<p>I actually heard that MIT is #1 in Political Science and one of the top Econ schools. However, everyone is required to take some math/science courses(including Calculus and Physics) no matter what they major in, so your son should be able to handle at least that.</p>
<p>MIT has GIRs or compulsory classes everyone will need to take in sciences and Math irrespective of the major. If he is feels comfortable in math/science but likes the liberal arts majors, then MIT should be ok. </p>
Absolutely. The economics, political science, philosophy, and linguistics departments at MIT are top-rate, and students come to MIT with the express intent of completing degrees in these departments. </p>
<p>But those people are not the majority of MIT students, and they are perfectly happy with the fact that all MIT students must complete single- and multivariable calculus, physics mechanics and physics E&M, chemistry, biology, a lab course, and two restricted electives in science and technology. (To put a finer point on it, MIT students majoring in humanities departments are required to take more calculus and physics than science majors at other top schools are required to take.)</p>
<p>For that matter, MIT doesn’t admit students by major, so a prospective economics or political science major needs to meet the same standards as a prospective mechanical engineering or chemistry major.</p>
<p>Economics is more math-based than some of the sciences. And it is almost certainly more math-intensive at MIT than anywhere else. It’s not a humanities subject really.</p>
<p>If someone is trying and getting B’s in regular math and physics classes, that implies to me that you will be barely passing in the MIT 1st year classes (GIR’s). Some people don’t try on pass/fail (1st semester) so that makes the curve more forgiving, so I think most people can get through it. My feeling is that most people can survive the first year, due to the fact that it’s pass/fail and not all the strongest students are trying.</p>
<p>To OP - you are asking two different questions (if you already know this, sorry for the iteration). One is whether people study liberal arts subjects and take them seriously at MIT. Another is whether it’s OK to not be math / science oriented. </p>
<p>I think for the latter question, you really should check with someone who is NOT math / science / engineering oriented and an actual MIT student before you make your decision. Many posters on here are interested in one of those 3 areas, but also have significant experience elsewhere. But speaking as someone who is a bit similar (i.e. is primarily involved in mathematics, but enjoys things like literature), I know I enjoy a much different environment than do those who seem to meet your son’s description.</p>
<p>To give a few more specifics, a thorough command of calculus is essential for economics. Probability, statistics, modeling, and other things work their way in as well. A few upper level math courses are crucial to success in nearly all economics grad school endeavors. </p>
<p>It is important to not just think about what you might do in college, but where that itself may lead you. Economics can either take you into highly mathematical stuff or it can lead you to some of the extremely high work / pay trade-off jobs. </p>
<p>As for English and political science - what are the options? Law school is a huge attraction. Academia is rough, and most people never make it. It is not enough to love English and / or political science - it is important to want to be an academic to be an academic. Certainly, a love for political science also may frequently not coincide with one for politics (it’s almost like mathematics vs. engineering, i.e. a theory vs. practice difference). </p>
<p>Why do I mention all this? There are a lot of programs in the US with great English and political science - so great that you’ll have boundless opportunity. But if you look farther into the future, you may get an idea of what else you want to expose yourself to in college. Perhaps your son may want to learn some of that mathematical modeling involved in economics. Perhaps he may decide precisely the opposite. You don’t have to know exactly what you’re going to do, of course, but giving this sort of thing a good think can help add dimension to your knowledge of what you (or rather, your son) may want.</p>
<p>As always, I’ll agree with what mollie said, but let me offer (or repeat) a few points: </p>
<p>All MIT students, no matter what their major, must complete a rigorous, required curriculum in math, physics, chemistry, and biology. This includes two semesters of calculus beyond the AP level. </p>
<p>This may not be something your son would like to do. And based on your son’s profile - math AP score + grades + SAT score - he would likely struggle quite a bit at MIT, based on our prior data and statistical models. </p>
<p>And many of the humanities programs at MIT are very quantitative in orientation - the economics and political science programs tend to be less theoretically analytical and more number-crunching. You’re going to get a lot less Keynes and a lot more Nate Silver in your feel. </p>
<p>Quite frankly, it sounds like MIT is not a great match for your son. And that is fine! MIT is not a great match for everyone. I know I personally would not have been able to complete the math/sci component of the undergraduate curriculum here, based on where I was at the end of high school, and even if I had, my own interests in the liberal arts and sciences are towards the theoretically critical end of things as opposed to the data analysis end of things. I love the MIT culture, but academically I would have (and was) a better fit elsewhere. </p>
<p>He might be interested in liberal arts colleges, or maybe Chicago if he really wants that MIT feel with a very rigorous focus on the social sciences. </p>
<p>I will add a bit of encouragement - Chicago <em>also</em> has a terrific math program which is MIT-level. And that does in fact to an extent complement a lot of the potential for interactions between mathematics and fields lying more in the social sciences. Chicago’s economics, finance, etc are top notch. I include this because I wouldn’t offer Chicago as a stark contrast to the mathematical rigor of MIT’s economics. </p>
<p>However, the combined breadth / depth of excellence in engineering + science at MIT is not something you will find at Chicago, but that doesn’t sound like what your son wants.</p>
<p>The point of this post is that even if your son wants to dabble in the mathematical side of his (inherently not so mathematical) interests, a school like UChicago, Princeton, Harvard, etc would probably work terrific, yet in the (it seems) quite likely case that he doesn’t want to do that, that would also be fine at those schools.</p>
<p>Absolutely. I think that while there are a significant number of students who attend MIT specifically to major in something that is not Science/Technology/Engineering, it is also true that most MIT students enjoy, or at least comfortably tolerate math and science. My brother studied architecture at MIT. My roommate was an English literature major, and I graduated from MIT and became an actor. Indeed, as MIT has comparatively few Philosophy majors (for example), those that do major in these departments get a huge amount of individualized faculty attention. That being said, if you do not enjoy or comfortably tolerate STEM subjects, you will struggle in the general institute requirements and probably not be comfortable on campus.</p>