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• Connect with and learn from your peers using Peer Messaging in Handshake.

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• Understand Handshake’s job search functionality to identify the best job and internship search opportunities for you. 
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• Make your profile public to share with potential employers, recruiters, mentors, and peers.
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For more help topics, visit the Handshake Help Center.

You may have additional questions that are best answered by our partner offices on campus:

• Office of the First Year (OFY): first-year advising & academics, orientation, FPOPs, and/or MIT’s First-Gen Low-Income Program
• Student Financial Services (SFS): financial aid, scholarships, student employment, and advising on financial literacy
• Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP): applying for undergraduate research opportunities, deadlines, eligibility, and funding questions
• International Student Office (ISO): visas and travel, employment/work visa authorization, and OPT/CPT

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

In a panel event held in September 2024, two MIT alums along with a Sanofi employee shared their insights and offered advice to those interested in careers in biopharma and health sciences. Read on for the summary of the event. Thank you to the panelists and to Kien Phuong ’26 (Computer Science & Molecular Biology major), MIT Biotech Group, who moderated the discussion.

• Eli Lilly – Nicole Yang ’15, Senior Advisor (MIT, PhD in Chemical Engineering; Postdoc at Harvard Medical School)
• Moderna – Bill Kelleher, Associate Director, Technical Development Operations (MIT, Chemical-Biological Engineering)
• Sanofi – Giulia Del Cane, Head of Ethics & Business Integrity Projects and Compliance Officer for Enabling Functions, Global Specialty Care (Università Cattaneo, MBA)

What are the differences between college and work?

Solving complex problems is something that takes place every day, and there is a different mindset to approaching complex problems. One such complexity would be combining technical thinking with organizational approach. This combination goes beyond what is typically done during an MBA program, for example. Also, at work one can finally understand how much research costs, and learn how to control this cost through the balance of risk management and making-things-happen approach.

What do you enjoy most about working in biopharma & health sciences?

The science, the fast-paced environment, the passion seen in others. Working in biopharma also offers an overall good learning experience. Roles are often very cross-functional, and involve working with digital teams, researchers, and manufacturers. As a result, one gets to wear a different hat in every meeting.

What challenges do you face in your work?

Work involves generating data every day. Some of this data is very important and requires adapting, good communication, and adjusting to other people. For example, some people need a lot of details when discussing a data set, but not everyone.

In industry you are a part of a team, while in grad school you work on your own project. Developing soft skills is very important, especially communication skills. These skills involve not only presenting, but most importantly conveying your points and adjusting to different audiences. Overall, understanding science was easy, but managing people was challenging and took some adapting.

At work, one needs to make decisions very fast and fully understanding other teams (e.g. R&D) can be challenging. If a team is international, potential language barriers can create additional challenges.

What advice do you have for those who want to pursue this field?

You study or have studied at MIT, so take a moment to appreciate how good you are and have the confidence. Trust yourself, but keep your options open. Definitely take the time to work on your soft skills: you can be great, but if you don’t convey your ideas well, you will not be selected for positions. Learn active listening, but understand and accept the fact that there will always be some miscommunication within teams.

Your goal should be to find your passion. The best way to do that is to talk to alums, explore and learn, follow up on things that get you excited, develop you leadership skills, learn how to run meetings and present.

When considering applicants for internships, employers look for technical skills, but also for what about the company stands out to a student and how that ties to their experience. Do your homework, research the company, and be strategic about what internships you apply for. Make sure you resonate with the company, and fit with their values and mission.

Lastly, become comfortable with failure. Build your bravery to take risks and mess up. One panelist shared that they used to be uncomfortable in front of leadership because of a fear of failure. Eventually, they ended up embracing failure and perceiving mistakes as a learning opportunity.

How do you achieve work-life balance?

This is definitely a challenge. After starting a family, working long nights is much more difficult, if at all possible. To balance work with life, define what you want to accomplish and seek a supportive network. It can also play to your advantage to look specifically for an employer who provides flexibility for working parents (so that they have the flexibility to catch up on work when available).

