Course VI Undergraduate Programs:
Policies, Procedures and Organization

July 2007

This guide serves as a reference for information about many aspects of the undergraduate and professional programs, policies and procedures of the Department. Together with A Brief Guide to EECS Degree Programs and the Institute's General Bulletin, this is your main written source of information about the S.B. and M.Eng. programs and the operations of the Department's Undergraduate Office.

Contents

Undergraduate Resources Directory

Course VI Undergraduate Office (Room 38-476, ext. 3-7329), ug@eecs.mit.edu
Prof. A.C. Smith, Undergraduate Officer, acsmith@mit.edu
Ms. Anne M. Hunter, Administrator, Course VI Undergraduate Programs, anneh@mit.edu
Ms. Vera Sayzew, Co-Administrator, Course VI Undergraduate Programs, vera@mit.edu
Ms. Linda Sullivan, Administrative Assistant, lindasul@mit.edu
Ms. Helen Schwartz, Database Programmer, helens@eecs.mit.edu
Undergraduate Advisors
Ms. Anne M. Hunter, anneh@mit.edu
Ms. Vera Sayzew, vera@mit.edu
Masters of Engineering Thesis
Ms. Anne M. Hunter, anneh@mit.edu
Program Variations and Transfer Credits
EE: Prof. J. L. Kirtley, 10-098, 3-2357, kirtley@mit.edu
CS: Prof. G. Verghese, 38-467 or 10-140K, 3-4612, verghese@mit.edu
UROP Coordinator
For Credit: Ms. Anne M. Hunter, 38-476, anneh@mit.edu
For Pay: Ms. Linda Sullivan, 38-476, lindasul@mit.edu
VI-A Program
Prof. M. Zahn, Director, 38-475, zahn@mit.edu
Ms. Kathleen M. Sullivan, 38-409H, kaths@mit.edu
Freshman Liaison
Anne M Hunter, anneh@mit.edu
I.E.E.E. Advisor
Prof. James L. Kirtley. See Anne M. Hunter 38-476, 3-4654
Course VI Tutorial Program
http://hkn.mit.edu/act-tutoring.html

The Advisor

The person with primary responsibility for a student's academic program is the advisor. Almost all official actions require the advisor's approval. Students should work at developing a positive relationship with their advisor. If for any reason a student wishes to change advisor, it can be done by consulting the Undergraduate Office. Normally students remain with the same advisor throughout the undergraduate and M.Eng. years. Given faculty sabbaticals and retirements it is occasionally necessary to reassign advisors, however.

Variations from Required Curricula for S.B./M.Eng. Students

All substitutions require a petition and approval by a designated authority.

Substitutions for General Institute requirements, primarily the Institute laboratory requirement and the HASS. Requirement, must be petitioned to the Institute Committee on Curricula using an Institute Petition. The C.o.C. operates out of the Registrar's Office, Room 5-119.

Undergraduate advisors act with power to approve substitutions-in-kind for Department requirements. The advisor must email permission to Vera Sayzew, vera@mit.edu.

For advisors who wish to consult them, the variations and transfer credit reviewers are (for EE) Prof. J. L. Kirtley, 10-098, 3-2357 (kirtley@mit.edu) and (for CS) Prof. Verghese, 10-140K or 38-467, 3-4612 (verghese@mit.edu).

Engineering Design Points

This requirement is eliminated in the new curriculum, as the program requirements provide sufficient design. Students completing the old curriculum are still required to have 48 EDPs.In order to ensure that students include reasonable amounts of design in their programs, the M.Eng. and S.B. programs require 48 Engineering Design Points (EDPs). Each point is roughly equivalent to an academic unit. Department subjects that have significant design components have been assigned appropriate numbers of EDPs, as shown in the Bulletin subject listings. The numbers of EDPs associated with independent subjects such as UROP and Thesis are determined by the supervisors of those subjects. Students who wish to be credited with EDPs for other subjects, such as out-of-department subjects, may submit a petition to the Undergraduate Office. A list of the EDPs assigned to Department subjects appears here.

