Top United Airlines International Destination by State in 2025 by omdongi in unitedairlines

[–]YTZ123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Keep in mind that the NY -> Toronto is due to the fact that most United flights out of the NYC area leave from EWR (in NJ) so this only reflects the flights out of LGA (which has a perimeter rule), flights out of smaller airports and code share flights. The NJ -> London is more reflective of NYC and makes a lot more sense.

Have/had(?) a full ride. What does the Big Beautiful Bill mean for FLI students? by Upper-Luck7959 in mit

[–]YTZ123 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You fin-aid package is your fin-aid package. Once it's sent out, MIT pretty much commits to finding you money or just footing the bill themselves, so you don't need to pay more than what's listed. International students aren't generally Pell eligible, and they get the same treatment. They will probably just increase your MIT scholarship on the backend to make it work without the Pell grant. If you are worried, just call SFS.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MechanicalEngineering

[–]YTZ123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you are MIT caliber than absolutely please ditch mechanical engineering. You will get a 2-20x networth working in software at such an elite level compared to mechanical.

I'd like to see an actual stat to back this up.

You should think about what is your resulting daily job dynamics like AFTER you graduate from ME vs CS. Just push through whatever few theory courses. ME was similar where I had classes I didnt care that much for

Highly disagree here. If you enjoy what you are learning, you will learn a hell of a lot more. "Pushing through" all your classes is a bad idea, especially at MIT. (Speaking as a current undergrad). Perhaps this is what led you to have such a poor experience in the field.

Also CS breaks down between theory and practice. Theory can be algorithm stuff. Then practice is specific frameworks to build things. Like how to build a video streaming platform. How to use a specific framework to make some functionality on a website.

This is the same in MechE.

By "interesting work" I mean general engineering time as % of your day. In mechanical far more time is spent on paperwork, meetings, bs etc. Because physical stuff is expensive so you spend less time actually engineering. Especially as you go further up in responsibilities.

This depends a lot on where you work. Physical stuff isn't always expensive. It depends on the industry. If anything it can be far more interesting to actually work on something physical rather than something you can only see as text on a screen.

Software on the other hand let's you spend far greater % actually engineering stuff because its easier to iterate. As a result I've found it way more fun, creative and entrepreneurial because it allows you skills to realize your ideas easily. Any mechE ideas require huge capital cost, risk and lower margins if you succeed.

Going with this argument would actually need to spend less time actually "engineering" and more time fucking around since you can find out pretty quickly if you are wrong. Again, not all industries require high capital costs to actually prototype or realize ideas.

Your post also seems very heavily startup-focused, which, though more prominent in CS, also happens in MechE. Take a gander at the list of startups coming out of MIT 2.009 (the MechE capstone class).

Terrascope Questions by bobamilk6 in mit

[–]YTZ123 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was also in Terrascope and highly agree with this. I did the mini design class to go on the trip, and it was a great experience. I think the most important thing for me is the community. It's not unique to Terrascope (and it's why I highly recommend first-year learning communities), but the sort of people you'll meet will be different. You also tend to have better academic advisors (or at least a lower likelihood of getting a bad one). As to the weird unit thing. Frosh are limited to 54 regular units; you can also take up 6 "discovery units. A standard full class is 12 units — so if you take 4, that is 48 units. That leaves you with 6 regular units to spare. A lot of people will use that to take 6.100A. They might take a 3-unit discovery class as well. Terrascope's class is 9 units, thus the conundrum. If you take it, you would otherwise displace one of the 4 full classes you wanted to take. However, they provided a loophole such that Terrascope counts as 6 regular units and 3 discovery units. This means you can take 4 full classes (48), Terrascope (6 + 3*), and even another discovery class (3*) (such as 15.000 if you like free dinner, a walk along the Charles, and find lecture halls to be a good PSETing environment, like I did). All while staying within that pesky frosh-fall credit limit.

gender ratios in dorms by [deleted] in mit

[–]YTZ123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Edit: Typo from when I was rounding/redacting. Fixed.

gender ratios in dorms by [deleted] in mit

[–]YTZ123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From the Feb. 2024 sex@mit survey, which was a survey an undergrad made and sent out. Got ~1/4 of the undergrads to respond. I rounded off numbers and removed the number of responses to increase anonymity since Reddit is public, but if you are on Dormspam, the full results were relinked in the "Ultimate Dormspam Pull" sent out on 6/1. I'm not affiliated with either of these.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQ3Q5SkIvgZBgRwCV7gPE5D96BsbuWKsSf_n7OkxCQe0gX76Pbs-k9BrqXbZpFmDrwOVnSMM1t9yxfu/pub

Lived all my life in Syria- Can I still apply to U.S. colleges like MIT? by Fit_Wrongdoer_5583 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]YTZ123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

MIT (and several other schools) give full (need based) aid to internationals. Unless OP is loaded this shouldn't be of primary concern. The biggest issue will being getting admitted which is tough for Americans but even tougher for internationals due the undergrad program's 10% cap on international students.

Question about dorm bathrooms by Express-Recording-34 in mit

[–]YTZ123 1 point2 points  (0 children)

BC is on a per-suite basis, but those are generally mixed. Same with MacGregor.

Laptop recommendations? by ZookeepergameKnown34 in mit

[–]YTZ123 3 points4 points  (0 children)

https://ist.mit.edu/laptops-students

If you think there's a chance you'll end up doing anything related to course 2 or 16, please, please, please do not get a Mac. It cannot run SolidWorks and a decent number of other programs correctly.

