BREAKING NEWS: Stu Schmill '86 Named New Dean of Admissions - go wish him congratulations!
Shockingly, MIT does occasionally grant its students reprieve and respite from the constant deluge of problem sets, essays, and tests so commonly found throughout the dread halls of the Institute. These beautiful, glorious lulls come in a variety of flavors, ranging from ever-welcome three-day weekends to (most beloved of all) the month of relatively controlled insanity known as Independent Activities Period.
As holidays go, I'd say Spring Break falls somewhere in the high middle end of the spectrum. On the one hand, it's an entire week without any class. But on the other hand, most professors still expect us to put in a reasonable amount of effort over the break. (Kind of like high school. Yeah, it's sad.) I'm not sure if my situation is representative of the MIT populace as a whole, but I have some amount of work to do - or to get a head-start on - in four of my five classes (the only class without any actual assignments is 5.12).
For the past few days, though, I've mostly been enjoying myself. I am, by the by, back home in South Bend. I use the word home somewhat hesitantly, because...well, yes, South Bend certainly is my hometown. I was born here, I spent eighteen amazing years here. My house is here, as are my parents and all my siblings. I've spent the past three nights in my own bed, in my own room, and it certainly still feels like home. But on one level, I've come to realize South Bend is only really my second home now. My home-away-from-home, as it were.
My real home, as strange as it sounds, is MIT.
I didn't expect that to happen. Last year, if you'd told me I would be writing these words, I probably would have just laughed you off. MIT, home? I would have told you that those words don't even belong in the same paragraph, let alone the same sentence. But it's actually true. And in the long run...I wouldn't want it to be any other way.
I think this is part of the reason MIT gets so excited about Campus Preview Weekend. And when I say "MIT," I don't just mean the Admissions Department and the other administrators in charge of planning CPW, I mean that the entire campus comes together to make CPW as enjoyable and awesome an experience as it possibly can be. Sure, maybe we complain a lot about how ridiculously challenging MIT is, about how hosed we all are all the time...but, paradoxically enough, we're also ridiculously proud of our school, of the communities, cultures, and student groups we have helped create - and CPW is our chance to show those off to you, to show you what MIT means to us.
And, even more importantly, it's your chance to discover if you really want to become part of MIT - part of our culture, our communities, our traditions...in a word, our home.
Because maybe, someday, MIT will be your home too.
Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)
Posted by: a on March 25, 2008
Posted by: |Lex! '12 on March 25, 2008
Thx paul for this gr8 n reassuring blog!
Posted by: Ragheb '12 on March 25, 2008
Posted by: Ragheb '12 on March 25, 2008
Awwwww
I really wish I could come for cpw!
Anyone can help with the organizing bit right? I want to help next year.
Why do I live so far far far away :(
Posted by: Aditi on March 25, 2008
P.S - Congrats Stu!!!!
Posted by: Shruthi on March 25, 2008
Ragheb take course 2A with me
Posted by: Omar '12 on March 25, 2008
Posted by: John Hopefully '13 on March 25, 2008
That feels so good to say.
Posted by: Natasha on March 25, 2008
Posted by: Tanmay on March 25, 2008
ps. all you prefroshies - do a pre-orientation program! in particular, do FAP, the freshman arts program! it's FANTASTIC and AMAZING and WONDERFUL and i couldn't have been gladder that i did it.
Posted by: Caroline '11 on March 25, 2008
Posted by: Paul Hoops '13 on March 25, 2008
Posted by: Paul Hoops '13 on March 25, 2008
Posted by: Snively on March 25, 2008
Posted by: Isshak on March 25, 2008
I'm a little bit confused about CPW-- do we live with a student and then they act as our tour guide? Or do we just stay with them at night only and wonder off by ourselves during the day? And how should we go about picking activities/going to dorms! There are so many options-- it's almost overwhelming!!!
Posted by: Celena '12 on March 25, 2008
I miss you! Hope break is going well! And I agree, I miss home, too. And for me, home has definitely become MIT. Being here in LI is nice, but I wanna go home! (No, that does NOT mean I want psets and exams...just to be home with my friends). See you next week!!!
Posted by: Tina '11 on March 25, 2008
Posted by: yiwen on March 25, 2008
Posted by: Tanmay on March 25, 2008
I'm going to be putting up a detailed Q&A post in a day or two, so if you are willing to wait, I'll have a more detailed answer for you then!
Caroline - Haha, so did I, but that fact still surprises me sometimes.
Tina - Miss you too! Have fun with your family for now (I know I am), I'm sure we'll be running into each other in the Infinite again soon enough. :D
Tanmay - Yep, that's right.
For those who may be confused, Caroline and Snively are referring to two of the Freshman Pre-Orientation Programs (collectively known as "FPOPs" - at MIT, everything has an abbreviation) that freshman can participate in. It's just like the name says, you show up about a week before Orientation actually starts and get to meet a bunch of your fellow new MIT freshmen...it's sort of like summer camp really. There's about a dozen different programs, focusing on everything from mechanical engineering to the arts to community service. You can find more information here, or check out last year's website about the FPOPs here.
Again, this is something I'll try to address in more detail in my forthcoming Q&A post.
Posted by: Paul on March 26, 2008
Now to find a way to get there...
Posted by: E. Rosser '12 on March 26, 2008
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