Each year on July 4th, a concert by the Boston Pops is combined with an amazing fireworks show, and is televised nationwide (10pm et/pt on CBS). The concert occurs at Boston's Hatch Shell, a concert venue on the Esplanade, a nice park along the Charles River, which separates Boston from Cambridge and MIT. The fireworks barge is moored in the middle of the Charles River, across from MIT. See the graphic I made below:

Okay, so I'm not much with Photoshop, but you can see the barge is right in front of MIT, approximately in front of the Sailing Pavilion and Walker Memorial. Over the years, I've watched the fireworks from many locations on and around campus, including the Baker House and Senior House dormitories. But where are the best (legal) spots, you might ask? In my opinion, they are:

5. MIT dormitory roofdecks, notably Senior House, McCormick Hall, and Baker House. The barge is directly across from Senior House, and Baker has a nice big roofdeck.
4. MIT fraternity house roofdecks, notably Pi Lambda Phi, Nu Delta, and Delta Tau Delta. The houses in the Back Bay have incredible views and great parties along with it.
3. The Mass Ave bridge. Now that there are sound towers on the bridge (at approximately 100 Smoots and 250 Smoots), the bridge, with nothing to block its view, and relatively smaller crowds, becomes a prime fireworks watching location.
2. The Sailing Pavilion. For members of the MIT Nautical Association (the MIT Sailing Club) and their families only, you can't get much closer to the fireworks barge. The nice folks at the Pavilion start grilling at 4pm, and sailing generally continues until sunset. I love the folks at MIt Sailing and highly recommend that you take a sailing class while at MIT.
1. From a Couchamaran or Carboat. MIT students and alums love creating their own venues for watching the festivities.

Thanks to MIT TechTV, you can watch an excerpt of last year's fireworks over the Dome, online.

Click To Play

Of course, watching a video clip is nothing like actually being there...

Another secret of the Boston 4th of July celebrations is that the Boston Pops do a special, less crowded, "preview concert" on July 3rd. I've attended the Preview Concert four times, and it's a lot of fun. The Boston Pops program always includes many fun songs, like the Main Title from Star Wars, composed by the Pops' own John Williams, but always includes Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. The live cannons for 1812 are always a big hit.

Here are some photos I've taken on the Esplanade for the concert:

The scene before the concert at the Hatch Shell.

The crowd gathers along the banks of the Charles River.

Across the river, MIT's Green Building and Walker Memorial, with the Stata Center peeking out from behind the trees.

The Sloan School, Dewey Library, and Eastgate Residences are among the buildings along the river in East Cambridge.

I think the Back Bay area of Boston is very beautiful.

Two dusk photographs: first, the sun begins to set over MIT, while a blimp flies overhead; next, beautiful sunset colors over the Kendall Square area.

For further Boston 4th of July info, check out Bryan's one two three four five entries on the topic (I think he loves fireworks).

Happy 4th of July!

[This entry adapted from a few previous entries]

Noel and Jeremy both asked a version of: When/why/how did you switch to course 9? How is course 9? Do you like the number 9?
In reverse order: I like the number 9 more than the number 4, but less than the number 7. I really like course 9 (Brain and Cognitive Science), because there's a fair amount of flexibility in choosing your classes; you get to pick six electives from any of three categories (Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognition, and Neurocience) on top of a few core requirements, so you can essentially design your major to shift more towards psychology, neurophysiology, artificial intelligence.. etc. I switched from course 5 (Chemistry) to course 9 by getting a form signed (by both the course 5 and the course 9 people - it took less than an hour), for a variety of reasons (maybe someday when you're older), in the middle of last semester (October or November, I believe).

Carmen queries: emt sounds so exciting, but do you ever really get all the actions? (just traffic accident etc, or is it just to help drunken college students off to the hospital or help a stupid college student who just walked into a pole)
HEY. Hey. Just because you walked into a pole DOES NOT imply stupidity. Especially if you're distracted by the thought of taking your first final which you have to make up a day before everyone else because they're all taking it on a day that you have another final and you can't be bothered to look ahead when you're trying to stick your headphones into your iPod, and I mean, it's not like that coat rack was supposed to be in the middle of the sidewalk anyway.
Anyway, it really depends on the shift you work. You can definitely work a Tuesday morning 0800 shift (8 AM-12 PM), or even a Thursday afternoon 1600 (4 PM-11 PM), and get nothing, and then you can work a Saturday overnight (11 PM-8 AM) and get three broken noses and a barely concious drunk. I will say that because we only serve the MIT campus (which covers both the campus in Cambridge and the fraternities in Boston) we get a significantly smaller amount of calls than professional ambulance services get, but we're certified just as they are, and we run pretty much the same as they do. (My last post about MIT-EMS was here.)

Kevin wants to know: How is the food at MIT?
The food at MIT is solid. And I mean that in the sense that we have good food, not in the sense that you'll starve if you just got your wisdom teeth removed. (We've got Jell-O.) I really like the falafel in the student center, and we just got a Subway this year, and I have a pretty good relationship with Stata Center sandwiches. I think the thing that makes college food so bad in general, though, is that it suffers from a lack of variety - no matter how expensive their meal plans are, which is why living so close to Boston (and having Campusfood.com) is so great. Especially living in Boston - I've got UBurger, Ankara's froyo, Fin's sushi, and Shaw's groceries all on my doorstop, and I'm right by the T so I can just hop on the train in Kenmore and go basically anywhere short of Rhode Island for dinner. Why? What'd you have for dinner? Your mom's home cooking? THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT.

Anon is curious: Kind of off topic, but out of random curiosity, what is the font that you guys keep using in your images?
Gill Sans, in caps.

Sh1fty says: (in response to this entry) favorite home appliance? Standing mixer. I bake to destress.
favorite allotropic form of carbon? Hmm.. is it dull to say graphite? (No pun intended.)
Josh joshes: Favorite Mythbuster? Not the one with the hat.
Favorite Organic Compound? Epoxides. They're chemistry's fat man.
And most importantly: Favorite Muffin? Bran muffins. Specifically, this one. But hey, congrats on getting in! And also, turning the dome into a muffin, I guess?...
Steph scrutinizes: Favorite shoes? I just bought these awesome Nike Airs about a month ago:

Anon asks: I have a totally unrelated question: I noticed in one of the dorm videos that some people living in the dorms had pets. So, are we allowed to keep our pets on campus?  See, there's this cat that kind of owns me...
Depends on the dorm. Certain floors in certain dorms, e.g. EC, Random, Senior, and Bexley, are already cat-friendly and have their own rules about bringing new pets in; in order to make a floor cat- or dog-friendly (although I'm not sure if any dog-friendly floors actually exist), you need to approve it with everyone on the floor, your GRT (like an RA, the graduate student that lives on each floor and serves as a liason between the floor and the housemasters), and other members of the administration first. You can also try to convince your GRT to get you a cat or dog and keep it in their apartment, which doesn't require paperwork. (We're getting new GRTs next year, who have an adorable dog, and although some people on the floor are allergic they've cleared it to keep the dog in the apartment only.)
As far as other dorms, you're generally safe with the kinds of pets that can be kept in your room, like hamsters, or rocks, or your roommate.

Judy H ponders.: Anyways, would you say Harvard classes are less demanding than those at MIT? Is it easier to get a good grade because of grade inflation??
It's really difficult for me to answer this question, partially because I've taken all my classes at MIT save for just two classes at Harvard, so I can't really be called an expert on the Harvard grading system. One of the classes I took appeared to be on the easier end of the spectrum for Harvard, and the other appeared to be on the much harder side - and neither of them were humanities classes; so really, I have a pretty bad sample size. Kind of like trying to describe a couple hundred course meal after eating the soup and salad. Basically, I can't make any sweeping generalizations, but the two classes that I took were graded pretty differently from classes I've taken at MIT.

anton questions: Harvard and MIT have different academic calendars. Has that posted any challenge for you in taking classes at Harvard
The only challenge it posed was the one time MIT had a four-day weekend, and Harvard did not, and everyone made fun of my lab partner Nina and I for having to work while they all had a big party. We laughed back at them while we had a two-week reading period before finals, and Nina and I went outside to sit in Killian Court sipping fruity beverages while everyone else was running around frantically having hernias over final projects.
If you take a class at Harvard in the fall, there is the schedule conflict that MIT has its fall semester finals before winter break, and Harvard has them after, so you take finals both before and after - although I think they're changing this next year.

ekim implores: Japanese is attendence-mandatory?  How does that work? What happens if you miss a class?
The attendance-mandatory policy works by grading our speaking ability on a daily basis, and you're permitted to drop two daily grades, so if you miss a class you just drop that day's grade. Note that most all other MIT classes are not attendance-mandatory, and the ones that are may have a different policy.

another12 inquires: The mom keeps saying the east is more formal than northern california- but Ive got packing issues. The airlines are limiting us. How do I get a 70 pound amp east? Ship it, if it's worth it to you! DO I really need to pack a " suit/nice jacket" and stuff? If you want to go to formals, interviews, or kick it with Susan Hockfield, yes. How much to calculate for the cold, beyond 19 pair of socks? I suggest long underwear, but it doesn't really start getting bitterly cold until around Thanksgiving. You can buy some of the heavy stuff around Boston if it's too much to pack, See this entry for more on packing.

