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The MIT Welcome Center will be closed December 23–January 1. Our office will be available by phone and email on December 23–24, and closed for the winter break from December 25–January 1. We will open on January 2. Happy holidays!

Anna H. '14

MIT student blogger Anna H. '14

Biography

I'll start by putting some words in your mouth.

You: Where are you from?
Me: London.
You: But you...you don't...you don't seem to have a British accent.
Me: Correct. Let me explain! I was born in Singapore, had a Singaporean accent, then moved to London during the summer before fifth grade. After I moved, I picked up an American accent, because I went to an American school, where almost all of the teachers and students and families are American.

I have that conversation with every single person I meet (verbatim) so I thought I'd get it out of the way.

Moving on -

Hi! My name is Anna. I graduated from MIT in June 2014 with a B.S. in Physics. I spent a year on a Fulbright Scholarship at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, and now I'm at Caltech working on a PhD in Astrophysics.

I almost didn't come to MIT, because I love the humanities as much as the sciences, and what well-rounded person would go to an "institute of technology"? Fortunately, I found out early enough that this place has fantastic humanities departments, and some of my most memorable, meaningful intellectual experiences took place in the literature, writing, and music departments.

I was an indecisive freshman. I struggle to pick cereal at the grocery store, so you can imagine the trauma of picking classes to take and clubs to join. At first, I tried to do *everything*, and as a result I felt like I was on a boat that was always sinking. MIT's firehose forced priorities and decisiveness out of me - all the other stuff had to go overboard - and for that I am grateful.

Decisions: I showed up planning to double-major in Physics and Brain & Cognitive Science and become a neurologist. After a summer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and thinking carefully about what activities I couldn't live without, I decided that I wanted to become some superposition of astronomer, science writer, and teacher.

I lived in French House (one of the cultural houses in New House) for all four years. There, I made some of my closest friends and learned that time can always be made for taking care of one's home and neighbors. Outside of class and blogging, I taught (a lot) through MIT ESP, performed with the Musical Theater Guild, and served as a MedLink, Associate Advisor, and dorm president for New House.

This blog was about my adventures, as I tried to make the most of MIT. It was an outlet for me and will hopefully be a resource for you. Even though I'm now a crufty old alum, please feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions or just want to chat! I started reading these blogs since eighth grade, and want to be as helpful to you as they were to me. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to say that I got to weave a small part of the blogosphere tapestry.

My current blog can be found here:
annastronomer.tumblr.com

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