I don't think math professors particularly enjoy teaching 18.01 or 18.02 (single and multivariable calculus). They're graduation requirements and essentially boring fundamentals for the rest of a math career. Our current professor for Multivariable, McKernan, is uninterested at best. After the first week of lectures, the freshmen of D Entry at MacGregor decided we would rather watch the videos they posted on youtube of previous years lectures, taught by Auroux. It's the same material, but delivered more relevantly and concisely. He has an awesome french accent and is much more focused. And it's open to the public, if you have some free time, check it out.
We've had two tests so far, one in each physics and math. I got an 87 on physics and 95 on multi, it feels awesome to say that I got an A on a math test at MIT. I think the OCW lectures are working.
Classes are really different here than in highschool. Everything is the student's responsibility. The psets are distributed over the internet and are turned in outside of class. It's your job to make sure you get everything done, to show up to classes, tests, recitations. There's no punishment for missing a lecture except that you missed the lecture. You missed the material covered and should make it up if you want to do well in the class. Of course, it's completely up to you. Taking advantage of this, I had a paper due at 3.30 and a calc recitation at two. I chose to spend the first half hour of my recitation proofing my paper and fixing mistakes. I think it was worth it, but I don't want to make it a habit. I'm lucky that I've already seen the MVC material already.
Overall I'm finally finding a rhythm in my weeks. Monday through Wednesday is rough, but I have free time on Thursdays and Fridays and even find time for naps! Mondays and Wednesdays start at 10 with biology and go until seven. I have class until five and practice until seven. On Mondays I head over to the library to work from nine to midnight. Tuesdays wouldn't be that rough - I have only two hours of class instead of five and half - except I have morning lifts at 7:30 after a late night at the library. Thursdays, like Tuesdays, only have two hours of class, and one of them is OCW 18.02, so it's whenever I want. My weekends alternate fun and work. I go out Friday nights, work all day Saturday and go out again after dinner. After my second night out, I pset hard again all day Sunday. So far, it's working.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
People and Practice
There are serveral stereotypes about MIT that seem to be permanent and universal: work would be voluminous, time management would be a struggle, all my classmate would be geniuses, et cetera et cetera. For the most part, they need to be true for the school to maintain it's reputation and prestige, and so far our professors are doing a very good job of living up to those expectations.
There is one preconceived notion that couldn't be farther from the truth. The undergraduates here are not math robots, human calculators, or physics prodigies; I have yet to see a single pocket protector. They are real people with desires, feelings, opinions, and the capacity to have fun. At least, the majority of us are. Every now and then I run into someone who actually is the stereotypical MIT student. I'm trying to have a conversation with this guy on the way back to MacGregor and he's just resisting every step of the way. I managed to wrestle from him that he's a senior majoring in mechanical engineering, but other than that, he kept it to monosyllables and little to no eye contact. Those people are surprisingly rare; I'd estimate it at maybe one for every ten social students. Of course, that's probably the most biased sample ever, but I don't think I can easily correct for it.
But more than being real people, they accept everyone else as real people as well. The atmosphere created here is unbelievable. You can do anything weird or obscure, pursue any whim - and chances are someone else will be there too. Want to skateboard through the underground tunnels in the middle of the nights? That's one of the less weird things the maintenance staff will see this year. Go for a jog in full business attire? I've both seen it happen and been involved.
Crew is wildly different than it was at Cape Coral, but I still love it. Getting to go on the Charles every day is incredible. In the canals at Cape Harbor, all the other traffic was motor boats and people that had never seen a racing shell before gawking at us or taking pictures. Here, it's the complete opposite - all the other boats on the water are either collegiate sail boats or other rowers. It's really cool rowing past Northeastern, Harvard, or especially Wellesley crews. And it's totally expected. The Bostonian pedestrians see people rowing on a daily basis, after all The Head of the Charles is one of the biggest regattas in the world.
The actual practices are different too. Instead of taking out only one boat, we take out three eight man shells every day and do mostly race pieces. There is a technical warm up period but the majority of the practice is full pressure - pulling hard the whole way. This week in particular we have three two a days, practice at 7:30 am and then again at 5 pm. Although it's tons of time and effort I love every second of it.
Other than that, I've started picking up shifts at the libraries and MacGregor desk. Both are pretty easy, and very low key. The library job just entails shelving books and cataloging . Working the desk at my dorm is actually pretty fun, I just talk to everyone as they come in, handle packages, and get to work on whatever I want. This entire post was actually typed while working the desk.
