Completed first year at MIT with 5.0/5.0. Hate it here, qualified in jee. help!

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>hello all, </p>

<p>I got into MIT last year and I was overjoyed, my friends and family in mumbai were so proud. they spent several lakhs to send me here. I did well in my first year, got As in all classes, but I just dont like it in us. I'm lonely and miss my friends and family. I flew back and took jee this round, and made it into mumbai iit. </p>

<p>Father and mother don't want me to leave prestigious mit behind to come back to, in thier words, a "hell hole country." They say that iit students are of no comparison to the mit caliber students, and I'm giving up opportunity of life-time to go to, again in their words, a "pathetic second rate college when compared to mit."</p>

<p>Please give me your thoughts on te issue. Am I really being stupid and giving up what is the dreams of most of my friends and family? Should i just stick it out for another 3 years, or go back to mumbai and finish education at iit. </p>

<p>I'm 2nd year mit eecs student with 5.0 right now.</p>

2

<p>Are you paying for MIT or just the travel piece? If you have a scholarship, you are giving up a $50,000 + scholarship essentially.</p>

<p>Why are you lonely? What do you miss most about living in India?</p>

<p>From what I heard, IIT hostels are even more miserable because they are all competing against each other and dont want to reveal any information. Their number 1 goal in a lot of cases is to get to MIT or Caltech or some other highend US university and so they will think you are probably off your rocker if you go to IIT B and tell them you left MIT after one year.</p>

<p>I dont necessarily agree with your parents that IIT B is second rate. However, MIT is definitely far superior in terms of resources if not necessarily the caliber of people. You will miss a lot of things you had access to at MIT that you won’t at IIT. Someone posted 50 things you should be doing college (an MIT person) on the India thread recently which was very cool. May be you should go read that and see how many items you have actually done at college.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/life/workplay_balance_at_mit/50_things.shtml[/url]”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/life/workplay_balance_at_mit/50_things.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Don’t leave MIT.
Their disappointment, loss of face and status among their friends, and deep family shame will haunt you everyday you look into their eyes.
IMHO.</p>

4

<p>Batllo lol. There is no shame going to IIT B, from MIT. However, I think Bond should stick another 3 years to his template. The feeling of homesickness is hard to overcome, and one goes through a lot of conflicts with the heart and mind to decide what should be the proper decision. My advice is to not look behind and stroll right ahead with the institute. There are a lot more advantages if you remain patient. If you top MIT with the route you are taking, then you can get a very high class job in India. IIT B might provide you with family comfort, but academic pressure might be rampant (but I don’t think that’s your concern from what I’ve read). It would be a whole lot painful if you decide that there isn’t that great of a job prospect once you get out of IIT (and I mean a job that is really high profile for a student like you). Think about this as a temporary journey that you must take and get over with. You’ll make adjustments, and if you happen to decide to go back to India after the 4 years are over, you will have all the options you could hope for. It isn’t unusual to have students that don’t fit in their first year, so just hang in there and give the next year another try :).</p>

5

<p>Hey bond. Sorry to hear you’re disliking it so much. I don’t have much advice for you but I just wanted to add here that this has happened before so you’re not the first one. Everyone applying abroad from delhi knows of the Head Boy of DPS RKP who left MIT after the first year or so…but wait! He left because he couldn’t manage the studies, or so it is rumored.</p>

<p>Your gpa is stellar. You want to come back for friends and family? When you’re in your professional life, you’ll probably have to travel, maybe your job involves transfers where your office shall be shifted every 5 yrs or so. In professional life, your friends won’t be your office-mates. Why don’t you skype (video chat) with your family regularly if you miss them that much?
It’s hard to leave something prestigious, but the decision is ultimately in your hands. You can convince everyone else later, but I do think they’re giving sensible advice.
You’ll develop greatly as an intellectual in mumbai IIT too, and for grad school, american schools just grab IIT students with ggood (say 8+ point) GPA, so don’t worry about that. If you’re from IIT Mumbai, and have a great gpa there too, then you won’t be considered anything ‘below’ MIT students. I just think that the exposure should be different in MIT as compared to IIT (I’m sure you should be able to gauge that better since you’ve experienced both worlds now) and I think exposure, if you can make the best of it, is half as important as the rest of the educational experience.
Yes, IIT students can “make it as big as MIT students, with less than half the resources”…it’s something of a pride for Indians, and I feel great about it too, but what I’m saying is then imagine what a good IIT student should be able to do with MIT resources? It should be like wonderland. :D</p>

<p>Friends will come…and most friends …will go. Don’t make decisions based on friends, please.
I can understand that it could be hard to spend each day with nobody as your confidant…but it’s def possible.
Maybe you just haven’t found your group yet? Try a few new classes next semester maybe, and meet new people. Or get a girlfriend perhaps, there you have a great friendship right there! :p</p>

<p>Maybe it’s just taking you time to settle down? Don’t worry, you’ll be okay in the end. MIT is not a fun journey, and neither is IIT. Don’t be under the misconception that IIT is this really friendly place where everyone’s willing to help each other out…it’s not. It’s Indian MIT. If food is a problem…well I can hardly see anyone leave a college for food.
Just remember that at MIT you’re getting an education many would give an arm and a leg to have. DON’T make a hasty decision, with a mind clouded over with unhappiness about things as inconsequential (when it comes to college decisions) as friends and family.</p>

<p>PS: JMHO, After MIT, I feel it shall be difficult for you to settle back in IIT.
PPS: I also think that your experience is what you make of it. If you want your four years to end up being a memorable experience, then they shall be. If you just enter each day thinking “MIT sucks, I don’t like anyone here, I <3 India, I <3 IIT” then it’s not really going to work out, ya know?
(btw I don’t think much of america, but I’m still going there for my education. That doesn’t mean I’m going to keep thinking of what I had. …That also doesn’t mean I’m going to stop complaining about the food too. :D)</p>

<p>Hope it works out for you. :)</p>

6

<p>Pixie - I did rip off your link from the other thread about 50 things without giving you credit for posting it! Is nt there an Indian student association in Boston that Bond can join?</p>

7

<p>Great tips here, and that was a great list, btw.</p>

<p>@Doctorbond: Do you have a social circle? Texaspg suggested the Indian Student Association, or maybe even the International Student Assocation. Find people with similar interests as you, proves to very rewarding while away at college.</p>

8

<p>^^It’s np texaspg! :slight_smile:
I’m sure there must be one. Doesn’t MIT also have a South asian society or sth? Otherwise he could mingle with the south asian society members from Harvard maybe. I’d be glad to get to know him if he likes.
He can maybe even cross register with Harvard and mingle with students here.</p>

<p>OT: OP seems to have disappeared after original post. :D</p>