<p>This is great to know. Thanks shravas!
Also, I have read at the mit.admissions blogs that students go in forming study groups. Is this feasible? Are students willing to cooperate or do they get very competitive?</p>
<p>Also, I have heard that most of the students are never sleeping more than five hours a day. Is this a result of bad time management or is it that MIT courseload is always too much to handle? Or is it just an exaggeration?</p>
<p>(I cannot stop saying how helpful you have all been! Thanks for that!)</p>
<p>And another question. What happens with the psets after they are graded? Do you get them back with corrections? Does anyone get to explain what you did wrong?</p>
<p>I have a question directed mostly to math majors.
Are the math courses being taught too quickly? Is there time for the material to sink in?
Because some friends at Cambridge have stressed how they revise everything they do over the year, which allows them to better understand the material.</p>
People are always willing to cooperate – there’s very little competitive behavior at MIT. It’s easiest to form big study groups freshman year, when most people are taking the same classes, but it’s always possible to get together with people in your classes in upper years, as long as you make an effort to get to know the people in those classes. Some majors facilitate a culture of pset groups moreso than others – my husband was in aerospace engineering, for example, and during the sophomore year Unified Engineering class, basically the whole class would get together in the department’s lounge and do the problem set together.</p>
<p>How problem sets are graded depends on the grader (usually not the TA or professor for math classes). I’m a grader, and generally if someone gets a problem wrong I’ll add a short explanation why I took off points, and in most of the problem sets I’ve gotten back this has been the case. If there’s a problem, you can always talk to the professor or a TA and they can help show you where you went wrong.</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, the reason why Cambridge students revise everything at the end of the year is because they’re finals cover everything taught throughout the year, though I could be wrong. MIT math classes can definitely be taught much faster than at other universities. For example, at most other schools, 18.01 is taught over a whole year and 18.100B/C is not the first analysis class people take, etc., but I think if you got accepted to MIT and you work hard, you shouldn’t have any problems.</p>
MIT takes pains to not be competitive. Perhaps the ultimate manifestation of this is the class of degree. Most US universities distinguish the class of the degree (where students graduate summa cum laude, or magnum cum laude). All UK institutions (so far as I know) award classes of degree. So you can graduate with a first class math degree from Cambridge, or a 2.1 or a 2.2 or sadly a third class degree.</p>
<p>None of this occurs at MIT. There is one class of degree. MIT Graduate. MIT offers no honorary degrees, and no shortcuts, but also no obvious incentive to compete (there are a few exceptions such as pre-med students who have external pressures). Even for those students trying to get into top research graduate programs, the thing that get you in is your research experience and LoR’s from research supervisors more than a few points on your GPA (again there are limits to this, I would not try to get into Harvard with a transcript full of D’s).</p>
<p>I can say with full confidence that MIT is less competitive than most other highly selective colleges.</p>
<p>Thanks again for the posts.
I came across the ESG and read certain info on the respective site. Does anyone have any personal experience with ESG?</p>
<p>^ Yes! ESG is pretty awesome, definitely worth checking out during CPW and orientation. I was part of it for a semester. I didn’t feel that the ultra-small classes were particularly valuable to me (large classes work just as well for me), but the community is fantastic.</p>
<p>ESG sounds like an interesting group. Unfortunately I cannot attend CPW
Anyways, are you aware off how many math majors that want to participate in a UROP actually manage to find one? Also, is IAP a period for starting your UROP?
Btw, I think I am heavily leaning towards MIT
(except for the money part:( )</p>
<p>You can start a UROP during the term, rather than necessarily during IAP (though of course you can start during IAP). The important thing is having the 6-10 hours/week to devote to the research. The Math department is very good at supporting their majors, and I would not expect it to be that difficult to find a UROP. The current openings list ([MIT</a> UROP: Current Research - Project Openings](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/urop/research/openings.html]MIT”>http://web.mit.edu/urop/research/openings.html)) showed me 3 current math UROPs.</p>
<p>Thanks!
A few more questions…
I have the impression that MIT studets are low profile students, that are caring and nice and ultimately want to save the world (I know there have to be exceptions, but still…) Is this stereotype true?
Also, do you believe that finaid can be discussed? (I want to come to mit, but it seems that my family cannot afford it) Ty!</p>
<p>It works very similarly to ESG - smaller classes, a lounge to hang out with other {Concourse, ESG} students, etc. You can also visit them over CPW/orientation ^_^</p>
<p>I have read that their main difference is the focus of the classes. Concourse focuses on the philosophical point of view of the material that is being taught while it continues to be rigorous. Is this the case?</p>
<p>^ Where did you read about that? I haven’t heard anything like that before (though it may well be true - I’m not involved enough in Concourse to know).</p>
