<p>my son is interested in applying MIT Archiecture dept. I know a lot of schools will trim the size of the class to less than half after sophomore based on how you do in the basic Architecture class in the first two years. Usually based on drawing, pofolio. So it is quite painful in the first two years. Is MIT using the same system ?</p>
<p>I can’t speak to the culture within the Architecture department itself (although a friend’s girlfriend was course 4 and I can email her, if nobody around here has the requisite perspective), but weeding out in general is not common at MIT.</p>
<p>At any rate, the [major</a> statistics](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/registrar/www/stats/yreportfinal.html]major”>http://web.mit.edu/registrar/www/stats/yreportfinal.html) do not look like anything like this is occurring within the department – there are not fewer juniors and seniors within the department than sophomores. (Freshmen do not have a major, so they are not counted in this report.)</p>
<p>In addition to what Mollie said, keep in mind, the program is fairly small anyway - only 42 undergrads. At that point, you’re at the level where the professors love the students they get like fuzzy bunnies (to use the phrasing that a nuclear engineering major used with me when I was a new frosh, about her own department). There wouldn’t be any <em>point</em> in weeding people out.</p>
<p>Architecture has a rep for being fairly hosing in terms of the amount of work required - to a large degree because of the studio classes - but it also has a reputation as a student-friendly department.</p>
<p>Thank you for both of your response, I certainly will ask him to apply. His brother has a great time in school. We all hope he can join his brother in MIT.</p>
<p>Yes, my brother majored in Architecture at MIT. There is definitely not a cut based on the portfolio. That really isn’t what MIT is about. The hardest year for the architects is usually the third year, when seeing hammocks hanging in the studio spaces for students working through the night is not uncommon (though see MollieB’s comments elsewhere on time management at MIT and achieving balance). Keep in mind that all students wishing to study architecture at MIT still have to pass through the MIT core, so they will need to be comfortable with math and science to get through that.</p>