<p>Is it really hard to get A's at MIT? I believe MIT does not have grade inflation like at some ivies? So will a student's relatively lower GPA (as compared to some of the ivies) affect his/her chances for subseqent grad school admission? Thanks!</p>
<p>To an extent, it depends on what kind of person you are.</p>
<p>There are plenty of people at MIT who work 24-7, and complain about it, but they bring it upon themselves when they register for 7 classes and have a UROP too.</p>
<p>But still, for most people, class is time-consuming, but still rewarding in the end. To be honest, if someone is really worried about how much work MIT is, they may not be cut out for it.</p>
<p>hmm... tech_ninja, how does that answer my question about affecting subsequent grad school admission? Thanks=)</p>
<p>lol mit is impossible :(</p>
<p>To MIT_hopefulgirl, for certain graduate programs, most notably medical and law school admission (which tend to be extremely numbers-oriented), then yes, MIT will probably affect your chances of getting in. Calkidd, Ariesathena, and several other people including myself have written extensively on this very subject. The data seems to indicate that it is significantly harder to get into med-school coming out of MIT than it is coming out of, say, Princeton. </p>
<p><a href="http://web.mit.edu/career/www/infostats/preprof.html%5B/url%5D">http://web.mit.edu/career/www/infostats/preprof.html</a>
<a href="http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/2004.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/2004.pdf</a></p>
<p>However, if we are talking about other graduate programs that aren't as numbers-oriented, then things look substantially better. In particular, PhD admissions give less weight to pure numbers and more weight to things like rec's and research activities. MIT students do just fine in these areas.</p>
<p>sakky: could you give examples of graduate programs that aren't as "numbers-oriented"? For example, in the material sciece or chemistry department?</p>
<p>The two schools that are ranked #1 most often by national ranking publications are Princeton (US News, Prowl'r College Guide) and MIT (PR Guide, Atlantic Monthly).</p>
<p>Okay, I went to MIT ('75) and my son is '07. </p>
<p>The essential difference between MIT's courses and an AP course is that an AP course final (and I've seen them) will ask you to solve problems using what you know, and an MIT course will ask you to solve problems using information you derived from something you derived from something you learned in the AP course.</p>
<p>When I took biochemistry at MIT, the tests were all problems based on work being done by the professor's graduate students. In other words: no one knew the "right" answer, and our job as students was to suggest a testable mechanism. A really good answer might actually get used as a research projet.</p>
<p>Cuishanying, to answer your specific question, perhaps the most prominent example of graduate programs that are not tremendously numbers-oriented are business schools (MBA). I am happy to say that engineers, including (and especially) MIT engineers, are highly successful in getting into MBA programs. Part of the reason for this is that B-school adcoms treat the numbers, particularly GPA's, as only a minor consideration, and give the most weighting to work experience.</p>
<p>From what I've known, most grad schools also take that into consideration. I have a lot of friends at Harvard, and we usually tease them when they get an A-, like, "oh, you failed!" What's important, and really, grad schools do understand this, isn't your GPA, but what you've learned.</p>
<p>A lot of my friends are going to law school right now or next year - one of the alums from one of my teams is currently at Harvard Law School, and another's getting his PhD in Harvard Physics. I wouldn't say either one of them are geniuses, nor that they worked harder than anyone else. I really don't think you should make your college decision based on who can best push you into grad school; it really should be where you can learn the most about things the most important to you.</p>
<p>I guess it all depends on who you are.
8.022 is hard: once a week I'd just spend 6-8 hours doing the problem set, usually having to confer with other people on problems. 8.022 is the only class in which I've had to talk to others to solve the problems. Also, the test questions are just as hard (and as obscure) and the problem set questions, so on the test you're basically asked to complete half a problem set in 1 1/2 hours. In this class, having taken AP Physics C (both parts, 5s), was essentially irrelevant, except as providing an excellent conceptual framework for the material.</p>
<p>In 14.01, I never go to class and just read the book the night before the test, although others have to do more.</p>
<p>Finally, GET OUT OF EVERYTHING YOU CAN!
I should have tested out of 18.03, 18.06 and 8.02, and perhaps transferred 18.100 and the first abstract algebra class. If you can get out of it you deserve to, even if this means that you study over the summer. You won't regret this.</p>
<p>MIT IZ EZ</p>
<p>i Took pysics in 12th grade -- so i iz smart :)</p>
<p>u peple r stupid if u tink dis is hrd</p>
<p>NYIT is betta den MIT neway</p>
<p>itz hardr :)</p>
<p>Physics in the 12th grade?</p>
<p>Wow. I bet you were accepted!</p>
<p>whoa, 12th grade...</p>
<p>what grade are you in now?</p>
<p>dude. Listen to him. He didn't take physics at all.</p>
<p>He took pysics!</p>
<p>Oh woah - good point stasterisk!</p>
<p>I double my doubts of you not getting in!</p>
<p>Wait, youre right, this place is a piece o' cake. I'm not staying up all night doing homework, thats all in my mind...</p>
<p>How hard is it to pass an advanced standing exam? Any advices on how to prepare?</p>
<p>I am an alum from long ago. Back then (and I doubt it has changed for the worse) it was not hard to get A's. But you do have to work kinda hard to get it, unless, of course, if you're a genius. But if you don't get that A (5), you'll almost always get an easy B (4). </p>
<p>Some random advice. One great thing about MIT is that you get lots of flexibility. As long as you think you can hack it, you can sign up for lots of courses, incl. advanced and grad courses. They trust you to know your limits, so prerequisites means nothing. The bad thing about this is a lot of you will feel a great urge to overload (I'd say >5 per term is overload). So many enticing courses, so little time! That could get you into trouble. Yes, you can drop courses very late in the term, but, still, doing this will tax you physically and mentally. I'd advise caution. Don't rush. You can't learn it all anyways. And let me tell you how much of this stuff you'll remember 2 or 3 years after you leave: almost none!</p>
<p>Above all, learn to think. Don't learn just the equations. Learn why so-and-so great mathematician/scientist ask that question, learn how they then set up the problem and made those key simplifying assumptions in order to gain that key insight, learn what is the KEY in those equations. That will be the key to your long term success. The nitty gritty specifics of all those blah bah equations you need to learn in 4 years I guarantee you you will forget in no time.</p>
<p>I wholeheartedly agree...I haven't been to a single class at Tech yet but I agree with the philosophy that MIT makes you smarter not be teaching you facts but by teaching you HOW to think. I don't think i'll learn how to think any better if I overload myself with work.</p>