What are the negatives [if any] to MIT?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
21

To respond to a few comments in prior posts:

  1. There is a "feel" to MIT, at least as an undergrad. Grad school without attending MIT as an undergrad may have a totally different "feel" to it. But I felt that way when I went to grad school at a different college. I wasn't involved with anything but the classes I was taking and the work I was doing. As an undergrad at MIT I was in a fraternity and did varsity sports, both of which made it feel more than just a bunch of buildings.
  2. MIT is a lot of work. I don't view that as a bad thing, but a good thing. It pushes you, makes you focus on what is important to getting the job done. Good skills when it comes to working "in the real world". The saying that I remember from my undergrad days was: "I've been here a week and I'm already a month behind".
22

My daughter had to make the same decision last year. She narrowed her choices down to MIT and Duke. We too are local to NC, so she is comfortable with this area. She also grew up a Duke basketball fan. She said she was not going to decide until after she got back from her Spring Break trip to Iceland. Low and behold, less than 36 hours into the trip, she told us she was going to Duke. Her negative was the cold, and she knew if she was miserable in Iceland for less than 36 hours, that being in Boston for an extended period of time would be horrible. Looking back, she has no regrets. Yes, there are tons of rich kids at Duke, and she’s not one of then, but she has never been excluded from anything. There are going to be snobs everywhere, that is just not limited to Duke. She has thrown herself into every aspect of the Duke campus and loves every minute of it.

23

@hopewhite25 I’d argue that based on what u hear and common stereotypes, there are lesser snobs and much more of a STEM focus at MIT than Duke.

Again, it comes down to what the app think is best for them considering in all factors important to them.

24

actually my friend’s daughter was not a national math or science olympiad. not a standout out in terms of national competition and is at mit. She is an engineering major and just scored the highest in her math class. I was surprised too but it does happen. she was just an above average student in high school nothing particularly outstanding. I was surprised that she got accepted. So I have a bit of doubt about how hard it is. I know a lot of average above performing kids in high school who did or are doing fine there. You don’t have to be a genius to go and do well there. for what it’s worth.

25

@nomorecoll96

I agree totally. It all depends on how much works put in where, and that each type of achievement needs a different skillset and mindset, which comes more naturally to some for each different type of niche.

I’d say aside the usual dealio of good grades and scores, and writing true-to-urself essays, just spending time doing what u truly love and pushing that to its limits in any shape or form suffices for impression. It just comes down (aside the usual dealio again) to whether they want that in that years forming class or not. Hence the complexity and mystery.

26

@gouf78 - classes start out “pass/no record” first semester - if your grade is a D or F, then they drop off your academic record as if you had never taken them.

This has been in place for many many years. My MIL is an MIT alum and remembers a similar policy from her days at MIT 65+ years ago.

That said, there’s no question that this is a group of students who thrive on the challenges of the coursework. They also manage to find their fun in sometimes spectacularly geeky ways.

I hope the OP and their kid got a chance to experience CPW to help them in this decision. Two fantastic schools to choose from!

27

@nomorecoll96 it depends on what class she is taking. Most national level math/physics people are not in same class. For example, it is not uncommon for math people to start with grad level classes and skip basic undergrad classes. Most universities are like that. Harvard has 3 or 4 levels of intro Math class - with Math55 being the hardest and taken by hardly 30 students. Princeton has 5 levels of intro physics classes. Physics at MIT is also at multiple levels - some technology based, some longer than normal, and some much harder.

28

@cognizance Although what u said is true, The only way to skip classes of any sort is by IB/AP creds, previous college creds or by taking placement tests. No intl lvl competitions or any research suffices for class-skip by school registrar policy in 99-100% of the cases of schools, of any level

29

@cognizance totally agreed. my point is that even though she wasn’t a major star in any particular field, she still can shine, even in the intro class

30

Anything can happen at any point in life in all generality

31

I’m probably in a minority on this point, but I’m not thrilled with the humanities program. I feel like my kid’s left brain is growing by leaps and bounds, but right brain not as much. Some of the humanities courses are still highly technical (meaning still more math) and they have to have a humanities concentration, so 3? of your 8 courses are all in he same subject, which limits breadth in favor of depth. Also, while it is usually easy to get whatever tech classes you need, liberal arts type courses tend to fill up leaving limited choices (I know cross registration is an option, but a less convenient one).

The rest of our nuclear family attended lac’s, so that is the point of comparison.

All of this said, kid chose it, kid loves it, works hard, plays hard, participates in many ECs.

And yes it is hard, after hearing about those insane grade curves, I gave my kid my own test (former math teacher) and kid killed it.

