semester, working in my UROP lab 15 hours a week, and was captain of my club sport. I’m not much one for baseball personally, but I would have had time to catch the occasional game on the weekends – I certainly did enough clothes shopping in Boston during the weekends. :)</p>
<p>Just as a note - Fenway is very close to MIT - and on game day you can sometimes still get a single ticket at a decent price. (Well…the way this season is going…there might be a lot of resale seats available) There’s a lot of MIT kids doing music in various ways and it is also a music-rich area. BSO offers a great deal for students too.</p>