Standing Out

Standing Out [by C/3C Christopher Benson, 10] Sometimes after I take off, I wonder how I am getting paid to do this job I should be paying them. This quote came from an F-15 pilot who stopped by to speak to the AFROTC cadets a few weeks ago. It is statements like these that make me very excited to commission as an Officer in the United States Air Force, to have the chance to fly faster than the speed of sound, pull more Gs than any roller coaster, and gain an experience that very few people will ever know. I want to be a fighter pilot that is why I joined AFROTC, for the chance (which happens to be very good coming out of MIT) to have an awesome and exciting life. When I first signed up for ROTC, I thought of it simply as an avenue to become a pilot and to pay for school. I wasnt expecting to gain much in the program other than a commission. Now I am a year and a half into it and I have learned more from the ROTC program than from any other source here at MIT. Everyone at MIT is learning technical subjects: thermodynamics, differential equations, programming ROTC has given me the opportunity to learn useful and immediately applicable skills. I have learned a considerable amount about management and about working with superiors and subordinates and along the way I also learned how to lead. This abstract concept of leadership seemed very generic to me as I filled out my college applications, making sure to include all of the leadership positions that I had held in high school. After only a year and a half at MIT, this concept of leadership has become much clearer to me, as it now stands to separate me from my peers. Having tangible leadership experience has been vital for many different applications and interviews that I have done since getting to MIT. From gaining other campus leadership positions, to competing competitively for scholarships, to getting internship offers, my ROTC experience has given me an edge. At MIT, sometimes you need something other than intelligence to make you stand out above the crowd. AFROTC did that for me. Post Tagged #ROTC Standing out First, an aside Today, Adam and I were on the subway heading to the Museum of Fine Arts (MIT students get in free! Cant beat culture for free). We were on an inbound Red Line train, and the conductor kept adamantly announcing that it was an Ashmont and Braintree train. Take a look at this map and realize how absurd that is. Schrodingers train, perhaps? And now, the real stuff A common concern voiced about applying to/attending a school like MIT is that in a milieu of such strong students, its going to be difficult for a given student to stand out among his or her peers, and she/he wont get into a good grad program. This is also usually bound up with the concern that not being at the top of the class will cause the student to shrivel up like a bacterium in Lysol. I remember having those same concerns when I got into MIT. (I didnt feel them when I applied, as you might recall, because I applied out of spite.) Its a little nervewracking to realize that youre no longer the class brain, and that you cant sleepwalk your way to perfect grades anymore. My first semester at MIT, I realized just how meager my high school preparation had been. I had never taken physics before, and I was suddenly taking 8.01 with a bunch of people who had merely gotten 4s on the AP test. In high school, Id been upset when I got grades below 90; my first semester at MIT, I learned to rejoice when I got class average. My first semester average would have been a 3.25 on MITs 5.0 scale, had it been on grades I got 3 Cs and a B. But the cool thing was that I was happy with that. I had worked my tail end off for those Cs in a way that Id never worked for my As in high school. A semester of MIT taught me what twelve years of public education never had its not about the grades, its about what you learn in class, and you have to learn for you, not for the grades. My new philosophy informed my attitude about every other class I took at MIT. I didnt drive myself crazy studying for finals; I did what I felt was necessary, then took a few hours to talk to friends and eat potato chips. If I had a choice between studying an extra two hours for a test and doing a critical experiment in lab, I chose the experiment every time. I didnt go to night classes, even though some of my biology recitations were held at night, because I knew I needed time at home at night to defragment my brain and hang out with my boyfriend. I learned that learning is a priority for me, but getting perfect grades isnt. Ironically, the more I applied my philosophy taking classes because they were just drop-dead cool, reading the scientific literature about subjects I liked voraciously, spending time in lab just for the sheer joy of it the better my grades became. I dont think this would have happened to me if I had gone to Ohio State. I think I would have still felt like I needed to be at the top of the class, and I would have been focused on my grades to the neglect of my education and personal growth. Moreover, I would have needed to be at the top of my class at OSU to get into the grad schools I got into this year. I didnt need to be at the top of my MIT class to get into those schools, as grad schools seem to be overjoyed to admit ridiculous numbers of MIT-educated scientists and engineers. (Point in fact, I wouldnt know if I were at the top of my MIT class. MIT doesnt rank, and nobody graduates with Latin honors or anything foofy like that. True story.) I think MIT was worth it for me both in terms of the way I was taught to be a first-rate scientist, but also in the way that I was taught to follow my own desires and motivations rather than living for immediate grade-based rewards. I didnt graduate first in my class at MIT. Thank God for that.