Hello world! by Jessie L. '07

Hello to all of you readers! I’m the latest student admissions blogger. I’ve been following Matt’s blog for several months now, and if you’re one of his regular readers you might have seen me occasionally comment under the name Some Crazy Sophomore or Some Crazy Rising Junior. I met Matt through mutual friends and frequently drop into his office for advice and chat about the UA (see fourth paragraph), of which he was President back in the day. :)

First, a trivia question: the name of this blog, A Land of Dreams and Fire, is yoinked from a quote in a fantasy novel – can anyone name the book and/or the author?

A little bit about me, in terms of academics. I’m class of ’07, so I’m a rising junior. I’m Course 9 (Brain & Cognitive Sciences), with dabblings (which may turn into something more official like minors, or may remain dabblings) in 7 (Biology), 6 (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science) and 17 (Political Science), and probably more fields in the future. I’ve also taken more 18 (Math) classes than I need for my major, but saying that I dabble in the field is an exaggeration. Right now, I want to get a BME minor. I’m not a pre-med (I always get asked that when people find out my major). I’d like to go to grad school, but right now I’m not sure in exactly what field – I’m thinking about systems neuroscience, computational neuroscience or biology, and biological engineering, among others.

A little bit about me, in general. I live on 5th East, my wonderful hall in the dorm of East Campus. I’m the Vice-President of the Undergraduate Association, or UA, MIT’s undergrad-population-wide student government, and before that I was an East Campus senator in the UA. I’m also part of Alpha Phi Omega (a national co-ed service fraternity), the MIT Student Juggling Club, and MIT Pro-Choice, and am a chapter coordinator for How to Get Around MIT, which those of you who are incoming frosh will receive when you arrive on campus. I love to read, but my favorite authors and books change on a regular basis. I love music, and my favorite bands are R.E.M and Pearl Jam, but at the moment I’m listening to How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb by U2. I ran cross-country in high school, and did crew as a freshman here, but don’t play a sport right now. I’m from the Highlands district of Louisville, Kentucky, and when I was even younger I lived near Atlanta, Georgia. I’m the oldest of five kids, ranging from half an hour to twelve and a half years younger than me.

Anyway, in the future my posts will focus more on actual events and such, but this is an intro entry. I’m generally happy to answer questions, which you can ask either through comments or by emailing me.