MIT: The Big Picture
I don't really like MIT as much as I thought I would, but it's okay. If I would change something I would change the weather--it's way too cold for me in Boston. I know that sounds a bit pathetic, but it really bugs me. I need warmth and sunlight to be happy, I think. Cold is okay, but it's not okay for 6 months when you have to walk outside all the time because your dorm is pretty far away, and it's always snowing and icing and it's extremely windy.
MIT is about the right size, I think. It's not too small or not too large, for me (although maybe bordering on too large, because there is no way I could meet all of the people in my class--but I think it's a good thing, because people have much more diverse interests that way, because the student body is big enough).
If I could change something, I would change the quality and quantity of the humanities classes offered, and students' opinions about them (students tend to hate humanities -- not all of them, some of them really love them, just a lot of them hate them and don't see the reason for their existence. This irritates me.
I do like the science here, as it is really amazing and challenging. I like my drumming group a lot, and the people I meet in it.
In general I don't feel that I really click with the people here at all, although that might just be because I'm really introverted. I mean, I have great friends here, and I really love them, but it's just not the same as the friends I had in my home. I never quite clicked with MIT people, I'm not sure why. I wish I were home a lot.
MIT Academic Life
Academics at MIT are really good (in science / math / engineering / business / etc.). (Don' t come here for languages or music, although if you try hard you can get those too.) We do definitely have intellectual conversations outside of class, all the time. Everyone here is very competitive (although not really with one another, just in general). People don't spend time with professors outside of class except for in office hours. I feel that MIT's requirements are very fair--they allow a lot of flexibility within degrees, knowing that many people will want to specialize in more specific areas or broaden out to get other majors / minors / concentrations. A lot of people here are definitely geared towards getting a good job when they graduate. The education here is geared towards making you really well educated in your field--for grad school, job, or whatever you are aiming for.
MIT's Student Body
The LGBT community here is really strong. I think MIT was named like one of the highest LGBT-friendly schools in the U.S., which is really impressive. It's really multicultural, especially New House, where I live, which has French house, German house, Spanish house, IHouse, and chocolate city.
Different types of students do interact plenty, although one definitely notices specific clicks--people of one ethnicity tend to stick together, but I think that's just human nature.
Students--mostly--are not at all politically active. They have no idea what's going on in the outside world. :D
MIT Student Activities + Social Life
GPI is a really strong group on campus (global poverty initiative). MIT has a really strong focus with international development and eliminating poverty. There are a lot of fellowships sponsored by the MIT Public Service Center which students take advantage of to travel and work in other countries for free.
People tend to be really stressed out, all the time, from work. So many psets, tests, etc. It's really stressful. On top of that students tend to overschedule themselves with a million other jobs and research projects and clubs outside of classes. Towards the beginning of this semester I was pulling all nighters like every three nights on average, but I started managing my time better now and I'm doing like one a week. But that's because I'm pretty lazy.
