Friday, August 21, 2020

Best of the Ben Blogs

Best of the Ben Blogs On today, Ben Joness last day at MIT (no!), lets take a look back at some of some of the blogging highlights of Bens 4 years (and 194 posts!) here The first post: August 6, 2004 This is the one that started it all. Back when there were just a few bloggers, including Ben, myself, and the ever-awesome Mitra. All About The Author Hi folks, My name is Ben Jones and I work in the MIT admissions office. My job, among other things, is to manage this site. I write stuff, I edit stuff, I design stuff, I format stuff, I code stuff. I try to keep my finger on the MIT pulse and chase people around campus to get stories and tips. My team is a force. We sleep outside offices and dorm rooms when people try to hide from us and our pursuit of content. And we promise to serve you well in your quest to learn more about MIT. [read more] Bens First Sentimental Post: December 16, 2004 In what would become his trademark, this is Bens first post of emotional truth. If more people in admissions could open their hearts the way Ben does, the world would be a much better place. There Is No Formula Trying to define admissions with a formula is like trying to define life with a formula. Its like trying to explain poetry using calculus. It would take the human component out of it, which is perhaps the most important part. Reading through [a blog and discussion about test scores] doesnt make me think of SAT scores or grades. It makes me think of the guy who fell in love with trains as a kid and worked so hard to include the world in that passion that Amtrak noticed and gave him a job before he could even drive. It makes me think of the girl who chose to commute an hour each way to attend a certain school, and the amazing friendship she developed with the bus driver that reinforced her dream of becoming a teacher. It makes me think of one girls amazing photograph of a swing and how that image says more about the world than any test ever could. Of course you need good scores and good grades to get into MIT. But most people who apply to MIT have good grades and scores. Having bad grades or scores will certainly hurt you, but Im sorry to say that having great grades and scores doesnt really help you it just means that youre competitive with most of the rest of our applicants. MIT is very self-selecting in that regard. Its who you are that really matters. Its how you embrace life. Its how you treat other people. Its passion. And yes, that stuff really does drip off the page in the best of our applications. Its not anything I can explain you just know when you read an application and a perfect match is there. [read more] The Beard Period: January 28 March 11, 2005 Ben vows not to shave until Regular Action decisions are released. The Beard, The Name, The Response, and EC The Beard. As youve probably noticed in the picture above, Im getting kindof hairy, much to the chagrin of my wife. Theres a story behind this: I challenged the other admissions officers to a no-shave reading period, culminating with a ceremonious shave on mailing day in March. Only one other has embraced this pact with me: the fantastic and wonderful Juan Salvador Acosta. (You guys should write to Matt and tell him to join us!) Ill post some beard progress pictures over the next month. But when you see that picture at the top change to clean-shaven Ben, youll know that the decisions have been mailed. [read more] And Then There Was One Folks, it is a sad, sad day in the MIT Admissions Office. Juan Salvador Acosta has broken the pact and succumbed to the mighty razor. His face is as smooth as a babys, as they say. Which leaves yours truly as the only remaining wookie. I must go now and weep gently. May my beard catch the tears that would otherwise run with the ink of your applications. [read more] Stu Saves The Pact Just when I thought I couldnt make it through another minute of the agony of yesterdays events, I walked into our weekly staff meeting to discover that Stu is HAIRY! Yes, friends, Stu Schmill 86, Admissions Officer and Director of the Educational Council, has become my new bearded hero. [read more] In The Mail Well folks, the time has come. Note that the pic up top has changed to reflect the clean-shaven face, as promised [read more] Ben Announces Huge News on the Blog: February 24, 2005 Clearly, the biggest news until May 15, 2008. Very, Very Important News Seth and Summer are back together! Seth and Summer are back together! Seth and Summer are back together! Seth and Summer are back together! Seth and Summer are back together! [read more] [what Ben was talking about] Bens First Bad Haiku on the Blogs Bad haiku will be Bens legacy (wait til the fall). Bad Haiku McGanns new toy, it accelerates particles Too fast black hole oooooops. [read more] The First CPW Meet The Bloggers: April 9, 2005 The beginning of a tradition! CPW Day 3 [read more] Ben, the Rockstar (Part 1): July 29 / August 2, 2005 Ben was well-known not just for admissions, but also for rocking out Im A Famous Rockstar That title is misleading Im famous, and Im a rockstar, but Im not famous for being a rockstar. :-) First, the rockstar bit. We had our CD Release show last week @ Harpers Ferry, which we somehow managed to fill with people. It was AWESOME. A great way to start my mini-vacation (which is where Ive been hiding). So Ive got CDs now; stop by 3-107 if you want to grab one. [read more] Want To Play Music @ MIT? When I got my first guitar at age 3, I immediately began dreaming of playing with (and for) other