Creating my niche in grad school
Imagine being in a roller coaster that’s on fire, adrift, going full speed. That was my first year at MIT. Coming straight from an undergraduate institution in Puerto Rico, it…
Eating my way through Cambridge’s cultural heritage
“What’s for lunch?” is one of the more universal questions of the human experience, though the presence of two large universities in Cambridge affects the range of choices available to…
Dynamic equilibrium through Classical dance
Stepping away from India into the US led me to a stage where I was frantically searching for some semblance of my culture to hold on to. It was at…
Making the most of Cambridge’s amazing salsa scene
Thankfully, life at MIT as a grad student is not ALL about research. For me, one of the greatest breaks from lab is dancing. Growing up, classical ballet was part…
B-list Superpower – Food Edition
What is “meal prep”? First things first, what does “meal prep” mean? Is it the newest fad in age of fitness and health fanatics? Is it a euphemism for being…
The Most Important Change in My Life
I was an anxious child, an anxious teenager and an anxious young adult. So much so that the concept of anxiety didn’t make much sense. “You’re telling me it’s possible…
Starting Graduate School on the Right Foot
On the snowy February morning before my MIT graduate school interview, I rolled out of bed, bundled up and went for a run along the Charles River path. As a…
When You’re Up for an Exercise Adventure!
Feeling sluggish after indulging in one too many conference happy hours? Your normal gym workout not really doing it for you (or you not really doing the workout)? Try something…
A Techless Path To MIT
When people hear that I’ll be spending the next half decade at MIT, many seem to think I’ll be spending my days huddled over an intelligent robot plotting for the…
Diving into The Deep
Ever since high school, I have been a maker to my core. I spent almost all my free time in an art room and my evenings were often spent wrenching…
The Unofficial Guide Book for the Grad School Applicant
I made the decision to apply for graduate school in mid-September of my senior year of college. With application deadlines only weeks away and the GRE looming in the distance,…
On Becoming a Professional Student
If you are an academic masochist who constantly enjoys being over-involved and under pressure, then your undergraduate “career” was probably something like mine. My (pre-grad) college years regularly felt like…
Iḷisavsaaqtuam aakam qaitkaa uqautchiñi kiŋuvaamiñun
Aullaqisaqtuq – It is the beginning Iḷisaguuruŋa Iñupiatun MIT-mi. I study Iñupiaq at MIT. Iñupiaq is the language of the Alaskan Inuit, whose population numbers 24,500 and whose speakers’ number…
Ivy League Entitlement
“No.” I said. “I don’t want to.” I was standing on the street in front of a man in a suit. That man (let’s call him Ryan) was frantically trying…
An Open Letter to My Future Self
Dear future Ming, The date is August 26, 2019 – today is your/my/our first day at MIT. When you next read this after/if you graduate, it may well be the…
Being Strong in Strong Situations
At my undergraduate institution (one of the three big U.S. military academies), every cadet was required to take a class called “The Behavioral Science of Leadership”. In this class we…
Unashamed to Be a Nerd
My friends at school weren’t really into Harry Potter. Many had watched the movies, and a few had read the books, but the magical world did not have the same…
Giving Back to Society
The ultimate aim of all the jobs the world has to offer in today’s time, whether in the field of entertainment, business or research, is to ultimately serve the human…
Biologists Need More Angle Grinders
I was very surprised one day to realize that I had developed a single callous on the pad of my right thumb. I can’t remember the last time I got…
Fated Friends
Walking into my MIT dorm for the first time, I itched to meet my peers. Although MIT students are known for being nerdy, I figured grad students (myself included) already…
Dildo.io, Where Did You Go?
Cambridge and the online dating landscape When I first arrived in Boston, I was teeming with curiosity and excitement. My thirst for scientific discovery and research was paralleled only by…
How to Craft a Personal Statement
There’s one part of any application that can always make you freeze: the dreaded personal statement. Writing about yourself is an exercise in embarrassment, anxiety, and existential doubt. Don’t worry;…
Are qualifying exams a waste of time?
How many times have you heard grad students express concern over qualifying exams or declare that they “survived” it? Qualifying exams (“quals”) can be a grueling process spanning anywhere between…
I didn’t spend any money for 1 month and this is what happened
I share my office with a pugnacious Australian graduate student, who delights in competition and regularly poses challenges to me. One afternoon, he provoked me with a contest to determine…
Have something to say or share? Then blog about it!
Hi MIT Grads! The MIT Graduate Admissions Blog is excited to announce its upcoming August workshop on blog writing. In brief, Attend a 2-day blogging workshop: August 26th and August 29th, 10am-12pm.…
MIT Time
I am perpetually late. No matter how much I look forward to an event, it seems physically impossible for me to arrive on time. This quality is something I have…
Dance Fitness in Boston
I entered graduate school as an awkward, uncoordinated person. I will leave it as a prima ballerina. Just kidding. But jokes aside, Boston has quite a few fun, unique dance…
Learning to Teach, Teaching to Learn
I love helping people learn. I first got a taste of this at the military academy where I completed my undergraduate degree. I taught new cadets and new Airmen about…
Comedy Lab
One year ago, my advisor, Prof. Charles Leiserson in CSAIL, arranged for our research group to take a stand-up comedy class with Dana Jay Bein, a local comedian with Improv…
Get out of the Lab and See the World!
Last September, I anxiously stood in front of my thesis committee, waiting for them to comment on my graduation timeline. To my surprise, not only did they say I could…
Learn to Swim
I was brought up in places far from lakes and rivers. The non-availability of swimming facilities in my high school and college led to my inability to learn to swim…
Girly
“Let us choose for ourselves our path in life, and let us try to strew that path with flowers.” – Emilie du Chatelet, Physicist I love dresses and bows, face masks…
Going Through a Breakup
I came back to Boston after a month of traveling to find out that my boyfriend and I had fallen out of love. After an ever-difficult conversation during a rainy…
Explain the MIT Undergrads to Me
As a newly arrived graduate student at MIT, you may have noticed that the undergrads are a bit… crazy. Don’t worry, I’m your local neighborhood undergrad-whisperer, and I’m here to…
Sailing Outside My Comfort Zone
It all started with an email: ‘Urgent: Help needed for a research cruise in the Arctic ocean. No prior experience required’. The message had been sent to my department’s mailing…
