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peck191, i briefly went through the LFM program. It looks like more emphasis is on the management side of engineering. I think if you were planning to do an MS, i believe an MS is more technical in nature than the MS part of the LFM program. I could be wrong...I don't know what the pure MS curriculum is.
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<p>Well, let me tell you this. The SM part of LFM has EXACTLY the same requirements as the regular MIT SM. Both require 66 units of engineering credits. Both require an SM thesis.</p>
<p>However, I do agree that most LFM students pursue an SM that is far more management oriented than a regular SM student would. Many of the engineering units that they take tend to be less technical and more management-oriented than the average graduate engineering course, although those units still have to be approved by the School of Engineering. And I also agree that the theses tend to be highly management oriented, often times with only a small sliver of true engineering content.</p>
<p>However, I would point out that that's to be expected. LFM students are clearly interested in management. If they weren't, then they wouldn't be in LFM trying to get their MBA's. Many of them see LFM as a way to get out of pure engineering and into engineering management. Hence, it should come as no surprise that LFM students will tend to pursue an engineering curriculum that is highly management focused and less focused on 'pure' hardcore engineering. That's like admitting a student who you know is greatly interested in computer science, and then being 'shocked' to discover that he's not interesting in taking any mechanical engineering classes. </p>
<p>However, I would point out that an LFM student can make his SM as hardcore and technical as he wants it to be. It's up to you. For example, there are a rare few who use LFM as a way to get admitted into PhD engineering programs, either at MIT or elsewhere. These students obviously pursued a curriculum that is extremely technical. It's just that most LFM students don't want to do that. </p>
<p>Furthermore, a regular (non-LFM) SM student can also choose to pursue a management-oriented curriculum. Like I said, all you need to graduate with an SM is a courseload approved the School of Engineering, and a thesis approved by your advisor. Many engineering courses are cross-listed with Sloan and are therefore management-focused, but they still count as engineering courses. So in theory you could complete your entire coursework requirement with cross-listed classes. If you then also get an engineering advisor who does a lot of management research (and there are many advisors that do), then you would get an SM that is just as management-focused, if not more so, then the LFM students do. It's just that most regular SM students don't want to do this. But they could. </p>
<p>The point is, it's not really that the LFM SM curriculum is itself any less technical than the regular SM curriculum is. Rather it's that you have a lot of choice, and most LFM students choose a less technical route.</p>