Sam says: Cramp spray?  For realio?  Kamber, my birthday is only 8 months away. Forget it, Spam, I already bought you a beard comb. Actually, I'm pretty sure you shaved, but whatever, you can use it for the back of your head or something.
Also, could you remind me and the vast MITblog community what you're doing this summer, again?
Only for you. I'm living in Boston with my room/floormates from freshman year, working in my lab (taking MRIs of the visual word form area), studying for the MCATs, beating the ultimate set list in Rock Band, taking a photo class, exploring Boston's little cafes, and falling asleep a lot in public places. More on this later!

More questions, more answers. Leave a message after the beep.

brownmityale.org

These meetings will be a great opportunity for high school sophomores and juniors (that is, rising juniors and seniors) to hear from three great universities all in one place. Each school will talk a little about what makes it unique, and will also describe common philosophies on admissions, financial aid, and more. Each session, including Q&A, will run about 90 minutes. You can RSVP at brownmityale.org.

This trip to the Southwest follows closely after the three schools visited Northern California, Nevada, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio in the spring, and last year's trips to Southern California, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Texas.

In the fall, MIT will be going it solo, visiting 70+ cities across the country. So if we're not in your area now, hopefully we'll be nearby in September or October. Look for the fall visit calendar to be released later in the summer.

We look forward to seeing you!

It sits right at the end of the infinite, next to the NEWLY INSTALLED DIP-N-DOTS MACHINE!!!

A hollowed-out rectangular prism, it's nothing more than a hallway. There's an Athena cluster about half way down and there's also some doors that lead to Stata or the Green Building (buildings people care about) but nothing in 56 really other than that.

As a freshman you may have a class or two in 56. I had my HASS class there and a physics recitation first semester and I know bioethics has their recitation in 56 as well. Here's a shot of the hallway from the other end.

That's really it. I wrote an entire entry about a hallway. In building 56. Because there's nothing special about it. At all.

Oh, completely unrelated sidenote: Click this if you want the answer to the cryptogram puzzle from my last post. Arjun and Vicki C were the first two to solve it, followed by Jeremy V and Thomas V, nice job you guys!

On Friday, June 20th, Media Lab alumni and colleagues gathered to recognize and remember Glorianna Davenport's 30-years of research and teaching at MIT.

Above: Glorianna Davenport of the Media Lab's Media Fabrics group.

"I am a media junkie," Glorianna announced in her own remarks, not in the sense of consuming media "out there" but in her reliance upon using media to understand what people see and experience. She characterizes media makers as improvisational collectors, who use their collections to construct new stories to share with others. Storytelling, particularly in an expanded, technically enhanced framework; tools and systems that make film and video more accessible to more people and easier to personalize and share; and advancing media as a process of discovery, particularly for young people, in formal and informal educational settings—these are the themes that have animated her work over the years.

Davenport was first drawn to MIT by Ed Pincus and Richard Leacock, whose Film section welcomed anyone serious about making films, no matter their affiliation; it was a golden era when faculty "didn't have to answer to anybody." She particularly wanted to work with the technology they had developed—super–8 film and synched–sound with modified mass-produced cameras—as a much cheaper alternative to 16mm. Soon thereafter she collaborated with the photographer William Eggleston, an early experimenter with color negative film, who eventually came to MIT to research color video. Meanwhile, Naim June Paik dropped by, declared video a phenomenon comparable to solar energy and described his efforts to devise a personal editing machine.

Davenport went on to found the Interactive Cinema Group at the Media Lab in 1985. They quickly left behind notions of single-person filming techniques and delved into an amazing array of projects aimed at stretching the visual capacities of storytelling, creating narrative networks from multiple points of view, and developing novel digital interfaces that disrupted the traditional role of audiences as passive recipients of a meaningful message constructed by a single author. The various descriptive tags for these activities signal the extent of experimentation, as Davenport and scores of graduate students created "elastic documentaries" and "highly distributed motion video stories" while devising technologies for "collaborative co-construction." The Media Lab's distinctive culture enabled lots of cross-fertilization with other research, for example with Muriel Cooper's Visible Language workshop, which was exploring how the computer and artificial intelligence could transform traditional graphic design and design decisions and, increasingly, with Seymour Papert's exploration of how computers can profoundly change learning.

As the Media Fabrics group succeeded Interactive Cinema, it focused more and more on how to incorporate video into kids' learning, allowing them to create and learn through active engagement with their own worlds, and on making really simple tools and systems for people to personalize video, build archives, and share stories in multiple media formats. It's hard to do justice to the many projects that were presented by some twenty alumni—some of whom are now educators, others serial entrepreneurs of social media platforms, and still others creators of the "next wave" of cinematic transformation—in video games, gestural interfaces, and physical feedback loops embedded in media properties. Who would have predicted that a bunch of cinemaphiles at the Media Lab, all–too capable of producing the most user-friendly defying, complex new technologies, would at the same time embrace the collective goal of radically democratizing media production, so that the full potential of what Henry Jenkins calls "participatory culture" can be realized? For this, former students again and again thanked Glorianna for her insistence on the central, pervasive, and infinitely expandable impulse to tell stories and share them with others.

Even though she will no longer be accepting graduate students at The Media Lab, fortunately for MIT, Glorianna Davenport will be back. In the spring semester, 2009, she will teach a new undergraduate course for Comparative Media Studies, CMS.405: Media and Methods, Seeing and Expression. Stay tuned.

Lawrence Barriner '11 (Course 6, of Skullhouse, formerly of Senior Haus): "This summer I will be an intern at the Love At Work (LAW) missions camp. The camp, founded in 1993 by Killearn United Methodist Church in Tallahassee, Florida, began as an effort to provide repairs and basic necessities to homes of impoverished families in Gretna, Florida. Over time the project evolved into a multi-dimensional effort to help the residents of Gretna in all areas of life, not just housing. LAW's core mission is now the encouragement of spiritual growth in youth through service to others. The people of Gretna have repeatedly expressed their undying gratitude to the 'kids who roll in every summer to help us out.'

As I stated earlier, I will be staffing as an intern at LAW this summer. More specifically, I will be the multimedia specialist. I will be responsible for filming the work being done on each job site and the participants of the camp interacting with the local families and children. I will also be responsible for managing the technological aspects of the fellowship session each night (slide show, video editing, sound equipment, etc) and managing the camp website. On a more personal note, this camp means a lot to me (and that is an understatement if I've ever seen one), as I've attended LAW as a camper since I was able to and it has changed my life each and every time I've gone. I am ecstatic to come back to LAW as an intern to glorify God and to show children that mission work doesn't have to be done across the world because there are areas in our own country that need help too."

Harrison Bralower '11 (Course 2, of Putz): "I'm working in the Media Lab's Tangible Media Group on a new version of their flagship musicBottles demo. It's pretty much an art piece...you have these glass bottles sitting on a pretty glass plate and they're RFID-tagged (and there's an antenna sitting in a pan that holds up the glass plate). When you take out the stopper from the bottle music plays, which 'releases' the music trapped inside the bottles. Apparently this demo has been constructed several thousand times so officially it's musicBottles 3.0 but it's more like version 9 or 10. Eventually I'll probably be done with that and will work on other Tangible stuff, or so I hear."

Emily Conn '11 (Course 2, of Simmons): "I'm off to be a girl scout camp counselor in Plymouth, MA - I've always wanted to go to summer camp. I'm excited to work with the girls and besides all the traditional camp activities, I'm particularly looking forward to a program on roller coasters: campers learn about the engineering behind them, ride them, and build a model of one themselves. Little do my campers suspect that they may actually be in for a crash course on some of 8.01...yay!"

Caroline Figgatt '11 (Course 8, of Senior Haus): "I'm spending the summer UROPing on campus, working in a lab in the Center for Ultracold Atoms (a part of MIT's RLE). The CUA is headed up by 2001 Physics Nobel laureate Wolfgang Ketterle, whose office and lab are just down the hall from my lab. My UROP advisor is Prof. Martin Zwierlein, an assistant professor who was my TA for 8.012 during the fall semester. Over IAP, I attended a number of lectures put on by the Physics Department. One of them was given by Martin; afterwards, I asked him if he'd be interested in a UROP student for the summer, and a few days later I got an email from him confirming that yes, he would love to have me and had stuff for me to do. Lo and behold, I had a summer job.

