What do you want? by kellen manning

I normally start off all my information sessions⁠01 spoilers! by saying some form of “I believe in my heart that MIT is a great place to go to school, but I also recognize that it’s not a great place for everyone.” Full disclosure: I heard Jeremy say this once and then stole it from him.⁠02 sorry, jeremy. does this count as citing my source?

Can you blame me though?⁠03 for legal reason i have to say stealing and plagiarism is bad I mean, MIT is objectively great. Now that’s not to say it’s perfect by any means, but if there was list of everything that goes into making a place a great place, MIT checks off a lot of those boxes. With that said, a place being objectively great, doesn’t make it the best place for everyone. People have different learning styles, people want different things out of the college experience, and not every environment is conducive to everyone’s success. One person’s kingdom can just as easily be another person’s abyss.⁠04 you know, the ihtfp of it all

That’s why figuring out the best fit for you is so important. Fit can mean a number things, but it all boils down to one simple question: “What do you want?” That should be the first thing you ask yourself.

From there, figure out what’s most important to you, because if you plan on spending at least four years at a place, you might as well like it.⁠05 at least at first?

So, what matters to you? Is it location? Financial aid? Academic programs? Diversity? Research? Extracurriculars? Athletics? Vibes? Proximity to Chipotle? What is it?⁠06 And, no. Despite what you see in some online circles, prestige should NEVER be on this list. Mainly because it's hollow.

After figuring that out, researching schools becomes much easier. You go to the websites, YouTube channels, various social channels, and information sessions with a purpose. This establishes a foundation for your search as well as a bar that each school has to clear in order to remain on your radar.

Keywords: your radar! Because, honestly, students enter the search process so focused on “impressing” a school or “standing out” amongst their peers, that they sometimes forget that colleges have to prove they’re worth all the effort that goes into applying. But, to certain extent, I get it.

Yes, normally there is a threshold of requirements that students have to get beyond in order to qualify for most schools. I’ll give you that. The problem comes when students start to put the burden of “fit” too heavily on themselves and begin to lose who they are. They start to think in terms of what they believe schools are looking for instead of focusing what they care about. Then, it can potentially veer away from the idea of fit and tilt in the direction of asking, “Am I worthy?” That’s not what any of this should be about.

Like I said at the beginning, MIT isn’t perfect. And, that statement holds true for every school in the world. On the other side of that I said, “MIT is objectively great.” The cool thing is that too holds true for hundreds of other colleges/universities around the world.

So, I guess I’ll ask again. What do YOU want?