<p>I will preface this by saying that this question does not only pertain to MIT, but also other colleges as well. I would love the MIT perspective and the perspective of other colleges too (if you find that the two vary in any way, and if you feel comfortable talking about other colleges). Also, I would like you to ignore money as a factor.</p>
<p>I am, for better or worse, a student who desires to be well rounded by nature. In college, I want to major in Mechanical Engineering, but I also want to take courses on many different subjects as well. I don't want to be so overwhelmed with work that it consumes my life entirely (I've heard many horror stories, trust me). I want to have enough time to have a decent social life (I've never been crazy with this, and by "social life", I don't mean just getting wasted). I want to be able to play a sport (non-varsity), be active in clubs, and if this is too much more to ask, I want to have enough time to do a bit of volunteering at local LGBT youth centers. </p>
<p>All of these things are very important to me.</p>
<p>Needless to say, I understand that Mechanical Engineering is a difficult and time consuming track. If I were to develop amazing time management skills, could this be done in 4 years? I would rather not be stressed out 24-7, and I need some down time now and again, so I was considering extending my stay in college to 5 years. Is this looked down upon when applying for first-jobs later on? What are your general thoughts about this? I've tried to look up similar threads to this but I could not find any, so I apologize if this question comes up often.</p>
<p>Every major at MIT is designed to be completed in four years. Almost all are designed to be completed in four years while taking four classes per semester, which is tough, but not life-eating.</p>
<p>It certainly matters how good you are at managing your time and doing schoolwork efficiently, but almost everybody at MIT finds time for something outside school.</p>
<p>But you could certainly take five years to graduate if you want – it’s something that can happen for many reasons, and wouldn’t really raise eyebrows for graduate school or employment.</p>
<p>Have you considered 2A? It’s a flexible version of MechE that allows for more elective space. And as Mollie said, you can graduate at about 4 classes/term in four years (it looks like MechE - the regular version - requires 1.25 classes on top of that somewhere). You could also opt to take 5 classes during easier times to get extra things in.</p>
<p>So let’s see, while at MIT I majored in flexible mechanical engineering and managed to take a bunch of courses in EECS and international development (most people just pick one, but I was silly and changed my mind at the last minute), play a varsity sport for 3+ years, and spend varying amounts of time involved in what literally must amount to a dozen clubs before settling on EMS and dorm government (holding important and/or very time-consuming leadership positions in each for several years). This worked out to four crazy years- it almost got bumped up to five but that was because of the last minute switch I mentioned, not because of everything else.</p>
<p>It was sort of crazy at different points along the road. In the end I was relieved I graduated on time, but honestly it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to slow down and take another semester or two. In any case, it definitely can be done in 4 years or 5 years, and there’s nothing wrong with either one. I would wait until you get there (MIT or wherever) to feel things out and see what happens. There’s no need to start freshman year planning to spend 5 years on your degree. Plan to take 4, and then as time goes on you can reevaluate and alter your plans as needed.</p>
<p>LauraN so eloquently stated exactly what I was thinking. Plan on four. </p>
<p>And who knows…
You’re hard set on MechE now, but college might open your eyes to other disciplines and you might even want to major in those! </p>
<p>And I Would not mention the whole five year thing on your application. If you don’t think you can grad. in 4, then the AdCom won’t either. They like their 4 year graduation to be up!</p>