101 questions we’ve asked ourselves at MIT by Kidist A. '22

My high school life was a cycle of home, school, and church. My parents were relatively strict about sleepovers and hanging out, so most of my friendships were limited to class time and extracurriculars. I centered my self-worth around academics and college admittance. So, imagine my shock when I began college and discovered many new, unfamiliar facets of identity.

There are so many nuances of friendships, academics, relationships, personalities, values, etc. that I was not aware of before college. And I don’t know why it took until coming here to realize that I’m my own person and that I have to take care of myself and I have to make decisions for me and suddenly I miss the innocence my parents had wrapped me in.

At the same time, this new independence has been exhilarating. I am discovering who I am and building the person I want to be. I am learning the opportunities and obstacles attached to autonomy. I’m experiencing so many different aspects of life and then working on assimilating that newfound knowledge with how I view the word or carry myself.

This story is not unique. Many of my friends at MIT are also on a similar journey and have all gone through their share of new experiences and the many questions that come with it. So, without further ado, I present to you 101 questions of all types that some bloggers, friends, and I have asked ourselves at some point in our MIT adventure so far.  And I assure you that these questions barely scratch the surface as we continue to learn and grow and live.

1. What am I going to major in?
2. Is a minor worth it? Should I even attempt to double major?
3. Should I make space to take classes I’m interested in even though it doesn’t fulfill any requirements? 
4. What classes am I even gonna take? Should I space out taking my GIRs or take them all as soon as possible? 
5. Should I join a sorority? Will people even want me? 
6. What am I gonna paint my room/how am I gonna decorate my room?
7. Does this person like me (the person can be referring to crush, friend, teacher, just the general questioning of if the people you hang around want you there)? 
8. What makes me worthy? Am I worthy because I am or because I do?
9. At what point do your actions determine who you are? Is it a balance? 
10. How do I apply to grad school?
11. How do I figure out what I need to do to get into grad school, or if I even want to go to grad school?
12. How do I get a credit card? Is getting one actually useful?
13. Should I have gone to my state school instead?
14. Would I have been happier at another school?
15. Are you still a good person if you hurt someone?
16. What makes life meaningful?
17. What is my purpose? 
18. Do I want to have children? How will having children affect my career? 
19. Should I have gone to a non-tech school?
20.  I never see anyone pay to get on the green line at Fenway but am I supposed to?
21. What’s the best road trip to take for a three day weekend?
22. What makes a good partner?
23. What makes a good friend? Am I a good friend?
24. What or who determines if an action is good or bad?
25. How to get rid of stains?
26. What am I gonna eat? How do I properly feed myself? 
27. Can I feed myself if I am off the meal plan?
28. What is a balanced meal? 
29. How do you even cook?
30. How do you have more than two meals a day? How do you make the time to eat more?
31. Where are my classes?
32. Should I go to office hours today?
33. What the hell are taxes? How do I even do my taxes? Do I have to submit those? Am I even qualified to submit taxes?
34.  Is this a stupid question to ask? Should I even ask this question? What if it’s too stupid to ask, but I don’t know what it means so how am I supposed to do this pset if I don’t know what it means?
35. What do I want to do after I graduate?
36. How do other people have enough time to do x classes and y clubs and z urops when I’m super busy with just 48 units of classes and one (1) sport? Am I just slow? Am I just bad at managing my time?
37. Is it even possible to achieve the trifecta of sleep, social life, and studies? 
38. What if my classmates think I’m stupid for asking so many questions? How can I ration the number of questions I ask so that they are not suspicious of my lack of intelligence?
39. How would my life be different if I didn’t do crew in the early mornings and stayed up late with my friends instead? Would that be a lot better socially?
40. How do I make friends with people who I think are cool? Will I scare them off?
41. Is everyone else struggling this hard/spending this much time on xyz?
42. How soon should I stop hanging out with my friends and start studying?
43. How formal should my email correspondence be with x authority figure?
44. How do I deal with losing or fading friendships?
45. What the hell is a cover letter?
46. What does it mean to “hang out”?
47. Do I have to fill out FAFSA/CSS every year? 
48. How do I figure out what I like when I don’t have the time to try everything? 
49. Am I valued?
50. Are these people my friends?
51. What medicine should I take if I am not feeling good? 
52. How do I stay active with a busy schedule? 
53. How do I pursue my hobbies when I am overwhelmed with schoolwork?
54. How do I redefine myself when my hobbies/values/activities are changing? 
55. What if I go down the wrong path in my career?
56. Bro, am I an adult???
57. How do I vote? How do I become more politically active? How do I handle jury duty? 
58. How do I find summer housing? What is a lease? 
59. How much uber-eating is too much?
60. Should I pretend like I don’t know this person’s name?
61. Should I move off-campus? Can I afford to move off-campus? 
62. Why are people wearing shorts in the winter? Are these people not cold?
63. How do you handle winter?
64. How are these people so smart?
65. How do people work or pset or study all day? 
66. How much does money matter? How much should money influence my career choices and other opportunities? 
67. Should I graduate knowing how to code?
68. How do you do laundry?
69. When do I need to know how to actually build things if I’m an engineer?
70. How often should I check my email? Am I checking too much?
71. Is it that hard to provide decent meals to students that pay $18 per meal at dining halls?
72. Am I smart? Am I creative? 
73. How do I maintain long-distance relationships and friendships? How often should I talk to my friends from high-school? 
74. When should I get a UROP?
75. Do I belong here? 
76. Should I transfer? 
77. Should I get a bike? Maybe a skateboard? A scooter? 
78. What are cool places to see in Boston and Cambridge? 
79. How do I make friends at other schools? 
80. When do I stop prioritizing academics over everything?
81. How often do I wash my sheets?
82. How do I reorganize my room to maximize space/efficiency?
83. How often should I party?
84. What should I pack for my internship? What should I take back home? What should I bring with me?
85. How much sleep can I lose without it being detrimental to my health?
86. How do I know if I need to seek mental health services?
87. Is it wrong to watch Netflix right now?
88. Should I call my parents? How often? 
89. Can I do this pset the night before? 
90. If I don’t do this pset, how much will my grade be affected? 
91. Is this pset worth an all-nighter? 
92. What do I value? How do I figure out what I value? Is it okay to change? 
93. How do I navigate my changing values and beliefs with my parents’?  
94. Have I been spending too much money? What is a reasonable budget? 
95. How do I cope with imposter syndrome?
96. How do I make friends in my classes?
97. Will my parents be mad at me if I fail a test? A class? How do I tell my parents that I failed?
98. How do I deal with going from being a big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a big pond?
99. How do I deal with the transition from breezing through classes to struggling to succeed?
100.  Is it worth it to walk all the way to Simmons for vegetarian food? Why aren’t there more options?
101.  How do I stay true to myself and try to fit in?