Progression of Spirit by Snively '11
You must be this tall to ride the MIT Emotional Rollercoaster
I realize that the title for this post could be the title of a hymn or sermon, but it’s not. It’s the title for this post.
It’s quite fun to watch the progression of the emotional state of MIT students. The year starts with 1,100 studious new freshmen who are ready to experience everything college has to offer. They want to work hard, show their parents that they’re worthy of MIT, and prove to themselves that they can handle the workload. This is evidenced by our test subject, Jon, in Exhibit A:
Exhibit A
Jon is the one closest to you, sitting at his computer after having just finished registering for classes. He is ready to go and succeed!
A month into the semester our test subject is thriving. He has discovered that there is much more to MIT than schoolwork and studying. He enjoys floor parties and creates fond memories of college, as evidenced by Exhibit B.
Exhibit B
Then BAM!!!, like a kick to the face delivered by Chuck Norris himself, the last three weeks of the semester hit. Everything is due, everything occurs, and finals are looming. People stop talking, start locking themselves in their rooms, and episodes of people screaming down the hall in hysterics increase. How does Jon react to the added stress?
I walked into my room one day to find a very strange and startling scene. I knew, the instant I saw it, that the stress and pressure of finals had final stricken Jon down and left him as I saw him. What did I see? Please consider Exhibit C.
Exhibit C
Jon, after pulling an all-nighter, had fallen asleep upright at his computer while wrapped in a blanket. He was so far gone that it took yelling and fairly aggressive prodding to wake him.
This, kids, is what happens to the average, everyday MIT freshman over the course of a semester. You start ready to work and soon learn that there’s more to MIT than work. The illusion that anything but work is worthwhile is then shattered several weeks before finals as everybody goes insane and starts shaking/yelling/drooling/pacing uncontrollably. Welcome to MIT, we’re the leaders of tomorrow!
first post?
I hope he is alive under that blanket!
so if they’ve been coasting through high school, how do people generally adjust to the realization that oh-my-God i actually need to do work here?
This is definitely one of the funniest blog entries I’ve seen. Mildly terrifying, but still amusing.
LOL This is a really cute post
Did you guys have like eating parties during cramming week? That would have been a good stress-relief method (I think?)….
Hahaha, thanks for the entertaining entry. Sadly, it reminded me that midterms are coming up, and your friend in the blanket is an exaggerated version of what I’m going to look like by the time they’re over. I take it the photo came before the prodding and yelling?
And is that a “carol never wore her safety goggles” poster in the background? I thought I’d only ever see them in my chemistry classroom!
Exhibit C….LOL
Yikes, makes you want to hide. But this, friends and cohorts, is conditioning, the Bessemer process that turns mere students into MIT students. Only have you ever heard the ingots of pig iron saying they enjoyed the Bessemer process? Didn’t think so…
LOLS that pic was extremely humorous! it reminds me of this one time while I was in Upper Six ( grade 12) and exams were around the bend , some of my friends wrapped one of my other friends up in an enormous blue jacket so much so that she was veritably in a straight jacket! and when she tried to walk she looked like a discolored penguin with a bad hang-over! lols we really laughed!
I laughed very loudly when I saw exhibit C. I wish we could do that during class or even finals just to make everything go away (out of sight, out of mind, right?).
Haha, Jon seems so cute !
Hmm. I’m either having a a major deja vu moment or seeing this for the second time.
(It’s still a good post, though.)
Haha. That picture is hysterical! What do you frosh do to celebrate the fact that they have managed to get through 1 semester at MIT?
Your way of saying it has much greater impact than the usual MIT is tough/impossible/ridiculously difficult but still fun/amazing/too cool/very much worth it all the same. Kudos to you friend!
Nan – Personally? I treated myself to a nice long nap.
LOL! Deja vu. I’d go to sleep at around 2 AM near the finals, and when I woke up, I’d find my roomate in one of those cocoons on the floor. God knows what time he got back. It’s creepier when there’s another guy in the cocoon with him.
