What you need to know
The official subject title appears in the Subject Listing & Schedule and the MIT Bulletin and should describe the intellectual content of a subject. If your subject title is longer than 30 characters, provide an abbreviated transcript title using Subject Proposal Management. Transcript titles are reported on the student’s permanent academic record and used internally and externally on class lists and reports, and to determine a student’s academic background for transfer credit or admission to a program.
Subject title
Your title should be unique, so that it is not confused with other subjects. Generic or vague subject titles are likely to be rejected by the curriculum review committees. The reader should be able to tell — by the title — what discipline a subject is in.
| Subject title examples | |
|---|---|
| Too vague: Energy | Better: A Philosophical History of Energy |
| Too vague: Problem Solving | Better: Mathematical Problem Solving |
Transcript title
Although it is an abbreviation of the full subject title, your transcript title must be descriptive, unique, and understandable by someone outside of MIT and academia.
When creating your transcript title:
- focus on the most descriptive words.
- consider whether or not its subtitle might be more indicative of the content.
- use standard abbreviations wherever possible, without periods. If you must improvise, consider removing vowels from long words.
| Transcript title examples | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full title: Documentary Photography and Photojournalism: Still Images of a World in Motion | Transcript title: Doc Photography & Journalism | Too vague: Still Images of a Wrld. in Mtn. |
| Full title: Special Subject in Political Science | Transcript title: Spec Sub: Political Science | Too vague: Special Subject |