people. This dream took many forms when I got to college I played solo in coffeehouses, as half of an acoustic duo in auditoriums, as part of a band in various bars clubs. [read more] The Vision Realized (Part 1): August 10, 2005 The MIT Admissions homepage wasnt always as awesome as it is now; it took a series of visions from Ben to have it become what it is now. Where Weve Been And Where Were Going within a few months, those little blogs, buried at the bottom of the page, were getting all of the traffic. For months I brainstormed on how to take that energy and translate it to the rest of MyMIT, as it had been designed. It couldnt be done. Meanwhile, the blogs just seemed to get more and more popular Im a big believer in finding something that works and going with it, regardless of the details. MyMIT was never designed to be dominated by the blogs, but lets face it the blogs are what give the site its power. So this year, the blogs arent tucked away in a hidden corner. Come September, well have twelve student blogs and five staff blogs seventeen in all and MyMIT has never been stronger. With tens of thousands of hits each week and requests to speak at national admissions conferences so that other schools can start similar programs Id say were on the right path. After a year of trying to find that path, I cant tell you what a relief it is to be where we are. [read more] Ben takes on College Confidential: October 05, 2005 One of the most linked-to writings Ben has done. It was beautiful. Many Ways To Define The Best Some parents wrote to me and asked me to contribute my opinions to a College Confidential thread about the pressure to load up on AP classes. Obviously my response is directed to parents, but I thought it was important enough to post it here as well: Make sure your kids are choosing their schools for the right reasons. Name, status, brand these are not the right reasons. Let your kids be kids. Let them follow their hearts. Encourage them to have a present, not just a future. Dont let them define themselves by which colleges accept them and dont let them define themselves by doing things only to get into certain colleges. The machine is fed from all sides. USNWR, the media in general, the GCs, the parents, the colleges and universities, the high-priced independent counselors, the test prep people My kids are still many years away from college, and Im no expert on the parent side of this process. But I do know one thing: I will fight to protect them from all of this, to help them with perspective and clarity. Because if I dont, who will? Because if we dont, who will? [read more] The First Big Blogger Outing: December 19, 2005 After the big expansion of the blog program, this was our first big all-blogger outing. Youll recognize these folks. Happy Holidays! [read more] The Evie Contest: February 27, 2006 Ben is (in)famous in the office for his Photoshop skills Fun With Photoshop Things are still pretty crazy around here, so until I get a chance to post, Ill keep you entertained with the following. As you know if you follow Matts blog, my colleague Joannes dog Evie is somewhat of an office mascot. What you may not know is that Joanne is, like me, a die-hard Lost fan. Not only does she love the riveting storylines and character development, she also thinks Sawyer is cute. So last week, I combined her two loves into a desktop for her computer: [read more] Bens Most Famous Entry, Ever Good luck topping this one, Oberlin Vice President of Communications. (Ill repost this one in its entirety) Its More Than A Job In response to an earlier entry of mine, this post appeared on College Confidential: You know, I get sick of college admissions officers saying how they couldnt accept so many wonderful people. While its supposed to be comforting, obviously, I just find it really insincere. I mean, either youre accepted or youre not. There is no grey area so they shouldnt try to sugarcoat the harsh reality. Im thankful to whomever posted this, because it really made me think. Its certainly a fair post, and I imagine a lot of our applicants share these sentiments. A million years ago when I was applying to college, perhaps I would have felt the same way. Ive written before about how the class is selected, but Im too tired to dig up the post so Ill give a quick recap. First you apply. Your application is read by a senior staff member who will look for deal-breakers (like a bunch of Ds, for example). Assuming youre competitive, your application is then read by a primary reader who will summarize it at length for the committee. Then a second reader (and sometimes a third) will read and write their own summaries. Then it will go to selection committee, where multiple groups of different admissions staff and faculty members will weigh in on it. Assuming youve made it that far, the senior staff will then review it again. Approximately 12 people (give or take) will significantly discuss and debate your application before youre admitted. This is all very intentional; committee decisions ensure that every decision is correct in the context of the overall applicant pool, and that no one individuals bias or preferences or familiarity with a giv en case has any chance of swaying a decision unfairly. With that in mind, let me tell you a little bit about what my job is like from November through March. Three days a week, I take a random bunch of applications to the public library, find a quiet corner, and immerse myself in your lives. I read about your triumphs, I read about your dreams, I read about