I'm not going to be an engineer~~

Colleges & Universities Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<p>so my question is:</p>

<p>can people get a really Liberal Art like education in MIT?</p>

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<p>I am assuming you mean majoring in the humanities when you say “get a really liberal art like education”? (You said you don’t want to be an engineer.)</p>

<p>Yes, you can, but MIT is an institute of technology after all:

  1. You still have to take the required classes in math and science (the ones for all students). If you are not confident in your math and science skills, then you might want to reconsider because in these MIT-level math and science classes you will be surrounded by MIT math and science kids.
  2. You will be the exception and the minority.
  3. Many people in your classes will be people who are double majoring or dabbling, doing humanities on the side of their math/science/engineering/comp sci majors.
  4. Most resources (advising especially) are geared toward the majority of students, ie, math/science/engineering/comp sci majors. Even if MIT offers great advising for humanities students, it will not compare to the advising, connections, and resources offered to humanities majors at humanities-type schools.</p>

<p>That said…if you want to get a broad education as a non-humanities major (if you are not majoring in the humanities, but you are not doing engineering either, ie, you plan to do a non-engineering science)…MIT might still be a good choice (if not the best choice). You can get your science education at MIT and take “liberal arts” classes at Harvard and Wellesley, which are both obviously very well-renowned schools in the humanities. But even in this situation: why not go to Harvard or Wellesley (or any other liberal arts school) and take advantage of the liberal arts education offered there, and take classes at MIT on the side?</p>

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<p>I think it’s pretty easy to get a broad education as a science major at MIT, even without taking classes at Harvard or Wellesley. </p>

<p>Most majors give substantial free elective time, and you don’t have to be a major in a subject to take a class in that department – if you wanted to, say, major in biology but take courses in physics, music, history, and electrical engineering, that wouldn’t be a problem. I guess the only problem would be picking the classes out of the course catalogue.</p>