Snively '11 | January 08, 2008
"Progression of Spirit"
I realize that the title for this post could be the title of a hymn or sermon, but it's not. It's the title for this post.
It's quite fun to watch the progression of the emotional state of MIT students. The year starts with 1,100 studious new freshmen who are ready to experience everything college has to offer. They want to work hard, show their parents that they're worthy of MIT, and prove to themselves that they can handle the workload. This is evidenced by our test subject, Jon, in Exhibit A:
Exhibit A
Jon is the one closest to you, sitting at his computer after having just finished registering for classes. He is ready to go and succeed!
A month into the semester our test subject is thriving. He has discovered that there is much more to MIT than schoolwork and studying. He enjoys floor parties and creates fond memories of college, as evidenced by Exhibit B.
Exhibit B
Then BAM!!!, like a kick to the face delivered by Chuck Norris himself, the last three weeks of the semester hit. Everything is due, everything occurs, and finals are looming. People stop talking, start locking themselves in their rooms, and episodes of people screaming down the hall in hysterics increase. How does Jon react to the added stress?
I walked into my room one day to find a very strange and startling scene. I knew, the instant I saw it, that the stress and pressure of finals had final stricken Jon down and left him as I saw him. What did I see? Please consider Exhibit C.
Exhibit C
Jon, after pulling an all-nighter, had fallen asleep upright at his computer while wrapped in a blanket. He was so far gone that it took yelling and fairly aggressive prodding to wake him.
This, kids, is what happens to the average, everyday MIT freshman over the course of a semester. You start ready to work and soon learn that there's more to MIT than work. The illusion that anything but work is worthwhile is then shattered several weeks before finals as everybody goes insane and starts shaking/yelling/drooling/pacing uncontrollably. Welcome to MIT, we're the leaders of tomorrow!
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The author has filed this entry in the "Student Life & Culture" , "Work/Play Balance At MIT" section; check it out for further reading on this topic. |
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first post?
Posted by: MiniPocketsized on January 8, 2008 03:52 PM
I hope he is alive under that blanket!
Posted by: Andrewd on January 8, 2008 03:53 PM
so if they've been coasting through high school, how do people generally adjust to the realization that oh-my-God i actually need to do work here?
Posted by: MiniPocketsized on January 8, 2008 03:54 PM
This is definitely one of the funniest blog entries I've seen. Mildly terrifying, but still amusing.
Posted by: Shannon '12 on January 8, 2008 05:46 PM
LOL This is a really cute post
Did you guys have like eating parties during cramming week? That would have been a good stress-relief method (I think?)....
Posted by: Jing Jing on January 8, 2008 05:48 PM
Hahaha, thanks for the entertaining entry. Sadly, it reminded me that midterms are coming up, and your friend in the blanket is an exaggerated version of what I'm going to look like by the time they're over. I take it the photo came before the prodding and yelling? :)
And is that a "carol never wore her safety goggles" poster in the background? I thought I'd only ever see them in my chemistry classroom!
Posted by: Raina on January 8, 2008 05:53 PM
Exhibit C....LOL
Posted by: Anonymous on January 8, 2008 06:07 PM
Yikes, makes you want to hide. But this, friends and cohorts, is conditioning, the Bessemer process that turns mere students into MIT students. Only have you ever heard the ingots of pig iron saying they enjoyed the Bessemer process? Didn't think so...;)
Posted by: E. Rosser on January 8, 2008 06:27 PM
LOLS that pic was extremely humorous! it reminds me of this one time while I was in Upper Six ( grade 12) and exams were around the bend , some of my friends wrapped one of my other friends up in an enormous blue jacket so much so that she was veritably in a straight jacket! and when she tried to walk she looked like a discolored penguin with a bad hang-over! lols we really laughed!
Posted by: Masud on January 8, 2008 06:42 PM
Oh my God, let me tell you guys something: I witnessed the above scene and it was just plain CREEPY.
Posted by: Laura on January 8, 2008 07:04 PM
Thanks a lot Laura... lol.
Posted by: Jon on January 8, 2008 07:21 PM
Exhibit C worth a lot when you repeat Exhibit A as a sophomore =P
By the way, it seems that every college around the world requires to have at least 6 all-nighters by year =/
Posted by: PS on January 8, 2008 07:32 PM
I laughed very loudly when I saw exhibit C. I wish we could do that during class or even finals just to make everything go away (out of sight, out of mind, right?).
Posted by: Anonymous on January 8, 2008 08:00 PM
Haha, Jon seems so cute !
Posted by: Anonymous on January 8, 2008 08:05 PM
Hmm. I'm either having a a major deja vu moment or seeing this for the second time. ;) (It's still a good post, though.)
Posted by: katekalb on January 8, 2008 08:20 PM
Haha. That picture is hysterical! What do you frosh do to celebrate the fact that they have managed to get through 1 semester at MIT?
Posted by: Nan on January 8, 2008 08:38 PM
Nan - Personally? I treated myself to a nice long nap. :P
Posted by: Paul on January 8, 2008 10:01 PM
LOL! Deja vu. I'd go to sleep at around 2 AM near the finals, and when I woke up, I'd find my roomate in one of those cocoons on the floor. God knows what time he got back. It's creepier when there's another guy in the cocoon with him.
Posted by: Muz on January 8, 2008 10:11 PM
I love the "Carol never wore her safety goggles poster" in the back of picture C. Best science safety poster ever!
