Feb 4 2012

Fun Times @ MIT (Pt. 1)

Posted in: Best of the Blogs, Miscellaneous, Life & Culture

MIT has this uncanny way of making you learn life lessons extremely quickly. Case in point: in the past two and a half years, I've learned the following:

(1) Work never ends - no matter what, there's always something productive you could be doing. 

(2) Failure is all too common - you can't be perfect 100% of the time. 

(3) It's easy to feel sad and miserable about work, psets, and consistently staying up till 4 am or 5 am.

(4) It's possible to be inundated with work yet happy at the same time.

(5) It's my choice to pick (4) over (3).

And that's why this semester's going to be different. In terms of classes, this upcoming semester is going to be my most challenging semester yet. As a double major in Course 6-7 and 9, I'm taking the following:

6.005 - Elements of Software Construction

• This class is notoriously tedious and time-consuming. It relies on Java, which I haven't actually come in contact with since my senior year of high school. I'm going to be sending... read the post »

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Jan 27 2012

LeaderShape 2012

Posted in: Miscellaneous, Life & Culture

What do Chancellor Grimson, The Salvation Army, and I have in common?

This:

(video credit: Tony Eng)

The official description of LeaderShape, as detailed by MIT's Division of Student Life, is as follows: 

• MIT LeaderShape is an intensive six-day leadership development experience that takes place over IAP. Participants will be asked to wrestle with such challenging topics as professional ethics, dealing with uncertainty, working within a diverse community while developing skills in areas of problem solving and interpersonal communication. Over the course of the program students will develop a community among their peers, facilitated by MIT faculty & staff cluster leaders and student veterans of the program. LeaderShape takes place at an off-campus retreat site in southern Massachusetts, allowing students the opportunity to fully engage in the leadership experience.

My own description is a little shorter:

• The best six days of my junior year thus far.

Let me... read the post »

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Dec 21 2011

Disappointment

Posted in: Freshman Applicants

Six and a half hours ago, this was me:

Why? Because I, like Elizabeth, am officially done with finals!!! I left campus about 2 hours ago, and am currently at Logan Airport, wishing my flight weren't delayed. The airport is packed, and I've already spotted several MIT hoodies and sweatpants. So many students are headed home :)

I've decided to use this extra bit of free time to write an entry I wanted to write/post this past Monday regarding admissions decisions.

Two years ago, I wrote an entry called 'To the Deferred' - and I want to now add to the words expressed in that entry.

First: to those of you who got in - congratulations, and welcome to MIT! I hope to see you on campus during CPW.

To those of you who didn't get in: I have a story for you! And hopefully, it'll make you feel a bit better. 

--

This past semester, I worked very, very hard - not only on schoolwork, but on scholarship applications as well. There was one application in particular that I poured my... read the post »

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Dec 10 2011

Two Videos

Posted in: Miscellaneous

Watch this one first!

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Nov 17 2011

Updates

Posted in: Life & Culture

First: Hello! Long time, no talk. I feel like each of my entries this year has started off in the same way: "I'm so sorry for having disappeared off the blogosphere!" And it's true - I am sorry! I don't know what's gotten into me :(

Second: this weekend is going to be EXCITING! I know of at least five or six MIT '12s currently in the running for Rhodes Scholarships. In case you missed this or this, let me update you: so far, 44 MIT students have won Rhodes Scholarships, and 7 have been in the last four years! Keep this year's eligibles in your thoughts this weekend as they go through the Rhodes intervew process :)

Third: Life updates. My life has been filled with learning experiences recently; case in point:

• as it turns out, it's not a good idea to accidentally push down on your laptop screen, since they tend to crack.
• sitting in the very center of an exam hall when you happen to have a bajillion questions about the exam isn't the smartest idea; in fact, the professor... read the post »

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