<p>Okay, I've read the propaganda/materials about humanities and arts at MIT. Admittedly, they exist, and the arts themselves are quite prevalent.</p>
<p>My question is: What prescence do humanities and arts in terms of MAJORS? (ie, not hobbies).<br>
If you count the percentages on collegeboard, there is only 12% of the student body not majoring in a science/business, so this leaves a small fraction for all the other social sciences, plus humanities and arts.<br>
I don't mean to challenge anything/anybody, but it seems that while MIT has come a long way to make themselves a general university, science and technology are such a huge force that it is really a place for science/math people only.</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Degrees awarded in each major can be found [url=<a href="http://web.mit.edu/registrar/www/stats/deg0304.html%5Dhere%5B/url">http://web.mit.edu/registrar/www/stats/deg0304.html]here[/url</a>]. It's a lot more common for people to pick up a second major in an arts or humanities field than it is for people to major solely in arts or humanities. (The humanities, arts, and social sciences are, as you may notice, lumped into one school.)</p>
<p>I think it's true that MIT is a place for science and engineering people. I don't think everybody who comes to MIT only likes science and engineering (myself, I happen to like poetry and anthropology), but anyone thinking of MIT should be aware of the school's strong science/technology bent. After all, there are easier ways of being a history major.</p>
<p>Incidentally, I don't think MIT's goal in the past n years has been to become a general university...?</p>
<p>What Mollie says up there is totally true - the school's culture is heavily influenced by science and technology, and our goal is not to become a "general university." We do, however, feel that it's important to pursue a science/technology education from a variety of disciplines, including arts/humanities.</p>
<p>This is why all MIT students, regardless of major, are required to take 6 classes in math/science (2 physics, 2 math, 1 chem, 1 bio) but 8 in HASS (humanities, arts, and social sciences). (Yes, the HASS requirement is 2 more classes than the science/math requirement.)</p>
<p>So MIT is not a traditional liberal arts education, certainly, but that doesn't mean you won't be exposed to a wide spectrum of academic pursuits while you're here.</p>