There is one preconceived notion that couldn't be farther from the truth. The undergraduates here are not math robots, human calculators, or physics prodigies; I have yet to see a single pocket protector. They are real people with desires, feelings, opinions, and the capacity to have fun. At least, the majority of us are. Every now and then I run into someone who actually is the stereotypical MIT student. I'm trying to have a conversation with this guy on the way back to MacGregor and he's just resisting every step of the way. I managed to wrestle from him that he's a senior majoring in mechanical engineering, but other than that, he kept it to monosyllables and little to no eye contact. Those people are surprisingly rare; I'd estimate it at maybe one for every ten social students. Of course, that's probably the most biased sample ever, but I don't think I can easily correct for it.
But more than being real people, they accept everyone else as real people as well. The atmosphere created here is unbelievable. You can do anything weird or obscure, pursue any whim - and chances are someone else will be there too. Want to skateboard through the underground tunnels in the middle of the nights? That's one of the less weird things the maintenance staff will see this year. Go for a jog in full business attire? I've both seen it happen and been involved.
Crew is wildly different than it was at Cape Coral, but I still love it. Getting to go on the Charles every day is incredible. In the canals at Cape Harbor, all the other traffic was motor boats and people that had never seen a racing shell before gawking at us or taking pictures. Here, it's the complete opposite - all the other boats on the water are either collegiate sail boats or other rowers. It's really cool rowing past Northeastern, Harvard, or especially Wellesley crews. And it's totally expected. The Bostonian pedestrians see people rowing on a daily basis, after all The Head of the Charles is one of the biggest regattas in the world.
The actual practices are different too. Instead of taking out only one boat, we take out three eight man shells every day and do mostly race pieces. There is a technical warm up period but the majority of the practice is full pressure - pulling hard the whole way. This week in particular we have three two a days, practice at 7:30 am and then again at 5 pm. Although it's tons of time and effort I love every second of it.
Other than that, I've started picking up shifts at the libraries and MacGregor desk. Both are pretty easy, and very low key. The library job just entails shelving books and cataloging . Working the desk at my dorm is actually pretty fun, I just talk to everyone as they come in, handle packages, and get to work on whatever I want. This entire post was actually typed while working the desk.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
'Work hard, play hard'
Freshman orientation ended with a class trip the aquarium: we all packed into buses and drove over the river into Boston. After visiting with the sea turtles, penguins, sharks, electric eels, et cetera, we went outside to a dance area. Several of the MIT dance troupes performed, culminating in riDONKulous, who put on an awesome show. After the performances, they opened the floor to all the freshmen and let us loose.
Even though orientation was over, there was still time before classes start, and we had to stick to the unofficial motto of "Work hard, play hard." To aid us in that endeavor, rush week and recruitment started as quickly as freshmen orientation ended. Rush is put on by the fraternities; it’s the only time where it's a good thing to be a freshman guy. Similar to REX, the different houses try to convince freshmen to join them by hosting cool events and parties. It kicked off with the Zeta Psi annual Car Bash: they find an old junk car, give teenagers some spray paint and sledgehammers and let them go crazy. Any piece you knock off you can keep, and who wouldn't want a door or trunk for their fresh, undecorated dorm room? I line up and watch the first couple groups go; everyone's working on the driver's side door. This thing is built to last, the hinges stand up to all the sledgehammer hits twenty or so teenage guys (and one girl!) throw at it. My turn comes up and I go for the door too, because at this point it's so close to coming off.. Someone's going to get it! Although I don't have much luck with the door, in an afterthought I take a couple swings at the rear view mirror. Viola, it pops right off! A few good pulls break the wires connecting it to the dashboard and I've got myself some new decor.
While I was in the ring with the car, one of my friends from highschool – currently attending Northeastern – sent a picture of the car bash from the sidewalk to my phone. All those rumors about everyone coming to the MIT parties? Turns out they’re true: he's here with a bunch of NU friends for the first night of Rush. We meet up and hit dorm row in Boston to go party hopping.
The next day, I went indoor skydiving and played trampoline dodgeball with AEPi. It's a Jewish fratertinity but anyone was allowed to come to their first few events. Trampoline dodgeball is played exactly like regular dodgeball except the floors are all trampolines and the walls are at forty five degree angles and are also trampolines. And your wear special shoes that let you run on them. Its fun just jumping and running around, and even more fun playing dodgeball. Indoor skydiving was even cooler than it sounds, we went in a vertical wind tunnel with an instructor and spun and floated around for a few minutes at a time.