the tragedies that define you. I read about your passions, your inventions, your obsession with video games, dance, Mozart, Monet. I read about the person close to you who died. I read about your small towns, your big cities, the week you spent abroad that changed your life. I read about your parents getting divorced, your house burning down, your girlfriend cheating on you. I read about the car you rebuilt with your dad, the championship debate you lost, the team you led to failure, the performance you aced. I read about the people youve helped and the people youve hurt. I read about how youve stood tall in the face of racism, homophobia, poverty, injustice. Then I read about the lives youve changed a math or science teacher, a humanities teacher, a counselor. I read the things that they probably dont say to your face for fear of inflating your ego: that youre the best in their careers, that kids like you are the reason they chose to be a teacher in the first place, that theyre better people for having known you. If youve had an interview, I get to read about how you come across in person to someone youve just met how your face lights up at the mention of cell biology, how you were five minutes late because you had an audition, how your smile can fill a room, how you simply shine. (Your grades and scores are clearly competitive or your application wouldnt be on my pile in the first place.) By now Im fully invested in you so I write a gazillion nice things about you in your summary and Im smiling the whole time. I talk about your depth, all the ways youre a great match to MIT, all the things I know youll contribute to campus. I conclude with phrases like clear admit and perfect choice. In my head I imagine bumping into you on the Infinite Corridor, asking you how your UROP is going, seeing your a cappella group perform. I come home each night and tell my wife over dinner how lucky I am, because I never seem to pick boring applications out of the pile. In fact, I tell her, Im inspired enough by the stories I read to think that the world might actually turn out to be okay after all. In March I go into committee with my colleagues, having narrowed down my top picks to a few hundred people. My colleagues have all done the same. Then the numbers come in: this years admit rate will be 13%. For every student you admit, you need to let go of seven others. What? But I have so many who But And then the committee does its work, however brutal. Its not pretty, but at least its fair. (And by fair I mean fair in the context of the applicant pool; of course its not fair that there are so few spots for so many qualified applicants.) When its all over, about 13% of my top picks are offered admission. I beg, I plead, I make ridiculous promises (just ask the senior staff) but at the end of the day, a committee decision is a committee decision. Of my many favorites this year, there were a few who really got to me, and when they didnt get in, the tears came. Some would call me foolish for getting this wrapped up in the job, but honestly, I couldnt do this job if I disconnected myself from the human component of it. Its my job to present you to the committee; if your dream of being at MIT didnt become my dream on some small level, then really, why am I doing this at all? Others would disagree, but then, others arent me. To the 87% of you who have shared your lives with us and trusted us with your stories over the last four months, please know that they meant something to me, and I wont forget you. When I say that I share the pain of these decisions with you, Im not lying. Im really not lying. To the person up there who said while its supposed to be comforting, obviously, I just find it really insincere you have it backwards. I dont expect it (or anything else) to be comforting at this moment. But insincere? No. Not that. Just got confirmation that the USPS picked up the mail (for real), so its on the way. Ill be thinking about all of you. Ben, the Rockstar (Part 2): | May 04, 2006 During CPW 2006, Ben did the first of two Battle of the Bands performances. Easily the highlight of the year. The Night I Shared A Stage With Marilee [read more] One of my favorite t-shirts: May 26, 2006 designed by Ben, of course. Varsity Blogging [read more] The First Blogger Application: July 12, 2006 People are always shocked that we actually have this whole application process to become a blogger. But the funniest reaction came when we had an early action and regular action for the blog appliation process So You Wanna Be A Blogger? To be considered in the EA round, you should email me (benjones at you-know-the-rest) by July 31st, 2006 and: Provide a link to your portfolio in other words, your current blog. If you post regularly on any admissions forums such as College Confidential, please provide URLs and username/screenname/etc. Tell me what you submitted for your housing choices (in order of preference), what youre considering for a major (list all possibilities), and what activities you hope to become involved with at MIT. Write a short essay (100 words or so) responding to this prompt: At 4:42 PM EST, an aardvark sprang from its burrow and headed southwest. Assuming a trajectory of 42.6 degrees for said aardvark, where is the banana and why is that man chartreuse? [read more] The Vision Realized (Part 2): August 17, 2006 The MIT Admissions homepage youve come to know and love is prepared. A Preview Of My Summer Project So heres a sneak peek at what Ive been working on all summer the new admissions site. I cant wait for this baby to launch! IMAGE #1: the new homepage. It will provide you with the latest 10 blog entries, regardless of author. You will no longer have to check each bloggers box to see if he/she has posted recently. Youll also get streamlined admissions bulletins, deadlines, and faqs. New top navigation will take the guesswork out of whats in each section by providing drop down menus with entire subnav one click from the homepage will take you to any other section of the site. [read more] The List: August 23, 2006 This is another one Ill reprint in its entirety. 