<p>I'm thinking about double-majoring in Economics/Philosophy in college, or at least majoring in economics and taking many philosophy electives. </p>
<p>The economics program at MIT seems to be appropriately awesome, but I'm not so sure about the philosophy program. The grad school is ranked 6th by the Philosophical Gourmet, but I'm worried about the fact that the department is so tiny. And most of the undergraduate courses look to be survey courses.</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me what philosophy/humanities courses at MIT are actually like? Are they as rigorous as the science/math courses?</p>
<p>Also, how hard is it for an undergrad to take graduate courses?</p>
<p>I'll be at the info session in New Brunswick, NJ as well; I just wanted to do some research ahead of time. Thanks in advance to anybody who replies.</p>
<p>I think I'll answer these questions backwards, because it's easier that way.</p>
<p>It's usually pretty easy for undergrads to take grad classes (although it depends on the department). The philosophy dept's website says "Students may also be admitted to selected graduate subjects in philosophy, upon approval of the major advisor and the instructors," which probably means they make it pretty easy.</p>
<p>I'm very iffy on what you mean by rigor of humanities courses at MIT. I mean, on one hand, no, most students don't take their humanities courses as seriously as they take their science/engineering courses -- it's usually easier to get A's in HASS classes, and there usually aren't impossible problem sets. But that doesn't mean that the classes aren't intellectually rigorous, just that the average MIT student doesn't consider the humanities to be as rigorous as the sciences in the first place.</p>
<p>I can't say much as to the actual quality of the philosophy department, never having taken a philosophy class. I can understand why you'd have qualms about a very small department, but it seems that you have the freedom to take gradute courses, which to me nullifies that concern somewhat.</p>