Mitconceptions
Unlearning what I thought I knew about PhDs and MIT
“Wait up for me!” I shouted after my father as I scrambled to keep up with him. At 6 years old, I didn’t really fit in with the college students dotting the quad under the hot summer sun, but I also didn’t really care. My dad, a professor of economics, was letting me tag along […]
An unconventional path to MIT
From Industry, to MicroMaster’s, to Master’s
For many of us, MIT has been our dream school since childhood. My personal journey leading to MIT took four years. It was a long time, but worth the wait. Let’s start at the beginning, in the summer of 2013. I had recently obtained my bachelor’s degree, and had decided to take some time off […]
My advisor left MIT during my PhD
Making difficult decisions with incomplete information
It was a chilly November morning in 2014, and two months into my second year at MIT. My PhD advisor called for an all-hands group meeting with required attendance. We crammed into a tiny conference room: all 15 of us, whose lives were about to be turned upside-down. On the screen, my advisor flashed a […]
To the mom applying to grad school:
How Motherhood led me to MIT
“Can’t believe you got it done with children! Good for you!” an old friend told me. I received similar remarks from other people as they learned that I had applied, enrolled and now attend graduate school with two young toddlers; they applaud my ability to do so DESPITE motherhood. However, as I reflect on my […]
Vacation time!… What to do? What to do?
Opportunities for graduate students during pandemic and non-pandemic periods
When packing my suitcases to do my Master’s in Engineering and Management at MIT, I was not just thinking about which classes I was going to take, but also about what I was going to do over the vacation period. Three months of summer vacation is a lot of time to travel around the […]
