All in on MIT as a 1st-gen PhD
How an unexpected, last-minute campus tour changed my life's trajectory
Everyone has heard the expression, “It’s never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket.” This is a wise piece of advice—unless we’re talking about your dream grad school!
Hello, my name is Annabel Gomez. I’m a first-generation Mexican American and the first in my family to pursue higher education. Growing up, I always knew I wanted to attend Harvard. As a child who loved school, it was the ultimate goal I could imagine. I knew everything about Harvard. In high school, I even learned about their pre-college summer program, and I eagerly applied. I got into the program, and the summer after my sophomore year, I was Harvard-bound! My family decided to come a week before to get to know the surrounding Cambridge area. One morning, my younger brother woke up feeling sick, so instead of waiting around the hotel, my dad took me for a walk. He said that there was a place he thought I should see before leaving Boston.
I wasn’t too excited about it, but it sounded better than spending the day with a sick child. We walked for a while and ended up at MIT. Prior to this, I had never heard of the school. We went into Lobby 7 and signed up for the last two slots of a campus tour. Again, I had my mind set on Harvard, so I sat skeptically in my seat of the massive auditorium before the tour began. They started talking about engineering and how students were encouraged to come up with out-of-the-box solutions to long-standing, unsolved problems. This definitely caught my attention. As the session continued, I found myself at the edge of my seat, vigorously taking notes and starting to imagine myself here.
My dad, on the other hand, wasn’t as inspired as he dozed off in the seat next to me. After the information session, the tour took us around campus. My dad and I were most impressed with the Stata Center, which we called the “Lego-looking building.” I left excited about the possibility of attending MIT and having the opportunity to work on such thrilling projects. It was there and then that I decided that one day, I would end up at MIT.
Fast-forward to the summer after my junior year of high school, and I found myself Boston-bound once again—this time to MIT! My public high school has an engineering academy that offers a project-based curriculum. Our build club was awarded a grant from the Lemelson-MIT Foundation to build a robotic machine that could allow students with disabilities to play soccer and basketball more interactively. After months of fundraising to cover the trip’s cost, we made it to EurekaFest at MIT to present our prototype! When we returned from MIT, we showcased our project at a local Special Olympics event. Seeing, first-hand, the look of joy and excitement on the students’ faces as they operated our machine gave me a great sense of pride in what we had built. This two-year engineering project cemented my desire to pursue engineering.
As I started my senior year in high school, Harvard was nothing more than a faint memory, and I wanted to attend MIT. However, having been born and raised in California, and not having any relatives on the East Coast, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to move across the country by myself. I then discovered the small but mighty powerhouse of Caltech. I loved the fact that it was a sun-filled campus with a tight-knit, collaborative community. After learning that Caltech managed a NASA facility (JPL), I was sold! The fact that it was just a short flight away from my family made my decision that much easier. Even though MIT was still in my mind, at that time, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. Caltech felt like home to me.
Although attending Caltech was probably the most challenging thing I’ve done, I had a blast meeting and working with people who also shared my passion for STEM. While at Caltech, I also had the opportunity to intern at JPL for three years, working on projects spanning from using Machine Learning in Aerospace Engineering applications to working on the Mars Perseverance Rover and Mars InSight Lander! Overall, my undergrad experience was a very enriching one.
Given Caltech’s heavy focus on research, students tend to naturally gravitate toward academia and higher education. I, however, had no idea if I even wanted to attend grad school. While my immediate family has always been fully supportive of my education, I don’t have anyone in my family with an advanced degree. This was uncharted territory for us.
I knew, though, that I really enjoyed research and felt comfortable dealing with complex problems. As fate would have it, I learned about the MIT Summer Research Program (MSRP). Suddenly, the possibility of attending MIT was back in my life. I applied, got a glimpse of what it’d be like to be a graduate student at MIT, and decided I wanted to attend grad school. Unlike most people who apply to five or more grad schools, I only applied to one school, MIT! Professors, advisors, and mentors all suggested that I look at and apply to other schools to increase my odds – but my mind was made up, and it was either MIT or no grad school for me.
Several months of anxious waiting passed. One morning, as my friends and I were driving in LA to get a celebratory cake for our friend who had just gotten into grad school, I got the email (on Pi Day of all days) that I’d been accepted into MIT. I immediately called my parents with the great news. I was crying, and they were ecstatic. That morning, we walked out of the bakery with two cakes!
I write this blog about my journey to MIT not to impress you, but rather to impress upon you the fact that there isn’t one direct path to accomplishing a goal. In retrospect, people may say that I was lucky or that I was in the right place at the right time. In reality, every step of the way was riddled with rejections, struggles, heartaches, and challenges. My hard work and perseverance are paying off, and I’m grateful to be living my dream of studying robotics at MIT.
A few months back, MIT held this year’s EurekaFest, and banners surrounded Kresge Auditorium while excited high schoolers roamed the campus. The event brought back fond memories of how far I’ve come. It still amazes me that I get to work in CSAIL, in the “Lego-looking building” my dad and I admired years ago! It’s unreal and very rewarding, but it hasn’t been easy.
There’s no such thing as a “perfect” student or list of qualifications that’ll ensure your acceptance to your dream grad school. At the end of the day, what really matters is your unique way of approaching a problem, work ethic, passion, drive, and persistence. Don’t compare yourself to others, and don’t let others decide what you can or can’t do. Definitely don’t put all your eggs in one basket unless, of course, you dare to go “all in.”
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