MIT is a private, research institution with an emphasis on science and engineering education. Undergraduate students at MIT complete degrees in traditional majors, fulfilling General Institute Requirements in science, math, and the humanities (17 subjects total) before graduation.
Location: Cambridge, MA
Number of 1st years: 1,099
Undergraduates: 4,547
Graduates: 6,919
Faculty: 1,047
For more demographic data, see here.
At MIT, the Office of Undergraduate Advising and Academic Programming assigns academic advisors for first-year students. Most first year advisors team up with an associate advisor, an upperclass student, who brings an undergraduate's perspective to the advising process. First-year students may choose from two different styles of advising, which they do over the summer through an online application:
Once students declare their major at the end of their first year, they are assigned a faculty advisor within their departments.
Interphase EDGE is a two-year enrichment program that begins the summer prior to a student's first semester at MIT. The seven-week, residential summer program provides approximately 70 students with a rigorous academic experience in chemistry, math, physics, and communication. The program also seeks to build community amongst the scholars and expose them to campus life. During the academic year, scholars are encouraged to meet regularly with their Interphase EDGE advisors, and attend seminars, workshops, and networking events. Students from underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply to Interphase EDGE.
The MIT early warning system for first-year students is known as the Fifth Week Flag system, and is a notification sent to any first-year student after the fifth week of the term who is currently below a passing level grade in any of their subjects. Students who receive a fifth week flag are connected with various academic resources.
A perspective of the Fifth Week Flag from The Tech (Faviero, B.B.F., 2011):
The flags are emails, CC’d to a student’s adviser and the UAAP. Most flags are specific to individual students, and can include observations by the instructor like, “I noticed you didn’t do well on the last exam,” or “you haven’t been to recitation lately”… Most flags also involve a follow-up from the UAAP with information on resources and suggestions on how to improve performance. Norman said that flags are intended to be something like, “Let’s pause. Where do you stand right now, and what do you need to do to be more successful?”
All flags are forwarded to housemasters and varsity coaches, and students with multiple flags get more attention from the UAAP. They also get an email on how students can get support, particularly when it comes to personal problems.
Each student with multiple flags is expected to develop a “recovery plan” with the help of their adviser and the associate dean for advising and academic programming. The UAAP also encourages these students to sign up for Seminar XL: Limited Edition — a not-for-credit version of Seminar XL — which matches 4–6 students with a TA for two 1.5-hour sessions every week to review material and do practice problems.
The Freshman Advising Seminars (FAS) program, offered by the Office of Undergraduate Advising and Academic Programming, is one advising option available to first-year students. Freshman advising seminars (FAS) are typically led by faculty or instructors who also serve as the freshman advisor for the students in the seminar. The purpose of Freshman advising seminars is to provide students with an opportunity to engage with faculty around a common topic. FAS are optional. First-year students choose whether or not to participate in an FAS in June of the summer prior to their first term on campus. About 50% of MIT first-year students participate in FAS. FAS tend to have smaller numbers of students, typically around 8, which lend them to be discussion or project-based and provide an opportunity for students to get to know each other as well as their advisor. FAS topics and intended learning outcomes vary widely but tend to have an academic focus. Last fall, FAS topics included black holes, blacksmithing, quantitative biology, leadership, design, and making. Freshman seminars are only offered in the fall term. FAS are not offered in the spring because students keep the same advisor for the first year. If students joined a new seminar in the spring, this is seen as an administrative complication. Freshman seminars meet weekly, are worth 6 units of credit, and are graded P/D/F.
MIT offers four first-year learning communities that have curricular and social components:
During orientation, first-year students have many opportunities to mingle with classmates as well as MIT faculty and staff. Students explore academic options, register for their first semester of classes, learn about MIT Residence Life and student life programs, and explore the campus and its resources. Orientation includes the President’s Convocation, faculty lectures, and an academic expo for information on academic departments and programs. MIT’s orientation also includes programming for parents.
Before the official beginning of orientation, incoming students can participate in the Freshman Pre-Orientation Programs (FPOP). There more than 25 FPOPs that give new students the opportunity to participate in a 4- or 5-day program around a variety of topics including leadership, service, outdoors, arts, and academic programs. Many academic programs offer FPOPs. FPOP cohort sizes vary, but are generally smaller than 30.
While a number of students at MIT engage in service through student groups and FSILGs, other opportunities for service learning include:
The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) cultivates and supports research partnerships between MIT undergraduates and faculty. Projects occur during the academic year and/or in the summer session — lasting for an entire semester or continuing for a year or more. In addition to the traditional UROP program, two alternative UROP offerings are available:
Through the Facilitating Effective Research (FER) Program, the Teaching + Learning Lab in collaboration with the UROP office, supports the development of graduate student and postdoctoral research mentors. Program participants reflect on their individual mentoring and advising experiences and discuss: 1) how different behaviors influence mentoring relationships, 2) how to establish and articulate expectations, 3) how to keep communication channels open and flowing, and 4) how to apply strategies to begin planning and managing research projects and tasks.
MIT students are required to take one communication intensive (CI) course during their first year. CI-H subjects (Communication Intensive in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences) provide a foundation in effective writing and oral communication. CI-H subjects are writing classes or classes in the HASS curriculum in which students plan, organize, draft, and revise a series of assignments based on course material. CI-HW subjects are a subset of CI-H subjects with a larger emphasis on the writing process and the rhetorical dimensions of writing.
All incoming first-year students who did not score a 5 on either the AP Language and Composition exam or Literature and Composition exam, or a 7 on either the English A or B Higher Level International Baccalaureate (IB) exam must complete the Freshman Essay Evaluation (FEE) the summer before arriving on campus. The selection of writing subjects available to these student is determined by their performance on the FEE (students who meet AP/IB cutoffs can register for any CI-H/CI-HW subject).
Lecturers from Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication (WRAP) teach CI-HW subjects and co-teach numerous CI subjects with faculty.