<p>Well the one good thing I've taken from CC is the feeling that I'm not alone, and a lot of other people who have applied to MIT are sitting at home anxious for the day results come out.
I personally needed a distraction from this, and thought it would be refreshing to start a thread on everything NOT related to counting down for the results, to get people's minds off of it even for a bit and back to "reality".</p>
<p>For starters, I'm interested to know if anyone had any weird habits about filling in applications, or any tips in general. I myself listened to the same song the entire time I worked on my application to try to create a sense of unity for all my essays, as music influences my mood (emotionally and on paper/screen) quite a bit.</p>
<p>Just post anything you'd like to, any arbitrary topic that's NOT the counting down of days until decisions come out. I figure it should suffice in distracting me and getting rid of some of this steam that's building up from checking back day after day, even hour after hour in blind hope that admissions finished their decisions ridiculously early this year. haha</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ve been refreshing the blogs in a more than somewhat insane manner… ><</p>
<p>I listen to music, too, when I write in general. I also find that I write better sleep deprived, and that good writing just kinda happens, like POOF! Usually I have to wait for it, and I might get absolutely nothing for hours and then suddenly I write an entire page that I’m perfectly happy with. I also have issues skipping parts and moving on. I can write paragraphs out of order, but if I’m writing a sentence I usually stop to find the perfect word, every word. I’m pretty obsessive with the thesaurus, not because my vocabulary is low, but because it’s a convenient list. I have extensive word hunts in the thesaurus, where I go from one word to its synonym to a synonym of that word and so on.</p>
<p>Wow. this is actually really nice for relieving stress. :D</p>
<p>LOL wow I’ve never actually heard of doing anything better while being sleep-deprived.
I write better in colder weather, as weird as that may sound. As for writing, I prefer to use simple words and simple sentences in conveying my messages. I used to be the thesaurus worm, and props to those kids because their essays stomp on mine in terms of complexity and vocabulary. It was just one day I figured I was better off telling a great idea in a simple way instead of telling a simple idea in a great (somewhat elaborated) way haha.
My essays for MIT were actually very short, especially the last one (free topic). I felt like I wasn’t being completely honest if I were to elaborate on something beyond its necessity.
As for the song, I listened to The Only Moment We Were Alone for the entire duration of the essay writing and filling out applications. Don’t know how I would fare if the music I listened to had words in it, I can understand how that could be distracting.</p>
<p>I listened to a lot of Mark Ronson. Words, sometimes, but not too distracting. And then on particularly late nights, “Son’s gonna rise” by Citizen Cope is really nice.</p>
<p>I have a Comp Sci midterm in half an hour, and I really can’t see myself, you know, studying. ><</p>
<p>Am I too anxious about decisions? Or maybe I’m just not motivated by the fact that I have over 100% and thus my grade can only get lower. Rawr.</p>
<p>I try to look forward to things that are happening more immediately. Like, I have a Calc final on Wednesday. Though I’m not exactly looking forward to it, I have to concentrate on it. It’s like a big mountain over which I can’t see. After Wednesday, I’ll be in the shadow of a new mountain. Sometimes, I build my own mountains to distract myself. I pump up a small hill so I don’t have to wait so long for what comes afterward. It makes everything go faster, but sometimes it’s a little too fast. I never know what’s coming for me.</p>
<p>I have made a bet with my friend that I won’t log onto my facebook until December 15th over a lunch and some dessert, and now spend the majority of my free time on youtube, out at the school letting the rage cage have it, or reading.</p>
<p>^^^ Interesting way of thinking, Millancad.</p>
<p>I actually guess I try to do something similar (like, right now I’m trying to focus on a ridiculously comprehensive vocab test that’s tomorrow), but I usually fail and just start thinking about my MIT app anyway. LOL. I try though. :p</p>
<p>^ I do the same thing as millancad, just focus on the immediate future. Makes the distant future arrive faster, right now I’m in the shadow of an English sonnet and possibly a physics test (I say possibly because I never quite know what that teacher is up to).
Oh, and “Son’s Gonna Rise” is great, I can’t listen to music while writing though, I’ll start accidentally typing the lyrics.</p>
<p>SICK. I love house music! Dirty South is amazing. End of story. Brazilian + DIRTY beats = pure bliss. :-)</p>
<p>@dosoon</p>
<p>It’s perfectly fine that you use simpler words to get your points across. I prefer to use vivid imagery and unique/complex words simply because that has been my writing style for as long as I can remember. I’ve seen some pretty amazing essays that use very fairly colloquial diction though, so don’t worry. :-D</p>
<p>@everyone else</p>
<p>I take my mind off of everything by beating my 16 year old wife. (I wrote a poem on my applications about how the black eye I gave her looks beautiful when the sunlight hits it just right). LOL. :-P</p>
<p>@Vhiremath4
…O_______O on your stress-relieving activity. That was a little bit too far though lol</p>
<p>@petri21
thanks a lot for the Citizen Cope suggestion, he’s been off my playlist for awhile and I forgot how honest and calming his music can be, definitely going to do my wee’s worth of homework to his music.</p>
<p>Music suggestions are always welcome and greatly appreciated :D</p>
<p>When writing my essays, I usually started with at least a half pot of coffee. Then I’d chop up an apple, lock myself up in my room, climb up on my loft (I made it this summer. ^.^), and write like MAD. </p>
<p>So to all of you anxious MIT ED folks… you obviously researched things enough to know that it was the place for you. Congratulations! </p>
<p>For those families still juggling pros/cons of various colleges, could you please consider posting a list your top 3 reasons that MIT is “it” for you? Or if you are really antsy, a poem or Haiku on the topic would be ok too ;)</p>
<ul>
<li>The feeling that I get about the culture and atmosphere from reading the admissions blogs</li>
<li>Awesome economists graduated from MIT (I want to major in 14/economics)</li>
<li>UROPs–though other colleges have undergraduate research, MIT encourages it the most and students get to do great things as undergrads</li>
</ul>