Whatever happens...

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<p>One year ago, I wasn't thinking about college apps at all. Nor was I thinking of them this past spring. I thought that come November I'd apply to a couple of UCs, get in, and then figure out where to go. MIT had always been a place of some fascination for me, but I thought that MIT was a place for extremely smart people, and even I, who admits that one of his faults is arrogance, didn't think that I belonged there. And then this August, during a family vacation, I visited MIT and fell in love. What struck me about MIT was the amount of creativity, enthusiasm, and for lack or a better word, weirdness, that I felt emanating from the atmosphere. Truly, it is a magical place.</p>

<p>Returning home, I became immersed in the past MIT blogs, spending hours at a time reading them. I was extremely excited to have found the exactly where I wanted to go, for it felt unlike anything I had ever felt at any other university. MIT just has a quality that is difficult to articulate, and the best I can do is to say it's like cocktail, fusing knowledge, passion, fun, quirkiness, and a bit of craziness to create an amazing place that embodies each of its ingredients. </p>

<p>Yet, although I had found where I wanted to go, getting there was another thing--that 8.9% admissions rate is quite daunting. And so I spent hours slaving over the finest details on my application, lest I make some careless spelling error that would invalidate the rest of the document (it wouldn't), eons staring blankly at the essay prompts, a few heated minutes arguing with my mother about the use of the word "troll" in one of my essays (Guess who won? Not me.), and those few crushing seconds suddenly doubting every single word that I'd typed the moment before I clicked "Submit." All in all, I spent a month laboring over that digital file before paying tribute to the college admissions gods and finalizing my little baby. And then waiting.</p>

<p>Waiting is agonizing . Waiting isn’t just remembering every now and then and thinking “Gee, I wonder how it’s going?” Waiting is when you’re doing activities, running, playing tennis, taking a test, watching television, talking with family and friends, and you remember. You remember and you worry. Your mind feeds you delusions of getting in, but then your more cynical side cuts them down with its ice-cold blade of reality. In all likelihood, you tell yourself, you won’t be getting in. I’ve found myself increasingly stressed-out about my MIT decision and combined with a couple of 2nd-World Problems (definitely worse than 1st-world problems, but nowhere near 3rd-world), this past month-and-a-half has been mentally taxing. </p>

<p>Yet they have also been quite amazing. Just the occasional realization that I have a chance to go to MIT causes me to step back and say "WOW!" I am glad that I applied and I hope everyone else feels the same way. Thus, with EA decisions due out tomorrow morning, there are a couple of things that I’d like to say (as much to myself as to others). </p>

<p>[ul][li] ** We all have bright futures.** MIT’s applicant pool is, as we know, incredibly self-selecting and just the fact that we applied says a lot about us as people. Whether we get into MIT or not, we’ll have opportunities to succeed elsewhere.[/li][li]It’s been a great ride. For me, and I’m sure others, MIT has become something towards which we have striven. I’ve a had a great time reading the blogs, tracking the MIT news, and watching MIT Gangnam Style so many times that my parents asked me to “please, just please stop.” And despite the stress that they’ve caused, those dreams of matriculating have been worth something.[/li][li]Breath. Oxygen deprivation can’t and won’t affect the situation, so you might as well inhale (you were turning blue).[/li][li]Que Sera, Sera Whatever will happen, will happen. Some people will be straight up accepted and enter into a giddy celebration. Others will despair at the R-word. And a great many will have to endure another couple months of nail-biting. Yet when it comes down to it (and this is the part I have trouble convincing my subconcscious of), it is out of our hands. We have already plumbed the deepest recesses of our minds for essay topics. We have already gotten the test scores and the grades. We have already done everything in our power to increase our chances, if only by a fraction of a percent. So, let it happen.[/li][li]Let’s be good sports. Hearing the stories of everyone and all of their statistics, it does seem unfair how so few spots are available for so many talented, smart, hard-working people. And so if I do get rejected, or get deferred and later rejected, I hope that I’ll be able to feel genuinely happy for those who did get to fulfill their dreams. I hope that I’ll be able to move on and get ready for Graduate admissions (‘cause I’ll get there one way or another).[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>And so, when we log into decisions.mit.edu tomorrow morning, let's try to take it with a smile.</p>

