<p>So, I have heard that admissions officers want to see that you have taken a "challenging courseload", but it's very vague and I can't seem to find an answer as to what this is. Does this mean challenging intellectually? Challenging as far as the number of hours required? This "challenging courseload" seems to be the end-all be-all for "show us that you can survive at MIT".</p>
<p>However, this leads to another problem: how much work does MIT actually have? For instance, I took a very "challenging courseload" hours-wise this year (Junior), but with some regularity I start to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work hours I have to commit, with little time for anything else. This then leads me to doubt I can make it at MIT. Except for the amount of work, I love almost everything about MIT (the community, the intellectually challenging curriculum, the professors), and really, really want to go there. I'm not lazy by any means: I love to complete projects and work hard, just not work so much my only free time is spent resting.</p>
<p>I'm wondering how typical this situation is: a student, learning that the MIT admissions wants a "challenging courseload", actually takes more than what would actually happen at MIT. It's not as if MIT's amount of work is restricted to MIT. Then, feeling overwhelmed, they feel that they won't be able to "make" it at MIT, even if accepted.</p>
<p>So, to gain a better understanding as well as spread this understanding, I ask: just how much work is MIT like?</p>
<p>The reason why a lot of student complain how MIT is a lot of work, is because it often is a personal choice. There are quite a lot of overachievers here (yeah, shocking). So of course, you would expect people to take courseloads that push them 110% of their abilities. Usually that extra 30% is self inflicted. I don’t think MIT is consistently a lot of work, if you take 4 classes a semester. Sure, there will be maybe 1 or 2 semesters that are a little heavier, for example when you have lab class (thinking junior lab/software lab right now), but those are more exception than the norm.</p>
<p>Having said that, pushing yourself 110% for 1 or 2 semesters at MIT is also part of the fun, I would definitely recommend it if you are healthy and confident.</p>
<p>Since you are in high school, I would not recommend you to focus on quantity, but rather on quality. I would much rather take 3 really hard classes rather than 5 easy class. Learn the material in your classes well, try to think critically about what you are learning. Being able to reason and extend class material beyond what was told to you is a necessary skill here (and the reason why some people say MIT is “hard”).</p>
<p>I don’t remember if you are a student at MIT, but the fact is that MIT is consistently a lot of work even with a normal courseload. Some majors are worse than others, but it’s true across the board especially when comparing to the same major classes at Stanford or peer ivies.</p>
<p>Yes, I am a student here. I have not studied at other top schools so I can’t really compare, but I think a lot of “I have 5 psets, 2 exams and a lab due” this week type of scenario => pull all nighter, is because the said speaker is taking 5+ classes at the same time (personal experience as well as anecdotes). For my case, I actually pulled 2 all-nighters in a row. Thank god there is something called Mountain Dew. I can tell you, that week was my first week here I could legitimately say IHTFP. Given that fixed courseload, could I have prevented myself from those all nighters by not procrastinating? No, not humanely at least. I think it would have involved working all spring break, and I think I would have gone insane. But I am pretty sure if I took a “normal” load that semester, I would not have had to pull any all nighters. </p>
<p>Now, to put my statement in perspective, I’ll do a comparison with data I actually know. I do have friends at my state university, and I do think they coursework is A LOT less challenging, but the quantity is comparable in the science areas. For example, their pset questions for their “intermediate/advanced” physics classes would be exam questions in a class like 8.012/8.022 here. And to be honest, I am very grateful for that. The Psets here actually require you to be thinking critically, and sometimes even creatively. It’s something my friends can’t claim, and I feel very bad for them.</p>
<p>The only exception I can point out in terms of difference of quantity is the lab classes here. I know that the NMR experiment for J-lab is what Columbia uses for a FULL semester experiment (here, it’s one of the 4 experiments performed in the semester)</p>
<p>But if you are of a caliber to get into MIT, I would not worry too much. 50% of the MIT people I know who complained they have too much work are taking 6+ classes. The other 50% tell me they are very badass at procrastination :D. So in summary, on MIT standards, is MIT consistently a lot of work? No. On a normal state university standard, is MIT consistently a lot of work? No, but the work is orders of magnitude more difficult… except for Death labs (where quantity can be a major problem).</p>