I love the “Carol never wore her safety goggles poster” in the back of picture C. Best science safety poster ever!
so how long do you sleep per night during these three stages? is it constant? (stage A jitters and work ethic keep you awake, stage B hanging out all night, and stage C intense studying?)Or do they vary?
25 seconds, as you said.
absolutely fabulous. definitely a good thing that the bakery is in boston and not in like, the student center.
Lol!!!
At least he wasn’t in class.
and I was planning to recommend MIT to my son…….
Well played, Snively =P
I should’ve slept to celebrate finishing semester one, but I ended up spending time with friends and then staying up all night watching reruns of the Fresh Prince as I stalked the internets. But I’m happy with that =)
I do need sleep, though.
Deja vu, I’ve definitely seen this post before
Happy to see frequent updates though, and it was pretty funny. Love exhibit C.
@Aditi
I have no experience with MUN, I’m sorry, but I’m sure somebody will take care of it.
@Nan
Mario Galaxy. Lots and lots of Mario Galaxy. We had a 16 hour marathon to beat the game. It was rough, but we won.
Also, Jon is still alive, and that is a Carol’s safety goggles poster.
Aditi – Chris mentioned his experiences with MIT’s MUN team in this post. As Snively said, it’ll probably get blogged about in more depth eventually.
hahahaa exhibit c is adorable!
and yeah i hope hes alright!
but i still want MIT even if i have to end up worse than five million times exhibit C
o.O
but on a different note, you guys are amazing.
seriously.
and oh, can someone, anyone please (pretty pretty please) write about MIT MUN? i really want to hear about it!
Er, Ben or Matt or anyone from the admission office actually, i haven’t received my SAT December scores yet, should I worry about you receiving them ?
Haha I’m sure the finals week is pretty intense (I can already imagine myself screaming in the halls, sigh…).
By the way, same thing for my toefl scores, it doesn’t show on my MyMIT profile. And thanks for processing my secondary school transcript that fast ! You say on the website to give it 2 weeks, but you were pretty fast !
This was the funniest post since I started reading these admission blogs. I would definitely like to end up like this coz it will assure my admission to MIT.
And the funniest line I saw was “We’re the leaders of tomorrow.”
LOLSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Oh my God, let me tell you guys something: I witnessed the above scene and it was just plain CREEPY.
Thanks a lot Laura… lol.
Exhibit C worth a lot when you repeat Exhibit A as a sophomore =P
By the way, it seems that every college around the world requires to have at least 6 all-nighters by year =/
Good thing I’m 5’7″ and tall enough to ride any ride I want
Also, Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a way better all-nighter game, but FIRST season owns them both!
just how tall is “this tall”?
don’t forget us tiny ppl!
Oh yeah, I will blog about MUN in depth some time (actually, you might get it quite soon. I’m chairing a conference for MUN a week after I get back from Spain).
So stay tuned!
Isshak – You should be fine in regards to both your TOEFL scores and your SAT scores. As long as you listed MIT as a recipient (or had the testing service send them a score report), don’t worry about it. The only slight problem that could arise is if the name under which you took the test doesn’t match the name under which you applied to MIT – in that case, you should send Admissions.
Karen – My all-nighter games of choice are Diablo II and Rock Band. Just saying.
Thanks Paul ! I guess I just have to wait then.
Just adding that my all nighter game is Halo ! (all 3 of them), and maybe Resident Evil 4…
@paul :thanks for the link but i think i’ve seen it before. i scoured the site for everything MUN related :D
and i’m looking forward to a post on MIT MUN
oh and 5’1″ had better be tall enough!
HA HA HA!!! Love exibit #3 lol! This is one of the funniest post I have ever read! Heh! looks like a bag of potaoes on the chair!HA HA!… lol! I really like the last sentence… the one about the future world leaders!
Hahahaha, I love this entry. I can’t wait for that to be me. Masochistic? Maybe… =)
What’s Jon’s opinion on the post?
i turned into exhibit C last night
o.O
its very unfun
chairing is the bestest! always =)
have a great time in spain!
Nice!
Cool!