Hey everyone!

I just finished my first year of MIT at Western! If anyone has any questions at all feel free to send them my way :)

Hey! .. No problem at all. So I can't really tell you exactly what courses to take because it really all depends on what you're good at. But I'll give you some insight on some of the courses that I had taken this year, as well as my close friends.

So you all know by now that you have to have a total of 5.0 credits within the first year... MIT courses equal 1.5 because they are three HALF courses. So this year I had the three MIT courses, another HALF course which was a science (you are required to complete a full science credit before graduation) and then three full term courses.

The first full term I had was ENG 1020E which was pretty basic. It's intro to literature and culture. I found this was actually a lot better than most intro courses, but I do like to write and read. This course definitely isnt a "BIRD" course... But I can tell you, it does help with making your writing a lot stronger and more what Profs are looking for. Theres four essays, a midterm, and a final. Which really isn't too bad over the whole course of the year... The only advice I would give you, is that you REALLY have to like poetry to take this course... lol. I didn't know that, and I hate poetry, so it made for some tough essays that were on analyzing poetry. I ended up finishing with a 75 (?) which isn't too bad... But you could do better ... I just bombed the midterm (which was on poetry...lol)

The second full term I had was PSYCH 1000. This course was awful for me... and for sure not a bird course. There is TONS of reading, and the exams are really difficult. Not to mention, these exams are the only thing that factor into your mark, so it makes it really hard to get above an 80 in the class unless you get above an 80 on all the exams... They're multiple choice, and they're made to trick you. One of my best friends was in bio-med and took psych as her "joke" course... and that was her lowest mark. Just advice too... I've heard intro to SOC is very similar. Really hard exams, tough multiple choice questions and just tons of readings.. I would stay away from these two if you're looking for easy

Third I had Women's Studies, lol. Which is definitely a bird course (and why I took it). There are a lot of essays (I think four in total) but thats over the whole year.. and the topics are so easy. The readings are a joke, and the lectures are actually KIND of interesting. But you have to like that kind of stuff to take a course like this, otherwise you'll hate yourself after the first week. This was my highest mark in first year uni - highly recommend if you're looking for light reading and just a few essays. Exams are so simple and straight forward... Didn't get below an 80 on anything I don't think.

Finally for half my science credit I took Comp Sci Multimedia and Design... TAKE THIS CLASS... hahah it's soooo easy. You do nothing . I didn't go to any lectures, just the labs. which are basic step-by-step complete the project for the day.. its photoshop and web design. The exam is difficult, but if you study for it you'll be fine. It's an easy half credit.

Another half credit for science that a lot of my friends took was EARTH ROCKS. Apparently its super easy and even the prof says on the first day that you can not go to any lectures and still get above an 80. Which sounds like my kind of class :D Also... I had some friends in Astronomy which is a full year course (so you get your science credit over with completely) and a lot of them said it was pretty simple.

I also had friends in film... who said it was super easy. You watch movies in lecture every week and then just analyze them. I think theres about 3 essays for the entire year... and apparently they're so super easy. So i'd recommend that course.

One I would say do not take is COMP. LIT it's the heaviest reading course in all of first year courses and its extremely hard. My best friend was in it and barely passed... Stay away from that course, lol.

If anyone has questions on specific courses let me know, because I probably know someone who took it and I can give you advice on it :)

Hi Taylor!

Good choice switching to MIT ;) haha! So basically your first three courses that you take first year are like any "intro" courses... some of the stuff is dry, but for the most part it is very interesting. You'll find that MIT is a lot different than most programs once you get into the content of it. This is my take on the three courses

1200 is Media in Society ... I had a new prof for this class so it was pretty good, the course material itself is really interesting. Not a lot of work, just weekly responses due in your tutorial which take no time at all (ours were a one page response... double spaced, lol) Theres also only two essays for this entire course (mind you it is a 0.5 course) Regardless, it's pretty straightforward. Some of the readings are awful, but for the most part they're really good and stuff that you can apply to anything. A lot of them are also online, so that helps.

1500 is widely known as the best MIT course and thats mainly to do with the prof. You'll be in class with John Reed who is hands down the coolest guy you'll ever meet. His lectures are unreal and so entertaining. I think he won like best first year prof for the third year in a row this year. It'll be the best class you'll take first year - I guarentee it. The workload is much like 1200... read and article or two weekly, and write a response on it (this one I think is a two page, but still.. double space) Whats cool about John is that he lets you write about basically whatever you want to write about. He's really open minded with that kind of stuff so its hard not to do well. and his exams are open book, and theres no essays for this course at all :) This course is called the matter of technology, so responses are anything from Blackberrys and Facebook to later in the course when you learn about robots and stuff. It's pretty cool.

