As promised, here's an entry that will explain this year's application process for admissions bloggers.

All current MIT undergraduates are welcome to apply. In the interest of full disclosure, however, you should know that we will be looking to hire almost exclusively incoming freshmen to maintain a balance between new students and upperclassmen. That said, as Melis is currently the only '08 blogger, we may consider hiring another senior (and we've already received five inquiries from '08s, which is awesome!).

To be considered for a blogger position, you should email me (benjones at you-know-the-rest) by August 31st, 2007 and:

• Provide a link to your "portfolio" - in other words, your current blog. This will be the single most important part of your application. Most of our current bloggers had been keeping a personal blog for years prior to working for us, and from that we could evaluate voice, writing style, frequency of publication, etc. If you don't have a current blog and still wish to be considered, you have the rest of the summer to be incredibly prolific. Better get started. :-)
• If you post regularly on any admissions forums such as College Confidential, please provide URL's and username/screenname/etc.
• Tell us your major or intended major (list all possibilities), and what activities you hope to become involved with at MIT (or what you already do here if you're an upperclassman).
• Let us know which dorm you get temped in, and as soon as REX is over and you have your permanent housing assignment for the year, send a followup email and let us know where you'll be living.
• Short answer #1 - Write a paragraph telling us why you want to be an admissions blogger and what unique things you feel you'll contribute to the program.
• Short answer #2 (required for '11s, optional for upperclassmen - please choose one of the following). Option A: Who is more addicted to Facebook, you or Jess Kim? Prove your theory in 100 words or less. Bonus points if you can present Jess with a question that she can't answer using Facebook. Option B: Once, during a slow week, Laura bit through her own lip so that she'd have something to blog about. Do you think you can compete with her dedication to the program?

Please note: Short Answer #2 (regardless of which option you choose) is all in good fun. Please don't take it seriously.

To all of you who have already emailed me to express interest - please send me a supplemental email answering any of the above questions that were not addressed in your original email. Thanks!

Any questions? Just post 'em in the comments and I'll update this entry accordingly.

Thanks!

-B

Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)

Do I get brownie points for being the first post? :D

More seriously, I was really hoping for another aardvark.

Posted by: Paul '11 on June 26, 2007

Am I too crusty to become a blogger? lol jk

Posted by: Mikey on June 26, 2007

HAHA! I love the essay topics. Unlike Paul, I was dreading another aardvark (I think Ben realized that when, during meet the bloggers, I practically begged for a non-aardvark essay topic).

I'm REALLY looking forward to filling out those essays, w00t! Let the blogging begin!

Posted by: Snively on June 26, 2007

So I thought about blogging, but I've been looking at my current one and it's....well...it's terrible.

Guess I have two months to turn it around. Maybe.

Posted by: Hank R. on June 26, 2007

So sneaky, Mr. Jones, to put this blog up while I was in a small town in a foreign country where I had no internet access You'll be seeing my portfolio, that's for sure! Good luck to everyone!

Posted by: Wings '11 on June 26, 2007

I am getting on the next flight back to Boston to KILL YOU.

Posted by: JKim on June 26, 2007

I would love that second question... but I'm not a '11!

oh dear me..

Posted by: Reg on June 26, 2007

Hi Ben! I share a blog with one of my friends (who's also coming to MIT!) Should I hide her posts or copy mine to a different blog? (I'm sure you're brilliant enough to figure out which is which, seeing as there's a byline at the bottom of each post, but it might be more convenient.)

Posted by: Grace '11 on June 27, 2007

Even if Jess kills you for Short Answer #2, know that it amuses me more than the kid at my nerd camp who kept hitting on me until he realized I was an RA.

This is saying a lot, I swear.

Posted by: Keri on June 27, 2007

Hahahaha, I love Jess. And Ben. Christina sometimes.

Posted by: Trev on June 27, 2007

Jess is freaking crazy.

But she's also freaking hilarious, so I guess it balances out.

Posted by: Paul '11 on June 27, 2007

I thought you weren't doing this -this year??

Posted by: Christina on June 27, 2007

LOL!

Posted by: Basant'11 on June 27, 2007

Any Internationals going to represent us?

Posted by: 0 on June 27, 2007

Let's hope not!!! Only Matt can handle the pressure of dealing with internationals! =D

Not the meek at heart who disable comments on their personal blogs! LOL!!! (ROFL? No, that'd be an over-reaction)

Posted by: Intn'11 on June 27, 2007

I agree - why don't you hire an international student to write a blog or two?

He or she would certianly provide a nice information source for those who are crazy enough to apply with only a 5% chance of getting in... Like "how to adapt to a world where you get milk in 15l bottles" (I keep laughing myself silly thinking about those redicilous giant bottles I saw last time I went across the pond)

Cheers

Posted by: International Hombre on June 27, 2007

Helo, from my humble nest.

I recieved today just the SAT scorpes. I were shoked my the news of my getting 570 on Matgh IIc and 660 on Physics.

Shell i applied this coming year anyways?

Posted by: Zingenia on June 27, 2007

1 more things i remark about your little blogs they move slowly not like down the road speed.

but great page. i will retake SAT and recieve score boost.

bye.

Posted by: Zingenia on June 27, 2007

Guess I'll have to start a new blog now.

Posted by: Ritchie on June 27, 2007

Question: I have a blog but it's not entirely in English. There are copious amounts of entries in Turkish and a few other languages. What do I do?

Posted by: SilaS. on June 28, 2007

Grace commented "I share a blog with one of my friends (who's also coming to MIT!). Should I hide her posts or copy mine to a different blog?"

No need to do that - I'm sure we can figure it out.