So far, that "stuff" has consisted of building components, mostly boxes containing electronics of various sorts. I've only been working for a week and already I've built a 15V power supply, an integrated power supply with three different voltage options, a light sensor, and started working on a temperature controller for a laser. It's pretty fun; I'm getting a lot of experience soldering and cutting holes of various sizes in metal sheets. Martin (yes, we're on a first-name basis :D) and my grad students have been feeding me theory along the way, too. The ultimate goal of my UROP is to help construct these components so that they can be put together to form a laser array that will cool atoms to mere millionths of a Kelvin; after that, evaporative cooling takes over and reduces the temperature further to only a few billionths of a Kelvin, hopefully inducing the atoms to form a Bose-Einstein condensate.

Logistically speaking, I'm working full-time (40 hours a week), and hours are flexible; when you're working in a lab where the grad students and prof tend to work from about 10am to 12am or later, they really aren't too inclined to be especially strict about timing. I've elected to work a pretty regular schedule of 10am to 6pm, Mon-Fri. This works nicely because I can go straight from lab to Z-Center to do the day's weightlifting workout for varsity track, and then go home and have dinner afterwards. I also elected to get paid for this UROP by the UROP office (as opposed to receiving credit), so they're giving me $9/hour, which is campus minimum wage.

The people in my lab are all fantastic; Martin is good-natured to the bone and genuinely passionate about his work, and both characteristics are quite contagious. His graduate students - Andre, Christoph, Cheng, and a few others - are all very nice people. Besides the interesting mix of hands-on components engineering and physics theory, the summer is also proving to be an interesting experience because not only am I the only woman in my lab, I'm also the only American and the only
native English speaker (Martin, Andre and Chris are all German, and Cheng is Chinese). So I've also been helping Cheng learn the grammatical difference between "work" and "job," and explaining to Martin and Chris that although that plastic-y stuff around a wire does indeed isolate it from electrical charge, the word they really want is 'insulation.'

Also, I'm cat-sitting for the world's most adorable little tabby. I shall miss Kiki dearly when I must return her to her proper human at the end of the summer, a fellow Senior Haus resident and '11 who is out of town for the summer. But till then, I shall enjoy having a cute, friendly, snuggly kitty. =)"

Laurie Hakes '11 (Courses 5 and 8, of Senior Haus): "This summer I am being awesome. Luckily, in addition to this full-time job, my powers of awesomeness allow me to also:

• play frisbee with my dog;
  
• go rafting;
  
• work at my hometown's local observatory part-time (We have one 16-inch scope that we use
  to take pictures of interesting objects, like globular clusters, nebulae, galaxies, and other Messier objects. My job is to run the imaging software, operate the telescope, process photos (learning how tomorrow), and keep people company (who wants to be alone at 2 am in the middle of nowhere?). I'll be sending you some processed photos soon; they are the shiznit);
  
• see movies with my peeps (I've seen Prince Caspian and Iron Man already, and I've only been home for a week. Next stop: Indiana Jones);
  
• buy glasses (OMG MY NEW FRAMES ARE SUPA-FLY);
  
• read (HP7 today, but I'm planning on getting through Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd and Hofstadter's Godel, Escher, Bach before going back to Beantown, and hopefully The Feynman Lectures before the summer is out);
  
• live at Fenway House for the summer;
  
• work full-time in Dr. Field's lab when I return to Boston in mid-June (They're studying metastable triplet species of acetylene, which are really cool because their lifetime is long enough to allow them to undergo collisions/energy transfers, unlike their singlet species counterparts which fluoresce before
  they can do anything interesting. Basically, there are LASERS and VACUUMS involved, so I was on board);
  
• hang with my peeps in Boston.
  

Angel Irizarry '09 (Course 6, of Skullhouse): "I'll be doing a software engineering internship at Intuit in Boston."

Grace Kane '11 (Course 2, of Fenway House, formerly of Tetazoo): "Unfortunately, nothing more exciting than Being In Scotland. Which would I suppose be exciting and awesome if I didn't, y'know, live there. Hope you're having a good summer. Try not to spend all of it blogging. :P"

Liz Maroon '10 (Course 12, of Burton Two): "I recently went to an orientation for my NOAA Hollings scholarship in Silver Spring, Maryland, last week. It was fun; I met with the other scholarship recipients (mostly majors in meteorology, atmospheric science, environmental science, and related fields) from all across the country. We listened to NOAA officials discuss various work that NOAA does in anticipation of the NOAA internship we'll receive in summer 2009. (I could be working anywhere from Woods Hole, Massachusetts, to Norman, Oklahoma, to Hawaii in any NOAA site. :D) I'm home this week chilling and finally catching up on sleep. In a week I'm heading to Dayton, Ohio, where I've got an REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates - think of it as an NSFt-funded UROP) at Wright State University. As for exactly what I'm doing...well...I'll find out soon!"

Louis Perna '09 (Course 16, of Skullhouse): "I'm in Pasadena, CA (just outside LA) working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. My job is to take flight hardware for Mars Science Laboratory (the next rover being sent to Mars) and test it to make sure it will hold up in space and on the Red Planet. I spend most of my day in a clean room with the actual rover parts and with exact duplicates (for testing). I really like it!"

Shawn Westerdale '11 (Course 8 and 22, of Random Hall): "I'll be working on a UROP with Peter Fisher and Jocelyn Monroe. The group I'm working with goes by "The MIT Dark Matter Group." Basically, we're working to detect dark matter. The part that I am specifically working on is related to finding the z-axis projection of the dark matter through the detector. I will be programming part of the detector to reconstruct the tracks, and I will putting the different parts together so that they can all communicate properly (basically getting the data acquisition set up and running). This should help us weed out background noise in the detector and also give us a good understanding of the path of the dark matter wind through the detector (along with where it might be coming from)."

Click

Two years seems like a lifetime to me, although I can't begin to tell you how quickly these past two years have gone by. So I understand if you feel like the time from now to when you graduate will probably take a little longer than Pangea did to separate. Whether you've pre-written your life story or are like me and have very little idea of what you're going to eat for lunch today (update post-lunch: a salad), the Next Big Mailing represents a lot of decisions you'll have to make for the future, and a lot of those decisions involve advising.

When I received the NBM two years ago, I spent just about all my time with the housing booklet. I took that thing to classes and bragged to my friends about how my school wasn't going to stick me with a random roommate like their schools would, roommates that probably had a weird habit of chewing up furniture, or a third leg. I spent weeks debating the pros and cons of Burton Conner vs. Senior Haus, and in retrospect, very little time thinking about advising. Anthony tried to steer me away from this, telling me to go for a seminar rather than traditional, with an adviser that taught in a field I was interested in. Seminars, he said, were ideal, since you'd get to meet and interact with your adviser every week. But this advice was lost on me in the multitude of options - seminar or traditional, residence based advising or regular, not to mention Experimental Study Group, which has its own set of advisers entirely.. the different combinations seemed more like a Sudoku puzzle than a major decision.

There are a lot of advising options for freshmen, and it's very easy to get overwhelmed among all the choices you have to make when starting your first year of college, but my point is this: don't stress out about picking the correct adviser. The advice you need to make good choices will be there if you look for it, and you won't always necessarily feel most comfortable looking to the person who is supposed to give it to you, even if you spend all the time in the world making sure you have the perfect seminar in the perfect department.

That being said- and I promise this'll make sense in a bit, it'll just take a second- really, I'm serious, where are you going? COME BACK- last night the bloggers and Ben went out for dinner to celebrate his last day as a MIT employee.

Nance (who was invited as well for his send-off, but was unable to attend) often tells the story of how, upon arriving at MIT, someone said to him, "Welcome to the family. It doesn't matter if you were born in [as a student], or married in [as an employee]; you're family." Still, there's one thing that those who married in don't get at the end of their time here - a degree. And so Paul had the brilliant idea to make them their own MIT degrees, which we personalized a bit:

Here's a close-up of my design, so you can read the text:

[As a disclaimer to future harried applicants: MIT Admissions uses Facebook in no way to stalk prospective students.]

We made one for Nance as well, and Matt got a little jealous:

All in all, it was a fun time - Keri and Ben made the famous Keri face, and I got to eat some of Snively's fries - because for some reason, even though he was HALF AN HOUR LATE, he got his food first (seriously, Cheesecake Factory, what is up with that):

The beginning of this entry does have a point, however, other than to show off my newfound Latin knowledge, and to dispel a little admissions advice - I'm signing the card. The advice I got from Ben Jones over the last two years has been absolutely invaluable to me, and I will sorely miss the guy who always gave good answers. I would not be the person I am today if not for Ben's vibrant personality and his talent for words, as both my unofficial adviser and my friend, and I'm eternally grateful for everything he's done for me and the institute.

We'll miss you, Ben. Best of luck.