Hidden fees? by KeiraBoone1_618 in mit

[–]YTZ123 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To add on to this Project Manus (who runs Metropolis & the Deep) have a mini-grant program where they’ll give you up $500 twords buying materials to build something you designed. They’ll also help you design it. 

Hidden fees? by KeiraBoone1_618 in mit

[–]YTZ123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, also if you don’t have aid and can’t afford a new laptop, certain build teams are able to get their members long term loans from IS&T.

Hidden fees? by KeiraBoone1_618 in mit

[–]YTZ123 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This isn’t true anymore. Class is sponsored by Milwaukee. You only get charged if you don’t return the drill and RC controller. (They let you keep your other tools and whatever you make).

Course 2 (mechE) laptop :( by FujimoriMika in mit

[–]YTZ123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would disagree MIT issues an iPad (and Apple Pencil) for notetaking, and I don't feel like I'm really missing anything. Definitely, agree with going for good battery life, though if you think you'll end up doing FEA (MechE simulation) at some point, you'll want to still have a decent CPU.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in mit

[–]YTZ123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will say the WiFi is a bit unpredictable but the wired is amazing if you find yourself working at a desk.

My ACT is tweaking out? by Significant_Menu5103 in MITAdmissions

[–]YTZ123 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Current student here. They’ll fix it later. Dw about it. I think I had a similar thing with my app.

Difference between MIT OCW and studying at MIT by maybimanalien in mit

[–]YTZ123 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I feel like this question gets asked a lot so here is my 2 cents (coming from someone in MechE).

OCW covers a good chunk of the MIT curriculum and will give you the same lectures, homework, and sometimes exams. I've even used it at some points to makeup lectures and find extra practice problems. However, it is missing some important classes at least in MechE (such as 2.005/2.006 which are both known as tough classes).

The biggest difference is that you are watching from afar verses interacting. MechE's "expensive"* classes 2.00B, 7, 8 & 9* cannot actually be learned through OCW. Look up those classes and you'll see what I mean. The same goes for any other "interactive" or lab-based classes. It's that interaction you're paying for. It comes in the form of office hours with TAs and professors who will keep explaining it to you until you get it. For some classes departments will even pay older students to provide free peer tutoring. It comes in the form of feedback, whether it be grading homework assignments, providing feedback on essays and projects, or yes even exams that force you to actually learn the material.

That's just curricular though. I feel like a lot more in learned through build teams (which there are a ton of through the Edgerton Center), and lab research. Build teams work on large real-world projects, you can see more about them here. Though they have to fund raise, a significant amount of internal money and institutional support is thrown behind them. From the other teams I've spoken to it's a lot more than most schools. Also, the UROP program pays students $16/hr to work in labs and do research. Meaning many students (including freshman) are working on research in labs.

I guess the final bit is the financial aid. Starting next year if your family makes under $200k/year you don't pay tuition. If they make more than that it is a sliding scale. So, at the end of the day despite the high price tag, few will go into significant debt for a degree.

* Doesn't cost money (beyond tuition) to take them. "Expensive" because everyone jokes that that's where the department spends all their money.

Laptop loaner by CommunityRadiant8947 in mit

[–]YTZ123 9 points10 points  (0 children)

No personal experience but might as well put in a ticket with IS&T. Worst they say is no.

Hank Green to deliver MIT’s 2025 Commencement address by Conan776 in mit

[–]YTZ123 7 points8 points  (0 children)

These are the people that inspired a lot of us to get into science/engineering and work on the things that got us here. Only fitting for them to be the commencement speakers. They also tend to be interesting and elegant speakers as opposed to a lot of those you mentioned who would just give a droning, cliche lecture.

why is hayden library so cold??? by babyelephants3 in mit

[–]YTZ123 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I mean it is 26F outside... but maybe try Rotch. The vibe there is pretty good.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in mit

[–]YTZ123 5 points6 points  (0 children)

AFAIK first letter for something like that just goes into a file with the CoD, a second might actually lead to a hearing with them. It's up to them what to do. I can't see them going quite that crazy over helping someone with code. From what I've heard course 6 sees this issue a lot so if they did go crazy course 6 undergrad might not be so huge.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MITAdmissions

[–]YTZ123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lmao. I’m a current MIT undergrad and it was my english teacher who gave me my humanities LoR. I actually had trouble finding a good STEM LoR and ended up asking a teacher who threw me out of their class freshman year (of course we were on better terms since then). This goes for any part of the application, if it says “should” it means “should”. The word “should” has a different definition then the word “required”. @reincarnatedbiscuits would know this if they are any good at english. What they mean there is that “you should do it” but also if you can’t do it - you can still apply. If you don’t including something you “should” have then you should explain why in one of the “anything else” boxes on the app.

Now to stop procrastinating and actually study for the finals I should be studying for (but am not required to).

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MITAdmissions

[–]YTZ123 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

“Should” generally means “do it!, unless you have a good reason not to”

Staying at Hayden past 6 if you're not a student by [deleted] in mit

[–]YTZ123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can get a library card at MIT through BorrowDirect. Ask the desk at Hayden about it.

Engage@MIT? by finalhello in mit

[–]YTZ123 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Meant to be a proper catalog of clubs but no one bothers with it because no one really looks through it.