50 Things Dear Class of 2010, This will be my last entry written specifically for you; beginning with the launch of our new site in early September, Ill begin focusing on the future class of 2011. I hope that you guys wont be strangers; stay in touch either in person (come visit us!) or online (please drop by the blogs from time to time and say hi). As you begin your college experience, and I prepare for my 10-year college reunion, I thought Id leave you with the things that, in retrospect, I think are important as you navigate the next four years. I hope that some of them are helpful. Here goes Your friends will change a lot over the next four years. Let them. Call someone you love back home a few times a week, even if just for a few minutes. In college more than ever before, songs will attach themselves to memories. Every month or two, make a mix cd, mp3 folder, whatever just make sure you keep copies of these songs. Ten years out, theyll be as effective as a journal in taking you back to your favorite moments. Take naps in the middle of the afternoon with reckless abandon. Adjust your schedule around when you are most productive and creative. If youre nocturnal and do your best work late at night, embrace that. It may be the only time in your life when you can. If you write your best papers the night before they are due, dont let people tell you that you should be more organized or that you should plan better. Different things work for different people. Personally, I worked best under pressure so I always procrastinated and always kicked ass (which annoyed my friends to no end). ;-) Use the freedom that comes with not having grades first semester to experiment and see what works best for you. At least a few times in your college career, do something fun and irresponsible when you should be studying. The night before my freshman year psych final, my roommate somehow scored front row seats to the Indigo Girls at a venue 2 hours away. I didnt do so well on the final, but I havent thought about psych since 1993. Ive thought about the experience of going to that show (with the guy who is now my sons godfather) at least once a month ever since. Become friends with your favorite professors. Recognize that they can learn from you too in fact, thats part of the reason they chose to be professors. Carve out an hour every single day to be alone. (Sleeping doesnt count.) Go on dates. Dont feel like every date has to turn into a relationship. Dont date someone your roommate has been in a relationship with. When your friends parents visit, include them. Youll get free food, etc., and youll help them to feel like theyre cool, hangin with the hip college kids. In the first month of college, send a hand-written letter to someone who made college possible for you and describe your adventures thus far. It will mean a lot to him/her now, and it will mean a lot to you in ten years when he/she shows it to you. Embrace the differences between you and your classmates. Always be asking yourself, what can I learn from this person? More of your education will come from this than from any classroom. All-nighters are entirely overrated. For those of you who have come to college in a long-distance relationship with someone from high school: despite what many will tell you, it can work. The key is to not let your relationship interfere with your college experience. If you dont want to date anyone else, thats totally fine! Whats not fine, however, is missing out on a lot of defining experiences because youre on the phone with your boyfriend/girlfriend for three hours every day. Working things out between friends is best done in person, not over email. (IM does not count as in person.) Often someones facial expressions will tell you more than his/her words. Take risks. Dont be afraid of (or excited by) the co-ed bathrooms. The thrill is over in about 2 seconds. Wednesday is the middle of the week; therefore on wednesday night the week is more than half over. You should celebrate accordingly. (It makes thursday and friday a lot more fun.) Welcome failure into your lives. Its how we grow. What matters is not that you failed, but that you recovered. Take some classes that have nothing to do with your major(s), purely for the fun of it. Its important to think about the future, but its more important to be present in the now. You wont get the most out of college if you think of it as a stepping stone. When youre living on a college campus with 400 things going on every second of every day, watching TV is pretty much a waste of your time and a waste of your parents money. If youre going to watch, watch with friends so at least you can call it a valuable social experience. Dont be afraid to fall in love. When it happens, dont take it for granted. Celebrate it, but dont let it define your college experience. Much of the time you once had for pleasure reading is going to disappear. Keep a list of the books you would have read had you had the time, so that you can start