Nato

I recently had to counter act someone else's assertions in another thread about how all that MIT is good at is Math and Science. This is really not quite true, and happens to be a very common misconception. I thought I'd re-post my post into the MIT Thread:

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"MIT sucks at anything not related to science"

Since when was this true?

MIT has a world renown programs in Political Science, Economics, and Bussiness/Management.

Its English Humanities departments are no less excellent either, consisting of a world renown staff that has won numerous awards of high distingiushment in their field. And yes, this includes the Pulitzer Prize, quite possibly the highest distingiushment given to writers (Noam Chomsky anyone?).

MIT also has a cutting edge Comparitive Media Studies program. For those of you who may not know what this is exactly, it is:

"Comparative Media Studies represents a new paradigm in media scholarship, one which merges together the best conceptual models from a range of different disciplines to address issues of media content, context, and change. It is comparative in multiple senses -- comparative across media, across historical periods, across national borders, and across disciplinary perspectives."

Furthermore, I know two professors who turned down job offers from Yale and Harvard because they were more attracted to the higher rigour and respect that undergrad students give to Prof's at MIT (Note: I am not saying this statement is true, but just that it was one of THEIR major reasons of choosing MIT instead).

And, MIT's students are no slouches when it comes to Humanities either. With a median verbal score only 10 points lower than Harvard students, it's students are excellent writers and students of humanities (I know SAT scores are not 100% comprehensive, but it is a simple number to refer to in this case).

It is kind of like when a SUPER AMAZINGLY hot girl also happens to be smart too. When guys talk about her, they highlight and focus not on her smarts, but her incredibly awesome and smoking hot bod. While the girl is smart, it is not what she'd be known for among guys (sad, yes).

It is kind of like MIT's excellence in the Math/sciences, which is quite absurd and off the charts. So, when people talk about MIT, they highlight its excellence in the Math/Sciences rather than English/Humanities.

So, no, MIT does not SUCK at anything not related to Science. Quite the opposite.

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I encourage other people who know more about the Humanities/English offerings at MIT to mention other positive things about the excellent non math/science resources.

Let's make this a nice reference thread for people who think that all MIT kids can do is count numbers and play with chemicals!

dntw8up

Great graduate program in Philosophy.

River Phoenix

This is way loaded. What about when a SUPER AMAZINGLY smart girl also happens to be good-looking too?

orbis_somnio

MIT's creative writing program is particularly strong with people like Junot Diaz and Joe Haldeman. Also, the program gets well known writers to teach as visiting professors.

Nato

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"'It is kind of like when a SUPER AMAZINGLY hot girl also happens to be smart too.'

This is way loaded. What about when a SUPER AMAZINGLY smart girl also happens to be good-looking too?"
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Well, then the opposite is true. People will often talk and be in awe of her genious than her beauty.

Take Melis A. for example (MIT admissions blogger).

She is an incrediblely intelligent student at MIT, who had a perfect GPA (and many other wonderful accomplishments in academia/research), and is one of the very few in the country who has been honored with the Rhodes Scholar award.

She also happens to be pretty too, and really sweet! But, when people talk about her, they say, OMGZ PERFECT GPA RHODES SCHOLAR SHE IS A GENIOUS!!!!!!!!1!!11!!one11one!!1one111

jessiehl

Nato, I agree with you, but to some extent you're preaching to the choir here.

burnitblue

I agree with Jessie, but some good examples of MIT humanities prowess can be found on OpenCourseWare.

Nato

Yes, I understand that I'm kind of preaching to the choir. However, there are some people who come to this MIT forum to learn more about the school, and a common misconception/question that interested students have about it is "Is MIT only good at Math/science?" This thread is for them, and also a reference thread when someone in another thread says "MIT is only good at math/science."

So back to the threads purpose:

My AP English teacher today was teaching us about "close readings," and a major reference he used was MIT's definition of it and how to analyze a piece of text within a piece of literature and it's place in the bigger picture. And, to boot, my teacher is actually a Harvard grad!

I thought it was amusing that he was using MIT as a role model for this special kind of analysis, and not his alma mater or a university more known for its liberal arts background. Go MIT! =)

orbis_somnio

JUNOT WINS THE PULITZER!

Junot Díaz wins Pulitzer for 'Oscar Wao' - MIT News Office

I had him as a professor and he was freakin' awesome!!!

Nato

Wonderful! Does he still teach undergrad classes there?

orbis_somnio

Junot is on his sabbatical this academic year. He should be coming back next year to teach (not entirely too sure).

jessiehl

Several of my friends had him for undergrad classes, so I'm guessing he will continue to teach them when he returns from sabbatical.

andi

What is amazing is that Diaz is actually the third humanities professor at MIT to win a Pulitzer Prize. History professor John Dower won one in 2000 for nonfiction and music professor John Harbison won one in 1987 for music composition.

phuriku

Just because MIT has a few prominent humanities professors means close to nothing. The reason that these professors are at MIT probably has more to do with money than anything, anyway.

Of course MIT students are going to have high SAT verbal scores, but 1) being good in math/science usually means that there's quite a bit of verbal intellect as well, 2) this is like commending the excellence of a high school class based on standardized test results from the first grade. Being a good student in the humanities extends so much farther than having a good SAT score, so I don't see your point. I'm not convinced that MIT doesn't have a good humanities program, but I think your arguments are weak and not particularly well thought-out.

collegealum314

"Just because MIT has a few prominent humanities professors means close to nothing. The reason that these professors are at MIT probably has more to do with money than anything, anyway."

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Does MIT pay its humanities professors a lot?