massachusetts institute of technology freshman admissions portal/community v. 2.0

"Debunked"

I've decided that before I go to bed I should take advantage of the awesome capabilities of this wonderful invention called "The Laptop." It has this unique ability called "mobility" that allows me to write while propped up in bed and listening to the Toy Story soundtrack. Anywho, I figured that if I was trying to keep up with my "entry every other day" pace I have about 15 minutes to post an entry. Unfortunately I don't have anything to say, so I'm going to do a google search, find some misconception about MIT, and debunk it. This should be fun!

*Searches*
*Digs*
*Doesn't find much, decides to make things juicy by adding "CollegeConfidential" to the search*
*Gags at the cesspool that is CollegeConfidential while wading through it*

OMG guys! You made a CollegeConfidential thread about me!?

Decisions on the 22nd??????????

Ok, time for the debunking to begin, didn't think I'd have to debunk my own rumor.

So I'm the new guy here, I've only been officially blogging for a couple of months, and I just now realized that what can start as a simple guess as to an admissions release date can spiral wildly out of control. I underestimate your tenacity. Let me the set the record straight, por favor (I really want to avoid nasty e-mails from Ben and Matt and I have this funny feeling that said e-mails are in the works).

I am a student. Students don't get to know when decisions are released. Honestly, they don't tell us, it's top secret. Anything you heard me say about March 22nd was, and has always been labeled as, A GUESS. When Matt or Ben post when the decision date is we will all know together, it'll be a big happy group learning experience.

So that's that. Decisions may come out on the 15th, they may come out on the 22nd, they may come out on Christmas (at which point I'd have to lol), I don't know. Need to pass the time between now and admissions? YouTube my friends, YouTube. Also, explore the blogosphere, there's some interesting stuff out there. Above all, don't freak out.

(I'm realizing that my posts don't always correlate directly to MIT. I'm not sure if this is acceptable so I'll try to keep it to a minimum. Feel free to use your imaginations to connect things I talk about to MIT somehow, it's a good brain exercise.)

Responses To This Entry:

(Please note that comments are closed after 30 days to reduce spam.)

I just cannttt help it...:)...first!!

Posted by: Nihar on March 3, 2008 12:13 AM


Thanks for clearing things up. I'm starting to feel tension I never had during the early decision wait, so let's just say I'm really hoping the decisions come out earlier so I can finally know :)
Anyways, better get back to some search algorithms :P

Posted by: bunny on March 3, 2008 12:15 AM


Its Marchh Michael!!!! We (I, at least) am dyinggg for an entry on the application process..

Posted by: Nihar on March 3, 2008 12:16 AM


Lol.. Am sorry man, I started that thread, cos when I was reading your blog I saw a comment that said something about a new blog, and I really didnt know where to find the blog... :D Thought CC would be the place to actually find out what the comment meant and hence the thread :D Sorry!

Posted by: Shruthi on March 3, 2008 01:05 AM


yay. march.

Posted by: Anonymous on March 3, 2008 01:23 AM


yay. march.

Posted by: Anonymous on March 3, 2008 01:25 AM


Hey Snively thanks for the link to my blog :) and sorry about my freakout comment on your blog haha I just made an entry in mine about it...:P

Posted by: Justin Powell on March 3, 2008 01:29 AM


I noticed that you didn't close your last parenthesis. :)

Thanks for clearing up about the decision release date. My friends and I were discussing about it a few days ago. I guess I'll be patient...

Posted by: Andrew L. on March 3, 2008 02:52 AM


Snively, we knew it was just a guess of yours, but since you know a little more than us about what is going on at MIT right now, you have more chances guessing rightly than us.

Posted by: Ana on March 3, 2008 03:05 AM


You always said it was guesstimate...so that makes you immune to any emails. Still anxious about the decisions. :)

Posted by: Libin Daniel on March 3, 2008 04:00 AM


hmm

Posted by: d on March 3, 2008 05:45 AM


Because I do not get embarrassed about this sort of stuff, I would like to point out I am the same person whose blog is the word "stuff" up there and who linked to snively's blog in College confidential. Hope you dont mind! :-)

Posted by: OmarA on March 3, 2008 06:36 AM


Snively, I just realized that you actually made a link to my blog :) Thanks!!!

Posted by: Shruthi on March 3, 2008 07:34 AM


It's kind of all or nothing this time around, eh? Scary. After three months of pondering it, I've realized that I will indeed be a little disappointed to go anywhere but MIT.