reading them when you graduate. Things that seem like the end of the world really do become funny with a little time and distance. Knowing this, forget the embarassment and skip to the good part. Every once in awhile, there will come an especially powerful moment when you can actually feel that an experience has changed who you are. Embrace these, even if they are painful. No matter what your political or religious beliefs, be open-minded. Youre going to be challenged over the next four years in ways you cant imagine, across all fronts. You cant learn if youre closed off. If you need to get a job, find something that you actually enjoy. Just because its work doesnt mean it has to suck. Dont always lead. Its good to follow sometimes. Take a lot of pictures. One of my major regrets in life is that I didnt take more pictures in college. My excuse was the cost of film and processing. Digital cameras are cheap and you have plenty of hard drive space, so you have no excuse. Your health and safety are more important than anything. Ask for help. Often. Half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at any given moment. Way more than half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at some point in the next four years. Get used to it. In ten years very few of you will look as good as you do right now, so secretly revel in how hot you are before its too late. In the long run, where you go to college doesnt matter as much as what you do with the opportunities youre given there. The MIT name on your resume wont mean much if thats the only thing on your resume. As a student here, you will have access to a variety of unique opportunities that no one else will ever have dont waste them. On the flip side, dont try to do everything. Balance = well-being. Make perspective a priority. If youre too close to something to have good perspective, rely on your friends to help you. Eat badly sometimes. Its the last time in your life when you can do this without feeling guilty about it. Make a complete ass of yourself at least once, preferably more. It builds character. Wash your sheets more than once a year. Trust me on this one. If you are in a relationship and none of your friends want to hang out with you and your significant other, pay attention. They usually know better than you do. Dont be afraid of the weird pizza topping combinations that your new friend from across the country loves. Some of the truly awful ones actually taste pretty good. Expand your horizons. Explore the campus thoroughly. Dont get caught. Life is too short to stick with a course of study that youre no longer excited about. Switch, even if it complicates things. Tattoos are permanent. Be very certain. Dont make fun of prefrosh. That was you like 2 hours ago. Enjoy every second of the next four years. It is impossible to describe how quickly they pass. This is the only time in your lives when your only real responsibility is to learn. Try to remember how lucky you are every day. Be yourself. Create. Inspire, and be inspired. Grow. Laugh. Learn. Love. Welcome to some of the best years of your lives. -B I Think Id Want To Be Randy. Or Maybe Simon: February 22, 2007 Really, we probably talk about American Idol too much. MIT Idol Id also add Simon, Paula, and Randy to our selection committee, and Id also have each applicant apply in person. Because then we could have scenes like this: Randy: Dog, it was just okay for me. You want me to keep it real, right? Alright, it just didnt work. The curriculum was just too big for you. You should have picked classes that you could have actually passed. Paula: You know what? Youre a star. Your handwriting is beautiful, you look great, and I really like you. Im not sure MIT is the place for you, but youre really going to go far in life and have gorgeous kids and save the world. Simon: When you do math in public, how do people generally react? Is this an application to MIT or to pre-school? You are absolutely forgettable. I could go into any middle school and find 6th graders Id rather admit. Paula: Oh stop, it really wasnt that bad. You shine, you know fractions really well. Youre beautiful. Ryan: Would you like to respond to Simon? Applicant: Um, uh, I thought it was okay Simon: You havent taken any math since ninth grade, you failed bio, chem, and physics, and you have a 220 on your math SAT. You know when youre at a wedding and someone has a little too much wine and gets up on stage and tries to integrate? That was you tonight. Crowd: Booooooooo. Simon: Its true. Ryan: If youd like to vote for this applicant, call 888-MIT-IDOL or text MIT on your Cingular phone which is now ATT which was formerly ATT which was formerly Cingular which might be Cingular again in a few months. Randy: DOG POUND! Dog Pound: Woot! [commercial] And on that note, my friends, selection committee beckons. [read more] Your Personal Mikey: March 28, 2007 This one still makes me laugh when I think of it. Brain Dump Your Personal Mikey So the lovely and talented Mari sent the following email to the staff yesterday: As you are probably aware, we have an unprecedented number of CPW events happening this year. Im concerned that the events wont fit into the booklet considering its current size and saddle-stitch binding. Which of these options would you prefer? 