<p>Proof of the previous statement: I am on CC right now.</p>
<p>As supplemental evidence, I will pull the following quote from MIT blogger Rachel, commenting on her all nighter.</p>
<p>“Don’t let this scare you, prefrosh. MIT is as hard as you want it to be, and as fun as you want it to be. Here are a couple of pleasant surprises for the brave souls who made it this far through my gruesome post.”</p>
<p>The inherent problem here, I think, is that coolness and fun-ness/self-worthiness (is that even a word?) is often measured by how hard your schedule is. That kind of attitude is lacking at other schools. Which leads to self-inflicted all-nighters, and “IHTFP” statements.</p>
<p>This is reassuring to hear. I just committed to MIT for the class of 2015, and will be pre-med, hopefully course 8 major. Like the good stereotypical pre-med that I am, GPA and workload will be a huge concern of mine. I’m not sure if this is a good thing yet, but I loved MIT enough to commit even though the workload seems terrifying and disastrous. But I know it will be worth it in the end. All I can say is, bring it MIT :)</p>
<p>@bailey42,
As Faraday points out, some of the students who complain about the work have loaded up on extra courses. There is a thread on the board now from a transfer student currently failing classes – this individual enrolled in the most difficult courses possible during the first semester at MIT. This was avoidable. You’ll have control over your own schedule. </p>
<p>Lulu was a cheerleader at MIT, like Molliebatmit; she defintely managed to carve out a personal life while excelling in her major. After graduation, she took a year off and worked as a science writer for a period at a California newspaper. Later, she landed a research position in a Silicon Valley start-up. Next year, she will enter Harvard’s Ph.D. program in physics. Don’t blow off her advice.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with entering MIT and taking four basic courses just to see how you handle the workload. You can always increase the level of difficulty later. I know MIT students who argue that in the first semester, because it’s P/F, you should dive in and take the hardest courses possible, but that choice can cost you time – time to make new friends, try out new things, explore different places around Boston. It can also cost you in confidence, if you don’t do so well. Lulu L. made the point in the blog about choosing a physics major that some students may feel they have to be “hard core” at MIT. Try to avoid that. Try to rise above that impulse.</p>
<p>Well, I talked to TA’s at MIT who went to other top schools for undergrad, and they couldn’t believe how much work we were assigned. </p>
<p>There are people who make it worse, but in general any given class at MIT will be harder and more work than equivalent classes at other top schools.</p>
<p>This is an interesting thread, because if I may be blunt, with the exception of collegealum314, the other posters started talking amongst themselves, somewhat oblivious to the questions posed by the original poster.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s good, the original poster can see that his fellow students will ignore what he is saying and just talk about how if someone is overwhelmed at MIT it is their own fault and then start talking about the two day all nighter they pulled and wasn’t that awesome.</p>
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<p>I’m familiar with that thread. What was never clear was what kind of academic advice the original poster received. Yes, I suppose in theory he or she had control over their own schedule. But this particular person came from a very underprivileged background and I think really needed some advice and guidance when they started at MIT which they clearly didn’t get it. I doubt very much that they knowingly enrolled in classes that they were unprepared for. The OP in this particular thread was absolutely miserable and was finally getting some help but what happened to him shouldn’t happen to anyone anywhere.</p>
<p>This is a disgusting overstatement. CalAlum listed several resources that addressed the OP’s question of “how much work is MIT, really”, and faraday definitely attempted to address this question as well, though perhaps you failed to read his posts closely enough to see this.</p>
<p>To Omegalisk’s other question of “how often does a student take too many classes in high school and feel overwhelmed / like they won’t make it at MIT”, I definitely felt that way, as did most of my peers. MIT probably push you farther than you thought that you could go - I’ve never met anyone at MIT who thought that college was easier than high school, for instance. But, really and truly, you would not have been admitted if the admissions officers didn’t think that you could do the work.</p>
