This is my last week in the office before I hit the road to come see some of you guys. I have mixed feelings about recruitment travel - I like the recruitment, not the travel. I'm looking forward to the school visits and the big regional info sessions. I'm not looking forward to the endless sea of rental cars, maps, airports, hotel rooms, and fast food. Generally this fits the pattern of every trip I've ever taken - happy once I'm there, but hate getting there. :-)

No worries though - by the time I see any of you, I'll be so relieved to have made it there in one piece that I'll be in a great mood!

This fall will bring me to Connecticut (central mtg in Hartford on 9/19), New York (central mtg in Westchester County on 9/20), Pennsylvania (central mtg in Philly on 9/25), and New Jersey (central mtgs in East Brunswick on 9/27 and in Hackensack on 9/28).

In the middle of that I head down to Tampa for the NACAC Conference, where Matt and I will be presenting these blogs and encouraging other colleges and universities to join us in demystifying the admissions process. We're hoping that lots of other schools will begin blog programs so that you can get real and honest perspectives from staff and students at every school that interests you.

Some of you have written to ask about the regional info sessions (we call them "central meetings") and how much overlap there is with the on-campus info sessions.

On campus, your info session is followed by a campus tour, so we can take for granted that you're going to see MIT. When we're on the road, we can't make that assumption, so we try to bring the feel of the campus to you. We use short videos and lots of photos throughout the presentation to supplement the information, but the basic information is the same.

If you've visited MIT, attended the info session here, and taken the campus tour, you'll find much of the actual content to be somewhat repetitive. This doesn't mean you shouldn't come - you'll still get to meet the alumni interviewers for your area (EC's) and ask questions, etc. But if you've already visited campus and you're choosing between this info session and (as one reader asked) your upper level math class at a community college, don't miss the class.

Those of you who haven't visited campus, however - BE THERE! These regional info sessions are designed specifically for you.

I'll definitely blog from the road whenever I can find a wifi connection. And if I'm coming to a city near you, see you soon!

Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)

Expect a visit before you leave.

Posted by: Michael Borohovski on September 13, 2005

Hey!!!



It was GREAT meeting you!!! =)



Have fun travelling!



Laila

Posted by: Laila Shabir on September 13, 2005

Take pictures!



- Timur S.

Posted by: Timur Sahin on September 13, 2005

I hope to meet you at the Philly one.

Posted by: Lipei on September 15, 2005

Yay NJ! Actually, I went to the East Brunswick session my junior year and Matt was the presenter. A year later when I logged onto MIT's admission site to download the application, I recognized him from the info session and thought "hey, this might be interesting" and started to read his blog.



And here I am now. =)

Posted by: Laura on September 16, 2005

You were coming to my session but then they changed who was running it!

Posted by: Mike on September 17, 2005

HOLA!

Sweetness!!!! Have fun:D

ADIOS!~Kiersten~

ps you should rent a VW hippie bus and drive it to all you destinations, that would be awesome.

Posted by: Kiersten on September 18, 2005

HOLA!

Sweetness!!!! Have fun:D

ADIOS!~Kiersten~

ps you should rent a VW hippie bus and drive it to all your destinations, that would be awesome.

Posted by: Kiersten on September 18, 2005

HOLA!

sorry. I forgot the 'r' on 'your' and it bothered me.

ADIOS!~K~

Posted by: Kiersten on September 18, 2005

I'm sick of people associating the VW minibus with hippies. I guess it doesn't help that I have long hair, lol.



But I have to say, they're -very- comfortable vehicles, but I wouldn't drive one considering what gas costs these days.



- Timur S.

Posted by: Timur Sahin on September 19, 2005

Hey Ben I was at the Hartford info session and I just wanted to say that I loved your presentation - after going to it I was so excited about MIT that I wanted to give you a hug, but then I realized there were lots of other people who actually had real questions. So I decided to gush all over your blog instead.



By the way, I think these admissions blogs are the greatest recruitment tool I have seen in my college search so far. It is so much nicer to read what real people are doing than it is to read canned things about how great [x] university is.

Posted by: Katrina on September 20, 2005

Hey Ben,

I was wondering if u could solve my problem.

Look I am a bit confused regarding my essay to MIT.

Basically I want to tell you how being in a small city (that too in India) I missed out on lots of competitions and science activities that never came to our school and I want to tell how I still managed to get good competitions (all by my own effort) to follow my passions.

How(or more appropriately where) should I put all this down in the application. Is it okay if I send this as a reply to question 14.

P.S. Do you people have info sessions here in India. If not you should seriously look into it as there are many MIT fanatics here.



Have a nice journey,

Shikhar

Posted by: Shikhar on September 22, 2005

Too bad you weren't there for the Baltimore-Poly one. It was like a Baltimore Country Math Team reunion. Ok, that sounded really dumb It was jolly good fun. I think I'll just leave it at that.



I'm sorry I can't visit, school's rapidly growing more hectic by the moment :(



I'll keep in touch!

Posted by: Justine on September 22, 2005

hey ben,



good to see you are coming to NJ. I can't wait to say hi.



its sucks you have to go through all the little tensions of traveling, but one thing i do not understand...HOW DO YOU NOT LIKE FAST FOOD!!!???



ahha love to hear your responce on that question.

peace

Posted by: Merudh on September 22, 2005

I definetly understand what you mean by the travelling thing, my fathers military...so with moving every year or two, and all the assorted travel inbetweem, I can relate. The being there is alot of fun, but the travel itself can be overrated.



-Robb Carr

Posted by: Robb Carr on September 23, 2005

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