Checking In

Checking In Just a quick note to say hi from the depths of reading. :-) I know there are a lot of questions in the comments and Ill definitely get to those this week. But weve been instructed to clear everything from our calendars until after EA selection, so I havent had time for much else (although we were allowed to take thursday off for Thanksgiving). I spent Thanksgiving morning in the ER with my 6-month old son, after staying up all night with him on Wednesday, watching his little body fight progressively harder for air. Its the first time Ive been that scared for one of my kids. In the ER, we had an amazing doctor who diagnosed him with a really bad case of Croup and pumped him full of steroids he was breathing fairly normally before wed even left the ER. Its hard to describe how that feels to a parent (although other parents will instinctively understand), but relief like that can make your whole body melt. Hes totally fine now, and living through that experience has shown me first-hand the power of research. In this case it was medical research, but the idea translates across the board: research makes the world better. Whether its some sweeping development that revolutionizes energy, or a drug that enables one little boy to breathe in a hospital in the suburbs of Boston on Thanksgiving morning, research changes the world. So to those of you who want to come to MIT and explore in the name of all of this, thank you. On a totally unrelated topic, I will now get something off my chest rant-style! Dear Teacher At A Very Prominent School From Which Many Kids Apply To MIT Each Year, As you may have heard, we dont read regionally. But theres always the chance that two students from the same high school will end up in a single readers pile, especially when the high school sends as many students to MIT as yours does. Therefore, when you use the IDENTICAL, word-for-word, paragraph-for-paragraph recommendation for two different students, chances are that someone on this end will notice. I wholeheartedly understand that you are very busy, so I could almost understand if you wanted to repeat a few generic paragraphs here and there (assuming they really applied to both students). BUT DUDE, have the decency to change at least one sentence so that there is some indication that you actually care and/or know anything about the individualities of your students. If you cant find the few minutes it would take to do this, may I suggest being brave enough to tell the students that youre too busy when they request recs from you. Of course the students will not be penalized for your indiscretion, but it makes you look pretty lame. Sincerely yours, Ben And on the flip side to all the teachers who take the time to write wonderful and heartfelt recs, who invest not the aforementioned few minutes but literally hours celebrating the differences between their students, you are the lifeblood of the reading process. And I cant tell you how much we at MIT appreciate you and how much effort you put into your work. Enjoy these next few weeks and dont stress, my friends; mid-december will be here before you know it. -B Checking In Hi folks! Wow just noticed that my last entry was published over a month ago. Sorry guys, I apparently thought I was Nance for a second there my bad. Meanwhile Mr. Prolific has logged 43 entries so far in 2007 I think he deserves some sort of trophy, dont you? Before I tell you about my travels over the last month, I just want to take a minute to thank our senior bloggers Bryan, Sam, Mitra and Jessie. Theyve been a huge part of building this community, and Im really, really going to miss them. Thanks guys, for sharing so much of yourselves over the years and for simply being awesome. With four bloggers graduating, well definitely have some openings in the fall and Ill post the application details soon. Im also happy to announce the arrival of a new blogger, Evan Broder 10. Evan was actually hired last year, but we made him take a gap year because he decided to live in Burton Conner and we already had 3 bloggers living there (no longer the case with Sam and Mitra graduating). Look for Evans blog to launch later this month. So where have I been? The last time I wrote, our office had just received some really bad news and the fallout kept me pretty busy for the following couple of weeks (happily, the dust has settled quite a bit since then). Mid-May found me on a plane to California for the Ivy-Plus conference. This conference happens every other year and is attended by admissions people from the 8 Ivy League schools, Stanford, and MIT. (Basically we share ideas and concerns and try to work together to make everything a little better in the field.) This year was Stanfords turn to host, and they did an amazing job big thanks to Rick Shaw (Stanfords Dean) who kept us entertained and well-fed at every turn. Even though I lived in Berkeley and Oakland for over a year after college, I somehow never made it down to Stanford during that era, so this was my first time seeing the campus. What a beautiful place! Mad props to Stanford students if I lived in a place that cool Im not sure Id ever be able to get any work done. I went on a student-led tour and our guide was refreshingly honest. Response to the earthquake question (which I gather is fairly common on their tours): yep, no doubt were overdue for the big one, but no one really thinks about it too much. :-) (As you guys know from these blogs Im a big fan of college reps just being real and not trying to sugarcoat things so bravo.) Post-California, I had about 12 hours at home before getting on another plane to attend my college reunion (I wont say which number, but you can stalk me on facebook and figure it out). That was an absolute blast, and also the first vacation Ive had in as long as I can remember it went way too fast. After Memorial Day, I had a whirlwind four days in the office before leaving again for Waitsfield, Vermont, where I spent a week hiking (and eating a lot) with my family. To those of you who call Vermont home: I am jealous. What an amazing state you have! (And I honestly didnt mind how hard it was to find cell phone service and internet access!) (P.S. you may think Ben Jerrys is good when you eat it out of the pint, but that pales in comparison to tasting it right off the production line trust me.) So now Im back and making plans for the summer. I have a bunch of behind-the-scenes upgrades to do on this site, some print redesign projects, a bunch of new copy to write, and a lot of planning meetings to attend. Were also moving a significant part of our reading and selection process online this summer, which involves a lot of learning and testing. Should be an interesting few months. If you guys have ideas for things youd like to see on mitadmissions.org or MyMIT, drop a comment into this thread and let me know. Im not promising we can do all of them, but well sure give it a shot. Hope your summers are off to a great start! -B P.S. In response to Gregs comment about the server taking forever to post comments, I totally agree and thats at the top of my list of things to address this summer. Well be moving to a new server and hopefully upgrading the software, so the slow comments should be fixed before the busy fall season kicks off. Sorry for the inconvenience!