On a side note, anyone know if and how I can write a letter about some stuff I've been doing to admissions? February was a very busy month. Can I simply write it in an e-mail or must I send a physical letter? Or is it just too late altogether?

Posted by: JohnJimJoeBob on March 3, 2008 07:48 AM


@JohnJimJoeBob: (Nice name :D)) I think the admissions team has already gone into selection, as indicated by the app tracking portlet.. I am not sure. Maybe you should call them up before sending in anything...

Posted by: Shruthi on March 3, 2008 08:58 AM


Wow! You linked to me! I suppose I had better start posting some more interesting things, then :)

Thanks for the clarification about decisions - I suppose I should go erase the pencil from my calendar...

Posted by: Karen on March 3, 2008 09:07 AM


Heheh, I was considering going and weeping in the corner for a solid twenty minutes when reading that post... I'd made a calendar and circled March 15th (like one of those typical calendars on cartoons) and started crossing stuff out. And when I read the thread, I was like

oh my gods (partially because my religion is polytheistic)

it's not 3/15 anymore! Time to make a new calendar. Since I haven't gotten to it, I don't have to make a new one (temporarily) ^_^

Posted by: Anonymous on March 3, 2008 03:22 PM


Hey Sinively,
Speaking of laptops (i think the word was used in your entry...that counts right?..) What kind of lap top do most engineers at MIT own. I am starting to look at buying my first ever computer that will be all mine, and wanted to know what is used in the college world. Let the great debate of apple vs. pc begin (just kidding)


~Jess

Posted by: Jess on March 3, 2008 04:11 PM


I'm sorry for misspelling your name... I blame Mondays :P

Posted by: Jess on March 3, 2008 04:12 PM


@Snively

As Paul wrote:"It's All Going To Be Okay."

Posted by: HappilyNerdy88 on March 3, 2008 04:47 PM


@Jess

Good question! I was actually thinking about that just barely too. I'm thinking I'm going to get a Mac and try to put Ubuntu on it but I might put Windows on it too...or maybe neither... who knows. Any suggestions would be awesome! :)

Posted by: Justin Powell on March 3, 2008 05:51 PM


so I should probably pull back all those flyers I ran off and posted around town?

=) only kidding

Posted by: Chris on March 3, 2008 07:45 PM


Good luck all regular action applicants out there!! Waiting must be torturous.. (I've been there) but you guys are almost there! Just a few more weeks to go.. and before you know it.. you'll know!! haha that rhymes.

Posted by: Meghan '12 on March 3, 2008 11:23 PM


I really shouldnt be visiting these blogs as much as I do :D But then, thanks Meghan! :)

Posted by: Shruthi on March 4, 2008 09:18 AM


lol thanks for the link Snively ! Wow rumors have this new thing to spread around, it's called internet...they learn and adapt !!! Are rumors AIs?

Posted by: Isshak on March 4, 2008 03:43 PM


lol good thing you decided to debunk something! Shameless plug: I have a blog too. =)

@Jess - Don't forget Linux! =O

Posted by: Hawkins on March 6, 2008 01:20 PM


Regarding computers and operating systems, I started off the semester with a Dell Inspiron laptop running Vista. That worked okay for a while, but the computer itself was pretty heavy and bulky...so at the beginning of this semester I realized I needed something more mobile. My parents, happily, agreed - so I bought myself a shiny new MacBook Pro (15" version, very tricked out) about two weeks ago. I've been using it non-stop every since. :)

As it happens, just last night I used Boot Camp to put Vista on my Mac - so if I ever need to run anything really computationally intensive (whether it's something academic like SolidWorks or something a little more fun, like Starcraft) I have that option open. I considered double-booting with Ubuntu instead, but Boot Camp is so ridiculously easy to use I decided to stick with Windows. Maybe at some point I'll reconfigure my old Dell, but who knows.

As for operating systems in general...if you name it, I guarantee someone at MIT will have it. Almost everyone has a laptop or desktop (many have more than one). Linux distros are fairly common, though I think Mac and Windows are still the front-runners. In addition, most of MIT's public workstations feature Athena (based off of Red Hat Linux), which is actually terrifically easy to use.

Hm...seems like a blog about computers might be in order soon. ^_^

Posted by: Paul on March 7, 2008 03:36 AM


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