RE the idea of having an international blogger, we'd love to! International students with great blogs, please apply.

SilaS commented "I have a blog but it's not entirely in English. There are copious amounts of entries in Turkish and a few other languages. What do I do?"

As the MIT Admissions blogs are written in English, we'll need to evaluate you based on your entries that are written in English. If you're particularly proud of other entries, you should translate them for us. (Not that Matt and I don't want to learn Turkish, but the summer's pretty busy already!)

Posted by: Ben on June 28, 2007

Okay, there was totally supposed to be a question about dedication as referenced by my stitches. =P

I'm all excited to find out who the new bloggers will be. =)

Posted by: Laura on June 28, 2007

I've enabled comments on my blog! Feel free to drop by and share your views!

Posted by: Basant on June 28, 2007

Are you doing the "early action" blogger applications too, like last year, or is the deadline August 31 for everyone?

Posted by: anonymous on June 29, 2007

Well, I still haven't signed up for Facebook yet, and thanks to some encouragement to resist the evil pull (thanks, Ben!), I think I'll stay on the yellower (well, in my eyes, greener), non-Facebook side of the grass for the foreseeable future.

Posted by: Seleeke F. on June 29, 2007

Anonymous - just one round this year for everyone - the whole EA/RA thing was too confusing.

Posted by: Ben on June 29, 2007

Laura just reminded me that I totally forgot to include her question. The original entry has been updated - you now have two options for Short Answer #2. I've gotten a lot of serious emails about that by the way - #2 is a joke guys! Don't take it seriously, just have fun with it. (Take #1 seriously though.)

Posted by: Ben on June 29, 2007

Hey, what about the time that I got engaged and immediately came back to work so that *you* would have something to blog about?

I think that's way more selfless.

Posted by: Mollie on June 29, 2007

@Ben

You should have us write our essay responses as blog entries on our respective blogs. That way we can jazz them up and make them really cool! That way, when we e-mail you our applications, you'll just get nice neat bundles of URLs to blogs and blog entries. Just a suggestion.

Posted by: Snively on June 29, 2007

@Ben

You should have us write our essay responses as blog entries on our respective blogs. That way we can jazz them up and make them really cool! Then, when we e-mail you our applications, you'll just get nice neat bundles of URLs to blogs and blog entries. Just a suggestion.

Oh, and I like your error when you try to post twice in quick succession. "Malicious" is a very angry word.

Posted by: Snively on June 29, 2007

uh, just a little disclaimer..

you do not need to friend me on facebook to answer number 2. (you should be able to write it using your IMAGINATION!!!) in fact, if you friend me just for that reason, i probably won't add you back. not because i'm a horrible person who doesn't want you to be a blogger, but dudes, we obviously don't even know each other. this is not how i would like to start our relationship! let's take it slow, okay?

Posted by: Jess on June 30, 2007

Jess, that's just the way Facebook works. Loads of random people add me on Facebook and never talk to me. Apparently THEY expect ME to talk to them, which I don't. And then I delete them because I'm like, way too cool to, like, have random people as my friends, like, duh, and then they realize I deleted them and they add me AGAIN. Being friended randomly is not cool, you guys.

But to those who aren't Jess' friend on facebook (bwahaha), she appears to be pretty addicted to the damn thing, I mean, she deactivated her account because it was distracting her from her studying.

But then again... who wouldn't be distracted by it? I find it very hard to not check my news feed every 5 minutes for a new wall post. Ever since I got here I've been pretty much out of the whole Facebook scene. Oh, what psets can do to you... especially when you don't know any physics. I'm going to end up bald, seriously.

Anyway. I will start writing on my new blog this week. There's lots of interesting things to blog about here :D Gahhhh it's so cool to finally be on campus!

Posted by: milena '11 on July 1, 2007

Hey, Does anyone know how long the MIT visitation tours last?

Posted by: Rose on July 2, 2007

Rose - 75 minutes.

Posted by: Christina on July 3, 2007

LOOOL, the car that drives itself that you had blogged about is today's homepage! =)

Posted by: an'11 on July 5, 2007

Hi Ben

Ooo.... You have me intrigued, maybe I'll apply to Blog For A Cause rather than simply bloggin' about my Harry Potter obsession (oh em gee! Only 15 days until the last book!)

I'll have to go through my blog (it's a Friends-Only one on Eljay) and see what I can make public for your perusing pleasure. I've had it for over 5 years though, could take me a while to siphon through it all. I'll just pick the best entries and won't bother with the ones were all I do is squeal about Stargate (unless Nance is in on this decision process, in which case I'll leave them in for his entertainment)

-Lisa

(At MIT I'm lkjohnsn but here at NASA I'm lkjohnso. It's all very confusing, this name-shortening-thing.)

Posted by: lkjohnsn on July 6, 2007

Ooh, I would apply, but really my only blog is that really lame one on Princeton Review, and I don't think that really counts... oh well, life is sad. And I'm not very good at updating, anyways. ;D

Posted by: kristin '11 on July 7, 2007

Heloo everyone, I've a Q(may be off topic):
I graduated from school in 2004, now I'm going to apply to universities. And I see MIT very attractrive...
So, does MIT have anyone like me["not so fresh" -freshman] admitted in its practice? [I cant find this in statistics.]
And one more: do I have a chance to be admitted?

Posted by: 0 on July 9, 2007

Heloo everyone, I've a Q(may be off topic):
I graduated from school in 2004, now I'm going to apply to universities. And I see MIT very attractrive...
So, does MIT have anyone like me["not so fresh" -freshman] admitted in its practice? [I cant find this in statistics.]
And one more: do I have a chance to be admitted?

Posted by: bektur on July 9, 2007

Comments have been closed.