In general, aim to work for a company that reflects your values and recognizes your talents.

What is the future of technology and healthcare?

Artificial Intelligence is having a huge impact on the pharma industry. That comes with an unwritten requirement to use AI data in an ethical way, even when regulations are not yet in place. It is a very powerful technology, and the possibilities are amazing (with ChatGPT being a good example of that). The field of genetics medicine is also exciting and carries a lot of potential.

Written by: Kamila Madry, Career Fellow

In a panel event held in September 2024, four MIT alums shared their insights and offered advice to those interested in a career in the field of mechanical engineering. Read on for the summary of the event. Thank you to the panelists and to Dr. Brian Anthony, Principal Research Scientist, MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering, who moderated the discussion.

• Chartwell Consulting – Marianne Olsen ’19, Engagement Manager 
• Diversified Technologies, Inc. – Megan McCandless ‘20, Senior Engineer
• Lexington Medical – Jameson Kief ‘20, Director of Engineering
• Radia – Thad Daguilh ’19, Mechanical Engineer
  

How did your time at MIT prove to be useful? Please discuss skills, classes, and your overall insights.

Since working with people is a huge part of a job in the field of mechanical engineering, essential skills include learning how to interact with peers outside of the classroom, how to communicate effectively with others, and how to work through text. Think of customer-service-level communication skills.

At work, every project is different, and MIT experience helps with learning everything very fast. Also, the MIT experience allowed for gaining an understanding how to make things real and deal with real-life components that aren’t made perfectly. Although, design controls and the rules behind following various ISO standards was something learned in internships, not necessarily at MIT.

The most useful and recommended classes are 2.001 (Mechanics and Materials I) and 2.002 (Mechanics and Materials II). The 2.002 class is especially useful in aerospace. Additionally, having a basic understanding of Course 6 (Computer Science) is very helpful given the increasing use of software in the field of mechanical engineering.

In general, explore the field and check out different industries, aerospace and beyond, as it all comes back to the same fundamentals. Take internships, find out what you want, go back and take classes that suit your needs. Be solid on the fundamentals, but remember that you don’t need to understand everything deeply right away. Also, know how to get back to your MIT knowledge, take notes during classes and keep those notes, because your knowledge is going to fade away with time. Finally, take broader classes, don’t get too narrow in your education. Your passions might completely change or you might not get the job you were hoping to.

What other skills/traits/experiences should a great candidate have?

As teamwork is essential in the field of mechanical engineering, hiring managers are looking for students who have been on any team (including sports), and had a chance to learn not only how to communicate and cooperate, but most importantly how to fail as a team. A great candidate has to be able to work with people, understand their emotions and life outside of work. You will be spending a lot of time with your coworkers, so being interested in creating a healthy work environment is very important. Additionally, giving and receiving feedback are other key communication skills.

Having genuine passion and working on personal engineering projects, which involves building and learning from those projects, will always make a candidate stand out.

What advice do you have for current students?

Making things real can be very fulfilling, and MechE is an attractive field specifically because of how broad it is. Look for job that will give you real joy (for example, if you don’t enjoy working in CAD, don’t build a portfolio to get a job you won’t like). If you make mistakes, learn from them and move on. Talk one-on-one with alumni, ask them about their experience – what worked and what didn’t.

Take both practical and theoretical classes to find out what you like the most, whether it’s hands-on and making, or thinking about it. After each semester, take a moment to reflect on what you liked about it, and what you want to do more of. Step out of your comfort zone, don’t only interact with like-minded people, learn from people who have different experiences, become a well-rounded person. Talk to your peers, professors, alumni to learn what they do and figure out what you would enjoy. Practice being curious, find comfort in discomfort.

How is working different from studying at MIT?

