Aug 29, 2008

EECS Orientation

So I’m one of the orientation co-chairs for the EECS GSA (graduate student association), and we just had a post-mortem (sounds morbid) with the department this week, meaning… minus a few wrap-ups and discussions, orientation is officially over. I was a peer academic advisor during Rice orientation, so I know a bit on how they go behind the scenes, but I must say being an organizer is a whole different experience. But, as always, I liked how I got a chance to interact with the first-years and hopefully give them a good impression of MIT and the department.

For the non-first-years, events included a welcome dinner Sunday night (yummy Thai food except mass-produced Thai food is less yummy), a Boston scavenger hunt Monday afternoon followed by dinner and pool at Flat Top Johnny’s (beware the pool shark), an information session jointly coordinated with the department (everything you wanted to know about MIT EECS in 5.5 hours), and finally, a trip to MIT Endicott house (think country club) Monday before registration day Tuesday and classes Wednesday. What a week.

Anyway, most of the events went pretty well in my opinion. I particularly liked the scavenger hunt and Flat Top Johnny’s since it was something different from my year. While the subject is still fresh in my mind, though, I’d like to share some of my favorite quotes from the information session:

dept head to incoming students in welcome address
- “By default, half of you are below average, but that’s okay, because the average here is really high.”

question to TA-ship presenter
- “What is the typical undergraduate student at MIT like?”
- “If you get an RA and a TA, do you get double the money?”

panelists on safety in Boston/Cambridge
- “I think the campus is pretty safe. I haven’t heard of a crime report recently.” followed by some students raising their hands to inform him of an email bulletin sent by campus police that morning
- “If you have lived in Boston long enough, you’ll know someone who has been mugged.”
- A guy: “I’m pretty big, and I try to look menacing when I walk at night, and I still get accosted.”

panelists after being asked about social life
- “Uh…” *pass microphone to another panelist*

You can probably imagine the reaction to those quotes, but in case any prospective happens upon this post, I would like to address the safety issue a bit. Yes, crime does happen here, but as in any city, common sense goes a long way to ensuring safety. In an effort to assuage any fears, one of the other co-chairs is also female, and we both told everybody that neither of us had ever been accosted (less reassuring from me being only here for one year, but Minji was an MIT undergrad and has been in the area for around 6 years). Personally, I think Boston/Cambridge is pretty safe - it’s a urban city and there are some shady characters and areas to be aware of, so be vigilant and smart (walk with a buddy, walk in lighted areas along main streets, use the SafeRide and police escort services, etc, etc). Besides, the MIT campus area is a bit safer than the city in general due to the sheer number of students in the area. And hey, I’m still alive and well, and I’m not very imposing.

A Response To This Entry:

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Whoa, I could swear this post wasn’t here before. Really, no area is completely safe. Even in a small college city like Champaign-Urbana, I almost got accosted walking from my lab to my car one night. But I do think having a school around tends to make the area safer than it would otherwise be, as you mention for MIT.

Tell me the social life answer was a joke

Oh, and most people think they’re above average. That’s a fact

Posted by: Jennifer on October 23rd, 2008 at 2:29 pm

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