Evolution of the first-year academic experience
This year, freshmen can designate up to three Science, Mathematics, and Engineering (SME) General Institute Requirements to be graded on a Pass/No Record basis after their first term. In light of this experiment, it is timely to reflect on the history of the first year academic experience at MIT.
ASE pass rates improve for almost all subjects
This year’s Advanced Standing Exams (ASE) saw 769 participants and an overall pass rate of 64.1 percent.
Pass/No Record falls short
P/NR engenders bad habits for freshmen and a mindset that is damaging in the long run. It's more than just grades: P/NR is a culture. But there is a solution.
Designing the First Year class aims to restructure freshman experience
“There is a clear dissonance between the advertised expectations of the course and the reality of the course,” Kelvin Green II ’21 and Mimi Wahid ’21, two students in the class, wrote in a document sent to their classmates.
Freshman year reflections
If there’s one thing that MIT has taught me, it’s to not plan too much.