<p>i was just reading a book that reviewed mit and the picture it painted wasnt pretty.
it said that the workload pressure is intensely INTENSE and it basically kept iterating that at mit you pretty much wont have time for much else but study</p>
<p>apparently around 100 students a year take leave for health reasons...mental health reasons...and there has been at least one suicide because of pressure</p>
<p>i wanted to apply there, but this prison image really puts me off.....</p>
<p>what is the mit atmosphere really like? anyone who has studied there care to enlighten?</p>
<p>go to this website: MIT</a> Admissions
all the blogs and stuff give you a much more accurate picture of MIT.</p>
<p>it's true that MIT is tough and that people have to pull all-nighters pretty often, but come on, it can't be that bad, and btw, other schools r like that too ==. your book is way exaggerating.</p>
<p>if you can't stand studying, then i suggest you not to apply to MIT. but then of course, that's not what you mean.</p>
<p>MIT's definitely tough, but most students participate in extracurricular activities and basically everybody does research. To be honest, much of the being really busy is optional -- people choose to take heavy courseloads because they want to.</p>
<p>I graduated from MIT in 2006, and I double-majored and still had time to participate in a sport (I was the captain my junior year), work for my dorm's student government, and do research ~15 hours a week. I also managed to spend time with my friends and my boyfriend (now husband). </p>
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apparently around 100 students a year take leave for health reasons...mental health reasons...
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I do not think the number is that high.</p>
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it's true that MIT is tough and that people have to pull all-nighters pretty often...
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It's actually not true that people have to pull all-nighters "pretty often." I got through MIT pulling two all-nighters (and neither one was really necessary). It depends on the way you manage your time.</p>
<p>I had several friends attend MIT, from my uncle back in the 1970s to a young Econ major still at MIT today. They all though the experience was grueling and challenging but ultimately rewarding and uplifiting. In short, they had an awesome experience. </p>
<p>MIT is intense, but that's because students wouldn't have it any other way. MIT admits students who are hungry and provides those students with limitless opportunities to feed that hunger. That is not to say that MIT is for everybody. No university is. But for those who would fit in, MIT provides one of the top undergraduate educations. I personally rate it as one of the top 3 undergraduate institutions on earth...the other two being Princeton and Stanford.</p>
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I do not think the number is that high.
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</p>
<p>Actually, I would be quite willing to believe this. It's only 1 in 40. That's not out of whack with what I've observed.</p>
<p>However, I don't see it as a prison-like place at all. It's a tough place, but it's also a wonderful place. And it's <em>definitely</em> not true that people do nothing but study. If you have more specific questions I'm happy to answer, and I suspect the rest of the MIT forum regulars would be as well.</p>
<p>Was the book you read, The Idea Factory, by any chance?</p>