At MIT, students are trained to solve a problem to get one correct answer. In real world, getting 80% of the desired result and having correct logic in enough. When solving an engineering problem at work, make sure you understand what the problem is. Specifically, don’t just be creative about a solution, be creative about framing the problem. Moreover, using ChatGPT to ask how people fixed a specific problem can help with getting the answers faster. In general, keep in mind that working is easier than being at MIT.

What are some of the things to know during a job interview?

If you get a chance to do so during the interview process, pay attention to how people interact in the workplace: do they chat, do they seem happy.

Ask your interviewers how they deal with failure: ask about a time when they failed, pay attention to whether they allow their employees to fail. Ask them what they currently work on to get a sense of their priorities. Additionally, ask them about what they like and don’t like about working at their current company.

Get curious about what your typical day at work would look like, and always be prepared to ask questions when asked “Do you have any questions?”. Make sure to come to the interview with a set of thoughtful questions in mind. Lastly, don’t be afraid to ask for references from the employer. Just as they can ask you for references, it’s worth knowing that you can do so, too.

What does your job look like, and how did you find it?

A typical job of a mechanical engineer involves working in CAD, talking to users to understand their needs, and going back to CAD to test new features (sketch -> CAD -> prototype). On the other hand, a typical job of a researcher involves working on different research projects at the same time, working in CAD, building and testing, and writing grant proposals. It is important to note that a researcher needs to be good at documenting work as there are often long breaks in funding (if a project if federally funded). Those mechanical engineers who work in factories will typically spend a lot of time on the factory floor, meeting with high-level people and making sure that projects are taken care of holistically.

Internships are a great way to build experience. Try to be proactive about it, though. If you know your company of interest is in town, send emails and try to meet. Additionally, go to conferences, present your work, and network with people.

Remember that MIT Alumni might be your best network yet. One of the panelists applied for jobs at 230 places. After not having received a single job offer, they eventually reached out to an MIT alum working at their current company.

Written by: Kamila Madry, Career Fellow

In a panel event held in September 2024, four MIT alums shared their insights and offered advice to those interested in a career in the financial services sector. Read on for the summary of the event. Thank you to the panelists and to Urmi Samadar, Assistant Dean, Master of Finance Program, MIT Sloan School of Management, who moderated the discussion.

• Balyasny Asset Management – David Xu ’18 (MFin), Senior Quantitative Researcher
• Citadel Securities – Justin Lim ’21 (BS, MEng EECS), Quantitative Researcher
• Five Rings – Yuqiu Fu ’23 (PhD in Math), Quantitative Researcher
• Jane Street – Joshua Lee ’22 (BS in EECS & Math), Quantitative Trader

What are some possible roles in the finance sector suitable for MIT alums?

Depending on individual interest, there are many different roles that MIT alums can have in the finance sector.

When it comes to trading, different roles are possible. For instance: the actual manual trading, software engineering, quantitative research, or modeling. For those interested in hedge funds, the possibilities include researching new ideas, as well as making predictions and executing them (using statistics and mathematics). MIT alums would also be great candidates to do research, which in the finance sector typically entails collecting and using alternative data, and monetizing ideas in systematic ways.

Regardless of a specific role, the finance sector typically involves long working hours, 10 to 11 per day (but not weekends).

How did you decide on your career paths? What resources did you find useful in making a decision?

There are a few ways that make it much easier to make a decision regarding a career path. Going to career fairs tops the list, as it quickly offers numerous opportunities to talk to different companies and learn what skills they look for. Another great way is to do several different internships, which is particularly useful when deciding between academia and industry. Both of the above also create natural opportunities to network, get to know the people, and make those valuable professional connections.

Job interviews: What do they look like and what skills do the recruiters look for?

Job interviews in the finance sector tend to be very technical, but a fundamental technical background is typically sufficient. What the recruiters are trying to gauge is whether a candidate’s thought process is correct. In order to assess that, the recruiters present tricky case studies. After the candidate gets a chance to work on a case for a moment, the recruiter will offer a new piece of information to test how the candidate is learning and adapting to new information.

