“Women make up 39% of the supply chain workforce on average” according to AWESOME‘s Gartner 2019 Women in Supply Chain report. MIT believes in the value of diversity, so the Supply Chain Management program teamed up with AWESOME, an organization of impressive executive women in supply chain, to offer the first full-tuition scholarship for a female student in 2019.
I’m honored and proud to be the recipient of MIT’s first Advancing Women through Education (AWE) scholarship. Attending MIT became a dream after I graduated with a business degree, concentrating in operations and supply chain management, from Georgia Tech.
I remembered how stressful it was being a high school student, deciding my future path, and being discouraged to attend Georgia Tech by friends and family members because of negative stereotypes including a “lack of women” and “fun.” Luckily, I did not listen. The first club I joined was the Women’s Recruitment Team (WRT), a student-run organization that partners with the Office of Admissions to encourage high-school female students to pursue STEM education at Georgia Tech, which had a historic ratio of 40% female students.
Being surrounded by this group of intelligent women motivated and inspired me to work harder. I loved directly connecting with students on campus and off campus by creating WRT’s first social media presence. I was WRT’s first VP of Women’s Leadership, enabling women within our organization to succeed, by bringing in speakers and hosting a salary negotiation seminar for 50 students. This same year was the first time in history we raised the Georgia Tech incoming freshman class ratio to 43% female students. I’m so proud to have been part of this historic Georgia Tech moment. All students will learn more from the growth of diverse perspectives. Future female students, like myself, will be encouraged when seeing students like themselves pursuing their dreams of higher education in STEM fields.
Another organization I was passionate about was the Undergraduate Operations Management Society (UOMS), which I helped found with a group of friends when we saw there was no place on campus for students to learn about supply chain careers. As the first President, when UOMS obtained official non-profit status, I loved the feeling of creating something entirely new that allowed me to experiment and expand my perspective. Collaborating with my executive team on strategy for gaining traction gave me energy amid juggling priorities as a graduating senior. My greatest accomplishment was encouraging our shyest member to accept the President nomination; she became a great leader, expanding membership and ensuring UOMS continues to provide resources for students.
I first tested my interest in supply chain through an internship with Lockheed Martin in the subcontract administration department for the C-130, where I actively managed the status of repair parts. One of my parts had been mistakenly placed in final stage flight testing. It was my sole responsibility as an intern to get my part back to the workshop quickly. Lockheed taught me about the significance of supply chain in ensuring safety, quality, and efficiency for their military customers. I loved learning how small improvements in the supply chain directly impact consumers lives as well as the success of the entire company.
I accepted my first full-time role as a transportation logistics analyst at The Home Depot. A few months after I started, hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria hit, opening the 7-day operation, known as the command center, for a month. Being part of the team when we sent a police escorted brigade of semi-trucks into the state of Florida to provide relief was an incredible experience. In a room with our carriers and leadership team, I managed hourly reporting and analysis for status updates, while booking loads in my free time. It was an adrenaline rush being not only the youngest person in the room but also one of few females, leading the reporting that was driving the entire operation.
In the spring, I led a committee of six managers in defining operational and financial metrics and developing an automated SQL-driven Tableau story, replacing qualitative notes. Persuading managers with more experience to adopt this new way of reporting was extremely challenging. I took time to listen and learn from each team member while prototyping my solution. I discovered how to communicate with individuals carefully by illustrating how process improvement would improve their daily lives. My presentation persuaded leadership to adopt Tableau across Transportation; I was awarded MVP for Transportation for April and I accepted an early promotion to Senior Data Analyst in ecommerce delivery.
Most importantly, Home Depot introduced me to my love of volunteering in the community from leading Junior Achievement sessions to fundraising for the Atlanta Children’s Shelter and the Georgia Tech Alumni’s scholarship. I also mentor a seven-year-old little sister from Big Brothers Big Sisters, who was known in the office for attending every Supply Chain Family Fun Day with me.
