A question for Ben Jones

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Hi Mr. Ben Jones. I am attending the NC School of Science and Mathematics as a Junior, and I was hoping you could enlighten me with some advice.</p>

<p>I just went to the registrar, and got a new schedule. This is what it looks like:</p>

<p>Trimester 1:
AP Adv Chem 1
AP Physics C 1
Introductory Spanish
American Studies
JR Student Life Prog</p>

<p>Trimester 2:
AP Adv Chem 1
AP Physics C 1
Introductory Spanish
Vector Functions/Partial Derivatives
American Studies
Physical Activity/Wellness
JR Student Life Prog</p>

<p>Trimester 3:
AP Adv Chemistry II
Mulitple Integrals/Vector Fields
Introductory Spanish
AP US History
AP Physics C 2</p>

<p>I will add some electives here and there. My main question was that I took French III at my old school. My options are to exempt french, take Adv French, which is the equivalent of French III, or take AP French, or take an Intro to a new language, and take intermediate for that language next year.</p>

<p>I'm not amazingly good at foreign languages, and French class is ususally a nightmare. </p>

<p>Should I take Adv French? Or would it look stupid if I took introduction to a new language? I'm going to try and exempt french, then I won't have to take any foreign language class.</p>

<p>What would you recommend me to do? The Physics and Chem classes here are notoriously hard, with the physics teacher giving negative grades, and I don't want to kill myself overworking myself. I've been trying that for 2 years, and honestly, I just want some peace.</p>

<p>BTW, I'm starting a club("Computer Science Club"), where we will be going through the book Concrete Mathematics, and practicing USACO type questions. That will also take a bite out of me.</p>

2

<p>while i appreciate the sentiment of posting here so answers will benefit us all, it feels like questions this specific to your situation and so narrowly addressed would be better done by email.</p>

<p>(mostly b/c i think people on this board sometimes forget that ben has an email address. especially for time-sensitive questions, this isn't necessarily the best way to get in touch with him.)</p>

3

<p>Is Ben Jones an adcom?</p>

4

<p>ben jones is one of the assistant deans of admission, or some such (job titles elude me).</p>

5

<p>wow. I've got some sucking up to do...
By the way, Ben, did I ever tell you how funny and smart you are?</p>

6

<p>ok, he's technically "communications manager" for the admissions department. which i think means that working these forums is part of his job description. i suppose i was mixing him up with matt mcgann, who is in fact an assistant dean. and now that i've dragged this all terrifically offtopic and made myself out to be an idiot to boot, my job here is done.</p>

7

<p>Ben Jones is Communications Director and admissions officer. You can find him, and his email address, through his blog. He is responsive to emails and to questions posted in the comments section of his blog, as are [url=matt.mitblogs.com]Matt McGann<a href="Assistant%20Director%20of%20Admissions">/url</a> and [url=daniel.mitblogs.com]Daniel Barkowitz<a href="Director%20of%20Student%20Financial%20Aid">/url</a>.</p>

<p>goddess32585 is on the money: if your question is really so personal, it is probably better to contact someone in Admissions directly rather than posting it here for posterity. </p>

<p>But really, if you're making these choices for yourself and based on your own strongest interests and not just "because it will look good to a college I'm interested in applying to" ("... would it look stupid..."), is an admissions officer at a college really the best person to advise you on your choices? I think most people would recommend that you look inside and see what you would really most prefer, perhaps in consultation with some friends or family or an adult who knows you. Do you want to take a stab at a new language? Or do you want to deepen your knowledge of a language you're already familiar with? Decide what best fits your personality and interests. And then tell the admissions people at colleges you apply to why you made the choice you made. And how fulfilled and happy you feel as a result! :) That's what they're looking for (at least that seems to be what MIT is looking for), not a specific list of courses a student took because they appear to best match a profile.</p>

<p>Listen to what you feel you want, and then embrace your choice wholeheartedly.</p>

8

<p>Sagar, you have to chill out...</p>

9

<p>Take whatever French class you can handle. And as Crom said.. chillax</p>

10

<p>I'm just taking Intro to Spanish. I realized that taking a very advanced french course would be impossibly hard and exhausting, and I'd rather learn a new language and "chillax." </p>

<p>I've decided not to worry about colleges too much. I realized that I am going to get into a good school, and come what may, I'm the only one who can accomplish what I aim to.</p>

<p>Anyway, Physics C teacher dumped a crapload of homework on me this weekend.</p>

11

<p>Crom, I agree wholeheartedly.</p>

12

<p>Sorry for the delayed responses guys; we've been slammed in the office lately.</p>

<p>I'll answer all of these threads in order...</p>

<p>Sagar - you're a soph, right? Follow the advice of the other posters and try not to worry so much about all of these details. :-) Especially when it comes to languages, take whatever most interests you and what will make you most happy.</p>

<p>Oh, and to clarify - we in admissions all read applications and participate in recruitment and selection committee. On top of those general responsibilties, we each have a focus - mine is communications (web, print, etc.). Matt oversees a few different things, one of the biggest being the international recruitment and selection process. Etc., Etc.</p>

13

<p>Hi Ben. Actually I'm a Junior. I've decided that I made the right decision. The intro spanish class interesting, but not something that sucks my time, which is already being sucked by AP Phys C, and AP Chem, along with Siemens Westinghouse. I would appreciate it if you could provide your insight on my other thread though(getting credit). Thanks :)</p>

14

<p>Ooops - sorry - thought I'd read somewhere that you were a soph, but now it's a new school year, which would explain that one. Oh my brain! Sorry again. :-)</p>

<p>I'll go check on the credit question...</p>