Defining the Challenges

When I switched majors, I knew deep down that I didn't really want to pursue those long term...I always knew I did not like them; I just kept making myself do them because I thought this is what I am supposed to be doing.”

Meet Melissa,

Undergraduate Student

I was worried that I wasn't giving my other passions... the opportunity to be something more...I did not want to find out thirty years from now that that's what I should have been doing instead.”

Meet Samir,

Graduate Student

My mind is not at all calm. And I am riddled with thoughts, and anxiety, and stress. And they extend into this very unhealthy thought spiral.”

Meet Siyoung,

Undergraduate student

I internalized the fact that I did not know what I was working on as an inadequacy of myself and not being good enough, smart enough to think of an idea.”

Meet Jennifer,

Graduate Student

My first month at MIT was an absolute nightmare. Everything that could possibly be different was different. [...] I was struggling in my classes. I didn’t have any friends. [...] I just wanted to go home. ”

Meet Jessica,

Undergraduate student

Where do I live? Where do I work? Where should I be?”

Meet Andy,

Graduate Student

Unfortunately, I did not have something that I was extremely passionate about, like many people I didn't know what I loved and I thought that was fine, it would just take me some time to figure out the one thing that consumed me.”

Meet Delia,

Undergraduate Student

Every day is kind of the same. The setup’s the same, the things you have to do are the same. It’s just over and over and over and over and over…And it’s a bit maddening after a while.”

Meet Maia,

Undergraduate Student

My smooth-sailing work life has been thrown into turbulent waters ever since the pandemic started. Or, to be more specific, ever since the work-from-home situation arose.”

Meet Vyshnavi,

Graduate Student

I start feeling like my faith in my ability to be resilient and let this roll off my back is also starting to show some cracks.”

Meet HJ,

Graduate Student

I was just so tired, so disconnected. I felt like a machine. And it's not a good way to go through life, in such a mechanical fashion.”

Meet Tim,

Undergraduate student

I had been kind of drifting in and out of sleep in my bed with a laptop and books and the light on and I hadn't actually been going to bed or waking up. So, I didn't really know when I was sleeping, or how many hours of sleep I was getting, or when I was waking up.”

Meet Kanika,

Graduate Student

This is debatably the most important project I've had in my life so far and why is it coming to a total halt right now?”

Meet Evan,

Graduate Student

Before I came here, I took the English proficiency test...Each sentence in the lecture was exactly the same as I was taking that test.”

Meet Annie,

Undergraduate Student

I noticed that my level of English was one of the poorest. And that made me feel humiliated. Embarrassed. So instead of practicing in order to improve the level, I did the opposite. I hid.”

Meet Magdalena,

Graduate Student

I realized I really don’t know what I want to do. I just have so many random aspirations, why can’t I do it all?”

Meet Lulu,

Undergraduate Student

I knew that being a student at MIT was not supposed to be easy, especially given everything that I put on my plate. But what I was feeling seemed wildly out of proportion, completely different from what I thought of as normal college stresses.”

Meet Teresa,

Undergraduate student

This isn’t me because I am not depressed.”

Meet Jonathon,

Undergraduate Student

I start freaking out because this is not how I pictured myself in that classroom. I pictured myself confident and respectable and presenting myself as someone who knows this material. And that was true. But I was very obviously not taking care of myself and my well-being.”

Meet Paige,

Undergraduate Student

And it was this feeling of being suspended in nothing, just a complete absence of sound, and motivation, and realness that had struck me when I was sitting my bed. And I realized that this was something I needed to grapple with and I couldn't just ignore anymore.”

Meet Emily,

Undergraduate student

If I quit now, there are stereotypes waiting to get confirmed, something like, what do you expect from a foster kid? So quitting was not an option.”

Meet Neki,

Visiting Graduate Student

I was not able to identify an interesting problem to work on after so much effort. Like, am I even competent? Am I fit to do research if I'm not able to do this very simple task?”

Meet Pradeep,

Graduate Student

Facing the quals challenge really made me feel like I was not necessarily going to be competent enough to do it. I might not even be capable of doing it.”

Meet Mary,

Graduate Student

I kept on kind of questioning my ability to be here, my competencies.”

Meet Gerardo,

Graduate Student

I decided to take some time off from MIT. I went home to my parents house and realized that I wanted to make some changes in my life.”

Meet Daniel,

Undergraduate Student

Even despite all the work I was putting in, I didn't see any improvements in my grades.”

Meet Jeba,

Undergraduate Student

I was left with the official lowest score in the class...I started questioning whether I should still be a neuroscientist, whether this was the path for me.”

Meet Katie,

Undergraduate Student