<p>With regards to the thread about the transfer student, it’s fairly easy to be cocky when you first arrive at MIT, and most advisers will let you make your own mistakes. If the OP in the other thread had taken advanced math classes at his or her original college, I would be unsurprised if the adviser in question encouraged taking more theoretical math. 18.100B is the intro to theoretical math class at MIT, and while it is very difficult, it’s definitely common among math majors to take it early in your career to test the waters. I don’t believe that this was a lack of academic advising, I believe this was a lack of the OP knowing his or her own limits - and being unwilling to ask for help when it appeared that he or she had gone beyond them.</p>
<p>Omegalisk, MIT is definitely not easy. It will probably be more work than you’ve ever done in your life. You will have awful terms and better terms, and you will probably have a period of time when the only downtime you get is sleeping. But, as Lulu’s blog posts spoke to, most of us find it totally worth it, and I suspect that you probably will as well.</p>
<p>Well, I’m really sorry to hear that. An academic advisor is supposed to help, not let you hang yourself.</p>
<p>I’ve known two people for whom MIT didn’t work out, one had a nervous breakdown. At any college when a student doesn’t succeed I think the college should assess if they could have done more to help the student succeed. Sometimes no, a student just doesn’t study and so they have to leave. But just blaming the failure on the student is the easy way out.</p>
<p>No one is listening to the OP. Everyone, with the exception of collegealum314 is telling him that he will love it there. MIT isn’t for everyone, and that might be the understatement of the year.</p>
<p>This can happen at any university. But MIT has one of the highest retention rates among national universities. Retention is one of the categories US New & World Report uses in ranking schools: [2011</a> College Rankings - Top Ranking Universities for 2011 - US News Rankings and Reviews](<a href=“Web Page Under Construction”>Web Page Under Construction). At MIT, 97% of freshmen return as sophomores. More than 91% graduate, a very strong result for a school so focused on the STEM disciplines.</p>
<p>@CalAlum - Those are compelling stats, and impressive. Yes, all schools don’t work out for some of the students.</p>
<p>Would everyone who is posting here please make an attempt to write in plain English? MIT course numbers have no meaning for me, I did figure out that p-sets mean problem sets and I don’t know what STEM stands for. The OP also isn’t an MIT student.</p>
<p>^
8.012 and 8.022 are the theoretical versions of the first year mechanics and E & M classes, respectively.</p>
<p>STEM I think probably refers to science, technology, engineering, and math, but I have to admit I have not seen that acronym outside of CC so I can only guess. </p>
<p>IHTFP = school motto = I hate this $%^@#$%@ Place</p>
<p>No one will ever say this, but a good rule of thumb is to take all of the AP’s your school offers in the traditional sciences and math (physics, chemistry, biology, calc). And take the harder version (Calc BC or Physics C). If you have a specific reason for not doing so (i.e., band is important to you and it conflicts with physics,) then it’s ok. The easiest way to do this is to be somewhat advanced in high school so you can start taking AP’s by sophomore year. That way you can space out your sciences and only have to take one AP science a year.</p>
<p>Some high schools have a ton of AP’s and you don’t have to take everything, but you should at least be in AP english. </p>
<p>Naturally, if you are in a more advanced school without AP’s, you are probably pretty much covered. And if let’s say you are slightly less advanced and don’t get to take an AP class without cramming them all in, then that’s ok, but less than ideal. The only clearly negative thing is to see a pattern where a person is taking the easy way out–i.e., not taking AP’s or taking the easier version. You probably have heard of some “valedictorians” that took all the blowoff classes–this won’t fly for MIT. You’re supposed to be taking advantage of your opportunities, but you don’t have to obsess over the meaning of that statement. With regards to this issue, MIT looks at the overall pattern–the big picture.</p>
<p>The STEM acronym stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics. The acronym is in common usage among institutions of higher education and funding agencies. For instance, here’s the STEM page on the National Science Foundation website: fundinghttp://<a href=“http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/stem/”>www.nsf.gov/nsb/stem/</a></p>
<p>To the OP, coursework at MIT is more complex than your high-school or AP classes. To be sure you’re ready for MIT, you should have taken the most challenging courses at your school and done well in them. More than this – the motivation for doing this should come from within you. If you enroll in tons of AP classes because your parents want you to get into MIT or an ivy-league school – if the push is coming from some place other than your own desire – then you may be really miserable if you’re admitted and attend.</p>