Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Ooh, now I've got a question. In the "Self Reported Course Work" section of the application, do you list classes you're currently taking?

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Do you have any suggestions on how to handle the interview? What should we expect?

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

This one's been bugging me all day. I've tried to comment twice, and decided not to twice. Third time's the charm, I guess.

I can't speak for MIT, but at my college, asking the admissions officers that question would get at best a non-committal answer (or something made up on the spot or off the campus literature or something of that nature). Pretty much nothing you'd really want to know, other than hours and how much a meal plan would cost. Other than the facilities crew, the kitchen crew and one faculty/staff member (the electronics specialist), I can't think of a single member of the faculty, staff, or administration that eats meals in the dining hall on a regular basis other than once-or-twice-a-year.

I'm less sure about the gym, as I don't use it that often, but I'm 90% certain that with a slightly different staff grouping, the same thing applies.

That sort of thing is something you want to ask a student about. The students will tell it like it is better than an admissions officer would be able to. (Same for dorms, rec rooms, and which profs are the best.)

Also, the odds of steaks on non-special occasions are probably close to zero if it's a cafeteria...I can't think of a single dining hall steak dinner except on special occasions. (Student-organization sponsored activities, on the other hand, are another story.)

Again, this is something I've noticed at my school, which is in South Dakota. Things may be completely different at MIT.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Thanks for the response. One of my mentors once said that to see if the college or work place is good, always try the cafeteria first. The gym is a personal preference for me. I guess experiencing it first hand would be the best judge of that. So in other words: "College cafeterias are not much of a step up from highschool cafeterias"? I never eat at my Cafe, I always eat out for lunch. That shows how much I hate school food

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Depends on the school. Over here at SDSM&T, the cafeteria is pretty good. If you can't find anything you like (burgers, pizza of various types, sandwich and salad bars, and a couple of other stations that vary from meal to meal), it's a really really really, emphasis on really, bad day for them--and it's all you can eat. (I've yet to not find something I like to eat, in 4 years of eating there.) The coffee joint I haven't been to, but the snack bar is pretty good as well (wraps, pizza, fast-food, snacks).

The actual point of my last post was, "you're probably not asking the right person". For anything (or anyone) the students would be interacting with on a daily basis, or close to it, you go to the students for their take. Probably the admissions officers know...but it's likely they don't know the whole story, like the one school I know of that had moldy bread in sandwiches on visitor's day. (School name will not be released to protect said school, but it's not the one I go to. I found out later from alumni that the food was normally pretty bad when they went there.)

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

While the food you'll be eating for two to four years is important to know, it's probably the least important factor possible when deciding where to go to school. You will grow tired of any college's food quickly.

Similar comments for a gym. Do you really want to look back on your life in 15 or 20 years and definitively say "I picked one academic institution over another where I got the most important education of my life because they had an extra bench press"? Seriously? I mean, student life is important and it's worth asking "hey can non athletes use the weight room" (which you will hear a "yes" regardless of whether or not that is actually true), but you're not going to college to eat food or to work out.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Your question about the dining plan is actually difficult to answer right now - we're in the process of creating a new dining plan to be implemented starting in fall 2011. We haven't selected a vendor yet, but since it may be different than our current vendor it's hard to say exactly how it will turn out. Currently there is an emphasis on providing healthy options, which is something that will be continued and expanded in the new plan. I'm a vegetarian, so I can't really give you feedback on the steak - since I don't look for it I can honestly say I don't know if it's served (but again, that's subject to change anyway based on the new vendors we work with next fall). And to the question about late-night dining - dorm dining halls are not open at night, however there is a campus convenience/grocery store open 24/7, and every dorm has at least some kitchen facilities so people tend to cook things at all hours as well. Overall, our dining system is very different than what you find at most universities, so if you want more details feel free to ask.

Also, our housemasters and their children do eat in dining several times a week - probably more than I make it home for dinner actually!

I think the question about our gym is much simpler to answer - it's fantastic! We have really great facilities in terms of variety and quality. I've never found it to be excessively crowded there. (Fyi - I'm not an athlete but I use the gym for personal use. I have athlete friends who are happy with the facilities as well.)

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

w/r/t the gym: the MIT gym is awesome, far surpassing what I've seen in 90% of college gyms. http://mitrecsports.com

w/r/t dining: it's in flux, but as a general rule, MIT is more about a) cooking for yourself b) eating out at the (cheap, plentiful) places around here. There are dining plans but they are not integrated into large dining halls like most dorms. But you'll also find that many MIT students love cooking for themselves. See: http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/...r_dinner.shtml

You list ALL coursework from high school.

You're just going to have a conversation with them about MIT. Low pressure. Don't stress.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Yes that may be true, but MIT is already so prestigious about the academics is that if I asked "How are the classes at MIT?", it would be pretty redundant wouldn't you think? So I ask about the less known aspects of the school.


I also found something interesting... Both MIT and Caltech have the beaver as the mascot...

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Yet that's a question that you'd want to know a lot more about. How big are the classes, do you ever get taught by TAs, how much of it is curved, is the courseload that bad, how flexible can you be with electives, etc. are all great "How are the classes" questions that differ from place to place.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Or, how do you apply the classwork to real applications? Any engineering school worth its salt will have some form of engineering competition team, and probably more than one, to provide some form of practical application. Theory without practice is just about useless--but then again, practice without theory is even worse.

(BTW, "Is the courseload that bad?" will vary depending on whether you ask a freshman, a senior, or a sophomore/junior--or even a professor.)

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

- class size depends. intro to physics is usually the biggest with a couple hundred kids (standard, or small, when compared to most colleges). most upper level classes are between 10-15.

- no TAs teach classes. all full professors.

- courseload is heavy, definitely. MIT is like drinking from a firehose.

MIT's motto is 'mens et manus', meaning 'mind and hand', because of the real applications. 80% of MIT students will do a UROP research program in one of our graduate labs. many will travel abroad on a MISTI internship.

as for competition teams, here are a few:

http://solar-cars.scripts.mit.edu/
http://web.mit.edu/evt/
http://aerobatics.mit.edu/

with many more

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Are there any special programs that MIT has with international study abroad or studying at nearby colleges like Caltech? Caltech allows studying at Occidental to get some credit and has programs with UCSD, UCLA and USC and probably more that they don't tell on their website, and they have some international studies programs. I am personally interested in studying abroad in Asia, preferably Singapore, Korea or Japan. The one in Caltech is only in Europe.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

international: yes -

http://web.mit.edu/MISTI/
http://web.mit.edu/cmi/ue/

we have full cross-reg with harvard, wellesley, and mass fine art.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

*bump*