Chris Peterson
Aug 6 2012
See You Later
Posted in: Miscellaneous
This Friday, August 10th, will mark three years to the day since I began working in MIT Admissions.
It will also mark my last. At least, for a little while.
Next week I will begin a leave of absence from MIT. I will not, however, be leaving MIT. I will instead be moving a few buildings east to the Media Lab, where I will spend a year as a graduate student and researcher.
As some of you may remember, before MIT I was a researcher at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and before that at the University of Massachusetts, where I wrote my senior thesis about privacy on networked social intermediaries. When I came to MIT Admissions, I frankly thought it would be a short stopover on my way to law school. I was wrong (thank goodness). I've loved it here. And I've never wanted to leave.
I have, however, wanted to keep learning. So I started taking grad classes in the Comparative Media Studies program. They were really hard. I was put in a room with a small number of very... read the post »
Aug 3 2012
Meet The (New) Bloggers!
Posted in: Miscellaneous
A few weeks ago I posted the Blogger Application 2012. We received over 50 applications for four spots. Over the last week and a half the blogger committee - composed of communications staff and some senior bloggers - reviewed all of these applications. We laughed. We cried. We got into fistfights in Matt's office.
Yet decide we must, and decide we did, and now...we have new bloggers.
Introducing:
- Anastassia B. from Miami, Florida. Anastassia, like Abe Lincoln, was born in a log cabin; unlike Abe, she does not (yet) have a beard. An aspiring BiologicallyMathematicalWizard, she bakes jigsaw-themed cupcakes, and after she was admitted, she sent the admissions office a handmade card, cut carefully from a starmap, in the anatomically correct shape of a heart. We <3 her too.
- Natasha B. hails from McMinnville, Oregon, near the ancestral lands of Snively. A prospective literature major, she eats blueberries, makes pottery, and wants to learn to climb things. She... read the post »
Jul 30 2012
How To Write A College Essay
Posted in: Miscellaneous
Listen: writing well is hard.
It is hard for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes it is hard because you don't know your audience and have to guess. Sometimes it is hard because you have a lot of stories tripping over each other to get onto the page. Sometimes it is hard because, no matter how smoothly you try to form your sentences, they invariably tumble out of you, all stiff and angular like a box of bent pipes.
But being able to write well is important. You will never encounter a situation in which obfuscation is to your advantage. You will frequently encounter situations where crisp, compelling writing can express your feelings, make your case, even save lives: Edward Tufte argues that the Challenger disaster could have been prevented if only the case against launching had been made more clearly.
While (hopefully) no lives are riding on your college application essays, this is a great time to revisit some of the rules of writing well.
George Orwell's Politics and the... read the post »
Jul 27 2012
danger!awesome
Posted in: Miscellaneous
Earlier this week I purchased a present for a friend. This friend loves wooden puzzles, and so I went with a wooden puzzle box: a box, itself a puzzle, which contains more puzzles.
It's a nice looking box, but I felt like it needed something more.
So I walked down the street and went to danger!awesome.
danger!awesome is a laser engraving and cutting workshop in Central Square. It was founded by Ali Mohammed, PhD '08, an instructor in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and Nadeem Mazen '06, proprieter of digital design and consulting firm Serious Business LLC and MIT squash coach.
The premise of danger!awesome is simple: they will use lasers to burn anything into anything. As you can see on their showcase, this commonly includes engraving all manner of glass, metal, and wood. Of course, it is not necessarily limited to these materials, as you would know if you had ever seen OK Go's "Last Leaf" music video, directed by Ali and Nadeem:
Jul 11 2012
A Moment with A Minister
Posted in: Miscellaneous
Kevin Rustagi '11 is a designer, entrepreneur, and musician whom I first met while judging Battle of the Bands at CPW 2010. Today, at 3:54 PM ET, the kickstarter for Ministry of Supply, the business apparel company he cofounded with some MIT classmates, is set to become the most successful fashion / clothing kickstarter in history, with over $400,000 raised.
I asked Kevin to share some of his thoughts on his MIT journey: how it began, how he spent his time here, and now what he is continuing to do.
MIT is an extremely fascinating place. I think most would agree. But, as a recent alum, I’d like to explore that a little further – and specifically, what fascinated me about MIT. So, I came to MIT in April 2007 for my CPW as an admitted pre-frosh, and I had a conversation with myself at my hotel before checking in at CPW. Did I really want to go to MIT? Was it the place that I understood it to be? My 1st choice? A place that would teach me to think like an engineer and at the... read the post »