9 lies MIT students tell themselves at the beginning of the semester
They say the first stage of grief is denial, and we’re real good at that
The first week of classes is coming to an end. You’ve got a lot on your plate, what with adjusting to your new schedule, planning for your future (or continuing to deny its existence), and getting down to business with freshly-assigned psets. Whether you’ll get used to it or not, you’re probably waking up earlier than usual and hyping yourself up with some Positive Thoughts About The Semester. But some of them aren’t true …
Without further ado, here are 9 lies you’ve most likely told yourself at the beginning of the semester:
Taking seven (plus) classes is totally doable. Okay, okay. So some folks can handle a huge courseload just fine. But these people are exceptions — like, four-standard-deviations-above-average exceptions. The rest of us should remember: 36 units makes a full-time student, and there’s nothing wrong with steady four-class semesters.
You’ll go to sleep on time. Right, so, at two in the morning?
Okay, so you might go to sleep late, but at least you’ll have a regular bedtime. And wake up at the same time every day. And make it to your 9 a.m.s. And brush your teeth. And discover Narnia.
You’ll actually work out this semester. This one might actually be true, until the semester catches up to you and you start convincing yourself that walking to class, shopping (but who are we kidding? You use Amazon more often than necessary), and doing your laundry count as exercise.
You won’t miss a single recitation. Even though you never learn anything from your TA. Even though you need to catch up on sleep. Even though your recitations conflict with the one PE class between you and a pirate’s license. Recitations are important.
You’re going to office hours. And they’ll be for your TA, not just the TA who has the office hour closest to the pset deadline.
You’ll be on top of your homework! You’ll be so far ahead of deadlines that you won’t need to remember them! Not that you remembered them back when you weren’t on top of your homework, but that’s beside the point.
You’ll join / be more active in more clubs this semester. Because not only are networking and beefing up your resume with leadership positions important, they’re fun! (Actually, though, you shouldn’t completely ignore the MIT community. We like you. Plus we have lots of organizations with plenty of fillable positions, many of which can be enjoyable. You’d like writing for The Tech, yeah? *nudge, nudge*)
You’ll figure out what you’re doing with your life. Adulthood isn’t make-believe! Someday you’ll know exactly how to succeed, and how success looks, feels, sounds, tastes … and smells. You’re sure of it.
But, of course, you’re not at the end of the rainbow yet, and you’re pretty sure that reaching it involves schoolwork here at MIT. Luckily, you have these lies to console yourself with...