Hello,
Does MIT support double major in CS and Business OR is there a combined program in these areas OR is it possible to Major and Minor in these subjects together, kindly share any of your experiences.
Thanks,
A student can double major in CS and Management or do one of them as a major and the other as a minor.
Yes, 6-3 and 15 are viable double majors: http://mitadmissions.org/discover/majors
But you must have at least a 4.0 GPA (cf. http://web.mit.edu/registrar/subjects/cmtes/coc/petitions_doublemajor.html )
And sample semester course roads are like this: http://mitsloan.mit.edu/uploadedFilesV9/Undergraduate/Pages/Majors_and_Minors/Course%2015%20Roadmaps.pdf
Thank you very much for your time and responses. This is a long text… please bear with me. Two parts 1) More clarity on MIT and CS major and GPA 2) Student’s background and SAT essay writing question and miscellaneous items…
Based on my readings so far, it looks like only in Spring semester students can select their major at MIT. Are there any challenges/requirements in selecting CS and primary major? She definitely wants to major in CS with 2nd major (or minor if schools don’t support 2nd major) in business/entrepreneur. Also, I could use some help in understanding GPA calculations at MIT in the context 4.0 requirement for double major. It looks like no number grades are given during first year first semester. Second semester is when GPA calculations can start with numbers and an A is 5, B is 4 etc… So the requirement is to maintain overall B or above. If CS is not practical, MIT is not a fit for her. I am stating all of this to express my understanding and seeking correction/clarification. Kindly help me.
To provide additional context on the student here are her metrics:
SAT 1580/1600 (780M, 800CR); Her writing is low 15/24 (looks like pretty low); this is the reason she was thinking of writing SAT again; while is excellent in expressing her views methodically and win a debate, she is not one who enjoys writing (doesn’t hate it) and wants to do CS doesn’t want to spend her energy in mastering writing essays. Does MIT care about SAT essay writing scores?
SAT Math II: 800 (Math); PSAT: 1500/1520; Class rank: top 3 students (ranks will come out in a month) at one of top high schools in the country.
AP Courses: By the time she finishes senior year, 14-15 courses.(including AP CompSi(5))
Some leadership positions in her school clubs. EDX online CS and business courses in the areas of her interest. Not much CS related ECs (like coding competitions) as her school focus is on Health sciences and she is not interested in speed coding competitions as she is interested in architecture, data sciences and AI.
Ethnicity: Asian - Indian - Female
During Spring break 2018 we visited Berkeley, Georgia Tech and Stanford. She decided against Berkeley (one less application). Georgia Tech CS info session impressed her, surrounding area is a bit sketchy. Stanford tour was a typical UG student showing buildings and labs around, and not much substance is gained about “teaching & learning” (She is my 2nd daughter, I have done few college tours and I always scratch my head little bit when tour guides spend disproportionate amount of time on building/statues/traditions/legacy against the future opportunities and learning experiences. School’s history is the reason a prospective student is already spending time and money at that campus so don’t need to impress on the history/legacy, talk about opportunities and possibilities and how they can come to fruition… Ok rabbit hole… had to vent…) after attending Dr.Lin’s info session at UT, she really liked UT Austin Turing program. Generally speaking she is not a fan of cold weather and overcast skies and that is the reason we haven’t gone North much. Doing double major in CS and Business at MIT excited her. A family friend who visited MIT and Harvard spoke how MIT campus is more energetic and conducive to students who want to be challenged and also want to be creative. We will be visiting MIT this summer, hope to understand how MIT facilitates students’ learning and also will try to shadow a student, meet a teaching faculty member.
Thank you very much for reading my ramblings
I think I can help you understand the differences between the GaTech CS program where double majoring is a bit more difficult, and the MIT program. If she gets accepted to MIT she can major in anything she wants, and change her major into sophomore year, because all MIT students take almost the same freshman program, its required for all degrees: a semester of biology, a semester of chemistry, a year of physics a year of math, and distribution requirements in humanities and social sciences. GaTech does NOT require the chemistry or biology classes but will require physics for the CS major.
MIT’s CS program is housed in the EECS department. Search on MIT EECS to understand more. GaTech offers a College of Computing that is completely separate from College of Engineering and harder to get accepted. . MIT offers the Sloan School of Business undergrad degree, but again, all undergraduates can major in business and change their major at will at MIT so she will not apply to EECS or Sloan, she applies to MIT as a WHOLE. . She only needs the B average to DOUBLE Major, not to get a single major.
To get product design and entrepreneurship training, the best class at MIT is 2.009. See movies and info here:
This class is not a business class, its a mechanical engineering class thats open to EECS and anyone really who wants to do the work.
The class is broken into groups and each group gets a large budget, and makes a business plan and builds a prototype. Venture Capitalists are invited to the final presentations and some companies form with undergraduates right out of the this class !!! Its very exciting.