1700 is pretty dry, most people think its the worst of the three. I had an alright prof so it wasn't too bad. Its the "information" section of the three so its not AS interesting. But again, the exams are open book for this course too. Your course load won't be heavy for this class at all, we didn't even do weekly responses, only two essays for the entire course. Its a lot of stuff about like the history of the internet, the printing press and how that changed our world. It's not bad at all!

The content of MIT is soo interesting and so dynamic. And its nice because it is the only program in canada like itself, so its highly looked upon. It's really out of the box thinking, and something different. Upper year classes are great too... so many different options. A lot of the time I found (and my sophs said) that the content of the course is really determined by your prof and how well you like them. But the good thing about MIT is I haven't heard of any profs who are "bad". I think you'll really enjoy it. Workload itself overall I would say is very light, I wasn't stressed by any means... lol. My stress came from my electives. Hope this helps :)

Not a problem at all. This is all stuff that I wish I would have known ahead of time too!

About res... Yes there is a community learning floor for MIT :) When I applied for residence I was kind of unsure about it, but I knew that I wanted to live in Perth Hall (where the floor is) so I took my chances and applied for it. I ended up getting on the MIT floor in Perth and it was the best thing that ever happened to me! (I swear) haha. Basically why it's so beneficial is not only are your roommates in your program, but your entire floor is. My floor was amazing, we were all so similar and we all got along so well. Whats cool about it is that we used to literally, as dorky as this sounds, would meet in the lounge and have like "study sessions" or whatever... Not that they're manditory, but we would do them because we enjoyed them. My marks were so much higher just because of this. When you have 30 other people that you're living with who all attended the same lectures, it's impossible to not understand something. Everyone helped everyone so that we all understood the course material well. Also, before essays we would meet and talk about what would be the best points to touch upon, etc. We studied before exams together... literally everything. Plus since we all had the same classes, we all walked together, sat together, everything. Walking away from res, I think that everyone should live on a floor with people in your program. I bet my marks were 7-10 percent higher just having people there to ask questions when you don't understand. It's also nice if you miss a lecture (or if you just want to skip one that day) that at least 15 other people on your floor were there that day, and can give you the notes. Your R.A. will also be in MIT as well... and for those attending MIT next year that are reading this, I know who your R.A. will be, because he lived on my floor this year! haha. He'll be a second year MTP student next year and he's such a great guy! He's so helpful, and I can guarentee he'll always have his door open for questions or concerns. He's also pretty laid back, and I doubt he'll be strict with you guys at all. He's very approachable! Anyways for MIT last year, our R.A. even brought our profs to our residence building so we could talk to them, get to know them personally and stuff. It was great, such a good experience. Plus Perth is an amazing res building! the newest one.


I think if you are interested in leadership that would be a good way to go for a second choice. To be honest, I don't know much about those floors or even where they're located!

@Taylor48

No problem at all :) hahaha yes open book exams are wonderful. But the profs do make them a little bit more difficult because its open book... Regardless though, if you're prepared, you're prepared. It sounds awful but last year I didn't study for one MIT exam. I just kept up with all my notes - had them super organized in my binder and when it came time for the exam I knew there wouldn't be anything they couldn't ask that I wouldn't have in my notes. I literally did not study at all :/ haha

lol textbooks. Thats another benefit of MIT. between the three MIT courses I had one book to buy and it was a little paper book (the book 1984 by George Orwell) It cost me twelve dollars. I never opened it because I just looked on sparksnotes, so I ended up selling it back to someone else for like six dollars... hahahaha. Six dollars for textbooks is pretty good I'd say :D (mind you I did spend money on elective textbooks like psychology...) haha. Overall, this year I think I only spent around $300 for textbooks. You won't have to spend like anything on textbooks for MIT, I can guarentee that. I know for sure that you buy NO books for John Reed's class (1500) and the other two depends on your profs but I doubt that it will be much, if any. Like I said, the only book I bought was for MIT 1200... I purchased nothing for 1500 or 1700 classes. Most of the MIT readings are from all different sources so what they do is just post the specific readings on WEBCT. If you're the kind of person that likes to read it right in front of you, then you're probably going to spend more on ink than books.. lol. But for me, I just read it directly off the computer and made my own notes (which I found was more beneficial anyways, cause you're actually reading it) Then when it comes time for your open book exam you have all your own notes and what those readings meant to you, makes it a bit easier for opinion questions. Fairly simple!