1) Campus == Empty
A lot of what makes MIT MIT is the people you'll find here. I didn't used to be very social, I lived in the middle of nowhere and was very good at keeping myself busy, be it building stuff in my garage, wandering around outside, reading, what have you. Once MIT started I began life on Conner 2 (2nd floor, Conner side of Burton-Conner dorm) and I no longer had to find ways to occupy my time, they found me. Trips to Boston, chillin' in the floor lounge, going to see Wicked, snowball fights with Conner 4, whatever it is, it probably involves most of the floor's help. It was neat all of a sudden constantly having company and friends to help with stuff. Over the summer, no longer. Sure, I mean, there are some people around, but not like during the year. During the summer it'd be pretty hard to just wander out into the hall and yell "Pour House???" and have a bunch of people yell "I'm in!" back at you (The Pour House is a bar/grill/restaurant in Boston that has half priced burgers on Saturday).

There are getting to be more and more people on campus but not the type of people you'd expect. Interphase just started so I see a lot of bright-eyed prefrosh running around with backpacks but they're all living in Next House. There's some conference or something happening somewhere on campus that has caused Conner 4 and Conner 5 to become filled with a bunch of Asian people I've never seen before, and there was a summer camp that I think is over now. I believe RSI is started up but I don't actually know how to recognize those kids, and I keep seeing kids with poster boards and suits wandering in and out of Baker so something is going on there. Other than that, in terms of actual MIT students, campus is quite empty. Of course, this isn't made any better by my work hours, the second thing that's different about life during the summer.

2) My sleep schedule is wonky
During the school year I had a pretty consistent sleep schedule, go to bed somewhere between 12 and 1 and get up at around 8. It netted me a good amount of sleep and gave me time to do homework. Unfortunately, here in MIT land, a 9 o'clock class (which my schedule was full of) is considered buttcrack of dawn early and is a time slot loathed by almost everybody. Lucky me, I've had 9 o'clock classes since the year started and then I looked at the classes I have to take for my major (Mech E, course 2). Every single course 2 class starts at either 9:00 or 9:30 for all four years of college. Wonderful, I picked the major with the worst possible times for classes.

For better or for worse, my MIT sleep schedule has absolutely nothing to do with my summer sleep schedule. You see, instead of a 9:00 AM class I instead have to be at work by 7:30 AM. I work in Rhode Island, meaning I have to catch the 6:25 AM commuter rail to get there. Of course, the commuter rail leaves from South Station so I need to get there first, meaning I have to leave the Kendall MIT T stop at 5:48 AM. Before that I need to wake up, shower, get ready for work, and then travel to the T stop, bringing my wake-up time to 4:45 AM. Yum.

I finish work at 4:45 PM and catch the commuter rail back at 5:23 PM. I get back to Boston at around 6:40 PM, take the T to the Kendall MIT T station, and then eventually get back to my room at 7:00 PM. If I were to go to bed right when I got back to the dorm I would get 9:45 of sleep. I don't go to bed right when I get back though, I answer e-mails, check blogs, watch YouTube, and catch up on TV (thank you thank you thank you ABC for putting your shows online in HD. I've been watching The Mole, probably the best reality show out there). I usually end up asleep by 11ish, giving me almost six hours of sleep, something you'll learn to live on at MIT.

3) It's harder to do Laundry without TechCash.
MIT has this awesome payment method known as TechCash. It lets you store money on your ID card and use that to pay for a variety of things. Since you always have your ID card on you, you theoretically always have money on you. My college loans feed partially into TechCash and I make good use of it. I use it for laundry, food, The Coop, Economy Hardware, and anybody else that'll take it. Unfortunately for me, my TechCash ran out and my loans don't carry over through the summer, meaning I have no TechCash. For those of you who know me, this is not an insignificant thing. I live on TechCash. I also launder my clothing with the help of TechCash, but since I can't do that anymore I find myself rummaging around in my room for quarters more often than I'd prefer. It's hard to just "find" 24 quarters to do laundry, but I've been managing so far. I think I'll have to buy quarters soon though, finding another 24 isn't going to happen.

Oh, and don't use the washer in the corner.

Yes, this is the actual layout of our laundry room

4) There's not a lot to blog about.
My life has been reduced to work, internet, sleep, repeat. As such, there are very few exciting things for me to blog about. Amazing things happen at work every day but because of all sorts of nondisclosure agreements I can't tell you about them. I'll try to write an entry about work shortly and fill it with as much stuff as I can but I'll have to leave some things out. I could write about admissions (admissions blogger, what?) but we've hit this cool period of limbo between classes. Class of '12 is pretty set to go and doesn't have a whole lot left to do for the summer except wait for housing results and pack (note to self, do entry about packing) while the potential '13s don't even have an application to work on yet so there's not a whole lot to do with that. This is why I haven't been updating as frequently, because frankly, you'd be bored and I don't like boring people (double meaning fully intended).

So now I leave you with a nice little video that has nothing to do with college, MIT, admissions, or anything else. Can I be fired for this? Meh.

If you're reading this site right now, odds are Ben has touched your life in at least some small way. He created this community and made it what it is today. His writing has entertained, informed, and inspired. And he has befriended hundreds of MIT students, alums, and parents, not to mention hundreds more students who weren't admitted to MIT or chose to enroll elsewhere. For Ben, this was truly more than a job.

So please use the comments thread in this post to leave your best wishes for Ben as he embarks on a new journey. We'll miss you, Ben.

The first post: August 6, 2004

This is the one that started it all. Back when there were just a few bloggers, including Ben, myself, and the ever-awesome Mitra.

"All About The Author"

Hi folks,

My name is Ben Jones and I work in the MIT admissions office. My job, among other things, is to manage this site. I write stuff, I edit stuff, I design stuff, I format stuff, I code stuff. I try to keep my finger on the MIT pulse and chase people around campus to get stories and tips.

My team is a force. We sleep outside offices and dorm rooms when people try to hide from us and our pursuit of content. And we promise to serve you well in your quest to learn more about MIT.

[read more]

Ben's First Sentimental Post: December 16, 2004

In what would become his trademark, this is Ben's first post of emotional truth. If more people in admissions could open their hearts the way Ben does, the world would be a much better place.

"There Is No Formula"

Trying to define admissions with a formula is like trying to define life with a formula. It's like trying to explain poetry using calculus. It would take the human component out of it, which is perhaps the most important part.

Reading through [a blog and discussion about test scores] doesn't make me think of SAT scores or grades. It makes me think of the guy who fell in love with trains as a kid and worked so hard to include the world in that passion that Amtrak noticed and gave him a job before he could even drive. It makes me think of the girl who chose to commute an hour each way to attend a certain school, and the amazing friendship she developed with the bus driver that reinforced her dream of becoming a teacher. It makes me think of one girl's amazing photograph of a swing and how that image says more about the world than any test ever could.

Of course you need good scores and good grades to get into MIT. But most people who apply to MIT have good grades and scores. Having bad grades or scores will certainly hurt you, but I'm sorry to say that having great grades and scores doesn't really help you - it just means that you're competitive with most of the rest of our applicants. MIT is very self-selecting in that regard.

It's who you are that really matters. It's how you embrace life. It's how you treat other people. It's passion. And yes, that stuff really does drip off the page in the best of our applications. It's not anything I can explain - you just know when you read an application and a "perfect match" is there.

[read more]

The Beard Period: January 28 - March 11, 2005

Ben vows not to shave until Regular Action decisions are released.

"The Beard, The Name, The Response, and EC"

The Beard. As you've probably noticed in the picture above, I'm getting kindof hairy, much to the chagrin of my wife. There's a story behind this: I challenged the other admissions officers to a "no-shave" reading period, culminating with a ceremonious shave on mailing day in March. Only one other has embraced this pact with me: the fantastic and wonderful Juan Salvador Acosta. (You guys should write to Matt and tell him to join us!) I'll post some "beard progress" pictures over the next month. But when you see that picture at the top change to clean-shaven Ben, you'll know that the decisions have been mailed.

[read more]

"And Then There Was One"

Folks, it is a sad, sad day in the MIT Admissions Office.

Juan Salvador Acosta has broken the pact and succumbed to the mighty razor. His face is as smooth as a baby's, as they say.

Which leaves yours truly as the only remaining wookie.

I must go now and weep gently. May my beard catch the tears that would otherwise run with the ink of your applications.

[read more]

"Stu Saves The Pact"

Just when I thought I couldn't make it through another minute of the agony of yesterday's events, I walked into our weekly staff meeting to discover that Stu is HAIRY!

Yes, friends, Stu Schmill '86, Admissions Officer and Director of the Educational Council, has become my new bearded hero.

[read more]

"In The Mail"

Well folks, the time has come. Note that the pic up top has changed to reflect the clean-shaven face, as promised...

[read more]

Ben Announces Huge News on the Blog: February 24, 2005

Clearly, the biggest news until May 15, 2008.

