PhD Program

Advice From Students

Lynn Wu
Sixth-year PhD student in Information Technologies

The difference between being a doctoral student and an undergraduate student is the change in structure. Undergraduate and masters programs tend to have a more rigid structure, while doctoral students have more freedom to explore different research topics. Most of what you learn prepares you to do cutting-edge research in you area of interest. Even doctoral students within the same department take different classes, depending on your interests, so it is important to know your passion and design a curriculum that bests suits your research needs.

The best aspect of the MIT Sloan PhD program is its interdisciplinary nature. In my first year, I was exposed to many topics outside of my areas of expertise, and I was able to look at my research from novel angles. Because the other PhD students at MIT Sloan have vastly different backgrounds, they often provide me with novel perspectives, and their constructive criticism has been critical to my recent publication.