Honours at MIT?

<p>Given my recent interest in all things MIT, I thought I'd just ask how undergraduates get their first real taste of research. In Oz, coursework is the backbone of tertiary education, even at privately owned and operated technology-oriented places similar to MIT. So real research is pretty rare until you hit postgrad.</p>

<p>For most students, their honours year, where they do a thesis and complete original research is the first time they get exposure to research. And by then, they're considered by many to be graduates. So is honours an option for students at MIT? Or is research just weaved into the curriculum differently?</p>

<p>We have a program called UROP (undergraduate research opportunities program), which lets undergrads do research for either pay or credit. People participating in UROPs do real research, and many even get published before they graduate. In addition, its really easy to get a UROP (even starting freshman year), and ~85% of undergrads get a UROP sometime before graduating.</p>

<p>I think your “honours” year is equivalent to a 5-year masters of engineering program in the US (and MIT). It depends on the department, but in general, those with a high enough GPA can stay for an extra year and focus on a research project, which will become the master’s thesis. Otherwise, coursework is emphasized at the undergraduate level.</p>

<p>Interesting, thanks for that. I still can’t believe how different university education is between Australia and the States.</p>

<p>MIT requires an undergraduate thesis, which involves research at some level.</p>

<p>Only some majors require a thesis, for others it’s optional.</p>

<p>MIT students can engage in research their freshman year, if they so desire. My daughter will be a junior at MIT this fall, and so far, she has participated in three research projects at MIT.</p>

<p>Freshman year, spring semester: Paid Undergraduate Research Opportunity (UROP) working with a small research group on machine vision.</p>

<p>Summer after freshman year: Paid Summer-long UROP in the Plasma Physics Laboratory.</p>

<p>Summer after sophomore year: Paid summer-long UROP in the Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, working with a group that is developing a new particle detector. </p>

<p>She just finished her sophomore year, but this summer as part of her work at the Nuclear Reactor Lab, she was asked to give a presentation to a visiting group of scientists from Germany. She is also currently writing a chapter of a proposal report that will be submitted to the Department of Energy. She’s decided to keep working on this project over the next two years, so presumably this will culminate in her senior thesis.</p>

<p>I don’t think this is an unusual case. At MIT, you’re pretty free to pursue your interests.</p>

<p>What I find amazing at MIT is the degree to which a research group comprising scientists and graduate students will include an undergraduate in all aspects of the research. My sense is that if you can handle the responsibility and if you seek it out, there are not many limits on how far you can go.</p>

<p>Also, because I don’t think anyone addressed this part of your post:</p>

<p>MIT has no honors program or honors designation on the degree. This is not an Australia vs. US thing - many American schools have honors programs and/or degree designations (though they don’t follow the British system of 1, 2:1, 2:2, 3, and they don’t all follow the same system themselves). It’s an individual-school thing.</p>

<p>I can’t help but wonder if achieving your honours (or dual-honours) from a commonwealth university could (or should) give you some sort of dispensation from certain postgraduate requirements at MIT. If honours would be on par, or very similar to, master’s, maybe the cross-over should be a little easier.</p>

<p>MIT is allied with Cambridge University right? Maybe some academic bridges could come of that. I know at UNSW (my uni in Australia at the moment), some postgrad blow-ins from the Ivy League have had a year or two shaved off certain course requirements.</p>

<p>Maybe it’s the sort of thing that just occurs on a case-by-case basis. Anyone think it’s worth a shot? Postgrad work at MIT is on my radar at the moment.</p>

<p>Depending on the department, it may be possible to test out of certain graduate requirements. Sometimes this would involve talking to the professor who teaches the course, and taking an exam–perhaps a final exam from a previous year. Other times, this will simply involve bringing in any course materials from your work at other unis, and reviewing them with the professor.</p>

<p>Thanks for that Ren. Some of the talk in the previous thread I started about postgrad at MIT was getting me a little down—five to six years is a long time. But I guess it can’t hurt to try.</p>

<p>Just an update for those interested.</p>

<p>I’ve been in touch with what would be my department were I to head over there, EECS, and apparently it is possible. I was informed that a dual-honours graduate from Sydney Uni will actually be starting there in September, and has made special arrangements to take his RQE and similar such things early and out of schedule, because he can be given some credit for his research theses and teaching work. Apparently he could shave up to two years off his four-year program.</p>

<p>So there you go, funnily enough, a fellow aussie is doing this year what I hope to next. It’s a small world after all :-).</p>