"Very, Very Important News"

Seth and Summer are back together! Seth and Summer are back together! Seth and Summer are back together! Seth and Summer are back together! Seth and Summer are back together!

[read more] [what Ben was talking about]

Ben's First Bad Haiku on the Blogs

Bad haiku will be Ben's legacy (wait 'til the fall...).

"Bad Haiku"

McGann's new toy, it
accelerates particles
Too... fast... black hole... oooooops.

[read more]

The First CPW 'Meet The Bloggers': April 9, 2005

The beginning of a tradition!

"CPW Day 3"

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Ben, the Rockstar (Part 1): July 29 / August 2, 2005

Ben was well-known not just for admissions, but also for rocking out...

"I'm A Famous Rockstar"

That title is misleading - I'm famous, and I'm a rockstar, but I'm not famous for being a rockstar. :-)

First, the "rockstar" bit. We had our CD Release show last week @ Harpers Ferry, which we somehow managed to fill with people. It was AWESOME. A great way to start my mini-vacation (which is where I've been hiding). So I've got CD's now; stop by 3-107 if you want to grab one.

[read more]

"Want To Play Music @ MIT?"

When I got my first guitar at age 3, I immediately began dreaming of playing with (and for) other people. This dream took many forms when I got to college - I played solo in coffeehouses, as half of an acoustic duo in auditoriums, as part of a band in various bars & clubs....

[read more]

The Vision Realized (Part 1): August 10, 2005

The MIT Admissions homepage wasn't always as awesome as it is now; it took a series of visions from Ben to have it become what it is now.

"Where We've Been And Where We're Going"

...within a few months, those little blogs, buried at the bottom of the page, were getting all of the traffic.

For months I brainstormed on how to take that energy and translate it to the rest of MyMIT, as it had been designed. It couldn't be done. Meanwhile, the blogs just seemed to get more and more popular...

I'm a big believer in finding something that works and going with it, regardless of the details. MyMIT was never designed to be dominated by the blogs, but let's face it - the blogs are what give the site its power.

So this year, the blogs aren't tucked away in a hidden corner. Come September, we'll have twelve student blogs and five staff blogs - seventeen in all - and MyMIT has never been stronger. With tens of thousands of hits each week and requests to speak at national admissions conferences so that other schools can start similar programs - I'd say we're on the right path. After a year of trying to find that path, I can't tell you what a relief it is to be where we are.

[read more]

Ben takes on College Confidential: October 05, 2005

One of the most linked-to writings Ben has done. It was beautiful.

"Many Ways To Define "The Best""

Some parents wrote to me and asked me to contribute my opinions to a College Confidential thread about the pressure to load up on AP classes. Obviously my response is directed to parents, but I thought it was important enough to post it here as well:

...Make sure your kids are choosing their schools for the right reasons. Name, status, "brand" - these are not the right reasons. Let your kids be kids. Let them follow their hearts. Encourage them to have a present, not just a future. Don't let them define themselves by which colleges accept them - and don't let them define themselves by doing things only to get into certain colleges.

The machine is fed from all sides. USNWR, the media in general, the GC's, the parents, the colleges and universities, the high-priced independent counselors, the test prep people...

My kids are still many years away from college, and I'm no expert on the parent side of this process. But I do know one thing: I will fight to protect them from all of this, to help them with perspective and clarity. Because if I don't, who will?

Because if we don't, who will?

[read more]

The First Big Blogger Outing: December 19, 2005

After the big expansion of the blog program, this was our first big all-blogger outing. You'll recognize these folks.

"Happy Holidays!"

[read more]

The Evie Contest: February 27, 2006

Ben is (in)famous in the office for his Photoshop skills...

"Fun With Photoshop"

Things are still pretty crazy around here, so until I get a chance to post, I'll keep you entertained with the following.

As you know if you follow Matt's blog, my colleague Joanne's dog Evie is somewhat of an office mascot. What you may not know is that Joanne is, like me, a die-hard Lost fan. Not only does she love the riveting storylines and character development, she also thinks Sawyer is cute.

So last week, I combined her two loves into a desktop for her computer:

[read more]

Ben's Most Famous Entry, Ever

Good luck topping this one, Oberlin Vice President of Communications. (I'll repost this one in its entirety)

"It's More Than A Job"

In response to an earlier entry of mine, this post appeared on College Confidential:

You know, I get sick of college admissions officers saying how they couldn't accept so many wonderful people. While it's supposed to be comforting, obviously, I just find it really insincere. I mean, either you're accepted or you're not. There is no grey area... so they shouldn't try to sugarcoat the harsh reality.

I'm thankful to whomever posted this, because it really made me think. It's certainly a fair post, and I imagine a lot of our applicants share these sentiments. A million years ago when I was applying to college, perhaps I would have felt the same way.

I've written before about how the class is selected, but I'm too tired to dig up the post so I'll give a quick recap. First you apply. Your application is read by a senior staff member who will look for deal-breakers (like a bunch of D's, for example). Assuming you're competitive, your application is then read by a primary reader who will summarize it at length for the committee. Then a second reader (and sometimes a third) will read and write their own summaries. Then it will go to selection committee, where multiple groups of different admissions staff and faculty members will weigh in on it. Assuming you've made it that far, the senior staff will then review it again. Approximately 12 people (give or take) will significantly discuss and debate your application before you're admitted. This is all very intentional; committee decisions ensure that every decision is correct in the context of the overall applicant pool, and that no one individual's bias or preferences or familiarity with a given case has any chance of swaying a decision unfairly.

With that in mind, let me tell you a little bit about what my job is like from November through March. Three days a week, I take a random bunch of applications to the public library, find a quiet corner, and immerse myself in your lives.

I read about your triumphs, I read about your dreams, I read about the tragedies that define you. I read about your passions, your inventions, your obsession with video games, dance, Mozart, Monet. I read about the person close to you who died. I read about your small towns, your big cities, the week you spent abroad that changed your life. I read about your parents getting divorced, your house burning down, your girlfriend cheating on you. I read about the car you rebuilt with your dad, the championship debate you lost, the team you led to failure, the performance you aced. I read about the people you've helped and the people you've hurt. I read about how you've stood tall in the face of racism, homophobia, poverty, injustice.

Then I read about the lives you've changed - a math or science teacher, a humanities teacher, a counselor. I read the things that they probably don't say to your face for fear of inflating your ego: that you're the best in their careers, that kids like you are the reason they chose to be a teacher in the first place, that they're better people for having known you.

If you've had an interview, I get to read about how you come across in person to someone you've just met - how your face lights up at the mention of cell biology, how you were five minutes late because you had an audition, how your smile can fill a room, how you simply shine.

(Your grades and scores are clearly competitive or your application wouldn't be on my pile in the first place.)

By now I'm fully invested in you so I write a gazillion nice things about you in your summary and I'm smiling the whole time. I talk about your depth, all the ways you're a great match to MIT, all the things I know you'll contribute to campus. I conclude with phrases like "clear admit" and "perfect choice." In my head I imagine bumping into you on the Infinite Corridor, asking you how your UROP is going, seeing your a cappella group perform.

I come home each night and tell my wife over dinner how lucky I am, because I never seem to pick boring applications out of the pile. In fact, I tell her, I'm inspired enough by the stories I read to think that the world might actually turn out to be okay after all.

In March I go into committee with my colleagues, having narrowed down my top picks to a few hundred people. My colleagues have all done the same. Then the numbers come in: this year's admit rate will be 13%. For every student you admit, you need to let go of seven others.

What? But I have so many who... But...

And then the committee does its work, however brutal. It's not pretty, but at least it's fair. (And by fair I mean fair in the context of the applicant pool; of course it's not fair that there are so few spots for so many qualified applicants.)

When it's all over, about 13% of my top picks are offered admission. I beg, I plead, I make ridiculous promises (just ask the senior staff) but at the end of the day, a committee decision is a committee decision.

Of my many favorites this year, there were a few who really got to me, and when they didn't get in, the tears came. Some would call me foolish for getting this wrapped up in the job, but honestly, I couldn't do this job if I disconnected myself from the human component of it. It's my job to present you to the committee; if your dream of being at MIT didn't become my dream on some small level, then really, why am I doing this at all? Others would disagree, but then, others aren't me.

To the 87% of you who have shared your lives with us and trusted us with your stories over the last four months, please know that they meant something to me, and I won't forget you. When I say that I share the pain of these decisions with you, I'm not lying. I'm really not lying.

To the person up there who said "while it's supposed to be comforting, obviously, I just find it really insincere" - you have it backwards. I don't expect it (or anything else) to be comforting at this moment. But insincere? No. Not that.

Just got confirmation that the USPS picked up the mail (for real), so it's on the way. I'll be thinking about all of you.

Ben, the Rockstar (Part 2): | May 04, 2006

During CPW 2006, Ben did the first of two Battle of the Bands performances. Easily the highlight of the year.

