11 10 9 8 7 6 You Are Here Maps are for unfolding. Which is to say, knowing what path appeals to you matters more than being sure of your 1 destination. (Who put the destiny in destination, anyway?) Every year, 1,000 amazing young people like you make their way to MIT from every point on the compass — 1,000 individual cartographers mapping the landscape that matters most to them. In these pages, we offer a number of different maps of the MIT experience (and even one that looks sort of like the campus, inside the cover). We point out the landmarks and milestones, the roadside attractions, the heart-stopping vistas, 2 the occasional patches of quicksand. But much more interesting will be the map you make of MIT. If MIT is right for you, it can be the start of the most challenging, exhilarating, unforgettable journey you’ve ever made — and it will feel like home. 3 4 5 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 LeVon Thomas Freshman The Road to MIT Wheatfields, Arizona Mechanical Engineering A few people get to MIT without ever using their turn signals. Others seem In chess, a grandmaster can visualize the first Native American college. Obviously, Fueling your journey pleasantly surprised that the last fork in the road brought them here. Still board 20 to 30 moves ahead. Fortunately, LeVon isn’t the first in the family with ambi- To help make MIT a realistic in real life, long-term strategic calculation tion and drive — yet he wasn’t well served financial option for every others feel it was uphill all the way, but the view now makes it all worthwhile. isn’t the only way to win. One day, LeVon by the local primary schools. student — whether US Whatever your path, if you’re looking for new ideas and incredible people Thomas stumbled upon a chessboard in a or international — we offer classroom at his tiny high school and started Luckily, his distant high school was different. extensive financial aid who share your passions but hail from a different quadrant, you may want to packages and other forms a game against himself. A few months later, His teachers were inspiring, and his college find your way to MIT. of support. For more he and some friends were playing so much counselor ultimately urged him to apply for information, visit My.MIT.edu. that LeVon and his teacher had to buy more a Gates Millennium Scholarship. And then boards. By the next fall, they had started a teacher told LeVon about MIT. Although a team. Three years later, competing at getting in seemed like a long shot, he figured Finding your match Amber Hess Freshman the Arizona state level, they were beating it couldn’t hurt to apply — in life, as in chess, Getting into college is really Carmel, California schools five times their size. Check. And daring is often the secret. A few months about the match between Chemical Engineering now — Checkmate — LeVon is at MIT. Nice later, one after the other, both MIT and the you and the school. Along opening, nice finish. But it wasn’t necessarily Gates Foundation said yes. with our website, this Amber Hess has made an astonishing empir- viewbook is our chance to Of the students who were a plan. ical discovery: Science fairs =/ insufferable introduce MIT to you. Think admitted for fall 2005 To help smooth the transition to the inten- of your application as your • 67% attended public conventions of hopeless geeks. “Actually,” A full-blooded Navajo, LeVon grew up in a sity of MIT, LeVon spent the summer at chance to introduce yourself high schools says Amber, “I’ve made so many friends at small community on a big reservation in Project Interphase, the Institute’s on-campus to us. And don’t worry • 23% attended private or science fairs now, it’s insane. It’s been amazing the mountains of Arizona, with a glorious academic enrichment and community- about trying to seem like parochial high schools to find cool people my age who love to lakeside view but an hour-long drive to building program. His hopes and dreams someone you think we want. • 9% attended foreign talk about science and ideas in everyday We want to know you just high schools the nearest quality high school. His parents now? “To pass all my classes!” LeVon says conversation.” the way you are. • 1% were home schooled run a road construction company and a wryly. “But eventually, I want to be an store that caters to tourists. Two grandpar- engineer and start a business to help my Steadily, passionately, refining her projects ents hold PhDs, and one helped found the people.” Stay tuned for his next move. year after year in a lab that looked suspi- The MIT Class of 2009 • 995 students ciously like her parents’ kitchen, Amber - Male 53% worked her way up from state science - Female 47% competitions to the prestigious