Wasting My Degree
Why is having kids, moving out of the city, and following an unusual path a waste?
“She’s worried you’ll waste your degree.” My friend (let’s call her Anna) relays this message to me as coming from another friend, but I can tell from her tone of voice that she’s clearly worrying about the same potential waste. That makes the question doubly irritating. As if pretending to be merely the messenger could […]
Stress Mechanics for Graduate Students
A highly rigorous investigation into the avoidance of cracking under strain
MIT is a crazy place, there’s no doubt about that. But just because you’re in a crazy place doesn’t mean that you’re crazy. During grad school, everyone has days (or weeks, or months…) where things might not be going so well. Maybe your classes are really intense, or the data you’re collecting doesn’t make any […]
The Pursuit of Happiness
Make today different from tomorrow
Happiness is a strange thing. Take one of your glorious moments. Mine would probably be the day I learned I was joining MIT. It felt like I had just received my letter of admission to Hogwarts, from Dumbledore himself. I had worked so hard to get to that point, and for all I knew, it […]
Getting FIT at MIT
How MIT makes it easy to accomplish your New Year’s fitness resolutions
“I’m going to get in shape this year!” “This time I’m serious about going to the gym.” “New year, new me.” We’ve all said it. The start of a new calendar year — or a new academic year — brings with it sweeping declarations of change and audacious intentions for self-improvement. The first few […]
Weighted Decision Matrices and the Happiness Question
How I decided to come to MIT
Deciding to pursue a Ph.D. and finding appropriate programs was straightforward for me; choosing where to go was much more tortuous. Even before I had received any acceptance letters, I fretted over the question: “How will I choose?”. Should I choose the most prestigious school? The cheapest city, so my stipend will go further? A […]