That night we went F1 racing with Kappa Sigma, which is essentially go karting for big people. Although I wasn't too excited - I have a driver's license, some of the thrill has worn off - I really like the brothers at Kappa Sigma so I tagged along. When we got there, it was not what I expected. A huge indoor course, professional looking jumpsuits, and serious go karts met us at the door. Driving around tight turns, hitting close to thirty miles per hour on the straight aways, and even some "unintentional" contact with the other cars made for a great time.
Later in the week, I went to the beach with Kappa Sigma, spend some time at their house for football on Sunday, and eventually received a bid from them. Although I haven't pledged yet I am strongly considering it. I really like all the brothers and they have a great time together, but they know how to buckle down and study as well. The soonest you can move in is sophomore year, so I have plenty of time to decide on that front. The fraternities – just like everything else at MIT – ignore the traditional stereotypes. Instead of the traditional drinking club image, the brothers in each house are very involved in the community, help each other with homework, and are otherwise nice people. The Kappa Sigma chapter at MIT was named the best chapter according to the national KS association. When they want to show a good example of a KS house, they show people the chapter at MIT.
While I'm on the topic of living groups, I should touch on recruitment. The sorority system is much less fun than rush week. It’s pretty much the exact opposite, actually. For rush, the fraternities spend tons of money to supply good food, fun events, transportation, everything. For recruitment, the girls that are interested spend six to eight hours a day meeting the sisters of every sorority and making small talk. And they're only allowed to eat animal crackers and drink water, (in contrast to the steak and lobster dinners at frats) to keep things fair between the big and small houses. This lasts three or four days and at the end culminates in a night of singing, cheering, and happiness when all the girls receive their bid. It's an abysmal process but all the girls that stuck it out and found a sorority seem very happy with it and unanimously report that it was well worth it.
Sadly, the other part of "work hard, play hard" was quickly approaching. With schedules in hand, we set off Wednesday morning for the first day of a long first semester. First class, biology (7.012) with Eric Lander is very interesting; Lander explains introductory concepts very well despite being in charge of the Human Genome Project. Biology in my freshman year of highschool was memorizing power points, but Lander has a different philosophy. He teaches you to make inferences and understand overarching concepts. Of course, you still need to memorize some things, there is no way to interpret what a Golgi apparatus does or the differences between miosis and mitosis without the requisite knowledge. After biology I go straight to Physics (8.01). Physics is taught as a "TEAL" class, which means instead of just lecture, we sit at circular tables of about ten students and work on problems or concept questions together after the lecture. It's very dependent on the students at your table. If you get kids that aren't interested, you'll be struggling by yourself, but otherwise it definitely promotes discussion and helps me understand that material. Today I got to help with an in class demonstration of reference frames. The professor and I walked at a constant rate while we played catch. From my point of reference, it moved backwards, but to the stationary students, the ball seemed to go forward. Fascinating, right? Maybe not, but still useful. My third class is multivariable calculus (18.02), which is lecture style. Freshmen are only allowed to take four classes, and most chose to take a humanities (HASS) class as their fourth. I'm taking Writing about Literature (21L.00J). It's focused on poems and is so far pretty interesting. We've already had to write one paper for it, and another is due in a week.
Occasionally you get a reality check and it feels awesome: I'm in a math/physics class at MIT and I actually understand what the professor is saying! How many people do you know that can say that? So far, that's been the only good part of class - they really didn't pull any punches when it came to the first round of homework (p sets).
As classes started, so did rowing practice. The first day we ran to Harvard stadium in the rain (about two and a half miles), met each of the thirty steps in the thirty seven sections, and ran back. Thursday and Friday were ergometer (erg, think rowing treadmill) sessions on the dock. Erg sessions are not particullarly fun, but being surrounded by other suffering scullers is better than a solitary session. On the next Monday, we finally got on the water. Rowing on the Charles, passing all the landmarks in the Boston skyline, even the fresh set of blisters forming on my hands put a smile on my face for the entire workout. It definitely reminded me why I love rowing and I can't wait to get back out.
Lastly, sorry for the length of this post. I meant to update every week, but as you know, these last weeks have been absolutely crazy busy. This is about two weeks worth of content, and posts in the future will probably be much shorter.
