MIT Responds to Recent Spate of Suicides

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is looking to lighten student workloads and provide more psychological support.
Published: March 31, 2015

Four suicides in the past year and two in the past month have prompted the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to try to reduce student stress and provide more support.

The school is looking to lighten student workloads and encourage them to talk about “imposter syndrome,” which, according to the Boston Globe, is a frequent feeling of being a failure despite a record of accomplishment. Students often put stress on themselves to succeed. The problem may also be exacerbated in foreign students who may find it challenging to adjust to American life.

Need Help? Call the Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255

MIT is surveying its electrical engineering and computer science departments on workloads, and the school president is asking faculty to reduce the amount of student homework. Students say they can work 70 hours per week on four classes.

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Although the university’s suicide rate among undergrads has declined in the past two decades, the rate is still 10.2 per 100,000 students (undergrad and grad). The national average is between 6.5 and 7.5.

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