<p>So I'm in the second semester of my freshmen year, just in some private university in Indonesia. </p>
<p>Being best known for its entrepreneurial programs and wider career acceptance and opportunities - aside from the academic stuff (I know it can be some marketing 'magic', haha), having that 50% scholarship, and being in the 'global class' program (I'll explain about that later) kept my butt staying here.
I once had the plan to study abroad in universities like NTU or ITB (a technology institute in a city called Bandung), but I'm not for now. I haven't had time to enroll to try out some scholarship. The govt in my country disallows cancelling my admission if I get one in ITB, and I was too late to study to prepare for the test in NTU. So I decided to skip it for my graduate degree instead, since I really, really want to work abroad... Anyway, I'm not joking, but I'll be in for MIT. </p>
<p>I've been thinking about getting into MIT since high school, and I'm serious about it. I know it's not really easy - the sheer competition and all, but it's not impossible. And I believe in this. I don't care about grieving or complaining about how hard it is, because every university and every major have their own difficulties. It's not a matter of CAN and CAN'T to me, it's about WANT TO LEARN or DON'T WANT. And I WANT TO LEARN for this one.</p>
<p>Anyway, back to the topic. Sorry about being a little harsh, just had some bad day.</p>
<p>In my current university, there are two kinds of classes: the 'regular' class, and the 'global' class.
The 'regular' class provides no mandatory study-abroad or internship stuff, while the 'global' class does, with partial financial support from my univ and me getting to choose from not a few universities partnered with my univ.</p>
<p>I'm now in the 'global' class, but... it's unusual. This class provides me no minors to choose like SE, AI, Systems, Networking, Database, etc. The regular class has those minors to be chosen in the sophomore-junior years. I hadn't known this before entering Global Class, and NO one notified me about this. I'm screwed, I'm disappointed and all, but I don't care. I don't want to give up, I'll find a way.</p>
<p>I just previewed the course structure for the regular class, and picked myself some favorite minors: SE and AI. For that, I had an idea of taking open online courses (i.e. MIT OpenCourseWare - which I'm planning to take, Coursera, whatever it is), trainings, tutorials, etc. Coding competitions might come in handy for interviews.</p>
<p>But I have to accomplish these two goals:
- Own mastery in either SE or AI, or both; and
- Support my research to enter MIT, and get myself used to the academic nuance (partially, at least) in MIT lectures.</p>
<p>How is that 'idea' going to help me achieve these goals? What things should I pay attention to for my research and other factors to get admitted into MIT, and for SE and AI? What actions should I take to get this 'idea' going?</p>
<p>Anyway, one more important stuff: How are financial aids going to help me in MIT?</p>
<p>I'll be waiting for your damn replies. <em>grunt for some Australian accent</em> Thanks a lot, mates! G'day!</p>