Job interviews involving the use of Python are also to be expected. Depending on a role within a company, Python is often used on a daily basis.

For those doing research, it is known that first ideas usually do not work. A good candidate will be able to find out why those first ideas didn’t work and offer ways of improving them. Additionally, strong collaboration and communication skills, along with agility are very important.

Can you share your thoughts on professional growth within organizations?

After completing an onboarding tutorial, new employees are given significant responsibility very quickly. They are also offered a lot of recognition and can almost immediately have impact. There is room for asking a lot of questions and doing a lot of research. Progression within organizations is very dynamic, but there are no linear A-B-C promotions.

Which MIT experiences (classes/clubs/resources) did you find the most helpful?

Software engineering class; Introduction to discreet math; Any statistics-related class; Analytics of finance class; Financial engineering class; Advanced corporate finance; Machine learning (at CSAIL); Trading clubs; Alumni database; UROP.

Written by: Kamila Madry, Career Fellow

It’s time to raid your old toy box! Did you know that CAPD offers workshops and events utilizing LEGO® Serious Play® as a way to help you ideate, prototype, and plan out your career? One way to think about how LSP works is to think about how it is like 3-D printing what is on your mind. You can use LEGO bricks to explore topics through story, metaphor, and symbols. Thinking about how what you build comes together both literally and figuratively can offer you some unique insights into your needs—and is a lot of fun to do while you’re doing it!

CAPD has hosted a variety of workshops to help you reflect on how your values and strengths come together to provide a more holistic idea of what you are looking for in your future career.

Build towards your goal

Where are you now and where do you want to be? And how do you bridge the gap between them? Using your LEGO bricks, create an idea of where you are at this moment. Ask yourself:

• Who am I?
• What is important to me?
• What resources do I have at my disposal?

Next, spend time thinking about a goal you have. Be as elaborate or concise as you need to be, but feel free to reach far out into the future. After all, how do you build a humongous LEGO® Castle? One brick at a time. So, dream big! This process is designed to help you break down your goals into more manageable steps.

As you continue to play with the pieces, think about how you might bridge the divide between where you are now and the distal goal you are hoping to achieve. Ask yourself:

• How can I break this distal goal into smaller, more proximal goals?
• In what ways do I still need to grow or develop on my way towards this goal?
• What are potential barriers I will encounter, and how might I overcome those?
• What resources might I need to rely on as I pursue this goal?
• How will I celebrate achieving my goal?

As you build, note down things that you may need to do. Create a checklist to accompany the wishlist that is your goal. With some effort (along with the play) you should be able to reach any goal you design.

Build to a purposeful career

What makes a career purposeful? This self-reflection activity can be done individually or with other. After finding your top values, we encourage you to build a representation of your values using LEGO bricks.

As you create a representation of each value, here are some questions that you can ask yourself:

• How does my build reflect me?
• What is my favorite part of my build? Why?
• If what I built could talk, what would it say?
• What did I learn about myself from this exercise?

Once you have built representations of your top values, try to integrate them together into a holistic representation of you as an individual. Your build does not have to look anything like you, but through this exercise you will hopefully uncover:

• Your top priorities
• Potential barriers to avoid in your career
• Specific resources or supports you might need
• Some things you can do immediately to make the most out of your career

If you have done this activity with others, be sure to take time to inquire deeper with each other about what you each built. Sometimes it is beneficial to get the perspectives of others to harness deeper meaning into what you have built.

Build your talents into strengths

Claim your strengths! If you have taken the Gallup CliftonStrengths assessment (which you can seek access to from CAPD), you can use your top-5 report to play with your talent themes to help you name, claim, and aim your strengths using LEGO pieces. You can take this activity as a solo exercise, or you can start to see how collaborating with others can help you merge your strengths together to get some surprising results!

Building each of your strengths individually, and then merging them together, can help you uncover some of the theme dynamics that make your top-5 a unique approach specific to you. These can become your superpower with the right amount of investment and dedication.

