| The Speaker:
Finances are in fact reason to consider your decision carefully- this is unfortunate but true. Call the financial aid office and speak to them, sometimes they will reconsider your award. As Mollie said, it's something to discuss with your family, not with us on the Internet. ;-)
Sense of community: What Mollie said. But also, I totally understand how you feel. I play a varsity sport, and while I love the culture and community at MIT, I sometimes think "man, wouldn't it be cool if lots of people showed up to cheer us on?" I went to a nerdy engineering high school, and while I loved it I sometimes thought, "you know, I kinda miss pep rallies." There are two very different cultures, and you really can't have both at the same time, so in the end you just sort of have to make the choice. I think you'd be happy either way, but also, no matter what you pick, you'll spend at least a little time sort of wi****lly wondering what life would have been like otherwise. Some people on this board might tell you that they NEVER had feelings like this, and that's probably true- MIT was just the absolute right place for them. But you seem to think a little more like me, and while I'm definitely happy with my choice, to some small extent it was still a choice I had to make, at the expense of the other. So just give it careful thought.
Social-ness: Oh yes. Do not at all concern yourself with this. MIT students are more involved in extra-cirriculars than is probably good for them. ;-) Over the years I have been involved in dorm government (in many, many ways), UROP, campus job, newspaper, an engineering club, EMS, and some other things I'm forgetting now. People study in groups, people cook and eat together, people do all kinds of things together. I promise you will not be lonely here. In fact, I sometimes find myself wishing that my floor were less social, because there are some days when I would just like to be left alone... |