I want to dedicate this week’s post to talking about cross registration! This semester, I am taking an economic history class at MIT, and this is my first time cross registering.
First of all, the facts: Wellesley students can take one class per semester at MIT, Babson College, Olin College of Engineering, or Brandeis University. First-year, first-semester students cannot cross register. Here is more detailed information from the Wellesley registrar. From my observations, most Wellesley students who choose to cross register do it at MIT. I’ve heard of students from all majors cross registering.
To cross register, I looked up courses that I was interested in taking at MIT. I emailed the course instructor for permission to take the course. Once I got permission, I filled out a google form. Then, I emailed an image of my instructor’s permission and a PDF of the filled out google form to the Wellesley and MIT Registrar’s offices as the Wellesley spring semester was beginning. As a cross registered student, I get an MIT student ID, account, and one free meal swipe on MIT’s campus per day. MIT’s spring semester begins about two weeks after Wellesley’s, so I registered for a fourth class here at Wellesley and dropped it once my MIT class began.
I have this class once a week for three hours. I chose to take this class for a few reasons: I get credit towards my economics major from this class, and I love learning history, so this class is a perfect combination of the two. In addition, I wanted to spend a little time off campus and experience a different academic environment.
Now for the big question, how is the class itself? After a few weeks, I can say that I enjoy it! The class is about fifty people and much larger than Wellesley classes. Because this is a history class, our homework so far are readings and writing assignments. There is probably the idea that humanities-centric classes might feel strange at MIT, which is obviously known for STEM, but honestly, everyone is engaged and the class feels very interactive.
One warning about cross registering in spring semester is that Wellesley’s academic calendar might not line up with other colleges’ spring breaks and finals period. Thankfully in my case, my class has a final paper that I can submit from home. For other students taking spring classes at MIT with final exams, they apply to stay on campus for a week or two extra after Wellesley’s spring semester finals period.
Thanks for reading! Next week, I will share what a day at my MIT class looks like.
I posted this image last week, but here it is again! Waiting for the Wellesley shuttle to take me back to campus.
Walking from the MIT Student Center to my class’s building—such a nice view of the skyline!