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

Top reasons why getting sick in college is a terrible thing:

• You completely lose any and all sense of proper English grammar (as exhibited by this post).
• Some of your professors do not allow extensions on problem sets even if you’re on your deathbed with fever (I’m looking at you, 18.03 p-set #3!)
• It’s hard to fully grasp what questions you’re being asked at a 6.02 lab checkoff (“What do you MEAN by, ‘Why does my code look like this?’ I just coded it according to specs!”)
• It’s always chilly and cold. Even when it’s really 80′F outside and sunny.
• You wake up under three layers of blankets, sweaty and disgusting.
• Your sense of hearing drops so much you can barely hear what the lecturer is saying.
• It feels like a block of metal is lodged in your throat, which means the only things you can eat are soup, soup, and more soup.
• MIT Medical and Student Support Services are completely unreliable in getting sick notes written in a timely manner.
• There’s most likely a test in some subject in the following week that you don’t fully understand and need to relearn (I’m still looking at you, 18.03!)

Top reasons why getting sick in college isn’t such a bad thing:

• Some of your professors understand that a psuedo-epidemic of the flu is going around, and are kind enough to remove late penalties (Thank you, Profs. Terman and Rappaport!)
• You have friends who bring you care packages (Yuri, my awesome AXO Mystagogue), walk you through the homework even though you’re way too sick to fully comprehend (Jason), bring you thermometers and eucalyptus cough drops (Shankari), offer their help if you need anything from CVS or food (Minh, Sam, and various others).
• You have reliable members of your team who are willing to step in and help out until you’re back up and running again (Marie’s running MITADT rehearsal for me today – thank you!)
• You stop stressing over little things (like whether it’s better to use horizontal- or vertical-ruled planners) and realize how silly your life seemed before health was the main priority.

So you’re a college student now, and you suddenly realize that living independently costs money. Lots of it. And unfortunately, after paying sky-high tuition and housing fees, you don’t seem to have much of it left.

from the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic

Equally as unfortunate, many students don’t realize just how much money they’re spending until they (or their parents) get the credit card bill and stare at the triple-digits in shock. “Am I really spending upwards of $300 a month?!” I nearly screeched the first time I saw my statement. “Surely that must be wrong – I only eat out twice a week, and spend a max of $5 on food per day, and only bought 5 or so books… and that really cute skirt from H&M… and that pair of super-sleek jeans from Express…”

Yeah, I’m sure you see the problem here.

Since my parents pay my credit card bill, I never realized the epidemic of my spending until a few months ago, when my credit card bill skyrocketed (granted, I also paid for my ticket to AnimeExpo and many promotional items for SnM). I later felt completely terrible when I splurged on three formal dresses from Sears (they were 50%-off!) and a pile of books from Borders (though I did have a 30%-off coupon). “This has got to stop,” I spat through clenched teeth. Then and there, I vowed to cure my chronic spending habits.

My journey to become a super-saver is still a work-in-progress, but I thought I’d share with you some tips that have worked. With this advice, hopefully you won’t fall in the same hole that I did!

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