The MIT education:Majors & minors

At MIT, majors are conventionally called courses, and they’re numbered rather than named; meanwhile, our credits are called units and they’re counted differently than at most other universities. The terminology can be confusing, but the important thing to know is that we have many things you can learn through programs that are at the leading edge of their field.

Your first year

When you apply to MIT, you apply to the entire university, not to a specific major or school, so allfirst-year studentsbegin MIT undeclared. During your first year, MIT will provide academic fairs, lectures, seminars, and other programs to help you determine which major will suit you best; you are then free to choose from among any of MIT’s courses of study, without any additional requirements or admission procedures.

Our schools

MIT is organized into several schools of study:

• School of Architecture and Planning
• School of Engineering
• School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
• MIT Sloan School of Management
• School of Science

We also have theSchwarzman College of Computingthat coordinates computing education, research, and infrastructure across the schools.

Each of these schools offersdegreesin their courses of study, as well asminorsand/orconcentrations,and teachthousands of classesopen to any student no matter their course of study or departmental affiliation. Students may complete a traditional degree, aninterdisciplinary degree, ajoint degree, or adouble major. However, at MIT, the focus is less on credentialing and more on the substance of what you need to learn to effectively solve problems that matter to you.

Degree chart

You can skim the degree chart below to get a quick visual sense of what you can study at MIT, read thecatalogfor the gory details, or check out these handymajor information sheetsthat outline your choices.

Field of Study	Course	Major	Minor
Aerospace Engineering	16 & 16-ENG	✅ Yes	No
African and African Diaspora Studies	21	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
American Studies	21	✅ Yes	No
Ancient and Medieval Studies	21	✅Yes	✅ Yes
Anthropology	21A	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Applied International Studies	17	No	✅ Yes
Archaeology and Materials	3-C	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Architecture	4	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Art and Design	4-B	✅ Yes	No
Art, Culture and Technology	4	No	✅ Yes
Artificial Intelligence and Decision Making	6-4	✅ Yes	No
Asian and Asian Diaspora Studies	21	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Astronomy	8 or 12	No	✅ Yes
Atmospheric Chemistry	12	No	✅ Yes
Biological Engineering	20	✅ Yes	No
Biology	7	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Biomedical Engineering	20	No	✅ Yes
Brain and Cognitive Sciences	9	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Business Analytics	15-2	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Chemical Engineering	10 & 10-C & 10-ENG	✅ Yes	No
Chemical-Biological Engineering	10-B	✅ Yes	No
Chemistry	5	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Chemistry and Biology	5-7	✅ Yes	No
Chinese	21G	No	✅ Yes
Civil and Environmental Engineering	1-ENG	✅ Yes	No
Civil and Environmental Systems	1	No	✅ Yes
Civil Engineering	1	No	✅ Yes
Climate System Science and Engineering	1-12	✅ Yes	No
Comparative Media Studies	CMS	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Computation and Cognition	6-9	✅ Yes	No
Computer Science and EngineeringandComputer Science	CS&E/6-3	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Computer Science and Molecular Biology	6-7	✅ Yes	No
Data Science	6-14	✅ Yes	No
Design	4	No	✅ Yes
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences	12	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Economics	14	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Electrical Engineering and Computing	6-5	✅ Yes	No
Energy Studies	12	No	✅ Yes
Entrepreneurship & Innovation	E&I	No	✅ Yes
Environmental Engineering Science	1	No	✅ Yes
Environment and Sustainability	Inter-school	No	✅ Yes
Finance	15-3	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
French	21G	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
German	21G	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
History	21H	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
History of Architecture, Art and Design	4	No	✅ Yes
Humanities and Engineering	21E	✅ Yes	No
Humanities and Science	21S	✅ Yes	No
International Development	11	No	✅ Yes
Japanese	21G	No	✅ Yes
Latin American and Latino/a Studies	21	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Linguistics	24-2	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Literature	21L	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Management	15-1	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Materials Science and Engineering	3 & 3-A	✅ Yes	✅
Mathematical Economics	14-2	✅ Yes	No
Mathematics	18	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Mathematics with Computer Science	18-C	✅ Yes	No
Mechanical Engineering	2 & 2-A	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Mechanical and Ocean Engineering	2-OE	✅ Yes	No
Middle Eastern Studies	21	No	✅ Yes
Music	21M	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Nuclear Science and Engineering	22	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Flexible Nuclear Science and Engineering Degree	22-ENG	✅ Yes	No
Philosophy	24-1	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Physics	8	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Planning	11	✅ Yes	No
Political Science	17	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Polymers and Soft Matter	Interdisciplinary	No	✅ Yes
Public Policy	17	No	✅ Yes
Russian and Eurasian Studies	21	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Science, Technology and Society	STS	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Spanish	21G	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Statistics and Data Science	IDSS	No	✅ Yes
Theater Arts	21M	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Toxicology and Environmental Health	20	No	✅ Yes
Urban Science and Planning with Computer Science	11-6	✅ Yes	No
Urban Studies and Planning	11	No	✅ Yes
Women’s and Gender Studies	21	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Writing	21W	✅ Yes	✅ Yes