Pre-Sophomore Year by Jessica Z. '27

Today was my first full day back on campus! This summer was a whirlwind of finishing finals, flying to DC, driving home to Pennsylvania, visiting family in Delaware and New York, and traveling to Cape Cod with some MIT friends before officially arriving back to my very-not-unpacked dorm room. We had a fire alarm go off in BC⁠01 Burton-Conner this afternoon, and it truly felt like home <3

Despite the bulk of my traveling for this summer being done, I haven’t quite settled in yet. In fact, as I’m typing this now, I should be packing for my Chicago flight that leaves in a few hours. Instead, though, I’ve spent the past few hours thinking about this upcoming year.

It feels brighter on campus with a new class year⁠02 hi '28s! welcome to campus <3 , and their excitement is infectious. It’s made me realize how excited I am for sophomore year.

I’m trying to be more conscious about the time between my drafts and actually posting, and part of that requires not thinking so heavily on each word, so bare with me as I’m trying to get back into the comfort of writing :’) That being said, here’s a quick ~brain dump~ of all the things I’m excited for this year!

Brass Rat & RingComm

We’re getting our class rings⁠03 affectionately called the brass rat this year!!!!!!! It almost feels wrong if I didn’t list this somewhere near the top of my list. I am so, so, so, so excited. I remember being in high school reading the blogs about the brass rat, and I feel an infinite amount of excitement about getting one this year. Equally as important to me, this year marks the more conscious journey to being halfway through my undergraduate education, and that is something I’m really proud of.

I’m also part of RingComm this year! We’ve been working together over the summer, and it’s quickly become one of my favorite experiences. When I applied to be a blogger, I partially wrote about how I enjoy capturing memories in creative ways and am learning to better understand different communities. To me, being on RingComm really helps fulfill both of those desires in a new way. I can confidently say it’s one of the most unique experiences I’ve been able to be part of :’)

20.110 & 17.307

Excited for a class is a… strong term… but I choose to have optimism! I’m taking 20.110: Thermodynamics of Biomolecular Systems this semester. Thermodynamics isn’t necessarily the field that I’m most interested in, BUT it will be my first Course 20 class since declaring my major! In an all-too-optimistic state, I tried studying for 20.110 over the summer but quickly stopped once my internship started picking up. I vaguely remember something about isothermal systems, gas expansion, and heat capacity? Regardless, I’m hoping that taking a Course 20 class will help me better understand what I want to study in the future.

I’m also taking 17.307: Public Policy for Washington Interns, which is a small class in coordination with the other MIT Washington DC Summer Internship Program interns. The class involves writing a policy paper, which I’ve barely read many of, let alone written one. I’m excited to see what the paper-writing process looks like—sans biological materials, laboratory methods, and yield percentages—from a public policy perspective.

Declaring Course 20!

Speaking of 20.110…I declared Course 20! I have a not-yet-posted blog⁠04 i'm going to start keeping a tally of how many times i say i have a blog written but not posted lol about how I’m still feeling slightly ~conflicted~ about this but submitted my Choice of Major Form to the office happily last Spring regardless.

I recently went through some journal entries from my freshman year, and I wrote about several moments where I felt academically inferiorer or not smart enough to confidently declare a major. I can’t say I’m 100% confident in declaring Course 20 now, but I can for sure say that I feel the most confident I’ve been, which is a huge step from last year.

I recently got my Course 20 advisor, too! She focuses on studying biomaterials for medical therapeutics and devices. I have admittedly spent too much time learning about her interests in biological engineering, and I’m really excited to learn more from her. I’m not a huge fan of straight molecular and cellular biology, which is largely why I chose Course 20 over Course 7. I also had loosely considered Course 3, but ultimately decided that Course 20 better suited my interests. I feel a lot more relieved entering my second year knowing my advisor is also interested in biomaterials, and I’m excited to meet her in September!

Writing, Journaling, & Blogging

At some point last Spring, I threw all my blog drafts into a massive Google Doc that I’ve been slowly⁠05 emphasis on slowly lol chugging through to post in hopes of catching up to my current life. For example, I have a good chunk of almost-done, backlogged blog posts from the end of Spring semester that never surfaced after school ended.

I mentioned briefly above that I’m trying to be more confident in my writing to reduce the amount of time I spend between drafting and posting. I’ve spent more time this Summer casually journaling, which has helped me become a bit more comfortable with writing. I’d like to think I’ve gotten through the first-year-posting jitters⁠06 hopefully all the bloggers went through some similar-ish phase lol and the fear of being perceived; I’m hoping to be on my way to posting more thoughtful posts like I originally wanted.

Balancing Friends & Clubs

I think during your first-year there’s a lot of pressure to talk to everyone at any chance you get⁠07 sending the strongest good luck to the '28s who might be going through this right now simply because you want to tackle the school year with as many friends as possible. This was nice to meet new people but also definitely exhausting for me. Some of that pressure has finally worn off, which makes going out with friends to events and around Boston feel a lot more natural.

I’m also finding myself enjoying the activities and their communities I’m involved in this year more. It’s nice to be able to take a more active role in certain clubs once learning what really interested me about them. For example, I joined Student Events Board Exec this year, and it’s been nice to feel more comfortable with the team and help plan bonding activities!

Arts & Crafty Things

When my senior year of high school kicked in, my brain began to register that I would be going to school out-of-state with limited storage capacity. I spent most of that year with friends before leaving for college, and some of my art-related hobbies slipped to the side. I ended up giving away a lot of my art supplies since I knew I wouldn’t bring them with me to college, but I started painting again this Summer.

I’m hoping to stay in Boston this Summer, so I’m feeling a bit more optimistic in my ability to keep up with painting, especially since I’m having a lot more fun with it now than ever before. My roommate has also recently gotten into scrapbooking, and I was quickly sucked into the world of stationery yet again. I also want to try crocheting, pottery, and embroidery at least once during this semester!

I know the sophomore slump™ may be inevitable, and that this whole blog has been incredibly optimistic. To be clear, I’m still ~very scared~ of college, classes, and psets, but those are just a couple of things I’m looking forward to this year :’)

I talked mainly about school and my own interests, but I’m also excited for my friends and family. My brother is in his final year of undergrad, and my family will be attending our first college graduation ceremony! It feels poetic that I’ll hit the half-way mark when he’s walking across the stage graduating, and I can’t wait.