<p>tl;dr: Applying has been a both fun and tiring experience. Let's try to accept the results as well as we can.</p>

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<p>Awesome post, Zeph.</p>

<p>+1 for Mollie to “whoosh” it into 2017 EA results thread.</p>

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<p>Growing up, one of my favorite TV shows was (and still is) Avatar: The Last Airbender. One of my favorite lines was in the episode Lake Laogai, in the Dai Li’s headquarters, when Zuko and Iroh are in the prison cell with Appa. Zuko is trying to take Appa, when Iroh yells"It’s time to start asking yourself the big questions…who are you? And what do you want?"</p>

<p>As strange as this may be, I feel that applying to MIT has helped to answer these questions: who am I? And what do I want?</p>

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<p>This thread should by stickied… Best of luck to you and everyone else applying!</p>

<p>EDIT: I remember that episode =]</p>

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<p>I copied it, but didn’t whoosh – then there couldn’t be a discussion here! :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Best of luck to everyone. And may the odds be ever in your favor.</p>

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<p>Yes. Here are some videos/articles to keep it all in perspective… </p>

<p>David Foster Wallace- On Life and Work
[David</a> Foster Wallace on Life and Work - WSJ.com](<a href=“David Foster Wallace on Life and Work - WSJ”>David Foster Wallace on Life and Work - WSJ)</p>

<p>Look, the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they’re evil or sinful; it is that they are unconscious. They are default-settings. They’re the kind of worship you just gradually slip into, day after day, getting more and more selective about what you see and how you measure value without ever being fully aware that that’s what you’re doing. And the world will not discourage you from operating on your default-settings, because the world of men and money and power hums along quite nicely on the fuel of fear and contempt and frustration and craving and the worship of self. Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom. The freedom to be lords of our own tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the center of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talked about in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default-setting, the “rat race” – the constant gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing.</p>

<p>A Kinder, Gentler Philosophy of Success- TED Talk
[Alain</a> de Botton: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success | Video on TED.com](<a href=“http://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler_philosophy_of_success.html]Alain”>http://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler_philosophy_of_success.html)</p>

<p>Everybody, all politicians on Left and Right, agree that meritocracy is a great thing, and we should all be trying to make our societies really, really meritocratic. In other words, what is a meritocratic society? A meritocratic society is one in which if you’ve got talent and energy and skill, you will get to the top. Nothing should hold you back. It’s a beautiful idea. The problem is if you really believe in a society where those who merit to get to the top, get to the top, you’ll also, by implication, and in a far more nasty way, believe in a society where those who deserve to get to the bottom also get to the bottom and stay there. In other words, your position in life comes to seem not accidental, but merited and deserved. And that makes failure seem much more crushing.</p>

<p>You know, in the Middle Ages, in England, when you met a very poor person, that person would be described as an “unfortunate” – literally, somebody who had not been blessed by fortune, an unfortunate. Nowadays, particularly in the United States, if you meet someone at the bottom of society, they may unkindly be described as a “loser.” There is a real difference between an unfortunate and a loser, and that shows 400 years of evolution in society and our belief in who is responsible for our lives. It’s no longer the gods, it’s us. We’re in the driving seat.</p>

<p>JK Rowling-- The Fringe Benefits of Failure (Harvard Commencement Address)
[JK</a> Rowling: The fringe benefits of failure | Video on TED.com](<a href=“http://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure.html]JK”>http://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure.html)</p>

<p>If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.</p>

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<p>I have a similar story as yours; I visited MIT in a whim since I was visiting Northeastern anyway. I loved the school. The atmosphere is simply the perfect fit for me. Reading the blog posts on my.mit just validates that.
Of course, I have serious doubts I’ll actually get in. Not a major problem, since I would enjoy other schools on my list quite a bit. Just not as much as I would at MIT.
Personally, as far as realistic expectations, I’m expecting a deferral then a rejection. Still, a man can hope.</p>

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<p>Props to you, Zephyr. I also thought I’d go to some UC. Then junior year of high school, I discovered what MIT was and the rest is history :slight_smile: Best of luck.</p>

<p>If you do end up here, remind me to show you how to use zephyr (MIT’s chat protocol, used by a sizeable minority of students) :wink: If not, well, you’ll rock it at wherever you do end up.</p>