How to Foil a UFO Abduction

How to Foil a UFO Abduction For the past six years or so, Ive been a desk calendar addict. You know, the ones that have something to read every day, and you rip them off every day, leaving you with 1) an invariable daily sense of satisfaction and 2) way more scratch paper than youll ever need. I always get them as presents at New Years now Ive gone through The Far Side, George Carlin, Word-a-Day (that was junior year, when my mom was sure theyd raise my SAT verbal scores through the roof to this day I cant remember a single word), Sudoku, and so many more. Sometimes I even have two at a time (I think my mom got me Word-A-Day for my senior year as well, to which I retaliated by going out and getting Daily Paperfolding or something like that). This year, its Worst Case Scenarios, those little orange books that tell you everything from how to do a 360 with your car to how to escape from a well. Todays lesson? How to Foil a UFO Abduction. 1. Control your thoughts. Do not think of anything violent or upsetting the extraterrestrial biological entity (EBE) may have the ability to read your mind. 2. Resist verbally. Firmly tell the EBE to leave you alone. 3. Resist mentally. Picture yourself enveloped in a protective shield of white light, or in a safe place. Telepathic EBEs may get the message. 4. As a last resort, go for the EBEs eyes you will not know what its other more sensitive areas are. This entry is all question-and-answer, and I know you guys have been holding back on me, so I just wanted to answer that one burning question youve all been holding back: how to foil a UFO abuction. Oh no, folks, its not just EBEs that are telepathic. Dont tell me you werent wondering. Well, now you know. Dont you feel better and ready to apply to MIT now? BananAPPEAL quandries: 1) Is MIT a place for academic masochists? 2) Whats your major, and how is the work treating you? 3) Are you getting paid for working for the Admissions office? Or is it fulfilling some sort of community service requirement? 1) We prefer the term pedantic self-torturers. No, but seriously, MIT is a hard place. It isnt for people who are afraid of hard work, and it can get a lot more difficult if you dont enjoy what youre doing. But at the same time, because its such a challenging environment, we stick together. It is very common for people to stop and help you out when they have a million things to do themselves, especially upperclassmen, because we all know what its like. So while we live in demanding conditions, we do it together, which is really important. 2) MIT students dont declare majors until the end of freshman year, at which point we can declare undeclared; we then have until the end of sophomore year to declare an actual major. Ive been thinking about my options and keeping them open, and Ive eliminated some courses that I know I dont want to pursue, but as far as my official major, its pretty much what it says on my blog home. 3) Im paid by comments, actually. $5 per comment, $10 per compliment and $15 per question. Not really, but yeah, Im getting paid. BUT in my defense, I blogged all through high school, and when I applied for this position I didnt know it was a paid job. Ive just always loved doing it and I would definitely do it for free. Im not just saying that. Really. This is one of the best jobs Ive ever had, and I only say one of, not THE best, because my summer job was decorating cakes. Its pretty hard to beat that. Deb catechizes: I was wondering if low SAT II scores would hurt me, since none of them are over 700 (there was a huge stress fiasco last year, and it wasnt pretty). Its not that Im a horrible student, I still have a fairly high GPA and I take a crazy courseload, and Im got this unhealthy relationship with my research lab. But would disastrous SAT II scores be a huge end-all or something? The words crazy and unhealthy are a little frightening. Dont overexert yourself this is just the beginning of the rest of your life! And the rest of your life is going to be so much more AWESOME than worrying about SAT scores! It sounds like youre enjoying your lab, so thats awesome, but dont tell me youre living in your bacteria samples (its not healthy in a variety of ways). And no, SAT II scores 700 are not going to destroy you. Youre getting into some pretty major extremes when youre looking at anything classified as an end-all, and less-than-perfect SAT scores arent in that category. Karen answered this pretty well: I was admitted to MIT with much less than perfect SAT scores. They were in the 680-700 range (well, with the exception of writing). I havent really decided whether Im proud of this or not, but it does answer your question. Last year when I visited, there was one person I talked to who had a 500-something on one of the sections. And he seemed to be doing fine. However, it cant hurt to retake them for a better score if you feel they didnt reflect your abilities well enough. Dont panic :) Id also like to quote Laura without her permission, but its on the same site so Im hoping she wont sue me: Because the truth is that your SAT score, no matter how high it is, is not enough to get you into MIT. Invariably, someone takes that statement and decides that it means I think you should retake the SATs until you get a perfect score. And that’s not what I mean at all. If you’re stressing over 20 points on the SAT, I will guarantee you that there is something cooler you could be doing with your time that will do far more to help your application than to