My “little” and I frequently discuss what she wants to be when she grows up. We run through the usual list of options including dance teacher, cheerleader, etc. She loves animals, so this is usually when I bring up some STEM choices like veterinarian, scientist, or marine biologist. She will say that she is not great at math or science each time, but I always carefully disagree.
Over time, she has begun to work in some STEM options into her list of careers under consideration. It is incredible to see how she views herself and how time provided encouraging her has changed her perception and increased her openness to pursuing opportunities. I learned so much about creativity and courage from the children I volunteered with.
I am passionate about stepping beyond my comfort zone to grow professionally and personally. I am always looking for opportunities to challenge myself to learn something new whether it entails teaching myself basic Python or adopting my once malnourished terrier-dachshund from Ruff Redemption Rescue; this curiosity drove me to apply to MIT, the number one engineering school in the world.
From meeting alumni to touring campus in Cambridge, I was inspired by the MIT culture of learning. What other university has 11 Nobel laureates among current faculty? I took on stretch assignments at work and tirelessly followed the MIT Technology Review along with CTL and Sloan updates to prepare to join this network. MIT is a place where leaders from industry come together to innovate beyond traditional practices.
I recently attended a lecture in the Media Lab with Patrick Collison, MIT founder and CEO of the $35B company, Stripe, who stated “To me, MIT symbolizes the highest pursuit of excellence.” This community is founded upon researchers and creative thinkers that push boundaries to develop novel ideas and solutions.
It was only yesterday when we wrote our first blogpost introducing the Class of 2019. It will pass in a blink they said, and it sure did. Walking to Killian Court on June 7th to commence 10 months of hard work, friendships and good times was an experience to cherish forever.
Image: Class of 2019 at the Commencement Ceremony on June 7th, 2019
Commencement was the culmination of our journey at MIT. As I look back, I am all nostalgic reminiscing our times spent together. From introductory hellos during the orientation to heart-felt good byes in the past few weeks, we have a come a long way.
From numerous weekends spent working on System Dynamics assignments to networking events to chase those dream jobs, from the fun at Tuesday Trivia and Thursday Karaoke at Thirsty Ear to day drinking at Muddy Charles, from game nights at the Warehouse to Game of Thrones finale screenings at the SCM Lab, from numerous capstone meetings to final research fest, from study treks in Panama to the west coast , from thanksgiving dinners to easter potlucks, from learning Supply Chain fundamentals to struggling together with data science ( we survived in the end;)) , last 10 months were no less than a roller coaster of events and emotions.
Image Slideshow: Last year in a nutshell
There were times when we struggled with courses, interview preparations and recruitments. These were testing times but what made us come out strong was the willingness to help and lift each other. From tutoring sessions to mock interviews, our class was in it together.
We came to the program as a diverse group of students from all across the world and out we go as a collective class of responsible professionals and future leaders tied by the common bond that is MIT. Two weeks as alums, we have already had multiple reunions and we cannot wait to cross paths with each other in different parts of the country and the world.
Image: Alums from Class of 2019
We are thankful to everyone who made this journey a fun and a rewarding one.We chased our dreams, learnt our lessons and most importantly forged those friendships. It is time for the next chapter in our lives and for the new class to explore and share their SCM adventure.
Opening our emails, the offer from the SCMb program jumped out and shone in our eyes! After rubbing our eyes, we realized: yes — it is not a dream! Along with packing and saying “See you soon” to friends, preparing for coursework selection is significant homework. We wanted to experience as much as we could in the 5-month-long program. In this blog, we want to help you by reflecting on how we selected our courses, and then share some of the courses that we are taking this semester.
How We Selected Our Courses
We knew each other before coming here through a Telegram group* . Talking to each other, we reflected a lot:
What are our purposes for coming to the MIT SCMb program? We all come here for the academic excellence, diverse and amazing classmates, and alumni network. But everyone could have a different background and roadmap for their endeavor at MIT. Reflecting on our purposes and being ready for the coming “firehose” maximized the selection of coursework beforehand.
