The 6-A program is a partnership between MIT and some of the most innovative companies in the world. It allows students to pursue a leading-edge industry project while simultaneously working towards the completion of their MEng thesis. This is the 105th consecutive year the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT has offered this special Program.
6-A offers intensive well-mentored educational state-of-the-art internships complementary to classroom education at selected leading edge member companies who have a long-term relationship with the department and who understand that our undergraduates are capable of making a real contribution to their companies.
The students typically join the program as Course 6 sophomores, juniors and seniors, and complete a series of three and six-month work assignments at their chosen company. Each student is assigned both an industry mentor and a faculty advisor, and the work students complete during their stay at the company is then used towards their MEng thesis. In addition, in most cases, the 6-A program covers the full tuition of the MEng degree as well as competitive salaries during the time the student is at the company.
Students receive academic credit for each assignment. This is the only way to receive credit for work done at a company or to use such work to satisfy any academic requirement. 6-A students are able to graduate with their class.
More than 2,500 alumni have gone through the 6A program over the years. Many of them have become leaders in their fields, a few examples include :
Amar G. Bose – 1952 (Philco) – MIT EECS, Founder Bose Corp.
Cecil H. Green – 1923 (General Electric) – Founder Texas Instruments (deceased 2003)
Raymond S. Stata – 1958 (Philco) Founder Analog Devices
Andrew J. Viterbi – 1957 (Raytheon) Founder QUALCOMM
Markus Zahn – 1968 (Raytheon) MIT EECS, Director of 6-A 1994-2015
Vincent W.S. Chan – 1971 (RCA) MIT EECS, Past Director, Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS)
James L. Kirtley, Jr. – 1968 (Raytheon) MIT EECS
William J. Lenoir – 1962 (General Radio) Astronaut
Alan V. Oppenheim – 1961 (American Electric Power and General Electric) MIT EECS
Thuan Pham – 1991 – (Hewlett-Packard Co.) CTO of Uber
Lisa Su - 1991 - (Analog Devices) CEO of AMD