sit in a classroom for 3 hours on a Saturday and pay someone to let you take a test. I know this is like a glorified what they said, but really, I couldntve said it any better. I hope that helps. Sean ponders: Just one question though, do you know of anyone at MIT who was a member of FIRST, or recieved a FIRST scholarship? My roommate, for one. Mr. Neha (which Id like to re-emphasize, stands for My Roommate Neha, and does NOT mean that Neha is a male) was the team leader of FIRST at her school, and basically took care of every aspect of her team. Laura is a FIRST mentor. Quite a few people on my hall were members of FIRST, especially Course 2 majors, and Im sure there are plenty who received FIRST scholarships; I myself never built a robot until the first week I was here. Sam Jackson scrutinizes: Get out and enjoy the head of the charles any? I myself did not crew is definitely not as big where as I come from as it is here- but I did see some boats go by during the bbq (Next House is right on the side of the Charles River; you can actually see it from my rooms window). My buddy Stephane took some better ones, so major props to him. (For everyone else, Head of the Charles is a huge annual regatta held on the Charles every year; its a pretty big festival, from what I saw.) You can see more of his pictures here. Rose reflects: I am hoping to apply to MIT a year from now, and I was wondering whether or not I should take BC Calculus. At my school, they dont offer the class, however I can take it as an independent study course with a teacher as an advisor. Is the class an important component in being academically able to succeed at MIT? No, it isnt. You can come into MIT without AP credit for calculus and be perfectly fine, but if BC Calculus interests you, and you think you can handle it without stressing yourself out too much, go ahead and take it! If you do decide take the AP exam for BC Calculus, you can pass out of 18.01, the first level of calculus, and take any of the 18.02 classes (18.02/18.022/18.023/18.024). But if you dont think itll give you a strong enough background in single-variable calculus since youll be taking it independently (I know I never had enough discipline in high school to focus on courses I tried to take on my own), it might not be the best idea for you. Either way, it wont affect your performance at MIT later I have a lot of friends who came into MIT without taking calculus or who only took the AB level. Tina implores: Do MIT students drink? ON campus? At the off-campus party? Sharing a communal bathroom? You mean between male and femle? I dont think my parents will like this idea. Most of your dorms have this kind of communal bathroom? My dad will like me to go to Wellesley then just because the communal bathroom matter. Its no secret that college kids drink, and MIT is a college environment like any other. MITs policy is focused mostly on eliminating dangerous drinking, rather than eliminating the act entirely. Having a completely strict zero-tolerance policy can often times be more harmful than acknowledging that drinking happens, because the truth is, college kids are exposed to new freedoms and are going to experiment no matter what the schools policy is. (A friend of mine at RISD, where they have a very firm no-alcohol policy, tells me that her friends just go to Brown to drink, at which they have no protection from their school). We do have a very strict policy about registering parties so that MIT knows what is going on and where. As for the bathroom question, my dorm (Next House) has co-ed bathrooms. If you come to MIT, Simmons and Burton-Conner both have smaller bathrooms between a few rooms, and at both dorms you can request to keep your bathroom same-sex. You and your parents should know we also have an all-girls dorm, McCormick, if you are uncomfortable with the bathroom situation of other dorms. Its actually one of the most beautiful dorms on campus it used to be a hotel! and is in a really convenient location. So we have something for everybody! Josh reminisces: Dude, I completely forgot the 4th grade writing stuff. Its all coming back to me now. Like the time I got banned from the computers because I was having too much fun mashing the keyboard. And I remember you typed really fast. I still type really fast. Something like 95 WPM, last time I checked. I could totally take Mavis Beacon any day. Parents, high school students, and EBEs alike keep asking those questions. Even if youve already sent in your application, and you just want to ask if that crazy-nauseous-excited washing machine in your stomach is normal. (It is. Relax! Okay, much easier said than done, but I already gave you the steps to foiling a UFO abduction its pretty much the same thing for not stressing out over college apps. Control your thoughts, resist verbally) A few of you asked for essay tips, and I definitely have a lot to say about that, so check back early next week for a pretty comprehensive entry. If you need some help to get you started immediately, Mitra wrote a pretty awesome post that helped me out when I was applying. Just remember, youre almost there! On a more important note, whatre you guys going to be for Halloween? My lifelong costume goals have been 1) to cut open a garbage can, paint myself green and be Oscar the Grouch, or 2) paint myself all gold, wear wings, and be the Snitch (you know, from Harry Potter?). Im probably never going to get to do them, but if you guys ever do, send me a picture. I appreciate the vicarious thrills. Thanks.