Paul B. '11 | May 28, 2008

"Lessons Learned (Guest Entry)"

As an avid blog reader in high school, and now as an actual blogger, I feel that I can pretty accurately say that the admissions blogs are always changing in new and exciting ways. At the same time, a few things have held pretty constant: one of them being that the end of a semester always brings out reflective, introspective entries. Personally, having been through the pressure cooker that is MIT for a year, I think that's because it's not until vacation that we students simply have time for the luxury of stepping back from the stress and the studying, and really begin to understand the big picture. (Or, more acurrately, if we do have time, we'd probably rather spend it studying. :D)

This is one of those reflective entries. Other bloggers have already talked about the discoveries they've made the past year, about how things change. And if there's sometimes a little bitterness mixed in - well, that's college. More precisely: that's MIT, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Actually, though, this entry isn't about me. Apart from this introduction, I didn't even write it. If the admissions blogs have one flaw, it's that a dozen or so students simply can't represent all aspects of MIT. We try, of course. And for the most part I'd like to think we do a pretty good job. But I really do believe that, fundamentally, even though it's my name and my picture at the top of this page, this blog isn't about me.

It's about MIT as a whole.

There are many things that make MIT what it is. But when you get right down to it, I believe the most important part of MIT - the reason I feel in love with this place, over any other school - is the students who go here. And I think there are many students who have stories that deserve to be told.

Piper Hunt is one of those people, and this is her story. Or, I should say, a chapter of it, because in a very real sense her story is only just beginning. It is not, necessarily, a happy chapter. But it is a true one. And that, I think, is what really matters.

***

Piper Speaks:

Lesson One: You gotta work for it.

As a freshman in the Class of 2011, I came to MIT full of dreams - with absolutely no plans of how to obtain them. I thought, for some reason, that everything would just fall together. I was certain that after a month or so here, I'd be acing hard classes, have kickass study groups and friends, and be über active in tons of the really amazing clubs that exist here.

Well, it didn't happen. And I got depressed.

Lesson Two: Know yourself.

So according to the admissions gods, I’m just as brilliant as everyone else here. But I started to seriously doubt that a couple weeks into classes. Already down from how everything didn’t happen like in the movies, I pretty much stopped working altogether. It wasn’t until this semester that I realized why I struggled so much - why I’m still struggling. My background was vastly different from most people's. Many kids here have parents with PhD's (it still seems like a very strange thought to me, parents with PhD's) - only one of my parents went to college at all. Many had been pushed hard since childhood in the best schools, while I fluffed around, serious about my riding and flying, loving community service, getting A's and B's, but never really thinking of going to a prestigious school. I wasn't one of those kids dreaming of MIT since 2nd grade - I was the one who hadn't heard of the school until junior year.

Then there was my schooling itself. Instead of the state's top science high school, I went to a small humanities-centric school. I didn’t take any science classes my freshman year but got my fill in religion, English, and history - 6 AP exams' worth. The only other AP's I took were Biology and Calculus (AB). I never learned anything remotely theoretical, parametrics, or even chemistry (long story). Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adored my high school - like MIT, we didn't have a valedictorian. People just got along without all this backstabbing I hear about. But it wasn't the ideal background for an MIT student - so while I struggled in the most basic classes, others were skipping out of calculus in its entirety and taking organic chemistry for a second time.

Lesson Three: Get help.

Still, I'm not the only one at MIT who doesn’t have a stellar background. I would've been fine at MIT - if I hadn't been some combination of prideful and lazy. I didn't get the help I needed. Oh, it was all there - office hours, tutors, if I had just reached out I would've been fine. But it got to the point where I was too scared by how behind I was to go to office hours. Instead, I switched from 18.01A/18.02A to 18.01, and dropped 8.01 completely.

But I survived first semester - down, but not out. I had a great Christmas break, a good IAP, and then it was back to work.

Second semester began with some really bad family stuff that I’d prefer not to get into here, and now I have my own medical problems to deal with. Overall, it’s not been a fun ride, and all throughout I was thinking, "I'll get help next week, I'll go to office hours later," etc. etc. I did nothing in any clubs, didn’t get involved - sunk into the same trap as last semester.

But this time, I got up. And things are going right.

Lesson Four: Learn what works for you.

We all have our Achilles' heel. So what did I learn was my trap? The thing is, I don’t get help until it's way too late - and then I'm too afraid to go and get it. Now I know, in the future, to just go to office hours and take other help right from the beginning, so as not to fall behind. (Also, I've learned that evening classes are NOT for me, and that I actually do prefer my non-HASS courses to have finals.) Unlike last semester, I know that I CAN do it. I won't try to just breeze through it.

Lesson Five: Who I am, who I’ll be.

Finally, it's true what they say - college is a time where you learn about yourself. In this first quarter of my college experience (oh god, already?), I’ve learned that my initial response is to shut down (something I should watch out for) but that I always bounce back; I am a survivor. I've learned to just stop caring what people think of me - this is my life, I’ll live it my way, and there are things I need to do.

At the same time, college is changing me, and it’ll continue to do so. Of course, MIT's on hold for now. As many current friends and future 2012 friends already know, I had to go on medical leave for this spring term and next fall. (Don't worry, you can't get rid of me - I'll be coming back next spring as Class of 2012. =D)

But do I still like MIT?

It’s funny, 'cause I know some people (very few, but they exist) who have been disillusioned by this year. Nope, not me. MIT is still the dream school it always was for me. I've had some really great experiences here, and I just know this place is right for me, this place is amazing, this place is different - and like many, I feel the connection here. Sure, I'm going to have to work for it in ways other people didn’t have to.

But I know that, when MIT throws me out into the real world, I won't fall again.

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