Intel Inter- national Science and Engineering Fair. As a • From senior, she was named one of only 40 Intel - New England 13% Science Talent Search Finalists nationwide - Mid-Atlantic 19% for inventing a unique approach to thin-layer - Southeast 16% chromatography. “I made a mistake in one - Midwest 9% of my photoediting programs — and voilà! - South 10% A whole new technique,” she explains. - West 18% - Abroad 13% (Kitchen table as springboard for life.) At her (representing 64 countries) father’s insistence, she visited MIT, though it seemed a long way from their home • Speak a language other on the California coast. And wouldn’t MIT than English at home: 39% just be nerds, nerds, nerds on parade? Says Amber now, “If you’re even considering • First-generation college MIT, I can only say, visit campus. I met the students: 17% most amazing people and had so much fun. There’s a kind of spirit and unity that’s • Receive some form of just unique. Everyone works together. financial aid (including a * job on campus): 90% I can’t wait to get my Brass Rat!” * The Brass Rat refers to the dubious renderings of a beaver (MIT’s mascot) featured on the Institute’s official class rings. Each graduating class designs its own, jammed with topical Overnight Program references and naughty hieroglyphics. For a taste of real life on campus, set your sightsi on MIT’s Overnight Program. Visit My.MIT.edu. 2 3 4 5 l The mission of MIT is y to advance knowledge Why We’re Here nar li scip t and educate students erdi bora ion in science, technology, int lla co and other areas of At MIT, you make your own map, but everyone relies on the same compass: scholarship that will a fundamental commitment to use what we learn and invent together to build a best serve the nation better future for humankind. l and the world in the Science 21st century. It’s the practical, hands-on, do-it-now mission of the Institute, and it animates the campus and the lives of our graduates every day. It’s the compass that helps lead to Nobel Prize-winning breakthroughs, and dazzlingly low-tech answers to daily challenges in developing countries, and groundbreaking environmental ideas, and an old-fashioned passion to teach. And it is the compass that may lead you to MIT. Engineering Management Amy Smith ’84, SM ’95, Instructor Here are some things Amy Smith has solve the pervasive, fundamental, real-life come to know through a childhood year invented: a low-cost, highly effective, virtually challenges of struggling people all over in India’s Rajasthan Desert, and a long stint unbreakable grain mill that can be made, the world. in Botswana through the Peace Corps. And Architecture Humanities, Arts used, and repaired without assistance in by cheerfully refusing to waste a moment and Planning and Social Sciences developing countries. An aggressively low- Here’s how she’s done it all: by following her (as in, “Would you mind if we conducted this tech phase-change incubator that finally heart, which refused to believe that as an interview by the spot welder?”). enables field workers in remote areas to engineer she was obliged to spend her life test for contaminated water supplies. An devising incremental performance improve- Here is the gritty, unstoppable, radiant soul ingenious form of charcoal, made from waste ments for luxury sedans. (“The internal of MIT. sugar cane, that serves as an affordable, combustion engine has a lot to answer for,” sustainable cooking fuel in the deforested says Amy.) By applying the skills she gained * D-Lab (Introduction to Development) and nation of Haiti. And a course and a competi- in two rounds of MIT education to solve the annual IDEAS public service competition. Discovery tion at MIT* that inspire students to apply real, pressing daily problems for some of the Analysis their own passion, training, and ingenuity to poorest people on Earth, problems she had Invention rigor openness hands-on problem learning solving Serving the public good is central to the mission of hard work the Institute: “We seek to creativity develop in each member of the MIT community l the ability and passion to nerd pride work wisely, creatively, and effectively for the betterment of humankind.” In that spirit, every year MIT’s Public Service Center connects hundreds of MIT students with amaz- ing opportunities to serve communities near and far — from MIT itself to the cities of Boston and Cambridge, and the wide, wild world beyond. 6 7 l MIT’s mission serves the world • With funding from the nonprofit One Laptop per Child, the MIT Media Lab is developing the “$100 laptop,” an ultra-low-cost, portable, full-featured personal computer that will revolutionize education for school- children and their teachers worldwide.