<p>Hi, I was wondering, what languages are offered at MIT? I'd like to build on my knowledge of Arabic, but I didn't find any program/classes offered. . . does MIT offer any non-english language courses?</p>
<p>MIT's Foreign</a> Languages and Literatures department, Course 21F, offers courses in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. The Fall 2006 course schedule is [here[/url</a>]. I believe students sometimes register for language classes at Harvard which are not available at MIT, if they are able to fit this into their schedules. </p>
<p>(I found this by entering "foreign language" into the search window on the [url=web.mit.edu]MIT website](<a href="http://student.mit.edu/catalog/m21Fa.html%5Dhere%5B/url">http://student.mit.edu/catalog/m21Fa.html), btw.)</p>
<p>oh. heh. thanks for the information. What if someone were accepted by MIT, rejected by Harvard? Would Harvard still let them register for some classes?</p>
<p>Yes, you can</p>
<p>Also, it's important to note that not all languages offerred are in the form of full courses. For example, Italian is only offerred as a beginner's subject over IAP.</p>
<p>And I've heard that Harvard's language classes are amazing. I really want to try to take one.</p>
<p>All Harvard and all MIT students can freely cross-register. You can't cross-register for all classes (for example, I've heard Harvard doesn't let undergrads register for business school classes).</p>
<p>I recently found out that, as a Harvard grad student, I am allowed to cross-register for MIT undergrad courses. They gave a sheet of suggested undergrad biology courses... all of which I've already taken. :D</p>
<p>haha yeah. I just talked to a harvard law student who is in unified.</p>
<p>Dear God. Does s/he have a reason for doing that to himself? Or does he not understand what he's getting into?</p>
<p>her motives are unclear to me at this moment. will investigate further.</p>
<p>Oh that's so cool, probably makes the rejection less painful =)</p>
<p>And pardon my ignorance, but what is "Unified"?</p>
<p>Unified is the name given to the core aero/astro sophomore sequence, 16.01-16.04. (Note that anytime a class is referred to by name at MIT rather than by number, it's usually not a good sign.) Unified is 24 units per semester, which is supposed to equal 24 hours of schoolwork per week, but this particular class usually takes many more hours than that.</p>
<p>It teaches fluids, propulsion, structure, signals, and computers/programming all in one masochistic little two-semester package.</p>
<p>ACTUALLY they've replaced programming with thermodynamics... (16.05) in the Unified curriculum. I hear programming is much easier than what's in store for us.</p>
<p>Oh..that's..stellar. good luck to her =</p>
<p>If someone were to put a language not offered at MIT in the "what field of study appeals to you most right now"? along with something else offered, would they be penalized? I was actually planning to double major in a language & a science, which I know some people will say at this point "then don't apply to MIT", but I really like the college & bioengineering is a great field offered....</p>
<p>Well... OK I'll say it, if you want to double-major in a language that MIT does not offer, and mention that fact on your application, I would <em>guess</em> it would raise some eyebrows. While no one (here :) ) disputes that MIT is a great school and bioengineering a great field, you may want to inspect your plans to double-major and see how serious you are about it.</p>
<p>There are more and more excellent schools for bioengineering, and some of them may offer the language you're interested in (apparently Arabic?). If you're serious about your plans, you should spend some time developing your college list with that pair of interests in mind. (A quick search in the US News college-finder presented me with ~100 schools offering both majors, for instance. MIT is not one of them.) Harvard does offer Arabic, but I'm pretty sure you couldn't <em>major</em> in Arabic at MIT by taking courses at Harvard... current students, what say you? It might be worth talking to students who have taken courses down the road: how realistic is it to fit it into your MIT weekly/semester schedule on a regular basis?</p>
<p>Of course as the old saying goes, if you <em>don't</em> apply, your chances of admission are guaranteed to be zero. So if MIT still appeals even with the possibility of not getting that dual degree in the language you're interested in, of course you should apply! I suspect that focusing your "field of study" topic on something MIT doesn't offer would not be the smartest move ever. Just guessing....</p>
<p>From the Academic</a> Guide:
[quote]
Full-time MIT undergraduate students may take one intensive or two regular subjects per semester (up to 27 units) at Harvard provided that they are enrolled in at least as many units at MIT.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>My feeling is that it's feasible to take one class up at Harvard each semester. Two classes would be pushing it, unless they both met on the same days. I am also not sure it is allowed to actually have a "major" that's not offered by MIT -- you could complete the requirements for a Harvard language degree, but I don't think you'd get a diploma for it.</p>
<p>Of course, you don't have to major in something to take several classes in it, or to enjoy it very much. MIT is a great place for people who like [science/engineering] and [something MIT's not strong in], but not really a great place for people whose interests are the other way around.</p>
<p>Yeah, I definitely agree with both of you. I'm applying to an in-state school too, UVa, and it doesn't offer it as a major either, but has this <em>extensive</em> program during the summer where it teaches some of its courses entirely in arabic in Jordan, which is super cool, you get totally immersed in the language. Courses from complete beginner to expert, which could definitely be stated on the future college graduate resume. It's not like I'm going to apply for any exclusive "only accept Arabic major" jobs, which, I still haven't heard of anyway. My plan eventually is to get a major here and work overseas. Like I've said on here before, the people over there need help much more badly than we do...here it seems that the most apparent illness is obesity and complications from it (heart disease, etc), and over there, the amount of deaths from malaria and such are overwhelming, which I think could be prevented if we had more specialists & people conducting research over there. </p>
<p>SO yeah, totally don't need a major to enjoy the subject. Thanks guys for all the input :)</p>