<p>A few questions about MIT and how doable this little plan of mine is. (Of course, I AM a HS senior, so my plans for the future change every other day anyway!) I’m thinking Course 2, and I’m pretty set on it.</p>
<li><p>Do most MIT kids gradute in four years or does it usually take more time?</p></li>
<li><p>I’m taking AP physics C and AP Calc BC, but I feel as though my Calc teacher isn’t necessarily the best at getting the class to understand concepts (he’s one of those guys who gets kids 5 of the AP test, but then alumni I’ve talked to say they get their butts kicked in college). I think therefore I would start at the very beginning of Calc and such at MIT rather than take any advanced version or skipping anything. Is graduating Course 2 in four years still doable?</p></li>
<li><p>What about survivability/possibility of doing Course 2 AND Course 15 in four years?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Any help/input/reality-check would be much appreciated, thanks!</p>
<p>Well my cousin goes to MIT right now, and she's a junior. She's doing a double major in course 3 and 8 and doesn't know whether she can finish in only 4 years. I guess it depends on how many classes you can handle at MIT. I mean - if you can handle five classes, then I guess go for it. But I don't think you'll get much sleep. BTW did you check out that blog? </p>
<p>Yes, most people (~85%) graduate in four years.</p>
<p>The undergraduate program is generally designed so you can start out in all of the intro classes, take four classes per semester, and graduate on time.</p>
<p>You can start out in 18.01 and do course 2 in four years. Maybe you could consider taking 18.01A, which starts off with 6 weeks of single-variable calc and then starts multivariable, finishing during IAP? That way you could take 18.03 second semester and be set up for taking the course 2 intro classes during your sophomore year. (That's not a have-to. That's just a suggestion so you don't have to take 18.02 and 18.03 concurrently, or 18.03 and 2.001 concurrently.)</p>
<p>If you come in with very little AP credit, it's generally not possible to graduate with a double major without taking more than four classes per term. If your second major is less demanding, it's not actually that hard to take 5+ classes per term. This is a decision you don't have to make until junior year (you can't declare a second major before then), and it's easiest to try to plan for a double major in your first few terms, then see if it will or won't work out as you go along.</p>
<p>The voice of experience would like to recommend that you take 18.01/18.02A (accelerated calc) if you want to be Course 2. Not at all required, but in my case I tested out of one of the other GIRs (typical freshman classes) and couldn't fill my schedule because I didn't have the math prereqs I needed to start in Course 2 as a second semester frosh. I ended up taking 18.02 and 18.03 at the same time. Maybe you're better at math than I am, but this was very unpleasant for me. In retrospect, I wish I had taken 18.01A.</p>
<p>Yeah, I had a few friends do the 18.02/18.03 thing, and it didn't look like too much fun. I mean, even if you're crazy good at math, it's not fun to have two major psets due on the same day. </p>
<p>People have already answered #1 and #2, so...</p>
<p>Double majoring in general is pretty doable, and 2 + 15 is not bad (there's even a "flexible" option of 2 that caters to double majors, 2A), but keep in mind that you have to maintain a B average in order to double major. And they <em>won't</em> round up if you're close. If you can do that, go for it...if you can't, you can major in one and minor in the other.</p>