"The Night I Shared A Stage With Marilee"

[read more]

One of my favorite t-shirts: May 26, 2006

...designed by Ben, of course.

"Varsity Blogging"

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The First Blogger Application: July 12, 2006

People are always shocked that we actually have this whole application process to become a blogger. But the funniest reaction came when we had an "early action" and "regular action" for the blog appliation process...

"So You Wanna Be A Blogger?"

To be considered in the EA round, you should email me (benjones at you-know-the-rest) by July 31st, 2006 and:

• Provide a link to your "portfolio" - in other words, your current blog.
• If you post regularly on any admissions forums such as College Confidential, please provide URL's and username/screenname/etc.
• Tell me what you submitted for your housing choices (in order of preference), what you're considering for a major (list all possibilities), and what activities you hope to become involved with at MIT.
• Write a short essay (100 words or so) responding to this prompt: "At 4:42 PM EST, an aardvark sprang from its burrow and headed southwest. Assuming a trajectory of 42.6 degrees for said aardvark, where is the banana and why is that man chartreuse?"

[read more]

The Vision Realized (Part 2): August 17, 2006

The MIT Admissions homepage you've come to know and love is prepared.

"A Preview Of My Summer Project"

So here's a sneak peek at what I've been working on all summer... the new admissions site. I can't wait for this baby to launch!

IMAGE #1: the new homepage. It will provide you with the latest 10 blog entries, regardless of author. You will no longer have to check each blogger's box to see if he/she has posted recently. You'll also get streamlined admissions bulletins, deadlines, and faq's. New top navigation will take the guesswork out of what's in each section by providing drop down menus with entire subnav - one click from the homepage will take you to any other section of the site.

[read more]

The List: August 23, 2006

This is another one I'll reprint in its entirety.

"50 Things"

Dear Class of 2010,

This will be my last entry written specifically for you; beginning with the launch of our new site in early September, I'll begin focusing on the future class of 2011. I hope that you guys won't be strangers; stay in touch either in person (come visit us!) or online (please drop by the blogs from time to time and say hi).

As you begin your college experience, and I prepare for my 10-year college reunion, I thought I'd leave you with the things that, in retrospect, I think are important as you navigate the next four years. I hope that some of them are helpful.

Here goes...

1. Your friends will change a lot over the next four years. Let them.
2. Call someone you love back home a few times a week, even if just for a few minutes.
3. In college more than ever before, songs will attach themselves to memories. Every month or two, make a mix cd, mp3 folder, whatever - just make sure you keep copies of these songs. Ten years out, they'll be as effective as a journal in taking you back to your favorite moments.
4. Take naps in the middle of the afternoon with reckless abandon.
5. Adjust your schedule around when you are most productive and creative. If you're nocturnal and do your best work late at night, embrace that. It may be the only time in your life when you can.
6. If you write your best papers the night before they are due, don't let people tell you that you "should be more organized" or that you "should plan better." Different things work for different people. Personally, I worked best under pressure - so I always procrastinated... and always kicked ass (which annoyed my friends to no end). ;-) Use the freedom that comes with not having grades first semester to experiment and see what works best for you.
7. At least a few times in your college career, do something fun and irresponsible when you should be studying. The night before my freshman year psych final, my roommate somehow scored front row seats to the Indigo Girls at a venue 2 hours away. I didn't do so well on the final, but I haven't thought about psych since 1993. I've thought about the experience of going to that show (with the guy who is now my son's godfather) at least once a month ever since.
8. Become friends with your favorite professors. Recognize that they can learn from you too - in fact, that's part of the reason they chose to be professors.
9. Carve out an hour every single day to be alone. (Sleeping doesn't count.)
10. Go on dates. Don't feel like every date has to turn into a relationship.
11. Don't date someone your roommate has been in a relationship with.
12. When your friends' parents visit, include them. You'll get free food, etc., and you'll help them to feel like they're cool, hangin' with the hip college kids.
13. In the first month of college, send a hand-written letter to someone who made college possible for you and describe your adventures thus far. It will mean a lot to him/her now, and it will mean a lot to you in ten years when he/she shows it to you.
14. Embrace the differences between you and your classmates. Always be asking yourself, "what can I learn from this person?" More of your education will come from this than from any classroom.
15. All-nighters are entirely overrated.
16. For those of you who have come to college in a long-distance relationship with someone from high school: despite what many will tell you, it can work. The key is to not let your relationship interfere with your college experience. If you don't want to date anyone else, that's totally fine! What's not fine, however, is missing out on a lot of defining experiences because you're on the phone with your boyfriend/girlfriend for three hours every day.
17. Working things out between friends is best done in person, not over email. (IM does not count as "in person.") Often someone's facial expressions will tell you more than his/her words.
18. Take risks.
19. Don't be afraid of (or excited by) the co-ed bathrooms. The thrill is over in about 2 seconds.
20. Wednesday is the middle of the week; therefore on wednesday night the week is more than half over. You should celebrate accordingly. (It makes thursday and friday a lot more fun.)
21. Welcome failure into your lives. It's how we grow. What matters is not that you failed, but that you recovered.
22. Take some classes that have nothing to do with your major(s), purely for the fun of it.
23. It's important to think about the future, but it's more important to be present in the now. You won't get the most out of college if you think of it as a stepping stone.
24. When you're living on a college campus with 400 things going on every second of every day, watching TV is pretty much a waste of your time and a waste of your parents' money. If you're going to watch, watch with friends so at least you can call it a "valuable social experience."
25. Don't be afraid to fall in love. When it happens, don't take it for granted. Celebrate it, but don't let it define your college experience.
26. Much of the time you once had for pleasure reading is going to disappear. Keep a list of the books you would have read had you had the time, so that you can start reading them when you graduate.
27. Things that seem like the end of the world really do become funny with a little time and distance. Knowing this, forget the embarassment and skip to the good part.
28. Every once in awhile, there will come an especially powerful moment when you can actually feel that an experience has changed who you are. Embrace these, even if they are painful.
29. No matter what your political or religious beliefs, be open-minded. You're going to be challenged over the next four years in ways you can't imagine, across all fronts. You can't learn if you're closed off.
30. If you need to get a job, find something that you actually enjoy. Just because it's work doesn't mean it has to suck.
31. Don't always lead. It's good to follow sometimes.
32. Take a lot of pictures. One of my major regrets in life is that I didn't take more pictures in college. My excuse was the cost of film and processing. Digital cameras are cheap and you have plenty of hard drive space, so you have no excuse.
33. Your health and safety are more important than anything.
34. Ask for help. Often.
35. Half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at any given moment. Way more than half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at some point in the next four years. Get used to it.
36. In ten years very few of you will look as good as you do right now, so secretly revel in how hot you are before it's too late.
37. In the long run, where you go to college doesn't matter as much as what you do with the opportunities you're given there. The MIT name on your resume won't mean much if that's the only thing on your resume. As a student here, you will have access to a variety of unique opportunities that no one else will ever have - don't waste them.
38. On the flip side, don't try to do everything. Balance = well-being.
39. Make perspective a priority. If you're too close to something to have good perspective, rely on your friends to help you.
40. Eat badly sometimes. It's the last time in your life when you can do this without feeling guilty about it.
41. Make a complete ass of yourself at least once, preferably more. It builds character.
42. Wash your sheets more than once a year. Trust me on this one.
43. If you are in a relationship and none of your friends want to hang out with you and your significant other, pay attention. They usually know better than you do.
44. Don't be afraid of the weird pizza topping combinations that your new friend from across the country loves. Some of the truly awful ones actually taste pretty good. Expand your horizons.
45. Explore the campus thoroughly. Don't get caught.
46. Life is too short to stick with a course of study that you're no longer excited about. Switch, even if it complicates things.
47. Tattoos are permanent. Be very certain.
48. Don't make fun of prefrosh. That was you like 2 hours ago.
49. Enjoy every second of the next four years. It is impossible to describe how quickly they pass.
50. This is the only time in your lives when your only real responsibility is to learn. Try to remember how lucky you are every day.

Be yourself. Create. Inspire, and be inspired. Grow. Laugh. Learn. Love.

Welcome to some of the best years of your lives.

-B

I Think I'd Want To Be Randy. Or Maybe Simon: February 22, 2007

Really, we probably talk about American Idol too much.

"MIT Idol"

I'd also add Simon, Paula, and Randy to our selection committee, and I'd also have each applicant apply in person. Because then we could have scenes like this:

Randy: Dog, it was just okay for me. You want me to keep it real, right? Alright, it just didn't work. The curriculum was just too big for you. You should have picked classes that you could have actually passed.

Paula: You know what? You're a star. Your handwriting is beautiful, you look great, and I really like you. I'm not sure MIT is the place for you, but you're really going to go far in life and have gorgeous kids and save the world.

