Anyone visiting
MIT or interacting for any length of time with its
students will have noticed
MIT's penchant for
numbers.
Classes,
Courses, and
buildings all have their
own numbering
scheme.
In order to assist translation and lessen confusion on
the part of friends, family, and associates of MIT students, here is the basic list of Courses. Most Courses have several majors within them, which are not listed here.
Course numbers, in the lowercase sense, identify subjects. Listing all of them here is a nigh-impossible task, but some basic guidelines to understanding the numbering schemes:
- A course number has two parts: the Course or department, and the subject within the department, separated by a dot. 6.170, for example, is a subject within Course 6, whereas 2.007 is offered by Course 2.
- The second half of the course number can tell you something about the class. Numbering schemes vary between departments (in Course 6, for example, a course number beginning with 8 indicates a graduate-level class), but
there are a few overall trends.
- Course numbers beginning
with 0 tend to be low-level introductory classes,
and courses with double zeros, such as 6.001, 10.001, or 2.007 are usually core classes of the department.
For more information on
MIT's
course offerings, visit their web site at http://web.mit.edu.