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

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 ★