Independent Study in Course VI

6.UR UROP for Credit

6.100 Independent Project Laboratory

6.UAP Advanced Project

6.910 Independent Reading Course

6.920 Practical Work Experience

6.ThM Master of Engineering Thesis

The Department provides several mechanisms for students to participate in a research project or to do study or research on their own, supervised by faculty, for academic credit. All of these subjects are administered by the Course VI Undergraduate Office, Room 38-476. All forms are available there and all reports and forms are to be submitted there. Students are strongly encouraged to participate in research and independent work early in their undergraduate years.

In every case it is the student's responsibility to find a supervisor for the research or study undertaken. The student must file a Course VI Independent Study Approval Form by the Add Date of every semester for which the student registers for any of the numbers listed above except the M.Eng. thesis. The Department believes that it is salutary for students to write a description of their project at the beginning and a detailed report at the end of each project, each semester. Even in the case of multi-term UROPs, it should be beneficial for students to write a progress report at the end of each term. The final report for 6.100 should be a formal lab report of at least ten pages. The Advanced Project (6.UAP) satisfies what was previously the undergraduate thesis requirement. The quality of the final report should be a significant factor in determining the student's final grade.

6.UR Undergraduate Research Opportunities

UROP is available for credit or pay. UROP for credit in Course VI is always Pass/Fail. Most students begin with a UROP for credit in either their first or second year, and then after a term or two their supervisor permits them to take UROP for pay. UROP is the "ground floor," the best way to get involved in research. Some students try several different UROPs while a few stay with the same research group from freshman year through Ph.D. Course VI undergraduates find UROPs all over MIT, as there is a great demand for software and instrumentation or other EE applications. The home department or laboratory of your UROP supervisor determines which department you register in (e.g. 2.UR, 21.UR, MAS.UR, etc.) or which one pays you. Therefore 6.UR UROPs are always supervised by EECS Department faculty and research staff.

A UROP proposal form must be signed by the supervisor and submitted to the Course VI Undergraduate Office (38-476) by the Add Date each semester that the student is registered for 6.UR. A short report (around two pages) is required at the end of each semester for a final grade to be awarded. 6.UR for credit and for pay are administered by the Course VI Undergraduate Office in 38-476.

6.100 Independent Project Laboratory

6.100 is the appropriate number for work that is at the junior level, a coherent laboratory project suitable for letter grade credit. It is always taken for a letter grade, and the same project should not continue for more than one term. By special approval it can be used by 6-1 and 6-2 students to satisfy the Department Laboratory Requirement. A proposal must be submitted by Add Date. It is almost always supervised by department faculty or senior research staff. The intent is that it should be more structured (a defined laboratory project) than a UROP (which may be more vague) and that it must be a limited, one-term project. A final report of at least ten pages must be submitted, accompanied by an Independent Study Grade Form and Cover Sheet. 6.100 is administered by the Course VI Undergraduate Office in 38-476. No more than 12 units of 6.100 may be taken in one term. It may be repeated for credit.

6.UAT/6.UAP The Undergraduate Advanced Project

VI-A Advanced Projects

6.910 Independent Reading Course

6.910 is to be used for independent study which does not involve laboratory work or research. It should be used only when a subject in the desired area does not exist at MIT. A short bibliography must be submitted with the Approval Form; an annotated bibliography must be submitted at the conclusion. This is to be a one-term subject.

6.920 Practical Work Experience

This subject provides students with one unit of Pass/Fail credit for an off-campus activity. It can be used to provide international students with Curricular Practical Training credit, or to satisfy the terms of company or other programs' requirements that interns be currently registered students. Students must submit a Practical Training Form to 38-476 with a company offer letter including a brief job description, a statement from the student connecting the technical work directly to one or more of the department's requirements, and an EECS faculty supervisor's signature. For work done in the summer, students should register for the work in the Fall. Otherwise, the subject should be registered for when the work is performed. To receive the final grade, students must submit to 38-476, a brief (approximately two-page) report, a letter from the company stating that the work was completed satisfactorily, and a Final Grade Sheet signed by the MIT supervisor.

