The Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Date: Sep 15 2008
Major: Neuroscience/Cognitive Science (This Major's Salary over time)
MIT is a great place to get a truly valuable education, but you need to put the work in to get something out of it. And if you're going to MIT and not putting the work in, you probably won't be going to MIT for very long. The coursework is challenging, but that's also what helps make MIT great. Every problem has a meaning and a bearing on understanding the course material. All that being said, MIT won't kill you as long as you MANAGE YOUR TIME. Learn to schedule properly and don't take on more than you can handle, especially not your first semester. If you plan your work out right, you should have ample time for extracurriculars and social activities. You might not have as much time as your friends at other schools, but if you're just studying all the time, you're doing something wrong. Don't let the workload scare you off from MIT; rather, see it as a challenge. You'll get so much more out of an MIT education than you will at a "party school" or some place where learning is not the fundamental virtue. And also understand that even though MIT is focused on science, technology, and engineering, it has a fantastic school of Humanities, Arts, and Social Science, and you will have to complete distributive requirements in the humanities much like you would at a liberal arts college. MIT's mission is NOT to produce culturally illiterate, out-of-touch scientists and engineers. On the contrary, MIT works to ensure every student gets a broad education in various forms of communication and humanities-based studies. So take advantage of not only MIT's great science and engineering, but also humanities!