Once you have built your strengths, either as an individual or as participant in a group, try to think about how you might lean on your strengths to:

• Build relationships
• Communicate clearly
• Create accountability
• Develop or inspire others
• And more!

Even after you have built your strengths, spend time ideating how you will continue to use your strengths each and every day.

Not sure if any of these activities are right for you? No worries! A principal component of LSP is to not get stuck in your thoughts—let the bricks and pieces guide you. Develop a bias for action and start building something. As you play you may start to unlock news ways of thinking about a problem or see information in a new way.

Erik Pavesic is the Assistant Director of Career Advising & Training and in addition to being a certified Gallup Strengths coach is also trained as a LEGO® Serious Play® facilitator.

When it comes to planning for your career, you may know exactly where you’re headed. You may have ideas that you’re excited to explore. Or maybe you’re not even sure where to start. And that’s ok. MIT Career Advising & Professional Development (CAPD) is your hub for all things career, from thinking big-picture about your life goals and career path to researching internships and preparing for interviews. Our team can help you.

No matter where in the world you are starting your MIT-journey, I’d like to offer a welcome from Career Advising & Professional Development (or CAPD). My name is Kendel Jester and I am the Assistant Director of Early Career Engagement. Through this virtual orientation, I hope to cover how CAPD can support and help you navigate your future academic and professional career.

To get started, here is a list of things you can do right now to jump-start your career development. Select the item below to jump to that page.

• Hear about services offered by CAPD
• Sign-up for Handshake
• Schedule an appointment
• Register for a career event
• Stay connected to CAPD
• Learn about additional resources

• Hear About Services
  You may think of us as the place to get your resume looked at, or to prepare for an interview, but there is a lot more to us than that! Career Advising & Professional Development has teams to support Career Counseling and Education, Employer Relations, Pre-Health Advising, Distinguished Fellowships, and Professional Development. Our mission is to empower students, postdocs and alumni to explore their life and career goals by helping them to develop core competencies and build professional networks. Our goal is to engage students and alumni in self-discovery to craft lives that are intellectually challenging, personally enriching, and of service to the world. And we are available to help all MIT students. If you don’t see a service you need, don’t be afraid to ask.

  Regardless of where you find yourself in your career development, we encourage you to look through the resources and support available on capd.mit.edu and Handshake.

  What would you like to learn about next? Select the item below to jump to that page.

  • Hear about services offered by CAPD
  • Sign-up for Handshake
  • Schedule an appointment
  • Register for a career event
  • Stay connected to CAPD
  • Learn about additional resources
• Sign-up for Handshake
  Handshake is CAPD’s online career management tool, accessible by all current MIT students. If you have a Kerberos account, you can access Handshake. To get started, visit: mit.joinhandshake.com and use touchstone to login. You will be asked to complete questions to fill out your profile. These questions are voluntary and will help the system recommend jobs, events, and resources for you. You can also edit or modify these later. You may also want to spend time updating your profile, uploading your resume, and searching through all of the different menus and options available to get a sense of how to best utilize this tool throughout your time at MIT. You will find that Handshake is a great tool to find internships and jobs, research and connect with employers, schedule appointments with CAPD staff, and much more.

  What would you like to learn about next? Select the item below to jump to that page.

  • Hear about services offered by CAPD
  • Sign-up for Handshake
  • Schedule an appointment
  • Register for a career event
  • Stay connected to CAPD
  • Learn about additional resources
• Schedule an Appointment
  CAPD staff are all able to support you with a variety of career-related questions. Whether you are certain about pursuing industry or academia, uncertain about what you would like to do, or find yourself at any point somewhere in the middle, CAPD is able to help you navigate your needs. CAPD appointments are a great way to get tailored support on topics including major selection, job/internship search strategies, resume writing, cover letter writing, interview preparation, salary/offer negotiation, medical/graduate school, and more. Appointments vary in length, but most are between 30 minutes to an hour to accommodate your schedule. And appointments are offered year round. To schedule an appointment click on “Career Center” in Handshake. There you will see a button for Appointments and can schedule a new appointment. You will select the type of appointment you need and can see available time spots. If you have an urgent need or do not find a time that works for your schedule, email capd@mit.edu to find possible options.