Fiona: I was working at a startup company in international trade before coming here, and I will continue this journey upon my graduation. Ay coursework focused on the strategies and processes to set up an innovative company as a result:
SCM. 268 Data Science and SCM. 255 Machine Learning for Supply Chain Management because the future of business, especially business related to supply chain management, will be data-driven.
15. 618 Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Startups and the Law introduces different law-sensitive issues for creating an innovative-intensive venture
15.390 New Enterprisesintroduces a systematic and disciplined processes to hypothesis, verify and improve a new venture so that it can attract paying customers and grow naturally.
Allison: My interest lies in logistics and how to improve logistics performance with technologies such as digitization, AI, and robotics. Although I had plenty hands-on training in my job, I still wished to have more systematic and structural training in transportation. SCM. 293 Urban Last Mile Logistics and SCM. 266 Freight Transportation are at the top of my list, offering full coverage of theories and methodologies in transportation. Regarding automation and AI, I take SCM. 268 Data Science and SCM. 255 Machine Learning for Supply Chain Management. It’s such a vast area that I decided to grow more leaves by attending the lectures, forums and conferences.
Suggestions on the process of selecting your courses at MIT
Sleep, Study, Social — choose two out of three! Your energy is precious, so make sure you make the best use of it here at MIT! Here are our suggestions on course selections.
Be intentional: MIT offers different attractive and exciting courses related to supply chain management, but you will burn out if you try to take them all. Focus on your purpose and be mindful. Think twice about what you want before choosing classes.
Here is a detailed framework of how to choose courses. Imagine you are building your knowledge and skills tree: your core competence is the trunk of the tree, and other relevant knowledge and information are the leaves. Let’s think this way: your long-term goal is your purpose. If we identify certain core knowledge and skills to achieve our purpose, that is the trunk that we want to build in our MIT journey. You could select them as your classes to fill in the gaps. What about the add-on knowledge? They will be the complementary knowledge or skills that could expand the trunk in the long term.
Figure: Building Your Skillset Tree with MIT SCM Classes
Plan your workload. After you grab the pieces that you want to learn, you need to check the section times to make sure that there will not be schedule conflicts. Be careful about the workload: MIT study is not a walk in the park. For some courses that are the leaves on your knowledge and skills tree, consider adding them as a listener if you are worried about the workload for your trunk.
Last but not least, MIT has minimum credit requirements and the SCM program has both minimum credit requirements and elective requirements for graduation. Double check that you meet these requirements.
Figure: Process for Selecting the MIT SCM Courses
Here are some introductions to other classes:
SCM 291 Case Studies in Supply Chain Management focuses on how to use supply chain management as a strategic tool for an organization. Students learn how to align managerial decisions with company strategy to create innovative supply chain solutions.
15.762 Supply Chain Planning introduces concepts and models to plan inventory replenishment, risk pooling and inventory placement, integrated planning and collaboration, and information sharing.
15.871 Introduction to System Dynamics changes the way you think about problems. This subject teaches you to link your actions towards consequences and provides a more wholistic view on problem solving.
15.320 Strategic Organizational Design studies how to analyze and improve a company’s current organization, and introduces a framework to design increasingly cheaper and faster communication flow regarding materials, information and finance
Still struggling with what to choose? Here is the final tip: go shopping! At MIT, you’re allowed to make your add/drop decision no later than the second Friday after the class begins. Attend the first one or two classes in which the lecturers will give students a general introduction to the class and explain their expectations. In our observation, busy shoppers dashing from classroom to classroom generally will settle down and happily attend their classes of choice in the first week.
Explore the sea of knowledge at MIT with your aspirations!
