<p>Thanks a lot for your help, guys. This weekend I'm going to the San Diego MIT club's holiday party, and I hope to find out a lot of good stuff there. It was great to hear your insight! I feel like I know so little about the school, yet what I do know is incredibly enticing.</p>
<p>Best wishes</p>
<p>A friend of mine who is currently a sophomore told me (during his freshman year) about one pset for calc (18.02 I think) that took a group of several people (I don't remember.. ?6-12) twelve hours just to work through.</p>
<p>I believe that. I worked with the same study group (3-5 people) for physics (8.012) every Thursday night and it would usually take us between 6 and 10 hours. Don't leave it all for the last day!</p>
<p>Haha, well if you DO leave it for the last day, make sure that it will be your only homework you have to do that day ;P</p>
<p>Well, i was curious about how many students take MEEECS, cos both of them seem pretty interesting to me.....ME seems fun, and EECS is just like my passion....but.......</p>
<p>These problem sets are making my mouth froth! It's like a fat kid looking through a glass wall at a table with twenty pumpkin pies. Except fat becomes science geeky, glass wall becomes 8 months, and pumpkin pies becomes problem sets!</p>
<p>My first year at MIT was very depressing and difficult for me academically. I got all C's in my first semester classes and a 3.3 in my second semester. I look back on it now and realize that if I had the study skills I have now, back then I would have gotten much better grades. My sophomore year I got a 3.9 and then a 4.3 and first semester my junior year I got a 4.6. Coming from a below average (for MITs standards) high school really hurt me the first year because I almost never studied or did homework in high school.</p>
<p>My last two semesters I have had a great time at MIT. I learn to get work done instead of mess around. I can go out on the weekdays, but sometimes I have to work on the weekend nights. You have to learn a schedule that works for you. I had hardly any class this term, but I worked more than any term beforehand.</p>
<p>In general I think MIT undergrad is probably as hard as it gets. My boss this summer, who got a Master's in EE at MIT, said that he took 6.003 (Signals and Systems - Course 6 core) as a graduate student (because he didn't get his BS at MIT) and said it was so hard and had so much homework that he and another student had to drop it. I had just taken the class and I was amazed that someone so successful had equal or more trouble than I had as a sophomore!</p>
<p>But when employers see that I come from MIT, there's nothing better I could have on my record. But, when I compete with other MIT students for jobs, I am often disappointed. So I always have to keep it in perspective that MIT has some of the smartest people around.</p>
<p>kevtrice, employers will be evaluating MIT grads as the "whole person", how they interview, and how they fit in with their needs. You have to show that you know your stuff and can do something productive for them but GPA will not be high on the list of importance, as long as you get the degree ;-) .</p>
<p>I heard that MIT is now all Pass/Fail for Freshman year. Is this true? If so, it must be a recent change (?).</p>
<p>Pass/no record for first semester of first year, then ABC/no record second semester of first year.</p>
<p>"These problem sets are making my mouth froth! It's like a fat kid looking through a glass wall at a table with twenty pumpkin pies. Except fat becomes science geeky, glass wall becomes 8 months, and pumpkin pies becomes problem sets!"</p>
<p>You're crazy. ;)</p>
<p>haha im kinda excited about getting real work too, high school is boring. im sure i will be hating the psets in about 10 months though.</p>
<p>Kevtrice, did you take many AP classes in high school? How much harder are MIT classes compared to the APs?</p>
<p>This is what I took:</p>
<p>AP US History: 4</p>
<p>AP Physics B: 3
AP Statistics: 4
Independent Study AP US Govt: 3</p>
<p>AP Calculus BC: 5
AP Comp Sci AB: 4
AP Physics C M: 5
AP Physics C E: 3
AP Human Govt: 4</p>
<p>MIT was much harder than these APs. Most people who got a 5 in Mechanics did very well in 8.01, however I did not. I think my low performace was heavily attributed to low work ethic - but most of that was because I never had to work in highschool.</p>
<p>which math class did you take freshman year? Does a 5 on calc BC mean that you don't have to take either calc 1 or calc 2?</p>
<p>8.01 is only mechanics?</p>
<p>How hard are the humanities classes?</p>
<p>4 or 5 on BC places you out of 18.01 (differential and integral calculus, calc 1 and 2 at other schools)</p>
<p>8.01 is Mechanics, which you can place out of with a 5 on both parts of Physics C (I have no idea why both.) 8.02 is E&M, which you can only place out of by taking MIT's test.</p>
<p>Hmm... I was wondering. What are the advantages of placing out of a class by AP exam? I'm starting to think that maybe it'd be best just to go through all the intro classes (regardless of AP exam scores) simply for a very good basis going into the more advanced classes. Would it lighten your courseload to place out of a class like physics or calc? Or would it just harm you later on (assuming you're not a math prodigy who does not need to bother with such inferior tasks as learning)?</p>
<p>If I take Mech and E&M tests in different years is that okay?</p>
<p>What is 18.02?</p>
<p>Course listings are here. You can see every single course that MIT has to offer. For example, to find 18.02, you look up course 18 (mathematics) and then click around until you find 18.02. As you can see, 18.02 is basically multivariable calculus. </p>
<p>Test out of everything you can. MIT won't give you a free ride. If you can test out, you know the material.</p>
<p>THe humanities classes aren't very hard.</p>
<p>Wow sakky, thanks for the link.</p>
<p>But I'm still wondering, EECS is such a diverse topic, and MIT, apparently, tries to cover it. But does that mean that all the courses listed, are offered?</p>
<p>If yes, then wow.</p>