Themed Online Distractors (for EA Decision Day) by Yuliya K. '18

Dear 2020 MIT Protofrosh, 

Today or tomorrow, depending on your timezone, you will access a special message on decisions.mit.edu. You’re probably nervous, which is normal. No one is certain they’ll get in. That’s a fact.

I hope you can find the best environment to await and process the admissions decision. Surround yourself with friends and family or sugary treats and good music. Find your own best way to cope with tension. If you’ve been following the MIT blogs, recall the number of times we wrote that you needn’t worry. Your personal worth and success are not defined by the admissions decision. That’s a fact also.

In the publishing industry, they say that rejections are required for a successful career. Another fact. The first Harry Potter novel was rejected by 12 different publishers before becoming history’s fastest selling book. C.S. Lewis landed a publishing deal for Chronicles of Narnia after 2 years of trying and failing. Chicken Soup for the Soul authors received 140 rejections before selling their 125 mln volumes. (More best-selling rejections here.)

But it’s probably hard to think coolly today. Instead, distract yourself. To help with that, here is a list of Themed Online Distractors for MIT Decision Day:

Pre-Decision Day Posts from MIT Bloggers:

• Let’s Go Fly a Kite by Joel G. ’18
• A Penny for Your Thoughts by Erick P. ’17
• The Pretender by Erick P. ’17 (for EA applicants)
• We’ve been there, too. by Danny B.D. ’15 (for EA applicants)
• Coping with Anxiety by Rachel D. ’16
• Pi Day Eve by Ceri R. ’16
• to the 2019s in anticipation of pi day
• and many many more here

Inspirational:

• Dealing with Rejection by ze frank (for college students!)
• Just do it later by The Oatmeal
• How Simple Ideas Lead to Scientific Discoveries from TED-Ed (by Adam Savage from Mythbusters, featuring Richard Feynman MIT ’39)
• A Pep Talk from Kid President to You from SoulPancake
• Breaking Normal by ze frank
• Take the Human Test (Volume 1) by ze frank
• It’s going to be ok by The Oatmeal
• An Invocation for Beginnings by ze frank

Enlightening:

• History through the Eyes of the Potato from TED-Ed
• Einstein 100 – Theory of General Relativity (narrated by the Tenth Doctor David Tennant)
• Can you solve the prisoner hat riddle? from TED-Ed
• Zach Weinersmith’s Infantapaulting Hypothesis from MIT BAHFest 2013
• Robot Guides Soybean Plant To Light  
• True Facts About The Mantis Shrimp by ze frank
• “My 14-Hour Search for the End of TGI Friday’s Endless Appetizers” from Gawker (experiment later re-created by MIT students)
• “This Amazing Machine Can Create Anything From Shredded Scraps” from Gizmodo

Heartwarming:

• Where the hell is Matt? 2012 (featuring MIT!) and 2008 (also really awesome)
• MitchiriNeko March
• Heart Attack! – an experiment from SoulPancake
• Snow Cat – Simon’s Cat (a festive special)
• Highly Evolved Human (The Bus) from SoulPancake

Humorous:

• Quiz: is it pokemon or big data?
• Sad Cat Diary by ze frank
• Wolfram Alpha Can’t on Twitter
• Pikachu Line Dance to the song “I Don’t Like It, I Love It”

Soothing:

• Sound of Wikipedia being edited
• Kitten Therapy: The Prescription for Stress from SoulPancake
• “26 Desktop Backgrounds That Will Make You Not Hate Working” from Buzzfeed  
• F*ck That: A Guided Meditation by Jason Headley (warning: language)

Artistic: 

• Dancing Paper by Ugoita T.
• anne lilly – selected work (“kinetic sculptor Anne Lilly uses carefully engineered motion to shift and manipulate our perceptions of time, space and energy”)
• Museum of Selfies on Tumblr
• Ocean’s waves, captured at their peak point of crash by photographer Ray Collins

List crowdsourced at MIT. Add your own resources and tips for coping on Decision Day in the comments below!

Make this day a happy one.

with love and hope from mit