What Kind of Research Goes on in Computer Science?
Computer Science at MIT is a bit different from programs offered at most other universities. Many potential students really don’t understand what it’s all about here. It’s NOT about “applications programming,” or “data processing” or “web design”. “Systems analyst” is not the sort of job to which our students aspire after they graduate (by sophomore year it’s easy to get on-campus jobs keeping systems running). At MIT one starts out by learning about dealing with complexity, modelling and abstraction, and goes on to study computer architecture (how to design computer systems), artificial intelligence, modelling, and theory. There is quite a bit of advanced mathematics. Computer Science studies how to make computers faster, more efficient, and more intelligent. Graduates of Computer Science have the ability to perform a wide range of jobs. The breadth of their studies allows them to learn quickly the variety of languages and machines used in industry. The depth of study gives a better u
