Get psyched, stay with it, do whatever it takes

Get psyched, stay with it, do whatever it takes I have to admit that I dont have fifty pieces of advice for anybody, but I do have a couple of things to say about starting college, particularly at the only college about which I know anything substantial. The most succinct advice I can give is from Adams dad (my future father-in-law, yay!), who has three pieces of advice which he applies to every situation anyone in our family encounters. 1. Get psyched. 2. Stay with it. 3. Do whatever it takes. I think this is superb advice. My advice is a lot more wordy (surprise surprise). The most important thing you will learn at MIT will be how to fail. Okay, one time I said that the most important thing youll learn is how to ask for help. And thats still true, but I guess the failing part happens before the asking for help part, so the failing gets to be primary. This might sound surprising, since people seem to think that the most important thing theyll learn in college is how to design a robot, or how to calculate the thermodynamic properties of a chemical reaction, or how to succinctly prove that If an integer n is greater than 2, then an + bn = cn has no solutions in non-zero integers a, b, and c. Well, it just aint so. I mean, if the cold hard facts were the important thing, you could save your tuition money and get your education via OCW or the NCBI Bookshelf. But an MIT education explicitly sets out to teach you how to think, and how to approach thinking, and how to take things you dont know and turn them into things you do know. And how to fail. If youre going to be a practicing scientist or engineer, you need to learn how to fall flat on your face. Despite the best intellectual efforts of any given scientist, lab work fails at least half of the time. Sometimes it fails even more than that. Sometimes the scientist can figure out whats wrong and take steps to fix the problem, but much of the time, hed be just as well off chanting incantations and waving religious amulets. (Some scientists I know recently put up in their lab a statue of St. Jude patron saint of lost causes next to a picture of Thoth, the Egyptian god of knowledge, figuring that plurality could only be a good thing for their protocols.) Failures just as necessary a skill in engineering, or business, or life. Nobodys successful all of the time. So what you need to learn how to do is fail, but not let failure get you down. You have to realize that something that I did failed is not the same as I am a failure, even if you have to tell yourself a hundred times before you believe it. You have to realize that being the best at everything you ever do doesnt mean youre amazing it means youre afraid to take chances. Almost everybody fails a test or two their first term freshman year at MIT. A lot of people fail a whole class or two. This is okay its pass/no record! Live it up. Youll figure out what you need to do to get the grades you want, and youll do it, and everything will be okay. And, of course, when youre stuck in your UROP lab doing a reaction for the nth time because you just cant get it to work well, Ive been there too. (Actually, Ive been there a lot.) Try to resist the urge to punch a machine, because theyre very expensive. Questions 1. Leo (after reading my directions to Target stores in the Boston area) asked, I checked all the bus stops and places you linked, man, I feel so powerless without a car. Isnt there a delivery-to-door option offered by some of the superstores? Theres always online ordering. :) I order stuff online quite a bit, and even though I hate paying shipping, its easier than carving out a chunk of the day to get to the store and back on the T. I will note, though, that a nonzero number of students do have cars, and most are more than happy to take a Target trip on a Saturday or something. My designated drivers are Rachel 07 and Woody 08 Rachel takes me to Target, and Woody takes big groups of people out to IHOP and Outback Steakhouse. 2. Charlotte noted, A short note to all- having a safe campus doesnt mean one should lower his/her guard, take care, especially if youre a girl (sigh). As Adam says, dont wander around by yourself drunk at night with money hanging out of your pockets. ;) You should always be aware of your surroundings Bostons a pretty safe city, but it is a city after all. 3. Al asked, is transfering to MIT hard than entering as a freshmen? In terms of admission percentages, yes. About 14% of freshman applicants were accepted last year, but only about 5% of transfer applicants were admitted and thats actually somewhat high for the transfer admission rate. Not many students leave MIT, so there arent very many spots open for transfers, unfortunately. 4. I think Colin gave a great response to Ajas question (and Ankits, too), so you should go look at it if youre wondering how to make yourself shine in the application. :)