<p>This new policy was addressed a long time ago, but I just stumbled onto this site today. <a href="http://amps-tools.mit.edu/uec/public/%5B/url%5D">http://amps-tools.mit.edu/uec/public/</a>. Is it true that new students must now take 5 out of the 6 listed areas of study?</p>
<p>These are proposals which are being discussed for possible future implementation. They are not currently in effect.</p>
<p>...and if student feedback is respected at all, they won't ever be in effect.</p>
<p>
[quote]
...and if student feedback is respected at all, they won't ever be in effect.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There are a few of their ideas that I don't mind, at least in theory (though in some cases the implementations are bad). I totally support a computation/engineering GIR. But not creating new classes for it. Just look through the departments and designate the classes that are computation or engineering (for example, computational bio) as satisfying the GIR.</p>
<p>I also support the idea of optional, widely-available project-based classes. But for everyone, not just for freshmen. They should look at course 6 - it already has these in place with 6.070 and 6.072.</p>
<p>Yeah, I don't mind changing the science core, but I think that many aspects of it as proposed are troubling. Like you said, I don't think people should be able to graduate from MIT without exposure to the basics in every field of science. If that requires revision of the current bio classes, so be it. (If that requires engineering majors to quit whining about taking biology, so be that too.)</p>
<p>The idea of the FreshX classes makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a blunt implement, as you might imagine.</p>
<p>I am strongly against more requirements because the HASS/CIs are already very confusing and restrictive. I think MIT should allow students to have more choice. I hope the new proposal would never take effect.</p>
<p>I would like to see the freshman credit limit lifted for the second term of freshman year even if you don't achieve sophomore standing based on first term GPA. Even though that GPA is only recorded internally, it could still be used to judge how well students did - and the few people I know who took too much advantage of P/NR would have had motivation not to do so.</p>
<p>dude, castelle, you don't want any reason to do work first semester :-) really you don't
I don't much like the hass=d requirement as it is since it forces you to take the boring big introductory humanties classes.. I'll take 3 humanities classes from different fields, but not the hass-d's, i'd rather study some more interesting higher electives</p>
<p>can someone reiterate what's the exact requirements for getting sophomore standing after first term? =]</p>
<p>right, i was also wondering about sophomore standing. do you need to take a ci-h hass-d first semester to qualify ( i heard that somewhere). also, i heard you need to have 96 credits after your first semester. i have several humanities ap 5's -> will i get credit for those? i sent my ap report to mit, will my ap credits be taken automatically after they see it?</p>
<p>Yes, you must take a CI-H HASS first semester to qualify to be offered sophomore standing second semester. From the Academic Guide:
[quote]
Early Sophomore Status</p>
<p>A freshman completing the first term may advance his or her class year only if he or she is offered early sophomore status by the Associate Dean for Academic Resources and Programming. To be eligible for early sophomore status, by the end of the first term a student must have completed 25% of the undergraduate program, including an appropriate Communication Intensive subject (either a CI-H or CI-HW) and a majority of the Science Requirement subjects (mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology). No student will be considered for early sophomore status unless he or she has completed a Communication Intensive HASS subject (CI-H or CI-HW) in the first semester.</p>
<p>An eligible freshman who wishes to declare early sophomore status may do so in the Academic Resource Center (ARC) on or before Add Date of the second term at MIT. Since this change involves switching from ABC/No Record grading status to letter grades, no request for this change will be approved after the fifth week of the term. The student should carefully consider this decision, as he or she cannot later make a request to revert to freshman status.
[/quote]
From what I have observed, this means that if by the end of your first semester you have completed the physics, math, bio, and chem requirements and have passed a CI-H class. You cannot ask for sophomore standing; you are sent an email from the Dean if you qualify, asking if you want to take advantage of the opportunity. There are pros and cons to doing so, so it's worth evaluating carefully.</p>
<p>Humanities AP 5s do not count in this scheme. Your AP credits will be seen on the report you had sent to MIT and your advising folder (I think that's it) will show placement out of the appropriate GIR courses and you can sign up for the next course in the series (unless you pass out of it via an ASE during orientation).</p>
<p>(Current student experts: how'd I do? ;) )</p>
<p>thanks mootmom! tho isn't it like 5/6 of the science requirements? =] also, i do remember hearing about having over a certain # of credits total... since some humanities AP's count as 9 credits each, wouldn't that help?</p>
<p>correct me if im wrong, i wasn't sure. =]</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure Mollie and others have said in the past that the humanities AP credits do not "count" in that way -- they are distributional credits that only matter in other ways. I'm sure someone will chime in with the gory details soon. :)</p>
<p>Err.. I'm pretty sure that you need to have a CI-H and 96 credits, including AP humanities credits (9 credits each for those), and that's it. Maybe they make sure that you have taken 18.02 and stuff also? I don't really remember</p>
<p>Scores of 5 on humanities APs do count as units outside the GIRs, and they count toward the 180 that you need to graduate. I'm not sure, however, what exactly is meant by "25% of the undergraduate program" -- whether they mean just in a pure unit sense, or whether you have to have completed a certain set of classes to qualify.</p>
<p>EDIT: Ah, I see.
[quote]
To be eligible for early sophomore status, a student must have completed by the end of the first term 25% of the undergraduate program, including a majority of the Science Requirement and an appropriate Communication Intensive subject (either a CI-H or CI-HW).
[/quote]
So I guess you have to have taken/have credit for the majority of the six-subject science requirement (8.01, 8.02, 18.01, 18.02, 5.111/5.112/3.091, 7.012/3/4).</p>
<p>I'm sure this has been asked before, but I can't seem to find it anywhere... which of the GIRs are there ASEs for? Specifically, do 8.01, 18.02 or 7.012 have them?</p>
<p>ASE</a> schedule</p>
<p>I am also under the impression that you can take an ASE for any class you want, as long as you email the appropriate department administrator and get him/her to agree.</p>
<p>
[quote]
To be eligible for early sophomore status, by the end of the first term a student must have completed 25% of the undergraduate program, including an appropriate Communication Intensive subject (either a CI-H or CI-HW) and a majority of the Science Requirement subjects (mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology).
[/quote]
So 25% of the undergrad program is 90(?) credits, the CI-H is obvious, but does "majority of the subjects" mean that you can have taken most of the GIRs and be eligible? For instance, would you be eligible if you had taken or gotten credit for 7.012, 3.091, 8.01 and 18.01 already? That appears to me to be the "majority" of the 6 classes, leaving only 18.02 and 8.02 to take still. In that case, would humanities AP credit count toward the 90 credit number?</p>
<p>Ooh, and I see that you can also take the ASEs during IAP... so it looks like you've got a second chance at obtaining sophomore standing if you aren't successful during Orientation.</p>
<p>How does it help to get sophomore standing? Is this something people can do so that they graduate in under four years?</p>