Video Story
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
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
This isn’t me because I am not depressed.”
Meet Jonathon,
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,
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,
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,
I kept on kind of questioning my ability to be here, my competencies.”
Meet Gerardo,
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,
Even despite all the work I was putting in, I didn't see any improvements in my grades.”
Meet Jeba,
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,
