<p>For the record, it wasn’t my analysis – it was one I had seen elsewhere on the internet.</p>
<p>The data was based on stats for the whole school, both undergrad and grad. The MIT grad rate has been lower than the national average while the undergrad rate has been higher, with some fluctuations between the years. In any case, this is irrelevant, and I’m sorry that I even brought it up.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>just to clarify, staying up all night is not always poor planning, people with ADD often find this very productive. They can get twice the amount accomplished during the night vs what they could spacing out their time. It is a strategy they use to compensate for their lack of ability to focus when not under stress. Not ideal, but not something they do because it is promoted. Everyone is different in their approach and I think MIT students have figured out what works for them.</p>
<p>There’s no lack of evidence that sleep loss impairs your cognitive functioning. I’m sure you could find many other studies:</p>
<p>[Wikipedia</a> Sleep deprivation](<a href=“Sleep deprivation - Wikipedia”>Sleep deprivation - Wikipedia)
[Sleep</a> deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance](<a href=“Sleep deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance - PMC”>Sleep deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance - PMC)
[Online assessment of sustained attention following sleep restriction](<a href=“http://www.tau.ac.il/~sadeh/clinic/Sadeh%202011%20OCPT.pdf”>http://www.tau.ac.il/~sadeh/clinic/Sadeh%202011%20OCPT.pdf</a>)
[Neurocognitive Consequences of Sleep Deprivation](<a href=“http://www.med.upenn.edu/uep/user_documents/DurmerandDinges--NeurocognitiveConsequences--SEM.NEUROL.2005.pdf”>http://www.med.upenn.edu/uep/user_documents/DurmerandDinges--NeurocognitiveConsequences--SEM.NEUROL.2005.pdf</a>
)</p>
<p>From the amount of references to all nighters, being overwhelmed, being hosed, etc. on this forum, I get the impression that, no, MIT students have not figured out what works for them. People, even smart people often herd toward poor decisions. The glorification of sleep deprivation at MIT is probably an instance of that.</p>
<p>I understand about the adaptations you make for ADD. Still, I invite you to track your productivity at different times of day (in similar low-stimulus environments) and to verify for yourself that your nights are truly more productive.</p>
<p>There’s a mode at MIT where people complain about hosed they are and how little sleep they got. It’s some weird handicap-principle thing, but don’t confuse a loud subset of a population for the entire population. As someone who gets 7.5+ hours of sleep a night, manages schoolwork, has time for activities, and hangs out with my friends and boyfriend, I find life manageable with appropriate planning. But I don’t broadcast my wonderful full night’s sleep like people will broadcast their harder nights. This gives a skewed view of the average MIT student’s life.</p>
<p>My freshman son says he sleeps great. His roommate moved out early in the term, leaving him in a single. I can’t imagine why people are targeting single rooms as a cause of emotional problems, when roommate issues are often the most stressful thing many freshman deal with.</p>
<p>To prospective parents: we’ve never seen our son as happy and confident as when we visited for family weekend. He made wonderful friends, and the upperclassmen on his hall are very supportive and reassuring. He has found faculty to be approachable and helpful. Sure, he overextended himself on extracurriculars, resulting in a couple of low test and pset scores – but he will learn from that and prioritize things better going forward.</p>
<p>well now it’s official: Suicide!</p>
<p>[Cause</a> of death determined Examiner?s report: Tonegawa death suicide - The Tech](<a href=“http://tech.mit.edu/V131/N49/tonegawa.html]Cause”>http://tech.mit.edu/V131/N49/tonegawa.html)</p>
<p>So sad…</p>
<p>
And that school is The College of William and Mary.</p>
<p>Such a tragedy that this happens at any school. It is so important to talk about the stresses on students and prevent these incidents from occurring.</p>
<p>It seems that he died on Monday and was found on Tuesday.
<a href=“http://www.lehmanreen.com/obituaries/obituary.php?id=120250[/url]”>http://www.lehmanreen.com/obituaries/obituary.php?id=120250</a></p>
<p>Does this mean he was hiding for one week?</p>
<p>[Junior</a> found dead in Next House - The Tech](<a href=“http://tech.mit.edu/V132/N5/anderson.html]Junior”>http://tech.mit.edu/V132/N5/anderson.html)</p>
<p>this is a quote from the article:</p>
<p>At this early stage, there is no strong indication that Brian’s death was the result of suicide.”</p>
<p>The same thing was said also about Satto Tonegawa in the beginning.</p>
<p>Actually, that’s not true. We’ll find out more in the coming days and weeks, but at present, it does not appear to have been a suicide. Still, it is a tragedy, especially with the other deaths earlier this year :(</p>
<p>Has Brian Anderson’s death been deemed suicide? My daughter is seriously considering MIT (admitted EA 2012) and I’m very concerned about what I’ve read in these posts. Has any action been taken on MIT’s campus since the autumn?</p>
<p>There’s still no news from the Massachusetts Medical Examiner’s office, and still no strong indication that it was suicide.</p>
<p>While we don’t have any word yet about Brian, in the past, if student deaths were suicides, that news was released within a week or two to the community. </p>
<p>bsalum - yes, things are being done. The Chancellor has met with a number of students, housemasters, GRTs, etc…and reached out to all students, organized some support study breaks, and so forth. This is something MIT has been taking very seriously.</p>
<p>I’m going to be honest here; MIT is not the most happy place. In a recent discussion with a group of friends a few admitted they had thought about suicide. I personally think the school is doing a terrible job to address this; but at the same time MIT is meant to be tough.</p>
<p>In regards to Brian, while the consensus on campus seems to be it was a suicide, it may be a possibility that we will never know. He was a member of fraternity know for the most excessive drug use and the rumor is that he died of an overdose. It is possible we may never know whether it was an intentional OD or not.</p>
<p>I know they are inevitable but I don’t think that rumors are particularly good no matter what they happen to be rumoring.</p>