This blog post was intended to show different perspectives on bringing families with children to Cambridge while studying. However, during its writing and discussion with classmates, we had a lot of good arguing going on behind the initial subject. We talked about role of men and women in families, the difference between moms and dads in children’s eyes, gender equality, and social perceptions of it, and so on.
As I assume that the reader also may have questions about it, before you read this post, please read the author’s position on the matter. I personally believe in individual personality and that everyone deserves to pursue his or her dreams and ambitions regardless of gender or family status. Moreover, I believe that there is no such thing as a right or wrong decision when talking about families and children. Every decision is the right one as long as it works for the family.*
My story
Having two toddlers never stopped me from pursuing my professional and academic dreams. Completing the MicroMasters, applying to the Blended program, being accepted. All these happened in parallel with two children being born and raised.
The question was – how to make it happen during the on-campus semester.
We considered all options. I go alone, my husband stays with the children. I go with the children my husband comes to visit us every other weekend. We all go together.
I pictured all these in my head for some time. On the one hand, we were talking about just 5 months (blended program), and a 2.5-hour flight between Chicago and Boston. On the other hand, for Mika, my younger daughter, who was 20 months when the program started, it would be one-quarter of her whole life. That’s a lot.
I decided that I would not go anywhere without the children. Soon after, my husband made his decision – he wouldn’t stay without us.
Envisioning the workload at school and the difficulty for my husband (and any living person!) of being 24/7 with two toddlers, I also invited my mom to come here from Russia to live with us and help out.
So, all three of us resigned ourselves and came to Cambridge.
We have a lot of families with children in the class. But I’m the only mom with children here.
I don’t want to underestimate the role of dads in families, don’t get me wrong. But all moms will understand how hard it is to de-prioritize children in one’s life and focus on studying.
We applied for the MIT daycare (right after getting the admission letter), but never got places, as all the spaces were filled already in August-September, and it’s almost impossible to get a place during the year.
After a couple of months at home, my older daughter Alisia went to a daycare close to the campus for two, and later three, days a week to socialize and have a little more fun than at home. Initially we didn’t apply for daycare centers off campus, because we hoped to receive places at the MIT Technology Centers. We could have saved $150 (and also time) by applying to all the daycare centers on campus and near the campus at the same time before coming to Cambridge.
Lesson #1: If you come with children, especially for the blended program, mark all daycare options on the application, not only those located on campus.
As I knew that my mom would be here helping for some time, at least while we were settling, I didn’t apply for on-campus housing, thinking that living off-campus would be more comfortable. Though my current apartment has more space and is in better condition than any of the student houses, now, after all difficulties with the apartment search, lease signing for 5 months, prices significantly higher than on-campus, a longer commute, I wish we had stayed on-campus.
In addition, family graduate housing has play rooms, music, and other classes for children.
Lesson #2: Stay on campus if you can. It is not worth the time, effort and money for a short time (5 or even 10 months) invested in off-campus living.
Several random things about life with kids at MIT:
My husband got a spouse MIT ID and enrolled the whole family at the Sport Center. It costs around $180 to get family access to the swimming pool and other facilities. Definitely worth it.
We registered at the local public library: its branches have playrooms, books, events for kids, and much more.
The majority of museums are free for children under 2 or 3 years, and it’s possible to buy discounted tickets as well through public libraries or MITAC.
Though we have a car, we rarely use it, moving around Cambridge and Boston mainly walking, bicycling or using public transportation as parking is a big challenge, and distances are not that far.
Alisia, 3.5 years old:
In the morning: “Mom, don’t forget to come home!”
In the afternoon, I came back earlier than usual: “Mom, why didn’t you come back at night??”
Alisia is at the MIT Museum – super proud of her construction
Mika, almost 2 years old:
Just starts talking: “Mom, mom, hoooome!” a lot of giggles following. Rare day – I came home before their bed time.
Mika – young MIT-inspired engineer
I’ve asked some of my classmates about their experience of bringing children to campus.