32

@nw2this It was expected in an environment like MIT, IMO.

Their humanities exist to give a humanitarian view on tech, and STEM.

If thats up ur alley, good for u… if u want more humanities for its sake, or without tech/lesser tech…other lib. arts… or humanities schools do.

33

Yeah, its name is institute of ‘technology’. MIT does tout its humanities offering. Economics is rated No 1 in world. That department itself has produced numerous top central bankers and investment bankers and such. Psychology has morphed into real science with their scientific approach, not absurd make-believe ways of Freud and Jung.

I hope there is some analytical rigor or logical thinking attached to their way of teaching, otherwise people like Alex Jones will keep making masses fools and milking the nation.

34

@cognizance Agreed. Humanities at MIT is for students to work with merging tech in humanitarian ideas… like block-chain for example in economics and so on…

‘I hope there is some analytical rigor or logical thinking attached to their way of teaching, otherwise people like Alex Jones will keep making masses fools and milking the nation.’

-I think its safe to say it will, for MIT at least.

Idk about the Alex Jones part… the political aspect is much too frightening in general.

35

Absolutely, MIT’s humanities program greatly varies in terms of depth and content. (And yes, if it’s course 14 or 15, a lot of those courses are highly technical.)

This is what I would recommend:

  • There is a minimum of 2 HASS classes that must be CI-H (Communication-Intensive) subjects to fulfill the Communication Requirement
  • You do have to do a 3-4 course concentration

There’s a very lovely red brick school about 2 miles down the street which allows cross-registration (it’s considered a world class school) and to complete your training to the Dark Side … er … sorry, wrong reference … one would be remiss if one did not take at least one class at Harvard, especially in the humanities (Western Civ, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, History & Lit, etc.)

Sadly, I would admit that my English skills (and vocabulary) atrophied when I was at MIT. I did rectify the situation eventually.

36

I was at MIT a long time ago and found the humanities offerings then to be decent and the quality of teaching to be quite good. Out of 10 courses I had only one clunker prof. The humanities classes tended toward being analytic, which was not an automatic positive, as sometimes I would have enjoyed a break from rigor. Many of the humanities courses were just as firehosed as the STEM classes.

Also, even if you consider the HASS curriculum weak, I wouldn’t confuse that with turning out narrow grads. MIT students tend to be broadly literate and will read and study on their own anything that interests them, which is one reason they were admitted in the first place. For example, I was interested in the history of WWII, and spent many hours in the libraries reading about the period, though I never took a class covering it.

I think MIT has become especially good at integrating the arts and technology, but if your interests and career aspirations lie totally outside the STEM sector, going to another school is probably a good idea.

The biggest negative about MIT is that it is not a good place for the lazy student, no matter how smart. It’s not easy to coast, and material is taught in way that requires student engagement. There are plenty of parties and social opportunities, but it certainly is not a party school. Perhaps not everyone is serious about everything they are made to study, but everyone is serious about something.

37

MIT is not a good school for top students who will have hard time accepting that they are average or bellow average among the smartest and brightest students in the world. Depression rates among students are high and MIT mental health can’t handle all cases in the timely manner. I don’t think there’s another school with exception of Caltech that challenge to the braking point like MIT does.

38

MIT for me was about getting used to earning some Bs and an occasional C, and when I really loved a subject I could
get an A, but it was not across the board. I made a rule that I did not pull all nighters, I just
worked five and a half days, and took every Saturday off completely for balance.

Today’s student cares too much about As, but I have to admit that my confidence got a shaking and I had
to really work hard to get Bs. I was not in the top 20% that could get As, and I picked a major that at the time
was less math than some majors at MIT. (Materials Science) I could shine in the lab work, and in using equipment, so I found my place, but the academic shakeup did influence me negatively, over the years, the lack of confidence, and struggles I had in graduate school, directly related to lack of learning because MIT undergrad mathematics was a bit too fast for me, but it was a great challenge!

I loved MIT’s location, loved every minute in Cambridge, loved the architecture, urban feel, music library , art gallery near the science library, sculpture on campus, Boston skyline, Charles River, sailboats and crew boats, walking and running the bridges, 4 seasons, and spent lots of time there in grad school, managed to have a lot of fun in my lab work, and it lead to many interesting career options.

Also made good friends! I would do MIT again. I loved the industrialness of the campus, the utility of the buildings,
the intensity of everyone, including the rowers, the Tai Chi club, and watching the fierce hockey inter murals between the dorms, the interesting dorm life, the professors I met who really cared about me!