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<li><p>Seminar XL or Seminar XL LE. From what I’ve been able to find online is that it is a course/seminar run through the Office of Minority Education (do I have to be a minority to participate?) Is is hard to get into? From what I understand, its purpose is kind of an extra help/work session for GIRs right? So if I wanted to take this for an extra study session for calc and physics I could do that? Is it helpful? Any thoughts, comments, etc are appreciated. </p></li>
<li><p>MIT Media Arts and Science (MAS) learning community. I wasn’t able to discern a whole lot of info about this from their website. What is it exactly? I know that students take MediaLab classes/seminars, and like at least 1 GIR class through them per semester or something, but is there anything else? What kind of qualifications do you need in order to qualify for the program? It said something about an online portfolio and recommendations… What kind of student is this program intended for? </p></li>
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<p>Thanks and sorry for my cluelessness about these programs :)</p>
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<li><p>Seminar XL teachers are students who have done well in the subject when they took it (usually an A). To gauge if you should be in it you should give more information about your background. What kind of school do you go to (a bad school, an average public high school, an elite magnet school, a very good private school)? What AP classes have you taken in the GIR subjects? What AP scores have you gotten? If you have done reasonably well it is doubtful that Seminar XL is needed. It is run by the OME so it mostly caters to minorities, though I doubt they can turn someone away for not being a minority.</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t know anything about this program, never looked into it myself and haven’t met anyone that did it.</p></li>
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<p>Addendum: You didn’t ask specifically ask about ESG or Concourse but they’re also learning communities so I’ll talk about them. These learning communities are about having small classes. I didn’t participate in either so I can’t comment directly, but having a small learning environment is definitely helpful for some people. However, I’m not sure about the quality of teaching. I’ve met a lot of people that did concourse and it seems, as an observer (read: not an expert) that it leaves a bit to be desired. One of my close friends did it and other than his 18.03 instructor felt that the instruction was terrible and especially disliked that in Concourse 8.01 they would give him 8.012 problems (he doesn’t particularly like physics). Also, the average of concourse students on the 8.01 final (they have to take it with mainstream) was much lower than the overall average. I have no comment on ESG with regard to quality as I have no clue.</p>
<p>I have heard similar things about Concourse. But I’ve heard good things about esg, and that is something I want to look into more and probably apply to but they only take like what, 50 students by a lottery.</p>
<p>If you choose some of the unconventional classes (ie 8.012) they are more likely to take you to fill that spot. Note: Don’t take 8.012 only for this reason, 8.012 and similar classes are REALLY hard. Take it if you’re interested in the material.</p>