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Academics are what you live, eat and breathe at MIT. On your first day
of orientation, the president of the institute will tell you that
studying at MIT is analogous to drinking from a burst-up fire hydrant.
And, boy!, was he not kidding. Professors expect nothing other than
your utmost devotion to their particular subject, and tend to ignore
the fact that you may have four or five other classes which you are
taking concurrently. What??s more, they show little mercy for apathy.
The classes are rigorous and very theoretically driven. At other
colleges your professor may give you an equation in your Econ-101 class
and say: ??don??t worry about where it comes from, but this is how you
use it.?? At MIT, there??s a different set of rules: you need to
understand systems of differential equations if you want to follow your
Microeconomics class. And your Econ professor will not bother to teach
you what differential equations are, you have to do that on your own.
That??s because it??s what is expected of you.
I could on and on and on about how tough and thorny the path to walking
down the commencement aisle is. BUT, and this is a big one, if you show
enthusiasm, and dig your teeth into the material, they may reward you
handsomely. During my junior-year summer break, I was awarded the
Provost's Research Grant to go to Brazil and do some qualitative
empirical studies. Talk about going out on a limb to make sure I have
the opportunity to learn. Trust me: "if you build it, they will come."
The professors make themselves available; all you need is an email.
Nobel laureates will block off an hour of their day, even if you have
never spoken with them before. Write them, tell them you read their
work and it has intrigued you, even if you have not understood it
(you??re not expected to, that??s why it??s a Nobel-winning work). And
tell them you want to learn more. But don??t lie: make sure you really
want to learn more. If you genuinely do, they will make sure to help
you in any way they can, direct you to the best courses to take and
even put you in touch with ongoing research projects.
At MIT you have the opportunity to take graduate level classes. On the
flipside, you will be held to the same standard as graduate students.
That pretty much sums MIT up: I doubt there is another place with so
many opportunities to thrive, yet the expectations are just as high.
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