Here is the down side of the class 2.009. Students spent 40 to 60 hours on that ONE class for part of the semester.
That leaves very little time to pass the other classes and NO time to sleep or eat , Its a huge problem for MIT students who are average. The brilliant ones do very well though, start a company and may enjoy working 80 to 100 hours a week that start ups require. Its a passion!!!
The MIT students I have talked with say its unbelievably draining and it kills any desire they have to get involved in a start up. The two I know got conventional jobs at GM and Uber at the end of their MIT educations. They had had enough of “entrepreneurship” they wanted a life!
But its a good dose of reality about entrepreneurship for sure. MIT is real!!!
At GaTech, the program in CS is slightly more specialized and a little different than MIT’s program. As a CS major she will need to select two threads, from a list of 8 specialities. Those include theory, modeling, and others, read this list:
https://www.cc.gatech.edu/academics/degree-programs/bachelors/computer-science/threads
GaTech has a large number of start ups that undergraduates get involved with in Tech Square, which feels almost like
its on campus, its walkable from the GaTech campus:
http://www.gatech.edu/innovation-ecosystem/entrepreneurs-startups
Both programs have research for undergraduates.
MIT doesn’t care about the SAT writing score. Your daughter shouldn’t retake the exam.
OP, you’ve clearly done some research, but need to try to understand what the colleges like to see, what they look for. The curiosity about grading schemes, requirements, majors/minors, etc, is good in coming up with a final list. But they only apply once admitted. And that admit is a matter of more than what she wants or her stats. And certainly not about the number of AP classes.
“Some leadership positions in her school clubs. EDX online CS and business courses in the areas of her interest. Not much CS related ECs (like coding competitions) as her school focus is on Health sciences and she is not interested in speed coding competitions as she is interested in architecture, data sciences and AI.”
What collaborative math or sci activities? What shows, besides courses, that she has invested effort into this goal, has the mindset and has gained practical experience? That’s not speed coding competitions but more ordinary week to week ECs, team experiences. You say she wants to be challeged, but what shows challenges she’s taken on, through hs (the sort of challenges/experiences a top college will find relevant. This is, “Show, not just tell.”)
And if she has a health focus in the hs, be careful it isn’t like some kids who seem to collect a variety of pre-vocational classes, not so academc in nature, sometimes geared to kids who will head for pre-professional training. Eg, medical coding courses, etc. Don’t know how this works in her school.
One last comment. Lots of kids talk about busines majors at tippy top colleges-- when there aren’t business majors, per se. Be sure what MIT does offer in “business” is what she wants.
Re: MIT
Logistically,
First semester, Freshman Fall (and also Freshman IAP), is Pass/No Record [A/B/C = Pass, D/F = No Record]
Second semester, Freshman Spring, is A/B/C/No Record [D/F = No Record].
GPA is cumulative starting Spring term freshman year. (As you probably know, it is a 5.0 scale.)
As per the link I provided, a student has to have completed three terms including one in the first major. (So the earliest is Sophomore year Spring term)
Management (Course 15), can be a minor or major: http://mitsloan.mit.edu/undergrad/
Be sure your daughter wants to do all the classes necessary for the second major. There are three management tracks (Management, Business Analytics, Finance aka 15-1, 15-2, 15-3).
CS is extremely practical that I’m aware of.
MIT is in Boston. It is cold in the winters which tend to run December through maybe mid-March (if you’re lucky). Snow is inevitable in any winter (i.e., every recorded winters in history has had snow). It doesn’t rain a lot (compared to say, Seattle, WA, Portland, OR, or even Pittsburgh, PA) but yes, winter is pretty dreary.
I might consult something like this: https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/Massachusetts/sunshine-by-month.php
Below, let me offer my opinion.
As for extracurriculars, IMHO, competitive programming is extremely overrated.
I personally would much rather see someone with some web programming skills who used those skills to help a cause like ALS or autism awareness or trisomy-n (where n=8, 9, 13, 16, 18, 22, etc.) or a local NGO/NPO than someone with USACO Platinum.
And as others have said, it is SHOW, don’t TELL … consult: http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/match
All MIT degrees are mathematically focused. CS is on the theoretical side with a lot of coding, so if thats your definition of “practical” MIT is practical.
MIT has tough mathematics requirements, but not quite a tough as Caltech, where every student takes Analysis, which is advanced calculus, since so many students come in with so much mathematics. GaTech, offers smaller honors math classes that are at the MIT level of difficulty.
Its harder to double major in anything at GaTech because GaTech asks students to take more credits than MIT does per bachelors degree.
Thank you all!!
Thank you for making a very good point, (“Show, not just tell”)
On the fun fact side…
" It doesn’t rain a lot (compared to say, Seattle, WA, Portland, OR, or even Pittsburgh, PA) …" We are from Houston and rain is one thing we know of (56" rain during Harvey) 