Param, Blended class, India; son Rajat, 12yo:
Six months is a short period of time to move the whole family, but too long at the same time to stay away from each other, especially at this important teenager age. It’s critical to stay together as a family. So I moved together from India with my wife and a son. We concluded that it’s more destructive to be apart than together.
My wife took a break from her job and we all enrolled in this adventure. I was going to get the best education in the world, and I wanted my son to be exposed to the best learning opportunities as well. It was very easy to get enrolled in the school, we came 3 weeks before MIT classes started, and arranged everything. We chose the nearest school: it’s a 15-minute walk from Eastgate. Also, having children there gives you access to family graduate housing, which is good.
The only difficulty we faced was with immunization records for Rajat. Documents were not properly prepared and we had to get additional immunizations to get enrolled in the school and pay for them, around $200.
Lesson #3: Check immunization records carefully before coming to the US
Vrushali, Blended class, New Zealand; daughter Ramita 4yo:
We are a tiny nuclear family of three. Around one and half years ago, we moved from India to New Zealand. We arranged a house, car, school, daycare, and both I and my spouse found new jobs. I was on the third MicroMasters course then and MIT was still a distant dream. Fast forward a year and we got an admission letter. We didn’t have the heart to move again across the globe and then move back after 5 months. But we did several things to make it work. My husband worked out a flexible work arrangement with his company. I worked out phone meetings with my daughter’s school and daycare. We kept money aside for any emergency travel as well as my travel to New Zealand during spring break. We worked out the best time for daily family Skype calls. It was touching to see the support from our work and social circle in NZ. I am now less than 6 weeks away from finishing my program and traveling back home. When my degree comes in June, it may have only my name on it, but all three of us will have earned it!
Kristof, Blended class, China; children Noah, 4yo and Bo, 7yo:
I decided to go to Cambridge alone, as bringing my wife and kids to the US would have meant that my wife would have to give up her company and that my son would have to give up the good primary school he finally got accepted to as well as the nanny we had for our second son. Not having my family at MIT means I can focus more on my studies and on building relations with my classmates. Since the blended program is relatively short, I want to get the most out of it and disrupt the life of my family as little as possible. However, the 12-hour time difference is a big hurdle for us. If the distance was closer, I would have gone back for spring break. And I believe my wife and kids would have loved to spend some time here in Cambridge. But considering the 20-hour flight time and all other things mentioned, we decided that it’s better this way.
Sunkanmi, Residential class, Nigeria; son Tito, 2yo:
I believe not many people would be in my situation: the story is the following.
Before coming to MIT, we had lived separately for a while. So coming to MIT together was an opportunity to stay together after a long period. I was particularly interested in being an ‘available father’, so we had to come together. It’s a bit pricey for a 10-month period, but it’s a fair price for family unity, after a long-time separation.
The decision to come with family comes with financial implications which might require more years of savings to shoulder the expenses. But if the financial situation and other factors are favorable, it is a good experience to be with one’s family.
Lesson #4: The most important thing is insurance here. From experience, some states have basic coverage for children, but that’s not the case here in MA. There is an online resource: Massachusetts Health Connector. It provides good information on the providers and the coverage options. Worth checking out.
Lesson #5: Apply for daycare as early as possible. We applied I think in April or May and didn’t get confirmation until September.
Tito driving his Mercedes-Benz near Charlie riverTito enjoying time with dad
Antonius, Blended class, Singapore; children Alexander, 5yo, Leonardo 2yo:
One of the first decisions that I had to make once I got admitted to MIT was to decide whether to relocate my whole family (wife + two toddlers) to come with me to Cambridge. I sat down with my wife and we listed the pros and cons of moving as family.
