Clinton
Yes, professors know my name. My favorite class is Psychology, 9.00. The professor and material are engaging. Class participation is common. MIT students have intellectual conversations outside of class. Students are competitive but humbled by MIT. MIT is both geared towards getting a job and learning for its own sake.
Devin
Some professors know my name. Those are the professors that I actually made an effort to know. My favorite class was Artificial Intelligence because I enjoyed the material and the workload was bearable. My least favorite was computer engineering systems because it was a lot of writing and not very interesting. Class participation depends a lot on the class. It is not very common in a lot of my classes because of the lecture style. However, I have definitely had several classes where it was encouraged. MIT students definitely have intellectual conversations outside of class, sometimes to a fault. Students work together a lot which makes the environment less competitive. The most unique class I took was Hip Hop. My major is Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and my department is one of the largest in the school. My department is very supportive and I love my major. MIT's academic requirements are not too bad and are for the most part necessary for one's major. The education is definitely geared more toward learning than just getting a job.
Rachael
If you want your professor to know your name, all you have to do is approach them after class and introduce yourself. Freshman year is different because everyone is taking general requirements, so the class sizes are large, but as you go through MIT and get into the specific majors, the class sizes decrease. My favorite class is American Literature because it is based mostly on discussion. It is interactive and interesting and the least stressful of all my classes. My least favorite class is definitely physics. The lectures are two hours long and the homework assignments (problem sets-aka psets) are very difficult. Students here study often. Rather, we do work almost every night of the week. Some people, like me, like to set time off to simply not do work and do something fun. For me, this is usually Friday night. I will not lie though, there is a lot of work to do and it is challenging. Class participation depends on the class. Physics, you have to answer questions every once in a while, so it's a little more interactive than calculus class where you sit in a lecture hall and listen for an hour. MIT students most definitely have intellectual conversations outside of class. It can be very common to hear people discussing classes, technology, or random intellectual things in general. Students at MIT are not as competitive as you might think. Students are much more collaborative than in high school where it was all about competing against everyone else to get into college. Here, it is all about working together to make it to graduation, and you will have to work together to make it. My major is chemical-biological engineering which is has one of the heaviest course loads at MIT. I haven't taken any classes in my major yet, but it will be an interesting four years. The fact that my major includes a large portion of biology classes while teaching me chemical engineering attracted me to the major because I love biology, and wanted to major in something related to it that was more hands-on. I don't spend time with professors outside of class unless I am going to office hours. I do interact with a few administrators though. I feel MIT's academic requirements to be challenging, but they prepare you well for what's ahead, especially if you're interested in grad school or a career in the sciences and engineering. The education at MIT is geared towards learning for its own sake, but more than amply prepares you for a job.
Ryan
My professors know my name (most of them). My favorite class is kind of a part of some classes. I love the labs of Course 3, very helpful with understanding material and it's nice to not always listen to lecturers. Class participation is very common. Intellectual conversations...I would say that's rare. People compete against themselves usually...sometime there are those who compete against others, but not common. My most unique class was 3.094, we got to build a replica of an Incan bridge, life size! No time with professors outside of class. Academic requirements are just right. Geared toward learning how to do things so you can do anything...so maybe for both.
Carolina
Some professors know my name, some don't. But that's mostly on each individual student to make that relationship happen. For the most part, profs are very approachable and friendly. I'm working on improving myself in this regard.
My favorite class that I'm taking this semester is my Bioethics class. A class that debates issues like abortion, active and passive euthanasia, and issues in morality when it comes to things like cloning and the such - it's a very cool class that makes you really think about some issues that you probably only glance over. Some other really good classes I've taken: a Comparative Media Studies class featuring professional wrestling (I got to meet JR and Mick Foley, how awesome is that? Mick even signed my book and let me take a picture! very cool), my psychology class last year was great, especially after AP Psych, and I also thoroughly enjoyed the intro calculus classes here. Yes, I'm a math nerd, and proud of it.
Least favorite class: biology. I hate biology. Sorry if you like it - someone has to. Just not me. But it's a core requirement here so I'm currently in it. Sigh.
How often do students study? I can't speak for everyone, but I hit the books at least 4 days a week, most of the time 5 or 6. I take the weekends light (in other words, we just got Rock Band in my dorm and now my schedule's been rearranged a little bit). Anyways, I need to be more productive. Like reading up on aerodynamics instead of rambling on this site, for one.
Class participation isn't great but it's not horrible. Eventually people start to open up, it's not that big of a deal here.
We most definitely have intellectual conversations outside of class. Not all the time, but we do talk about ideas. It's interesting to hear what other people have to say about something like String Theory. We definitely engage the material on our own. That's not ALL we talk about but sometimes it's cool to see what other people are learning and to expand your own mind a bit.
Are students competitive? Of course, but mostly with each other. It's a very helpful atmosphere here. Extremely helpful.
Most unique class I've taken was my pro wrestling class. We looked at the history and evolution of pro wrestling and had lots of speakers come in to talk to us. Great times.
I'm currently in aero/astro engineering. It's a great department, very intense though. The workload is definitely hard, and not for the weak. Our intro class weeds out pretenders, as well it should -- it's a 24-unit class that fuses four disciplines together under one subject. You better believe it's hard as hell. I love it though. It's definitely for me. The people in it are also very down to earth and very chill, and so we all slave away together.
I personally love MIT's academic requirements (except for the bio part, because I hate bio). I think it gives a solid technical foundation for you, even if you go to some humanities major (there's nothing wrong with that, we have good offerings). The core classes in particular are awesome because you take them your freshman year with all your classmates, and you make friendships that will stand for a long time that way.
The thing MIT gives you (besides a shiny brass rat and a piece of paper that flies a long way) that I find the most useful is the ability to learn and adapt to whatever situation comes up in front of you. We're problem solvers in one way or another, and we learn how to handle things when they get overwhelming, and we do it with a level head since MIT has beaten the ego right out of us. I think that's almost more important than the actual formulas and all of those things; we learn how to think here, and you can't put a price tag on that.