  What would you like to learn about next? Select the item below to jump to that page.

  • Hear about services offered by CAPD
  • Sign-up for Handshake
  • Schedule an appointment
  • Register for a career event
  • Stay connected to CAPD
  • Learn about additional resources
• Register for a Career Event
  CAPD hosts speakers, panels, networking events, and workshops. Some of these are offered directly by employers and are a great opportunity to explore and connect with others to aid with your career development. Here is some information about how to find events on Handshake. First, go to the Events section of Handshake. Here you can search through different events. Many events require registration in advance, so make sure you sign up. Some events are employer sponsored and are listed on Handshake only because they may be of interest to members of the MIT community. The inclusion of any activity does not indicate MIT sponsorship or endorsement of that activity or event. If you sign up and realize later that due to a conflict you are no longer able to participate, remember to either remove your registration or email the organizer to let them know that you will no longer be able to attend. Some events may be capped, so releasing your spot may help a fellow student be able to participate.

  What would you like to learn about next? Select the item below to jump to that page.

  • Hear about services offered by CAPD
  • Sign-up for Handshake
  • Schedule an appointment
  • Register for a career event
  • Stay connected to CAPD
  • Learn about additional resources
• Stay Connected to CAPD

  You may be feeling overwhelmed by all of the information you have available to you, and so allow us to help you stay connected in a way that works with your schedule. All first years will begin to receive a bi-weekly newsletter of First-Year-friendly CAPD events, internships, and resources delivered right to your inbox. I try hard not to spam you, so please keep on this list for exciting events all-year-round. We also have specific newsletters for students interested in pre-health and pre-law, and you can sign-up for these on the CAPD website. You may also want to follow-us on Social Media. You can follow CAPD at MITCareers on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Likewise, you may want to periodically adjust your notifications through Handshake. Here is a guide to help you navigate how to make those adjustments.

  What would you like to learn about next? Select the item below to jump to that page.

  • Hear about services offered by CAPD
  • Sign-up for Handshake
  • Schedule an appointment
  • Register for a career event
  • Stay connected to CAPD
  • Learn about additional resources
• Learn about Additional Resources
  Don’t go yet there’s more, and this is incredibly manageable. You may have already seen the additional resources available on Handshake and the CAPD website, but let me point out some specific resources that can come in handy all throughout your time at MIT:

  1. The CAPD Handbook – A book that provides great tools to help you navigate your career. Through 70 pages, we have tools to help you choose a major, write a resume, prepare for an interview, and more. You can get a handbook when you come for an appointment with a career advisor. However, we also have these same resources right on our website when you go to the Resources & Advice page.
  2. Survey Data – If you’re curious about your peers, CAPD collects information about summer experiences and post-graduation plans. I highly recommend that you review this information to help you think about different pathways you would consider for your career trajectory.
  3. Guided Assessments – CAPD staff can also help you navigate other assessment tools. There are staff members trained in the MBTI, Strengths Finder, and the Strong Interest Inventory. To learn more about guided assessment, visit our website.

  What would you like to learn about next? Select the item below to jump to that page.

  • Hear about services offered by CAPD
  • Sign-up for Handshake
  • Schedule an appointment
  • Register for a career event
  • Stay connected to CAPD
  • Learn about additional resources
• Conclusion

  Congratulations! If you completed this virtual orientation, you are well equipped to find the support you need for your personal career development. We look forward to seeing you at Orientation events in August and September, and in the meantime, feel free to revisit any of these topics:

  • Hear about services offered by CAPD
  • Sign-up for Handshake
  • Schedule an appointment
  • Register for a career event
  • Stay connected to CAPD
  • Learn about additional resources

  You can also go on our website or on Handshake for information and support at any time. Welcome again to MIT!

