The Masochist's Institute of Technologyanecdotes of an ambitious MIT student

Dear Vivian,

We are here to bring to your attention these following crimes you have committed against the well-being of your academic standing and career development. Below are the grievances of which you have been accused:

• You have overslept three lectures of 15.401. Now, we know 15.401 is not an extremely taxing class, but it’s always best to go to class and absorb. I mean, if you don’t want to pay full attention, then bring the pset to class and work on it. Anything but sleeping through it.
• You have missed two lectures of 18.06. This is not a good thing. You are falling behind (have you even started your second p-set, which is due tomorrow?!) and the first test is in a week and a half! You definitely need to catch up ASAP if you want an A on the first test. Which you do, I assume.
• You are being very wishy-washy about your minor. Seriously, you were a French minor for like, half a month and then switched yet again. Can’t you just make up your mind about it?! If you switch out of being a Mathematics major, all hell will break loose.
• You’re spending too much money on food, which in turns means you eat too much and too unhealthily.
• You’re sleeping way too little. Seriously, just because your body can handle only sleeping for 4 hours doesn’t mean you should constantly do it night after night.
• You’re losing focus when you’re working. That explains why you have to work so late into the night to get things done. Stop browsing the Internet or putting things off and get them done as soon as you can. You have catch-up to do, and we can’t be slacking off!

You started the semester out on such a high note, going to all your meetings and making sure you kept up with everything. What’s happening, and how do we fix it?

It is said, in cosmology and astrophysics circles, that the first step in the birth of a star is waiting. Dust, gas, cosmic particles… all of it sits around in a star nursery called a “nebula,” waiting for millions of years until some gravitational disturbances passes through. This could be from the death of a nearby star, the pull of a comet… regardless, once that gravitational disturbance happens, all of a sudden there is an intricate cascade of events that leads to the birth of a young star.

In a way, I feel as if my experiences in college thus far have been similar to this birthing process. All throughout freshman year, throughout fall semester of sophomore year, I have been like that cosmic clump of dust, just waiting for my opportunity to begin to shine. And all of a sudden, here it is: spring semester sophomore year, and I could not be more happy or more motivated to do things right.

I’m slowly finding a good balance between work and play. Despite going to a soiree at ZBT (Friday); eating dimsum and shopping in Chinatown, dining at Anton’s house in Malden, conversing with people at the ADP party (Saturday); and eating dinner at IHOP (Sunday), I was still able to sit down today and churn through my homework for 15.401 (Finance Theory I), 21F.303 (French III), and 21F.911 (Portuguese II). Not to mention I also completed a bit of work for SEBC and ADT on the side.

This would have been unthinkable last semester. I would probably have rejected my friends’ invitations to socialize and holed myself up in my room the entire weekend.. and still would not have gotten much done. Although I don’t have perfect focus (I admit I still lipsync to my music while I p-set), it is definitely slowly improving.

Sometimes, the best things that happen to us are just a product of waiting and planning: waiting for that perfect moment when some small disturbance gives us the wings to achieve something great. The start of this disturbance happened last year, but it wasn’t until now that I think it’s finally taking effect and turning myself – this formerly useless human being – into someone with the desire to shine.

In the end, I hope that I, too, may become a star ★

Monday

• 4pm – meet with Julia in student center for 24.900
• 7pm – Panhel cabinet meeting
• 8pm – SEBC Marketing meeting
• 9pm – ADT rehearsal
• 10pm – meeting with Jason for lighting design

Tuesday

• 4pm – meeting with Elizabeth for AXO parents newsletter
• 6pm – meeting with David to discuss ADT performance
• 9pm – meeting at AXO house with Lizzy and the others

Wednesday

• 12pm – meeting with Tobin School
• 1pm – meeting with Prof. Suarez
• 5pm – meeting with Clarence @ HBS
• 6pm – Boston Ballet cocktail party

Thursday

• 9am – coffee meeting with Patrick Coleman
• 5pm – meeting with Ashdown singers

Friday

• 3pm – meeting with Shion at student center
• 8pm – Sloan C-Function ADT performance

…

Seriously, guys? Did you all have to schedule meetings for this week?