Let’s start with the obvious cons. Cambridge is a relatively expensive place to live with an estimated monthly living expense of ~3k USD for a single student. A family of four will easily double or triple that expense: childcare cost is ~2k USD per child per month and additional monthly insurance for the family of four will be ~1k USD. Another con was that our eldest son had to leave his kindergarten (and his friends) to come with me in Cambridge.
Then we discussed the pros, and it was very clear that we wanted to have the family stay together. I worked as consultant and sometimes I did not get to see my family during weekdays. Hence, I wanted to use this opportunity to spend more time with them. Another strong point was that we wanted to enroll our eldest son in a US school as this would be a great adventure and learning experience for him.
Hence, we decided to come here as a family. The process of enrolling our elder son was very seamless as CPSD (Cambridge Public School registration center) helped ensure our son got into school within one week of registration.
Lesson #6: For future students who want to enroll their kids in school: make sure you visit CPSD as soon as you arrive. And don’t be worried if you haven’t got a school for your kids before your arrival. So that’s the journey of me studying at MIT and my son studying at Fletcher Maynard. Now, four months into the program, our family of four are enjoying every moment living here in Cambridge!
Photo of Alex on first day of school Photo of Leo at CTL
Lance, Blended class, Hong Kong; daughter Angel, 4yo:
Since I start taking the first MicroMasters course back in 2016, my wife Polly had been very supportive of my desire to pursue a master’s degree from MIT. We already had discussions what would happen if I got admitted when I passed the CFx with good grades and prepared the application package.
Balance between financials and time with a family was our key discussion. I had to take a no-pay leave as I just rejoined Maersk less than a year before, and my wife also needed to give up a reasonable income if she came with me to Boston. We finally agreed on a balanced solution: my family was not coming for the whole 5-month period, but we would find some time to get together and make it feel shorter than 5 months.
Tips: I have 2 daily video calls with my family back in Hong Kong.
The decision turned out to be a good one. I could be more focus on my studies, working 7 days a week with long hours. This is especially helpful in the last phase of the capstone project. On the other hand, I spent my spring break back to Hong Kong, as a full-time dad who stayed at home. My family will visit me for 3 weeks at the end of term; that means we also could spend some valuable time together traveling around the East Coast, whereas being a working dad it is hard to arrange a 3-week trip.
Lesson #7: The Spring Break trip is really worth the effort. It was a long flight of 16 hours nonstop (and pricey) but worth the money spent.
Gaurav, Residential class, India; children Amaira, 4yo, Yuvaan 2yo:
In the race between the mind and the heart, the heart usually wins!
My family and I have been moving around the globe for the last 10 years or so. We have lived in 5 countries and travelled to almost 25. So, while we did have long discussions around whether or not to move to Boston as a family, gauging the financial, emotional, professional impact of each choice, in the end it all boiled to one line: “Let’s go together; this time will not come back”. Ten months down the line, I don’t regret our decision at all. Rather, the support you get from the family during this period is priceless. I won’t hesitate to say that I did crash a few times with the stress, pressure, and apprehension during the program and had Vinny (my wife) not been there to talk me out of that, I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. She sacrificed more than I did, leaving her career, raising kids (with minimal contribution on my side) and still staying strong. So, the decision to move with family is more of your partner’s decision than yours. If you are able to support it financially (we were able to, thanks to our 10 years of savings that I fully invested in these 10 months), moving with family makes sense. Today, when I look back, I wonder why I even thought about not coming with family because the time that you spend with your kids while they are growing cannot be compensated for with any amount of money you will save by staying apart. Plus, my kids got to experience their first snowfall in Boston!
Lesson #8: If your heart says to go with your family, you are probably right and you should make it happen!
Yuvaan, Amaira and us enjoying the first snowfall in Boston!! celebrating Mika’s 2nd birthday at the Franklin Park Zoo, Boston
Afterword:
Do I feel that I’m missing something in my kids’ lives, even though they are here with me? Yes, I do.
Do I regret enrolling to a program pursuing my dreams, even though it may be difficult for a family and especially for children? Not a single day.
