A Shot in the Life by Shannon M. '12
I now realize that this is probably a misleading title.
I had literally never taken a screen shot until I got to MIT. Seriously. I guess I just never had needed to or something, but once I got here I started taking them all the time, just to remember that day the windchill hit -20, or that time someone said something stupid on gchat and I clearly had to share it with everyone we knew, or to preserve that one crazy coincidence that would never happen again, or whatever. And now that I’m almost at the end of year two here, I have a whole portfolio of hilarious moments forever preserved from the exact second they happened.
So if you really want an unedited look at what life is like as an MIT student… here is cross section of my semester in screen shots.
1) I hit exactly $0.00 on my TechCash account. Do you realize how hard this is? This is like actually using up all the change in your wallet before you can accumulate any more. This just does not happen.
2) There were once only 24 HOURS UNTIL RING PREMIERE.
3) Three of our Theta freshmen discovered gchat emoticons… and then got half the chapter to start sending me lobsters, after they got a hold of my laptop and started sending even more lobsters out to other people from my gmail. Fun fact: you can only have 5 gchat windows open at once on a 13 inch MacBook screen.
4a) My own mother threatened to defriend me on facebook after I posted a TextFromLastNight (about Bill Nye, of all things) as my facebook status. (warning: site is definitely nsfw)
4b) … I was also really busy.
5) For the amount of insane integrating it has saved me in 10.213 (that’s Chemical and Biological Engineering Thermodynamics to you prefrosh), I owe Wolfram Alpha my first 2 and a half children. This screen shot, given the amazing feats Wolfram Alpha has accomplished over the course of this semester, is rather anticlimactic, but apparently I had needed to take it to show someone some calculation for some pset.
6) A nearly lost calculator almost had a grown man in tears… and we all felt his pain.
7) There are the days when the randomness of the email sent out to my sorority’s spam list is just absurd. Sample range from the last few days: Justin Bieber Injuries to Biological Engineering Research Prizes.
8) There was the study break that turned into a let’s-mock-Shannon-because-she-can’t-tell-Asian-ethnicities-apart break, which was great.
9) I was skyping my friend Marianna (one of the lobster freshmen) while she was at home over IAP, and for some reason our connection froze, then restarted, then froze again. And I was left with this lovely face stuck on my screen.
10) But time to post this entry and get back to ordering the Indian food I have open in another tab. Peace out, cub scouts.
Wow… so much sympathy for a nearly lost calculator :o
I can sympathize with Sebastian–I burst into tears of joy when I got a TI-85 for Christmas one year, I cannot imagine what it would be like to lose something like that!
Wow. People at MIT really love their calculators…then again, I would too if I had to do mammoth Psets!
OMG, you got a screenshot right a day before ring due. Catch the seconds.
What a nice skype casting for 11:19 PM
Sleep well
More script:
I see it is a tradition in blogs to put kinda title for entries, like:
– I know it’s not the best title
– This title doesn’t tell anything about the entry
– I’m writing this while doing my laundry
– I’m Blogging to save money
This is certainly bad
Just so you know how thoroughly I read this, I just wanted to let you know that I did not even realize you had chatted me about punch until I read ALL of your screenshots (and proceeded to search through my email to find said convo).
But haha LOVE this entry. It pretty much sums up my life at MIT too.
Has anyone else heard of this “SPECIAL INTELLIGENCE DIVISION” at M.I.T? The covert hacking/counter hacking intelligence team against caltech, harvard, etc?
How id that last person know unless they were in it
HI SHANNON!!! :D
How’s everything been since CPW? I have now realized how boring life is back home. I miss MIT, I even miss not understanding Unified with Vicky :( I hope you both aren’t too stressed. I hope to see you both again in the fall
@anon
Yeah, someone was posting it earlier, apparently M.I.T has it’s own version of the CIA, responsible for hacking intelligence and hacking-defense counter intelligence.
It’s an ongoing war against caltech, if word is to be believed.
Not quite sure how the infomation leaked though.
Still, that’s DEFINITELY the kind of thing I’d wanna do. 2010-2014 will be a very good hacking period for MIT.
ring premiere was three months ago!
Are you going to write about it?
@ anon: In fairness, it was 2 months ago, and it’s getting wrapped up in the entry about delivery, which is in 2 weeks!
@ MIT 2014
And how might you be so familiar with this?
How does somebody get invovled?
ONE qstion : i am a 1st year undergrad in an institution. can i apply as freshman next year at mit
PS : i hate to admit i am desperate but truth is once this qstion is answered clearly i can figure out other things so please consider the qstion
@ assume sumthn
“If you’ve spent a year or more at another college and come to the conclusion that MIT would be a better fit for you, you’re welcome to apply as a transfer student.”
Less than a year of post-secondary studies simply doesn’t have sufficient credits to be transferred, so many colleges don’t consider students with less than one year as a transfer applicant.
You’re already enrolled in a college, also freshman and transfer application deadlines are over for this year. Eventually, you would apply for next year which means you’ll have more than a year spent in your current college.
so this is the link:
MIT Transfer Admissions
What does nsfw mean?
@ Michelle: Oh, please. Yours would only be accurate if three of the screen shots were online episodes of 16 and Pregnant. haha
@ MOM: It means “not safe for work”… generally applies to not family friendly sites.
hi, i wanna go there for studying mininig or branch of mine. coz if this what can i do for going there and attending universty? thank u
so i just took that all look same test….. i beat you by one!!!!!
lol i feel so pathetic now….
and, of course, my reCap WOULD have the word “photographs” in it.