6.ThM Master of Engineering Thesis

Finding a Project

Persuading a professor to supervise your project is much like getting a job. You need a resume and self-confidence. Start networking: talk to upperclass students, graduate students, your professors, etc., to find out who's good and where the opportunities are. Watch for posters. Read your mail. Walk around the halls, talking to people. If there is a particular research group or faculty person you are desperate to work with, go to the trouble of looking up his or her recent publications, and skim them so that you know what they're about. Make appointments with lots of faculty, in parallel, not series. Don't rely only on email as your contact medium.

Final Report and Grade Deadlines

All reports must be submitted by the student to the Course VI Undergraduate Office (38-476) after they have been graded by the supervisor.

Format and style: All reports must be written according to the standards of the Mayfield Handbook on Technical Scientific Writing .

The deadline for final reports for 6.UR, 6.100, and 6.910 is the first day of the final examination period of each semester, and for IAP, the final day of IAP.

The deadline for final reports for 6.UAP and thesis proposals is the last day of classes of each semester, and for IAP, two business days after IAP.

The final deadline for the Masters of Engineering Thesis is announced on the first page of the The Masters of Engineering Thesis Guide. In the Fall term it is in late January. In the Spring term it is around the last day of final exams. In the Summer it is the last day of the Summer Session. An M.Eng. Receipt and Grade Sheet must accompany the final document. For more information, refer to The Masters of Engineering Thesis Guide.

All other reports must be accompanied by a Project Completion Form, available in 38-476.

No extensions are possible: for students who miss the deadline, supervisors should submit to 38-476 an Incomplete Form by the final deadline. (This is not necessary for the M.Eng. thesis.)

The Communication Requirement in Course VI

If you have any questions about EECS CI-M classes or substitutions, contact Anne Hunter (anneh@mit.edu).

 

Grading and Pass/Fail

With the exception of the Fall Term of the freshman year, subjects which are required in the Department's curricula, including restricted electives (and the graduate M.Eng. requirements), must be taken on a graded basis (not on Pass/Fail) to satisfy the Department's degree requirements.

Since the Institute's definition of the grade of D (or F) implies that the student who received such a grade is not sufficiently prepared to take a follow-on subject (a subject which has as a pre-requisite the subject in which the D or F grade was received), the undergraduate advisor will not normally approve registration in the follow-on subject. In any case, the student should discuss the situation with the advisor and make plans for the future which will improve the student's performance. (See the section describing performance standards.)

When a student gets a grade of D or F in a prerequisite subject, the usual procedure is for the student to retake the prerequisite. If a student petitions to permit registration in a subject requiring a prerequisite in which the student received a D, the petition must be endorsed by the instructor in charge of the successor subject and the student's academic advisor. Since the instructor in charge of the successor subject may only be concerned that competence be demonstrated in a portion of the prerequisite, the student will have to petition again to be allowed to take some other successor subject. To establish "general competence" in the prerequisite (so that only one petition need be submitted for approval) the student must get a note (or an endorsement) to accompany the petition from the instructor in charge of the prerequisite stating that the student's overall understanding was comparable to a C or better.

Academic Performance

Immediately after the end of the Fall and Spring Terms, Grades Meetings and then the Committee on Academic Performance (C.A.P.). Meetings are held to determine which students should be placed on Warning status, and which should be required to withdraw from MIT.

The Registrar's Office prepares listings called Term Summaries which include every Course VI students' grades for the term just passed. A "flag" is generated on the these Summaries beside certain students' names, to identify those students who may be in academic difficulty. The flag is generated if any of the following conditions exist:

Term rating less than or equal to 3.0;
Term load less than 36 units;
Term record includes more than 12 units of I.

This "flag" serves to alert the Department to review the student's record and prepare recommendations to the Committee on Academic Performance.

