029. The MIT Chronicles Pt.1

tldr: a prefrosh in her natural habitat

I am personally, a huge fan of those MIT blog posts that say things along the lines of:
– “I have gone to ___ restaurant 15 times.
– “I have had coffee 360 out of 365 days in the past year.”
etc.. I haven’t kept track of my stats for the past year [though my coffee one would look fairly similar to the one listed above], but I do like the overall concept. So, below are the (albeit non-specific) bullet points of my life as a prefrosh.

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• I started my senior year! Sure it didn’t end how we expected, but it sure started perfectly. On the first day, we got donuts [2 old fashioned, 2 with chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkles, 2 with white frosting and rainbow sprinkles, and donut holes for the PE teacher], sipped on Dutch Bros, and went to Quesadilla Gorilla for lunch. We ate like *kings* that day. I mean, we had finally made it to the grown ups table, with class schedules we liked, jobs to fund our coffee trips, and blue-tooth headphones.
• I went to the Revue’s 2nd year anniversary ‘Steal the Glass’ event. Essentially: buy a waffle, and get a limited edition cup you can take home. I was also able to go to the 3rd year anniversary to show support, but they didn’t have the glasses (for semi-obvious reasons). A few years ago I wasn’t connected to my community at *all*, and it feels weird to think that the Revue wasn’t there when I started high school.
• I took my last five classes: Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Logic 1, and Intro to Tutoring.
• I took my last general SAT in October, scoring better than I thought and lower than I had hoped. This was also when I realized that I needed to take SAT subject tests for MIT, and that I only had one month to take the test and apply early action. So I spent the next month learning as much E&M as I could [which wasn’t a whole lot], and took the Math 2 and Physics SAT in November. I thought I had absolutely tanked Physics (which I may have) but either way I got into MIT so, here we are.
  • As a side note, if you are a future high school student reading this, I would just suggest using the Khan Academy SAT prep site. Honestly. If you want to spend the money on the expensive prep books, go right ahead, but don’t feel bad if you can’t afford them.
• Someone really close to me passed away in September. This was the first time that I had ever experienced that. Growing up really sucks.
• I learned how to run a fundraiser– Academic Decathlon’s first ever Car Wash. It felt perfectly cliche.
• December 14th, I got accepted into MIT. I texted 5 friends, called my counselor and my principal, cried on the floor outside my bedroom, and went to Academic Decathlon practice. On the way, I stopped and told the baristas at the Revue and Kuppa Joy the good news. It was arguably one of the happiest days of my life.
• My friend and I listened to Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” on New Years. Man we thought 2020 was going to be so much better than it turned out.
• Academic Decathlon time! We scored 3rd place in our district overall. The 2020 Acadec team really set the bar high. I got the highest scoring speech in the competition, so I got to speak in front of an entire auditorium. I spoke about what happened in September.
• College Acceptances! I got into Stanford, UPenn, and MIT, and after this blog post where I got accepted will probably never be talked about again, because all that really matters is that I got into MIT.
• We went on quarantine. Nothing much to say here to be completely honest. The next three months sort of blur together. I did learn LaTeX though. 1000/10, would recommend.
• I turned 18! Now officially an adult. Oh, and I also graduated! All exciting things that were ever so slightly boring in quarantine, but such is life.
• I went on the first plane ride, moving to the Bronx in New York. My parent flew with me, and flew back two days later. One of the upcoming blog posts will be about my roommates and my living situation I’m sure, so stay tuned for more on that.
• I registered for classes, got accepted into the iHouse cultural house, and joined a lot of PSET group chats.
  • I am taking 18.701 (Algebra 1), 18.100B (Real Analysis), 18.A06 (What is a Number?), 24.05 (Philosophy of Religion), and 8.01 (Physics 1).

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Hopefully I can also keep some actual statistics, but in any case these blog posts should be helpful in remembering what I have done. Tomorrow, I will no longer be a prefrosh, but a freshman. Can’t wait to see what happens over the next year.

Paige