"Do what you have to do to do what you want to do."| An MIT Student's Advice on College Life

We had the amazing opportunity of interviewing Cami, a student at MIT about: College Life Cami is: a student majoring in computer science, comparative media studies, and business management an MIT admissions blogger, admissions panelist, associate advisor, the MIT 2023 Class Council vice president and a plethora of other things! Here are some important words she shares: "At college, you can literally do whatever interests you and you pave your own path, whereas high school was kind of guided and handheld, I’d say." "Extracurriculars are my outlet for social life and stress relief, so having extracurriculars is my time for me to sit back and enjoy life and meet people and socialize." Q: What’s a major difference between high school and college that most people don’t realize? A: College is a completely malleable experience . You don’t want to wake up to take 8am classes? You don’t have to! You don’t have an interest in English? You no longer have to take another English class again, apart from maybe your agenda. At college, you can literally do whatever interests you and you pave your own path , whereas high school was kind of guided and handheld, I’d say. Q: What’s the hardest adjustment you had to make in college? A: Time management . I find myself jumping a lot from extracurriculars to classes to finding time for work to finding me time. Q: How did you find internship opportunities in college? A: MIT has mailing lists . I personally use Reddit a lot, as well as Handshake and LinkedIn. Q: How did you determine your majors and how many you would take? A: Just choosing to study what I really, really like. Q: How have you stayed so involved in so many extracurriculars in college while still managing academics? A: Extracurriculars are my outlet for social life and stress relief, so having extracurriculars is my time for me to sit back and enjoy life and meet people and socialize. I carve out time for my extracurriculars after classes and make sure I adhere to them by writing it down on my calendar. Q: Which extracurricular have you found to be most useful/most enjoyable? A: I really love being an Admissions Blogger for MIT. I’ve formed a really strong relationship with the MIT Admissions team and I have a lot of mentorship both from faculty and upperclassmen within the blogging team and it’s one of my main resources for just learning new things about MIT and for advice. Q: How do you spend your free time in college? (summers, weekends, breaks, etc.) A: Going out a lot with friends . Binging a lot of TV shows . Traveling, in non-corona times. Spending time with family. Q: How do you keep a balanced, healthy lifestyle/were you able to? A: I work out usually 4-6 times a week right after classes as a nice mental break and some relaxation time. Q: Did you set goals for yourself before going to college? A: I did! I had a couple here and there, like joining a dance group or getting an internship, etc. Stuff to keep me on track. Think you know someone or are someone that can give some advice? Fill out this short form here ! Learn more about Cami and her experience on her LinkedIn account.