Even though orientation was over, there was still time before classes start, and we had to stick to the unofficial motto of "Work hard, play hard." To aid us in that endeavor, rush week and recruitment started as quickly as freshmen orientation ended. Rush is put on by the fraternities; it’s the only time where it's a good thing to be a freshman guy. Similar to REX, the different houses try to convince freshmen to join them by hosting cool events and parties. It kicked off with the Zeta Psi annual Car Bash: they find an old junk car, give teenagers some spray paint and sledgehammers and let them go crazy. Any piece you knock off you can keep, and who wouldn't want a door or trunk for their fresh, undecorated dorm room? I line up and watch the first couple groups go; everyone's working on the driver's side door. This thing is built to last, the hinges stand up to all the sledgehammer hits twenty or so teenage guys (and one girl!) throw at it. My turn comes up and I go for the door too, because at this point it's so close to coming off.. Someone's going to get it! Although I don't have much luck with the door, in an afterthought I take a couple swings at the rear view mirror. Viola, it pops right off! A few good pulls break the wires connecting it to the dashboard and I've got myself some new decor.
While I was in the ring with the car, one of my friends from highschool – currently attending Northeastern – sent a picture of the car bash from the sidewalk to my phone. All those rumors about everyone coming to the MIT parties? Turns out they’re true: he's here with a bunch of NU friends for the first night of Rush. We meet up and hit dorm row in Boston to go party hopping.
The next day, I went indoor skydiving and played trampoline dodgeball with AEPi. It's a Jewish fratertinity but anyone was allowed to come to their first few events. Trampoline dodgeball is played exactly like regular dodgeball except the floors are all trampolines and the walls are at forty five degree angles and are also trampolines. And your wear special shoes that let you run on them. Its fun just jumping and running around, and even more fun playing dodgeball. Indoor skydiving was even cooler than it sounds, we went in a vertical wind tunnel with an instructor and spun and floated around for a few minutes at a time.
 |
| Quite the facial expression.. In my defense it's very windy in there |
Later in the week, I went to the beach with Kappa Sigma, spend some time at their house for football on Sunday, and eventually received a bid from them. Although I haven't pledged yet I am strongly considering it. I really like all the brothers and they have a great time together, but they know how to buckle down and study as well. The soonest you can move in is sophomore year, so I have plenty of time to decide on that front. The fraternities – just like everything else at MIT – ignore the traditional stereotypes. Instead of the traditional drinking club image, the brothers in each house are very involved in the community, help each other with homework, and are otherwise nice people. The Kappa Sigma chapter at MIT was named the best chapter according to the national KS association. When they want to show a good example of a KS house, they show people the chapter at MIT.
While I'm on the topic of living groups, I should touch on recruitment. The sorority system is much less fun than rush week. It’s pretty much the exact opposite, actually. For rush, the fraternities spend tons of money to supply good food, fun events, transportation, everything. For recruitment, the girls that are interested spend six to eight hours a day meeting the sisters of every sorority and making small talk. And they're only allowed to eat animal crackers and drink water, (in contrast to the steak and lobster dinners at frats) to keep things fair between the big and small houses. This lasts three or four days and at the end culminates in a night of singing, cheering, and happiness when all the girls receive their bid. It's an abysmal process but all the girls that stuck it out and found a sorority seem very happy with it and unanimously report that it was well worth it.
 |
| You can ignore 21L.011, I dropped it. |
Occasionally you get a reality check and it feels awesome: I'm in a math/physics class at MIT and I actually understand what the professor is saying! How many people do you know that can say that? So far, that's been the only good part of class - they really didn't pull any punches when it came to the first round of homework (p sets).
As classes started, so did rowing practice. The first day we ran to Harvard stadium in the rain (about two and a half miles), met each of the thirty steps in the thirty seven sections, and ran back. Thursday and Friday were ergometer (erg, think rowing treadmill) sessions on the dock. Erg sessions are not particullarly fun, but being surrounded by other suffering scullers is better than a solitary session. On the next Monday, we finally got on the water. Rowing on the Charles, passing all the landmarks in the Boston skyline, even the fresh set of blisters forming on my hands put a smile on my face for the entire workout. It definitely reminded me why I love rowing and I can't wait to get back out.
Lastly, sorry for the length of this post. I meant to update every week, but as you know, these last weeks have been absolutely crazy busy. This is about two weeks worth of content, and posts in the future will probably be much shorter.
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