Happy Holidays, and some advice

Happy Holidays, and some advice Hi, all you folks out there in Blog-Readership Land! Im at my moms house in Kentucky as I write this. Thanks to the people who wished me good luck on finals! The reason Im writing this entry is that by now, those of you who applied Early Action have received your decision, and those of you who applied Regular Action have begun your anxious waiting process. Ive made some effort to keep up with current events in Admissions Blog World despite how hosed Ive been, and Ive been watching how applicants have reacted to their decisions, and what theyve been saying in general. A lot of you talk about getting into MIT as though it is your goal in life. Once youve achieved this goal, you figure, everything will be wonderful. Life will be good. I mean, you got into MIT, right? Youve got it made, right? And its a perfectly understandable attitude. Many of you have been brought up to think that getting into a good school is one of the most important things in the world. Your parents friends have used the names of their kids schools as status symbols. Youve craved an environment full of other intelligent people. When the going gets rough in high school, you think I just need to get into [top college]. Once I get into [top college], itll all be great. I wont have to worry anymore. I know that you are thinking that last bit because I do the exact same thing with grad school. ;) But what you need to keep in mind, to keep it all in perspective, is that MIT is not an end but a beginning. Im aware that this sounds horribly cliche. Its truth, however, remains even through the cliche. Im sure there are some schools, and Im not going to speculate about which ones they are, which are merely stepping stones, holding pens for bright kids to go four years reveling in how bright they are until they get that piece of paper that will open the gate into the real world. MIT is not one of those schools. Its not a holding pen. You will learn and be challenged here, even if, to paraphrase a comment I saw in an old Underground Guide to Course 6, they have to draw out your understanding with a dull knife. Whats that you say? Learning and challenge are fun? Well, yes, they truly are, but not all the time. If someone ever tells you that their entire MIT careers worth of learning and challenge, every challenge they encountered here, was fun, all the time, theyre probably lying. Theres something very special about the students of MIT, and its not just that theyre smartIve been around smart people before. Its not even that theyre interesting, though they are certainly the most interesting group of people Ive ever encountered. No, its that the people here have a certain kind of steel to them. Theyve struggled here, and cried here, and tried here, and succeeded here, and failed here, and watched the sun set and then rise again from inside an Athena Cluster here, and fallen asleep next to a window in building 26 after coming down from their Jolt-and-chocolate-covered-espresso-beans-induced high here. Youve got to have that steel, that keeps you grounded when times are good and keeps you going when times are bad. That gets you out of bed each morning to face the world even though you know that its going to be difficult, and holds you up when you feel like caving in, so that you can see it through and rejoice when life is happy and inspiring and fun. Why do you think you have to write essays about times when you struggled or failed? Its not a trick question, its to show what youre made of when lifes not perfect, because lifes not going to be perfect. This is a hard place. Some people, its obvious what theyre made of. I have a friend who received her acceptance to MIT while she was living in someones basement, on the run from her abusive father. The fact that she has this steel is self-evident. But you dont have to have it illustrated in such dramatic form, so young, for it to exist. A lot of you have it. You might even already know its there. You just have to remember. Remember, as you wait for your decisions, that once youre here youre going to need it. Youre going to test it. Remember this, so that you dont get caught off guard with your natural feeling that MIT is an end goal, rather than the next step. Thats all for now. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas/Chanukkah/Winter Solstice/Whatever You Do Or Dont Celebrate. :) And please dont think Im trying to preach at you, or scare you! I am simply inspired by the combination of having just finished finals two days ago (Note: IhatefinalsIhatefinalsIhatefinals), and having read your comments.