Simon: When you do math in public, how do people generally react? Is this an application to MIT or to pre-school? You are absolutely forgettable. I could go into any middle school and find 6th graders I'd rather admit.

Paula: Oh stop, it really wasn't that bad. You shine, you know fractions really well. You're beautiful.

Ryan: Would you like to respond to Simon?

Applicant: Um, uh, I thought it was okay...

Simon: You haven't taken any math since ninth grade, you failed bio, chem, and physics, and you have a 220 on your math SAT. You know when you're at a wedding and someone has a little too much wine and gets up on stage and tries to integrate? That was you tonight.

Crowd: Booooooooo.

Simon: It's true.

Ryan: If you'd like to vote for this applicant, call 888-MIT-IDOL or text MIT on your Cingular phone which is now AT&T which was formerly AT&T which was formerly Cingular which might be Cingular again in a few months.

Randy: DOG POUND!

Dog Pound: Woot!

[commercial]

And on that note, my friends, selection committee beckons.

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'Your Personal Mikey': March 28, 2007

This one still makes me laugh when I think of it.

"Brain Dump"

Your Personal Mikey

So the lovely and talented Mari sent the following email to the staff yesterday:

As you are probably aware, we have an unprecedented number of CPW events happening this year. I'm concerned that the events won't fit into the booklet considering its current size and saddle-stitch binding. Which of these options would you prefer?

1) Print the academic class schedule separately from the general program schedule

2) Use a spiral-bound booklet instead of a saddle-stitch booklet

3) Increase the size of the booklet to 8.5 x 11

Thoughts?

The resulting email thread quickly descended into chaos, with each member of the staff weighing the pros and cons of each option and arriving at different conclusions.

With no resolution in sight, I sent the following at the end of the day:

I think we should clone Mikey 1000 times after he's memorized the whole booklet. Then each prefrosh can have a personal Mikey and, at any given time, the prefrosh can say "yo Mikey what's going on right now" and his or her personal Mikey will be like "there are actually 29847596 things going on right now, but personally I'd recommend..." (and the recommendation would be based on the prefrosh's preferences, which would be established with his or her personal Mikey early on. Perhaps we could even frontload the Mikeys prior to CPW with each prefrosh's preferences?

Oh, and also each Mikey would sing its prefrosh to sleep at night with his or her favorite song (Mikey was a Log).

This option is clearly superior to #'s 1-3.

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The Second Blogger Application: June 26, 2007

The short answers get even better this time.

"Call For Bloggers"

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?

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I Can Has Internet Meme?: November 27, 2007

I wish I had thought of this first.

"LOLZ CATS"

Have you guys all seen this silly thing? Yeah, I thought so. It already has its own Wikipedia page.

I made you one. It will describe my life over the last few weeks better than any blog entry could. :-)

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The Awesomeness Formula: March 26, 2008

I think my job is at least 65.27% awesome.

"Updates And Shannon's Formula"

In this post I mentioned that Shannon '12 had created a job-awesomeness formula for me. To understand it, you must first read the email conversation that we had on the day decisions were released:

Shannon: Times like this make me convinced you have the best job in the world. And then I [think about the admit rate], and I think your job sucks. Just fyi.

Ben: My job is 11.6% best-job-in-the-world (this year's admit rate) and 88.4% this-job-sucks. Except... while in the first few post-decision weeks the sadness for rejected students outweighs the joy for admitted ones, that ratio soon reverses and becomes a landslide win for the joy, which sticks with you through the years (because you see the students you admitted every day, and they remind you). So you have to adjust the 11.6% and 88.4% accordingly. I'll leave it to you to put all of this into some sort of algorithm or formula to determine whether the job nets joy or sadness as a function of time.

A few hours later...

Shannon: While I had to assume 100% happiness when not making decisions and make up a few arbitrary dates and vacation times and take away your weekends, a rough estimate says your job is ~65.27% awesome. Work is attached.

Yep, this pretty much made my day.

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Ben's Last 'Meet The Bloggers': April 14, 2008

Compare the group shot versus the first MTB photo -- look how it has grown!

"MTB Party Pic & TechTV CPW Coverage"

A big thanks to Chris Merrill '12 for sending me the group photo from our Meet The Bloggers party. If I shrink it down to fit here, you won't be able to identify anyone, so I'll just link to the big version:

MTB Party Group Photo

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The Announcement: May 15, 2008

Even bigger than Seth & Summer getting back together.

"Big News"

I've been putting off writing this entry for a week, because I simply don't really know how to write it. There are so many things I want to say, and yet so many of them don't attach well to words - only to strong feelings and emotions, the way certain songs bring back the intangible moments of one's childhood.

I think I'll just start with the facts and save the long, introspective part for a later entry, once I've had a chance to really process all of this.

In a nutshell: after four incredible years here, I'm going to be leaving MIT in July. I'll also be leaving Boston, which has been my home for more than a decade, and which will always be the city I love more than any other. It's a lot to digest, and it's going to take some time.

I guess you probably want to know the details. I'm heading back to Oberlin, my alma mater, where I've just been appointed Vice President for Communications - I'll be overseeing communications strategy for the whole college. Those of you with whom I've spoken about Oberlin know how deeply I love the place, and at this critical moment in its history, it needs me - in many of the same ways that MIT did four years ago - to help it tell its story to the world. It's a tremendous professional opportunity, but to me it feels more like a calling than a job.

Nothing can lighten the sadness of leaving MIT. I may not be an alum, but I did spend four very intense years here. I may not have taken 8.02, but I also didn't get summers off the way you slackers do... so let's just call it even. ;-) As Nance says, I may have been born into the Oberlin family and married into the MIT family, but one is no less significant than the other.

So while I may be leaving MIT physically, I'll never leave MIT - it's too much a part of me. I'll just be more like an alum than a current student.

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So, those are some of the highlights. Do you have a favorite Ben entry, or favorite Ben moment?

Well, I'm going to now, because someone asked me if I thought DEAPS would be fun. Would it be fun or would it be a waste of time/money? they ask. As someone who they'd heard had participated in a pre-orientation program they thought I'd be able to help. Instead, I wrote back, dude hang on I'm totally going to blog about this, and didn't for a few days.

That's because I actually got busy with my UROP. Blah blah blah motor trouble turns one way but not the other why me don't leave me alone with this oh for god's sake watch out for the 1000 dollar star plate. It was all resolved and put back together, at least all the screws appear to be in their right holes, in a 10 hour marathon lab day, which was today, and that's why I sit down and write this. The motor is turning. I've destroyed nothing. That's a good day.

3 years ago at this time, life couldn't have been moving faster. Who was I? I was a recent graduate of Hamden High School, #6 in my class, good grades fine scores, decent essays, and for some unknown cosmic reason, MIT bound. And from then on, bound to MIT. I say this cause I don't think anyone ever escapes the tether of this place, there's something about these walls, something homely and subtle that just so gently enough creeps its way under your skin, without notice over the course of years, fuses with your bones, phases through the walls of your veins, until at some point you don't know any more where you end and this place begins. Sometimes it's so quiet here, or nothing is moving, or everything is moving, or the rush of people you wouldn't believe. I haven't decided which of these MITs feels most like home to me.

I didn't know all this then. My perception of MIT was all fire and lights. (I was temp'ed in EC during CPW) How much is the real MIT like that? Maybe 5%. And it's a good thing, I think. Because, really, you will find your niche. Freshman year I considered an EAPS major (course 12), DEAPS was going to Yellowstone and I was going with them. If you're taking a trip with an Freshman Pre-Orientation Program this year, several factors will probably combine to make this one of the more exhilarating, memorable experiences of your life.

I. Everything was a new thing and it lasted forever. 16 kids or so went to yellow stone with me and several professors and graduate students. I was amazed by the most mundane exchanges because they were with MIT students. They were elite company, they were just like me, and I was sure each one of them was smarter than I was. 9 days and 8 nights was the itinerary, if I recall correctly. We would camp in the park, at an altitude of about 8000 feet, near Yellowstone Lake, days would be dry and sweaty, nights would be near freezing. We brought gear. On the first day we flew into bozeman montana felt small against the wide flat terrain and packed into several white vans (to be later christened with various yellowstone-related names, "Bison Without A Cause" is the one I always tried to ride in) and drove toward the distant mountains. On the way there a flat tire.

II. I shared a tent with Tamara and Danielle. It was something like a 6 person tent occupied by 3 people which sounded great at sundown when we were pitching but turned on us right quick as soon as the temperatures plunged and boy did it ever. We coped by huddling in one corner of the tent and leaving the rest empty and cold and air. Some nights I woke up miserable. One night I had to pee and oh how I tried to fall back to sleep and hold it til morning, grappled terribly with the decision and finally moving as little as possible, switched on the flashlight by my pillow and watched my breath in the air for a while working up the nerve. Another night I was sure my head was on fire and I sat up in my sleeping bag and scratched and scratched and I could swear 1000 bugs couldn't have made it itch so bad. A few nights it rained and after the first I never laid out my clothes to dry on the ground outside again.