* If you arrived here from the self-registration page in Handshake, please scroll to the bottom to complete the required form.

Important: Self-registered Handshake accounts will be deleted without notice, even if the form is completed, as stated on the Handshake self-registration page. Accounts for cross-registered students, exchange students, and spouses/partners are not permitted and will not be approved.

What is Handshake?

Handshake is an online career management system — in other words, it’s a website where you can find job and internship listings, upcoming events to build your career, and helpful resources from around MIT. The platform was built around the belief that software could help democratize career opportunities, equalizing access to meaningful careers.

All MIT undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and recent alumni have access to the platform.

Here’s how to make an appointment with CAPD through Handshake.

Why use Handshake?

• It’s a powerful job and internship platform featuring millions of opportunities posted by thousands of employers, many of whom are actively seeking MIT talent.
• Since Handshake is designed for students, postdocs, and recent alumni, employers come to Handshake looking for people with your exact level of experience.
• The events and resources on Handshake are vetted by CAPD and MIT’s Career Centers, and you’re able to filter everything by your specific interests.
• We schedule appointments through Handshake, so your account will let you to connect with CAPD experts. Use Handshake to set up appointments with our career advisors, Distinguished Fellowships staff, and Prehealth Advising team.

Learn more:

How do I use Handshake?

Getting started on Handshake is easy, and you can use it on your computer or your mobile device. To set up your profile, visit joinhandshake.com and log in with your MIT email address. Handshake provides a detailed walkthrough of getting your account set up to help you begin.

To get the most out of Handshake, be sure to complete your profile.

Since Handshake uses machine learning to understand your interests, your feed of opportunities will be better-matched when your profile is complete and you’re actively using the site.

These articles can help as you create your profile:

• Updating your career interests on Handshake
• Building your profile from a resume file
• Frequently asked questions

Create job alerts to get updates straight to your email or app’s push notifications.

To stay posted on new opportunities, set up Handshake’s automated job alerts. You select the searches that you want to watch and how you want to receive updates, so the notifications stay relevant.

Let us know if you cannot access your account, or if you need an account.

You can reach us to register for, or inquire about, your Handshake account through our form. To find out if the form will be helpful for you, check details for your affiliation in the listing below.

Please email capd@mit.edu if you have any questions or concerns about the process.

CAPD staff monitor this form, so please be aware that there will be a delay if it’s filled out outside of business hours or during an Institute closing.

Want more resources and advice? Check out our curated page for considering which majors might be right for you.

Scavenger hunt

Using resources from the Alumni Office, including the directory and Alumni Advisors Hub, find alumni who meet the first criteria and then identify their undergraduate major of study. At the end of the scavenger hunt, reflect on the linearity (or non-linearity) between majors and career paths. You might begin to realize that there is quite a bit of variety out there when it comes to careers associated with different majors, and that is okay!

Major bingo

Instead of traditional BINGO cards, how about using some MAJOR cards to help you identify what different majors can offer to you? You can play with your friends or you can evaluate four (or more) majors against each other simultaneously. You can decide to use any bingo pattern you choose—but in the end remember that you might already know which major is the winning one for you.  

Get social

Sometimes it helps to get a sense of your future by immersing yourself into it. Afterall, when you are in a major you will be surrounding yourself more and more with faculty and students who are researching and studying that material. Adopted from the Bench Test by Neil Pasricha, I encourage you to seek out ways to connect with and listen to individuals who are in that major. Many departments host events, attend fairs, or offer classes that will give you a taste of a particular major. So don’t be shy, and get involved!

Decision list

Now that you have assembled a good amount of information about different majors you might need to evaluate them side-by-side. CAPD has put together this evaluation page, but you can modify or add columns to make it your own.

I hope this helps you have a little bit of fun as you explore this topic. If you think of other ways to creatively explore or select a major, I would love to hear about them! Email me at epavesic@mit.edu.