Five Years of Admitted Student Gatherings by Erick P. '17

*Scene opens*

I’m standing in front of a house with my family. MIT branded balloons are tied to the mailbox. There is a poster of the Dome on the front door. Inside, we are welcomed into the MIT community by alums, students, other parents, and fellow future classmates. We enjoy food as we talked about MIT, New Jersey, cool things to do at CPW, what we enjoyed about high school, potential majors, and what we wanted to be in our futures.

At one point, we sat down and listened to a sophomore tell us about her MIT experience. I don’t remember exactly what was said, but I remember I was excited. I was excited to be there. I was excited that CPW was in less than a week. I was excited that I beat all the odds and that I was now wearing my MIT jacket around school as a student and not an applicant.

That was my first Admitted Student Gathering in March 2013. And I’ve gone every year since (except junior year, sadly).

2013 – as a Prefrosh

Me in the gray blazer, second row.

2014 – as a Freshman

This time I was invited to speak as a student along with other 17’s. It was my first time on the other side. My turn to tell the 2018 prefrosh about MIT.

2015 – as a Sophomore

Speaking to the 2019’s, halfway through MIT myself.

2016 – as a Junior

I was in San Francisco during my junior year spring break so I didn’t get to go to the New Jersey Student Gathering that year :(.

2017 – as a Senior

This past Sunday. Bittersweet. It was my last Admitted Student Gathering as a student. I tried to impart on the 2021’s everything that I’ve learned in my four years at MIT.

2018 – as an Alumni

*insert picture next year in March 2018*

Admitted Student Gatherings happen every year around MIT spring break, all around the world. As evidenced by this blog post and my near perfect attendance, I highly recommend going to one. There’s still some happening the second half of this week, and last-minute decisions are always fun.

Side note: I found a fun little website I’d like to share with everyone. I wrote this post with the uncomfortable help of The Most Dangerous Writing App. You set your session for however long you want (3-60 min) and begin typing. If at any point you stop typing for more than 5 seconds, ALL of your progress is deleted. Obliterated my procrastination in 0.00001 seconds.