1) Print the academic class schedule separately from the general program schedule 2) Use a spiral-bound booklet instead of a saddle-stitch booklet 3) Increase the size of the booklet to 8.5 x 11 Thoughts? The resulting email thread quickly descended into chaos, with each member of the staff weighing the pros and cons of each option and arriving at different conclusions. With no resolution in sight, I sent the following at the end of the day: I think we should clone Mikey 1000 times after hes memorized the whole booklet. Then each prefrosh can have a personal Mikey and, at any given time, the prefrosh can say yo Mikey whats going on right now and his or her personal Mikey will be like there are actually 29847596 things going on right now, but personally Id recommend (and the recommendation would be based on the prefroshs preferences, which would be established with his or her personal Mikey early on. Perhaps we could even frontload the Mikeys prior to CPW with each prefroshs preferences? Oh, and also each Mikey would sing its prefrosh to sleep at night with his or her favorite song (Mikey was a Log). This option is clearly superior to #s 1-3. [read more] The Second Blogger Application: June 26, 2007 The short answers get even better this time. Call For Bloggers Short answer #2 (required for 11s, optional for upperclassmen please choose one of the following). Option A: Who is more addicted to Facebook, you or Jess Kim? Prove your theory in 100 words or less. Bonus points if you can present Jess with a question that she cant answer using Facebook. Option B: Once, during a slow week, Laura bit through her own lip so that shed have something to blog about. Do you think you can compete with her dedication to the program? [read more] I Can Has Internet Meme?: November 27, 2007 I wish I had thought of this first. LOLZ CATS Have you guys all seen this silly thing? Yeah, I thought so. It already has its own Wikipedia page. I made you one. It will describe my life over the last few weeks better than any blog entry could. :-) [read more] The Awesomeness Formula: March 26, 2008 I think my job is at least 65.27% awesome. Updates And Shannons Formula In this post I mentioned that Shannon 12 had created a job-awesomeness formula for me. To understand it, you must first read the email conversation that we had on the day decisions were released: Shannon: Times like this make me convinced you have the best job in the world. And then I [think about the admit rate], and I think your job sucks. Just fyi. Ben: My job is 11.6% best-job-in-the-world (this years admit rate) and 88.4% this-job-sucks. Except while in the first few post-decision weeks the sadness for rejected students outweighs the joy for admitted ones, that ratio soon reverses and becomes a landslide win for the joy, which sticks with you through the years (because you see the students you admitted every day, and they remind you). So you have to adjust the 11.6% and 88.4% accordingly. Ill leave it to you to put all of this into some sort of algorithm or formula to determine whether the job nets joy or sadness as a function of time. A few hours later Shannon: While I had to assume 100% happiness when not making decisions and make up a few arbitrary dates and vacation times and take away your weekends, a rough estimate says your job is ~65.27% awesome. Work is attached. Yep, this pretty much made my day. [read more] Bens Last Meet The Bloggers: April 14, 2008 Compare the group shot versus the first MTB photo look how it has grown! MTB Party Pic TechTV CPW Coverage A big thanks to Chris Merrill 12 for sending me the group photo from our Meet The Bloggers party. If I shrink it down to fit here, you wont be able to identify anyone, so Ill just link to the big version: MTB Party Group Photo [read more] The Announcement: May 15, 2008 Even bigger than Seth Summer getting back together. Big News Ive been putting off writing this entry for a week, because I simply dont really know how to write it. There are so many things I want to say, and yet so many of them dont attach well to words only to strong feelings and emotions, the way certain songs bring back the intangible moments of ones childhood. I think Ill just start with the facts and save the long, introspective part for a later entry, once Ive had a chance to really process all of this. In a nutshell: after four incredible years here, Im going to be leaving MIT in July. Ill also be leaving Boston, which has been my home for more than a decade, and which will always be the city I love more than any other. Its a lot to digest, and its going to take some time. I guess you probably want to know the details. Im heading back to Oberlin, my alma mater, where Ive just been appointed Vice President for Communications Ill be overseeing communications strategy for the whole college. Those of you with whom Ive spoken about Oberlin know how deeply I love the place, and at this critical moment in its history, it needs me in many of the same ways that MIT did four years ago to help it tell its story to the world. Its a tremendous professional opportunity, but to me it feels more like a calling than a job. Nothing can lighten the sadness of leaving MIT. I may not be an alum, but I did spend four very intense years here. I may not have taken 8.02, but I also didnt get summers off the way you slackers do so lets just call it even. ;-) As Nance says, I may have been born into the Oberlin family and married into the MIT family, but one is no less significant than the other. So while I may be leaving MIT physically, Ill never leave MIT its too much a part of me. Ill just be more like an alum than a current student. [read more] So, those are some of the highlights. Do you have a favorite Ben entry, or favorite Ben moment?

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