<p>Hello, I'm a newly admitted student from China. I major in material science and engineering(MSE). I want to ask some questions so as to know the campus better. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>I know IIT is a private college which does not have as many people as public universities. Does that mean each student will get more attention?</p></li>
<li><p>I'm an engineering student and I'm very interested in the undergraduate research. Is it very difficult to be selected as an assistant? What should I achieve so that I can be selected?(Getting excellent grades and interviews?)</p></li>
<li><p>Are there too many international students in Armour college of engineering? I'm a bit afraid that I don't have many chances to communicate in English.(Based on my research, many international students especially Chinese students do not tend to speak English...)</p></li>
<li><p>I understand it is compulsory to choose Humanities or Social Science Elective in every semester. Normally what do I learn? Language? History? </p></li>
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<p>Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>Hi:</p>
<p>Let me try to answer your questions from the perspective a faculty member in physics. There are some current students on this forum and they might have a different view.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>IIT has about 2600 undergraduate students and 5000 graduate students. It is a small technical university with Ph.D. programs in all our science and engineering disciplines. Because of the relatively small size of the undergraduate student body, your classes, particularly the ones you take in the Junior and Senior years will be small. In the MSE major, this is particularly the case as it is one of the smaller engineering majors at the university. You will ahve some classes with about 100 students or so but those will be at the beginning of your time at IIT. The small classes mean that you will have the chance to really get to know the faculty but it is up to you to take advantage of this opportunity.</p></li>
<li><p>The barrier for students to get involved in undergraduate research is quite low but again, it is up to the student to take advantage of the opportunities. You have to approach faculty members who are doing research interesting to you and convince them to take you on. There is no specific requirement to do research so there is no formal system for matching up students with research mentors. The best thing to do is to get good grades and get your first year (and maybe second) year classes done so that you can reasonably make a contribution to the research group. They you go talk with the faculty members and ask to volunteer in their group. You might have to be persistent.</p></li>
<li><p>There are many International students in the graduate programs (many of them from China, in fact). The undergraduate program is more domestic students although we have been getting more and more international students in the past few years. Many students come from Syria and the Caribbean but there is a significant population from China. I tell my advisees from China that they should force themselves to speak only English, even with their Chinese friends. The reasoning is as follows. You have come a long way to study in the U.S. and one of the benefits is total immersion in the culture and language. After 4 years you can have an excellent command of the English language but only if you force yourself to do so. it is easy to do the easy thing and speak in your native language but it is not to your benefit. You can make it easier on yourself but making sure you choose a non-Chinese roommate and get into a study group where the students are mostly non-Chinese. It is not that hard and the rewards are great.</p></li>
<li><p>Like most U.S. universities, the curriculum includes general education requirements which consist of mathematics, science, social sciences, and humanities. In the case of engineering and science, your major takes care of the first two but you have to take a minimum of 7 courses in Humanities and Social Sciences over the course of your 4 years. These include history, philosophy, political science, sociology, psychology and such. There is some flexibility in your choices and we encourage students to choose a coherent set of courses whenever possible.</p></li>
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<p>Hope this helps</p>
<p>Detailed, amazing answers! Really thanks a lot,xraymancs!</p>
<p>My pleasure. Let me know if you have any other questions.</p>