Posted by: archimedes on January 8, 2008 10:44 PM
so how long do you sleep per night during these three stages? is it constant? (stage A jitters and work ethic keep you awake, stage B hanging out all night, and stage C intense studying?)Or do they vary?
Posted by: job on January 8, 2008 11:04 PM
25 seconds, as you said.
absolutely fabulous. definitely a good thing that the bakery is in boston and not in like, the student center.
Posted by: sara '11 on January 9, 2008 12:23 AM
Lol!!!
At least he wasn't in class.
Posted by: Angela on January 9, 2008 12:33 AM
Well played, Snively =P
I should've slept to celebrate finishing semester one, but I ended up spending time with friends and then staying up all night watching reruns of the Fresh Prince as I stalked the internets. But I'm happy with that =)
I do need sleep, though.
Posted by: Piper '11 on January 9, 2008 01:55 AM
Deja vu, I've definitely seen this post before :) Happy to see frequent updates though, and it was pretty funny. Love exhibit C.
Posted by: Star on January 9, 2008 04:07 AM
hahahaa exhibit c is adorable!
and yeah i hope hes alright!
but i still want MIT even if i have to end up worse than five million times exhibit C
o.O
but on a different note, you guys are amazing.
seriously.
and oh, can someone, anyone please (pretty pretty please) write about MIT MUN? i really want to hear about it!
Posted by: Aditi on January 9, 2008 05:15 AM
This was the funniest post since I started reading these admission blogs. I would definitely like to end up like this coz it will assure my admission to MIT.
And the funniest line I saw was "We're the leaders of tomorrow."
LOLSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Posted by: A on January 9, 2008 06:44 AM
Your way of saying it has much greater impact than the usual MIT is tough/impossible/ridiculously difficult but still fun/amazing/too cool/very much worth it all the same. Kudos to you friend!
Posted by: Nihar on January 9, 2008 09:20 AM
and I was planning to recommend MIT to my son.......
Posted by: mickey on January 9, 2008 12:58 PM
@Aditi
I have no experience with MUN, I'm sorry, but I'm sure somebody will take care of it.
@Nan
Mario Galaxy. Lots and lots of Mario Galaxy. We had a 16 hour marathon to beat the game. It was rough, but we won.
Also, Jon is still alive, and that is a Carol's safety goggles poster.
Posted by: Snively on January 9, 2008 04:14 PM
Aditi - Chris mentioned his experiences with MIT's MUN team in this post. As Snively said, it'll probably get blogged about in more depth eventually.
Posted by: Paul on January 9, 2008 04:41 PM
Er, Ben or Matt or anyone from the admission office actually, i haven't received my SAT December scores yet, should I worry about you receiving them ?
Haha I'm sure the finals week is pretty intense (I can already imagine myself screaming in the halls, sigh...).
Posted by: Isshak on January 9, 2008 05:58 PM
By the way, same thing for my toefl scores, it doesn't show on my MyMIT profile. And thanks for processing my secondary school transcript that fast ! You say on the website to give it 2 weeks, but you were pretty fast !
Posted by: Isshak on January 9, 2008 06:19 PM
Good thing I'm 5'7" and tall enough to ride any ride I want :)
Also, Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a way better all-nighter game, but FIRST season owns them both!
Posted by: Karen on January 9, 2008 08:31 PM
just how tall is "this tall"?
don't forget us tiny ppl!
Posted by: MiniPocketsized on January 9, 2008 08:56 PM
Isshak - You should be fine in regards to both your TOEFL scores and your SAT scores. As long as you listed MIT as a recipient (or had the testing service send them a score report), don't worry about it. The only slight problem that could arise is if the name under which you took the test doesn't match the name under which you applied to MIT - in that case, you should send Admissions.
Karen - My all-nighter games of choice are Diablo II and Rock Band. Just saying. ;)
Posted by: Paul on January 10, 2008 01:05 AM
Thanks Paul ! I guess I just have to wait then.
Just adding that my all nighter game is Halo ! (all 3 of them), and maybe Resident Evil 4...
Posted by: Isshak on January 10, 2008 02:15 AM
@paul :thanks for the link but i think i've seen it before. i scoured the site for everything MUN related :D
and i'm looking forward to a post on MIT MUN :)
oh and 5'1" had better be tall enough!
Posted by: Aditi on January 10, 2008 02:24 AM
HA HA HA!!! Love exibit #3 lol! This is one of the funniest post I have ever read! Heh! looks like a bag of potaoes on the chair!HA HA!... lol! I really like the last sentence... the one about the future world leaders!
Posted by: Rahul Jain on January 10, 2008 03:44 AM
Oh yeah, I will blog about MUN in depth some time (actually, you might get it quite soon. I'm chairing a conference for MUN a week after I get back from Spain). :)
So stay tuned!
Posted by: Oasis on January 10, 2008 10:33 AM
chairing is the bestest! always =)
have a great time in spain!
Posted by: Aditi on January 10, 2008 07:50 PM
What's Jon's opinion on the post?
Posted by: Anonymous on January 10, 2008 11:48 PM
i turned into exhibit C last night
o.O
its very unfun
Posted by: Aditi on January 11, 2008 05:00 AM
Hahahaha, I love this entry. I can't wait for that to be me. Masochistic? Maybe... =)
Posted by: Hawkins on January 11, 2008 09:52 AM
Nice!
Posted by: Anonymous on February 6, 2008 03:45 PM
Cool!
Posted by: Anonymous on February 6, 2008 10:24 PM