All students should be aware that action (or NO action) by the C.A.P. depends in large part on the Department's recommendation and, if trouble is anticipated, the student should be in contact with his or her advisor. For M.Eng students, any term rating below 4.0 is unacceptable. Warning letters and even revocation from the M.Eng. program may (in egregious cases) result.

Add/Drop Procedures

If any student anticipates adding a subject by the Add Date or dropping a subject by the Drop Date, it is imperative that the advisor be contacted in advance of the deadline so that approval can be obtained. All advisors should try to be available on these days (particularly on Drop Date) so that they can handle inevitable last-minute requests. Students should understand, however, that it will not always be possible for advisors to be in their offices on those dates.

Some advisors do not permit faculty in the Undergraduate Office or Headquarters to sign cards for them. An advisor is NOT compelled to sign an Add/Drop Card if the proposed action is not approved. Note that failure to meet the Drop Date deadline may lead to failure in the subject that was to be dropped. Petitions to the C.A.P. to drop subjects after the Drop Date are more likely to be turned down than approved.

It is the student's responsibility to act sufficiently in advance of deadlines to avoid the possibility that there may be no one available to endorse the Add/Drop Card on the Drop Date; but in that event, they should come to the Undergraduate Office in 38-476 on the Drop Date..

Guide to Course VI Performance Standards: The D/F Policy

The Department's official policy regarding the grades of D and F is that a student not normally be permitted to register for any EECS subject if he/she has received a D or F in a prerequisite subject. Normally such a student should retake the prerequisite. This policy is consistent with the Institute grading policy, where a D is defined as demonstrating "deficiencies serious enough to make it inadvisable to proceed further in the field without additional work".

A departmental petition procedure is available to students who can demonstrate "additional work" which has resulted in satisfactory preparation for a subject in spite of a D or F grade in a prerequisite. "Additional work" might include activities outside the classroom, such as UROP. Successful completion of a related but not specifically prerequisite subject might indicate satisfactory preparation. The petition should describe the unusual circumstances, and requires the approval of both the person in charge of the follow-on subject and the student's advisor. It should then be submitted to the Undergraduate Office (38-476). An approved petition will not result in a grade change. A petition is not required for a student retaking a subject.

The transcript and GPA of a student taking a subject twice will include both grades. The units for the subject, however, will only be counted once.

How to Find Out Facts about Classes

The Undergraduate Office receives thousands of phone calls and visitors asking the same questions. Due to the size of the department and our classes, we have an entirely decentralized structure. Each subject generally has a professor who is in charge of the class for that term (almost always the main lecturer), and a class secretary who is usually that professor's assistant. Large classes have a Head Teaching Assistant.

  • Course notes and handouts are NOT available in the Undergraduate Office or in any other central place, nor can sections be found or changed there. Contact the people involved in teaching the subject.

  • Search for and use the website for the class. 80% of our classes have websites.

  • Who's Teaching What and the EECS Faculty Directory can both be picked up in the Undergraduate Office for your use. Do NOT call the Undergraduate Office for information about reaching faculty, staff, or TAs. The MIT website includes directory information and "fingering" works well.

  • Every term the department offers a number of special topic subjects that are arranged a month or so before the beginning of that term. Go to the catalog updates to see what is offered this term.
  • The Course VI Undergraduate Office does not schedule subjects or keep track of changes. MIT's main Schedules Office can be reached at 253-4788. For up-to-date class scheduling information, check the Schedule Office and the catalog updates section.

  • The Undergraduate Office does NOT keep any information or records about the detailed operations of individual subjects. We're usually the last to know!

  • Final grades and examinations are not available in the Course VI Undergraduate Office.

All Information About Subjects
Must be Obtained from the Office of the Instructor or the Class Website

This includes

  • Who teaches which recitation?

  • Who are the TAs?

  • What term will the subject be offered?

  • How can a student switch a recitation section?

  • When are labs scheduled?

  • What was a student's grade in a subject, quiz or final?

  • When is a quiz or a final exam scheduled?

  • What is the syllabus or book list for a subject?

It wastes time to ask the Undergraduate Office since we do not have that information.

Undergraduate Programs

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