III. Our first full day at the park we walked through a marsh. We were headed to Sylvan Springs, an off-the-map site at Yellowstone gained access to only with a research license (which was pretty awesome for a prefrosh). Getting there sucked. Taking their advice I'd dressed in layers. The early morning hours (6am wakeup time) called for sweatpants, 2 sweatshirts and a jacket. Under that I skeptically slipped in a pair of shorts and a black tanktop. We left before 8am. I brought my backpack, which before we even parked our vans (at around 10am), became home to the jacket and both sweatshirts. We were an impressive sight, a 4-van caravan everywhere we went. We were told to keep on our long pants for walking through tall grass. The way there was hours of hiking. Here I'll post a couple pictures I took during the hike.

Sylvan Springs had been a lush green tourist mecca. A geological change a few decades ago caused the water in the hot springs to turn into sulfuric acid. Ever since it's been oozing down the sides of the hills, killing all the vegetation in its way. Sylvan Springs as we saw it was a whitewashed ghost of its former self.

That's me in the black tanktop.

It was still beautiful, as only a sight like that could be. We took some measurements, which even then I saw as symbolic but still made you feel like a bit of a budding scientist.

My shoes were soaked, the kids with boots that day were the clear winners, and my pants up to my knee. That's why I laid them out that night. To dry. I found them in the morning about 20 feet down hill in a wet, muddy, pile. I threw them in the dumpster. My shoes were never rescuable either. They started stinking unbelievably that next night and just only got danker and more horrible as time went on.

We cooked at night, vegetarian meal because of the vegetarian in the group. Pasta and corn and all kinds. Lit a fire to keep warm. Bed time was whenever the fire went out.

IV. One night it was a clear lovely night and a group of us drove down in a van to the widest open space we could find in the dark (which was, funny enough, a parking lot down by the lake) and looked up. I was seeing the milky way the cross-section of our own galaxy like a broad stroke of a paint brush across the sky and I couldn't believe it. There were more stars than I could take in at once. I stared and stared. It made me dizzy so I laid down on the ground and I kept on staring. It's weird thinking back. Maybe it was then that I developed the love for telescopes, that I decided I could be an astrophysicist.

V. We drove by the lake on our way anywhere, every evening it was a dark void and every morning it was brilliant light.

V.(a) Sometimes buffalo crossings stopped traffic for hours.

VI. I was petrified on the slopes of the petrified forest. We climbed a vertical 1000 feet, some of the way on our hands and knees on loose rocks. The slope was enough to give you vertigo. I was sure I was going to die. I found a fossil.

Below us were wide valleys carved out by glaciers during the ice age. They left huge rocks scattered around like dust on the valley floor.

On our way up we saw far below us a black bear roaming the clearings. On the way back down after our picnic lunch I got separated from the group and as I passed through the region of the sighting I made as much noise as possible and fashioned a weapon out of sticks.

Some time later I slipped on a loose rock on my way down and slid some 20 feet on my butt down the mountain. That night I spent a couple of minutes being really thankful for being alive.

VI. Wednesday halfway through the week we each took a $2 shower. The girls got to wash their hair, back in the vans everyone looked beautiful. Smelled great. Laughed a lot.

VII. Day trip to the Grand Tetons.

A lift took us from 6000 to elevation 10,000 ft. The temperature dropped from 65 to 27 degrees in the broad day. Hiking around up there was tough. A bit of ill-advised running knocked me straight to the ground, I took way longer than I thought possible recovering.

The view was unreal.

VIII. We climbed to the top of a hill to look down on Grand Prismatic Spring. Later, we found ourselves on another hill facing a beautiful, snaking river. We learned about the microbes that give the hot spring color and mark it out in isothermals, the flood pattern of rivers, the migration of waterfalls, rhyolite rocks and flows, volcanic breccia, kinematic shock patterns... by the time we headed back it was starting to look like rain.

Sliding down a fault:

IX. I snapped pictures here and there. Sometimes it was all I could do to just take it in. The age of the place was written plainly on everything we could see and touch. The gravity of it all was overwhelming. If you stayed really still you could almost feel the earth shift and the mountains turn.

Here's something truly impressive. I love this picture: you can see the two layers of deposits one on top of the other put there by 2 giant eruptions, the first of which formed the yellowstone caldera and the yellowstone lake. The bottom layer is 2.1 million years old, the top 650,000. Like a huge, slowly morphing, rocky birthday cake.

X. You know, memories are all we have to remind us that we've lived. You don't need to find it in an FPOP, of course. But I always advise freshmen to sign up for them anyhow. Because sometimes it's putting MIT in context, sometimes it's that feeling of getting out there, sometimes it's just what you need for your beginnings on the world stage. And because it is probably just so much better than whatever else you could have planned for the week before orientation. Because, what if it does change your life?

I'm so excited for you. Now is the best time to be alive. As I said the trip was 9 hot days and 8 cold cold nights. It had begun with a 4 van procession on the wide open roads of the high plains and so that's where it ended. We were so tired we were napping on the floor of the airport. We were so dirty, too. But coming back to Boston to my penguin patterned temp room in EC and showers and beds and classes and changes, I kinda knew instinctively that I'd never be the same for it. And I haven't. I truly haven't.

For those of you who aren't familiar with The Colbert Report, there are some things you should know before you watch the below video clip. First, the show is a satirical program, poking fun at conservative political pundit programs like "The O'Reilly Factor." On the show, Colbert plays a character modeled after commentators like Bill O'Reilly. And, to help with context in the interview, you should know that Lou Dobbs is a television commentator famous for his opposition to illegal immigration, and you may also know want to know what a triffid is.

If you've got all that, enjoy!

If you're interested in seeing Prof. Diaz talk without being interrupted by Stephen Colbert, check out this talk he gave for Authors@Google promoting his book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao:

You can also listen to a more serious discussion -- check out this half-hour long interview from NPR's Fresh Air: 'Wondrous Life' Explores Multinationality.

Long-time readers may recall that blogger alum Mitra '07 took 21W.755: Writing and Reading Short Stories with Professor Diaz [see entry: "Classes - Spring 07"] and later blogged about the buzz for Oscar Wao on the class discussion list [see entry: "Running away with the field"].

I finished Oscar Wao on vacation in Germany a few weeks back, and it was a great book -- put it on your summer reading list!

Class of 2011,

Congratulations on completing your first year at MIT! It has been a tough year, filled with its ups and downs, and we hope that all of you are enjoying this well-deserved summer break thoroughly.

Towards the end of the school year, the class council announced its decision of a ring committee selected through an application and interview process, and many of you responded, pointing out the lack of east campus representation. The ensuing debate and class-wide discussion about why this happened and how it could be rectified continued for a number of days, and due to finals and other end-of-year items that were on everybody's mind, this discussion has continued into the summer as well.

Over the past few weeks, class council has been engaged in this discussion with members of the class of 2011, the current Ring Committee, and the MIT administration, and while we maintain that our application and interview process was fair, we have recognized that the committee that resulted from this process did indeed lack East Campus representation, and after much deliberation, we have decided to add a 13th member to the Ring Committee.

This additional member will be selected by interview from the list of EC, Random Hall, Bexley, and Senior House residents that had originally applied for the Ring Committee. The candidates for this position will be notified this week, and their interviews will be held via conference call (phone) starting later this week. We realize that during the summer, some of the candidates may be on vacation and unavailable, but we assure you that this important decision will not be made until every candidate has been interviewed.

If it were possible to do so, we would conduct this interview process in the Fall, when each candidate would be available for in-person interviews. However, the Ring Committee will be having some important discussions this summer, and it is in the current Ring Committee's and the 13th member's best interest for the committee to be finalized as soon as possible, so that the new member can be a part of the important decisions that will be made prior to the start of the school year.

Finally, with all that said, all of us on class council would like to thank you for taking so much interest in this process, for reading our many emails, and for responding. Now, it is our hope that the selection process for the 13th member will go smoothly and that the final Ring Committee will be announced in the very near future.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to direct them to 2011council [at] mit [dot] edu. Thanks for your patience, and have a restful and satisfying summer!

Sincerely,
Your 2011 Class Council
Daniel, Anshul, Lulu, Sivakami, Sheena, May, Jeff, Emma

This was an extraordinary year across the admissions landscape, with some of our peer institutions needing to admit greater than 200 students from their waitlists. Large waitlist movement at a few schools has ripple effects, requiring longer waitlists at many colleges this year. We're glad that things have now settled down enough that we can conclude our admissions for this year and let the remaining waitlist students focus on their schools for the fall.

To those of you who stuck with us on the waitlist, thank you, and we wish you all the best at your college in the fall -- we know you will have a terrific and successful experience.

Best wishes,
MIT Admissions Waitlist Committee