This is the first of the starting your MIT live series. And congratulate everyone that received the SCM offer so far. (May 9 SCMb 2nd round result is yet to announce)
After being admitted to MIT and celebrating with your friends and family, it is time to prepare to move to Cambridge and plan for the SCM program. If you are coming from a different country (as we both did), some tasks can be tricky and several elements will be fairly new.
However, you should not worry, as we are here to help you out with a checklist for the coming months. This post will cover six things we wish we knew before moving to Cambridge, and hopefully will provide you some new information for the journey ahead.
First things first: Financials
Let’s talk about money. We are already in April and the next class of SCMr students are likely planning the details of their trip to Cambridge. One important constraint is often budget. MIT provides a set of estimates that pretty much nail the average cost of living and studying in Cambridge (check this and this). From our perspective, you can expect to spend between $1,900 and $2,300 monthly, depending on where you choose to live and lifestyle preferences. Joy Zhao and Hao Wang wrote a great postabout enjoying life at MIT without breaking the bank. Make sure to check it.
If you are coming from abroad, you will likely need to open a bank account in the US. There are several different options and a simple Google search will reveal them. However, most of the banks will require you to be in the US to open the account. If being able to open account before coming to Cambridge is an important factor for you (as it was for us), MIT has a banking arm called MIT FCU, which allows you to do this.
Home sweet home
Our classmate Ge Li has already covered in her post all the key aspects of MIT housing, the lottery process, the pros and cons of each option, and our collective opinions on our apartments. You should definitely check it out. Choosing the right place to live is one of the most important decisions you will face during the moving process and we can’t stress this enough. The first fundamental aspect is choosing between living on- or off-campus. Living on-campus simply means living in an MIT-owned building near the school (see the map below with some points of interest). While living off-campus might mean having a larger space or spending less on rent, it might impact your weekly routine. So, plan ahead! Quick tip: walking to/from Tang Hall to E40 (where CTL is located) takes about 20 min. From SidPac, about 15 min.
MIT Campus map (“the triangle”), on-campus residential buildings (in blue), relevant academic buildings (in red), and two important campus references (in black)
Sweat it out
MIT students are not just focused on classes and homeworks. They also like sports (a lot, if you ask the two of us) and the campus and the Z-Center (see map above) offer a multitude of options to have fun and exercise. These options range from typical activities like basketball and tennis, to “things that you must try at least once in your life and then tell the story” like VR golfing and a full bow and arrow shooting range. Cambridge is also a great place to exercise outside, run, or jog (by our sampling, 140% of the Greater Boston population jogs). The indoor facilities are open nearly all day and are free to use. It is also possible to register for group classes like crossfit and hip-hop dancing, but these are mostly paid for.
Stay Connected
Probably the first thing you will do upon arrival is getting your phone online with a mobile plan. You are probably aware of the major carriers in the US (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint) and the plans do not differ widely. As a reference, you can expect to spend around $50/mo. for a single line with a prepaid plan. A plan that is a bit different from the rest and worth mentioning is the Google Fi project (check it out here).
Health Plan
All MIT students are required to have some kind of medical coverage during the academic year. MIT tuition already covers a basic medical plan, yet the State of Massachusetts requires additional coverage. Every student needs to get this (it’s state law), and MIT offers an option called “MIT Extended Health Insurance” (the common choice among our classmates). This coverage is not cheap (they never are), so do your homework and compare options before deciding. In any case, don’t wait until August to address this topic as most plans require immunization and copies of medical records for new members, which could take a while due to some mandatory vaccination intervals between shots. If you have kids, you’re probably already behind schedule, so hurry up. (:
Time flies!
After all this planning exercise you will soon start to picture yourself in Cambridge. To help you with that, we would like to paint a brief picture of what our typical weeks looked like in our first semester:
Our average week-hours breakdown during the Orientation (August) and Fall semester
