Looking back at the end of the semester, most classes did not culminate with a final exam. Instead there were large projects that took the place of the more traditional exam. With this structure, the last meeting for each class was a lecture with closing remarks instead of an exam where individual walk out silently when they are finished. These closing remarks from the professor always automatically stimulated applause from the class. I remember sitting there thinking "wow, I have never ended a class with applause". It felt natural yet strange at the same time. This habit/desire continued as each class came to a close.
Despite the structure, I believe that much of the applause came from the true appreciation from individual students to the professors and TA's. I've never been in grad school before, so I can only compare it to undergrad, but the teacher/TA to student relationship is vastly different. For example, we typically address professors by their first names (at least the ones so far). The TA's go out of their way to help us out, and even join us on the weekends for social activities. It's a very collaborative, real-world work-like environment that makes learning easy and enjoyable.
Now, with the semester under my belt, I look forward to the fall where we LGO students will have the opportunities to branch out and meet the rest of the MIT Sloan MBA Class of 2011!
