<p>For the past four years, I've started a thread around this time dedicated to the last-minute questions people need to have answered before they can whether to come to MIT or not.</p>
<p>The first year I started the thread, I said
[quote]
The title says it all. This was a question I was asked frequently in graduate school interviews, and I really like it -- cuts all the crap and gets right to the heart of the matter.</p>
<p>What do you really care about in a school, and what don't you know about MIT that prevents you from knowing whether or not you want to spend four years here?
[/quote]
So what do you need to know? All questions, no matter how big or how small, are welcomed. Just be aware that if you make them too big, they're hard to answer succinctly.</p>
<p>I already enrolled but i’ll ask anyways because Mollie is awesome! (I got to meet her during CPW, yay!)</p>
<p>The other night, Professor John Essigmann talked about double-majoring in the webcast. My impression was that he kinds of discourages students from double majoring. He said the students should take advantage of the 1:4 student faculty ratio and something like that.</p>
<p>I was a double major, and I still think double majoring is overrated.</p>
<p>Fundamentally, actually completing two majors and getting the notation on your diploma is not as important as all the knowledge you acquired while learning all that stuff. For most people, it’s perfectly adequate to complete one major and take a few or several classes in another area – there’s no need to actually complete two majors. </p>
<p>I don’t think that having been a double major has impacted my opportunities in any way – I don’t think it was an advantage when I was finding a UROP, applying to graduate school, picking a graduate lab, or applying for graduate fellowships. (And I was a double back when doubling was hard and you had to walk uphill in the snow both ways and get off my lawn!) I am glad I did it, because I learned a whole heck of a lot of facts and experiments and methods for finding stuff out. I got a broad education in biology and a deep education in molecular/cellular neuroscience. But I don’t think it was necessary.</p>
<p>Don’t do sth because of how it “looks”. Most likely, employers, grad schools etc… don’t really care about it. Just take the classes you are really interested in for a certain subject. If it happens you get the minor, great, but don’t expect it’s gonna impact your future just because you have a minor. The skills you obtain from those extra classes are the important part.</p>
<p>A nap mysteriously lasted four hours and I missed the meet the bloggers event at CPW. Will there be a similar event at orientation during which I could meet the bloggers, including you? This is integral to whether or not I choose MIT. ;)</p>
<p>Also, are freshman usually able to get a UROP first semester and dedicate enough time to it?</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know how likely it is that a freshman could get a single at EC?</p>
<p>All the freshmen that I know who seriously looked for UROPs first semester were able to get one, and I didn’t hear any of them complaining about not being able to devote enough time to it. The upperclassmen that you meet will probably be able to set you up in a lab - I got one of the freshmen that I live with a UROP within a few days of him arriving on campus :D</p>
<p>I’d feel more comfortable moving out of the house (I could alternatively go to a state school where my parents teach and live at home.) if I knew that I could have a single or at least pick my roommate. I’ve heard some pretty awful stories about college roommates from friends, and while I’m a pretty social person I wouldn’t want to live with someone who gets home at 3 am drunk twice a week, brings drugs into the room, or regularly trashes the place. A kitchen, amazing people I can relate to, and some privacy are very important to me in choosing a college. So far MIT and particularly EC have two of those qualities; I’m wondering if the third is there too.</p>
<p>^ During dorm rush, you’ll have your choice of where you want to live and who you want to live with. Each dorm handles this differently (at EC, for example, you just staple your form with your friend’s form and you’re roomed with them). Seriously, don’t worry about being in a double - people are generally reasonable people and you will have a lot of choice.</p>
No MTB at Orientation, alas. But I do work just a hop, skip, and a jump away from MIT, and the cafeteria here has $1 ice cream.</p>
<p>
So I’m obviously an advocate of singles, having lived in MacGregor and being somewhat averse to sharing my space. But in defense of dorms with multiple-occupancy rooms, I will say that housing at MIT is very different from other schools, and although I’ve heard zillions of roommate horror stories on CC and in life, almost none of them have come from MIT. Rooming with someone at MIT is not the same as being randomly stuck in a tiny double with somebody at a state school – in many/most(?) cases, freshmen choose their own roommates from people they meet during Orientation, and even if you don’t pick a roommate, your roommate will be, by definition, someone who’s enough like you to pick MIT and to pick the same dorm. </p>
<p>I have heard plenty of stories at MIT about people being annoyed at their roommates for sexiling them a few times, or for leaving dirty dishes in the sink. I have heard no stories at MIT (that I can recall) that involved serious things like repeatedly trashing a room, disrespecting a roommate’s bedtime on a regular basis, or doing drugs in the room without consent.</p>
<p>It depends on the particular department, but MIT is far and away the top grad school destination of MIT alums – about 20% of each graduating class continues on to graduate school at MIT immediately upon graduating, and more return after time off from school.</p>
<p>In the engineering departments, it is unquestionably easier to get into graduate school at MIT if you were an undergrad here. For the science departments, it varies – some of the programs won’t “inbreed” and will forcibly encourage their undergrads to go elsewhere for their PhDs. At this point, I think it’s only really chemistry and physics that encourage their undergrads to go elsewhere – biology and brain and cognitive sciences have been accepting MIT undergrads for a few years now.</p>
<p>So I’ve been lurking on here since quite a while ago (I’m a freshman now), and I used to really dislike posting on forums in general. But finally, I decided it was time to dig out my account, so I guess I’m here to help answer everybody’s questions as well!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Actually I’ve heard that chemical engineering doesn’t “inbreed” (can someone confirm that for me though?)</p>
<p>I knew I was going to get in trouble for oversimplifying, and I’m sorry that my sloppiness caused you to have to de-lurk. Chem E is the only engineering department at MIT that I know encourages their undergrads to go elsewhere, which I presume is because chem E is more sciencey than other types of engineering, so the professors follow the science convention.</p>
But I do work just a hop, skip, and a jump away from MIT, and the cafeteria here has $1 ice cream.</p>
Chem E is the only engineering department at MIT that I know encourages their undergrads to go elsewhere, which I presume is because chem E is more sciencey than other types of engineering, so the professors follow the science convention.</p>