I recently graduated (December 2012) and am currently working in consulting. I’ll write an introductory post giving a little bit more background on myself in the future. Promise. For right now, though, here are just a couple of thoughts on the job search process: start early and prepare before career fair comes around (ie, don’t be prepping the night before career fair). As many of you are looking for internships and research opportunities this summer, take into account your long-term goals. As people say, if you’re interested in going to grad school, taking another hard look at a UROP on campus may not be such a bad idea. If you’re dead set on going into industry, take some time to look for opportunities at companies that you might consider down the road or at places where you’ll have the opportunity to gain skills in areas that you haven’t necessarily developed so much thus far. In the end though, don’t stress. I can’t emphasize that enough. I did a UROP every summer and still ended up going into “industry.” I have friends who did internships at companies and got into MIT grad school. In the end, what matters is what you make of things. Before rushing into things, take a deep breath and THINK! Make sure you don’t do something that you’ll regret spending an entire summer doing at any point down the road. And if you’re going to regret it, don’t let yourself regret for too long. There are always new opportunities. Get out there and keep looking. In today’s job market, it’s never too early to start looking, and if one thing doesn’t work out, you have to look for something else. Actually, let me modify that. If you’re looking for one job at a time, you very well might run out of time. That’s not to say that you should apply for every job out there. And when you do get a job that you like, you need to be respectful of companies and thoughtful of peers. It’s like college apps. Be proactive, but be responsible.

I get this question quite often, and asked the same question when I was about the take 2.005 (Thermal-Fluids Engineering I). I would shear some of my thoughts on this question from been both a student and a TA for 2.005.

Going through 2.005 as a student, I have to say that the class covers a lot of materials at a pretty fast pace compare to other courses offered at MIT. The most important advice I would give is to stay on track with the lectures. Make sure to understand all the lecture materials, recitation problems, and problem sets then the quizzes would seem very reasonable. In terms of the psets, I found it very helpful to struggle on my own first, struggle hard, if I really cannot figure it out I would go to office hours and work with friends. It helped me to understand the materials and be able to problem solve on my own (which is very important when it comes to exams and finals). So is 2.005 hard? No, not if you do the work. The class is also very well taught and there are plenty of resources available such as TAs, office hours, recitations etc. to help you with the course. So if you are concerned about 2.005, no need to be! It is challenging but reachable, which is very much align with the MIT approach.

As a TA for 2.005, I cannot tell you how boring the office hours are when no one comes to ask questions. So please please please go to the office hours if you have any questions about any of the materials covered in class (which is very likely to be the case). Office hours are great to flush out some conceptual confusions or questions on your pset. In terms of the exams, don’t panic! If you did all your psets, practiced with practice quizzes  and understood example problems given in classes and recitations you are in a good shape. Be confident and you will do well

For me, picking classes for my senior spring was a struggle between taking all the classes I wanted to take before I leave, and trying to have an easy last semester. There was really only one class I was 100% set on: 2.27 Elements of Mechanical Design. I’d heard from a wide range of people how awesome this class was and tried to take it last spring, but it was oversubscribed and preference was given to seniors. This year I made it in.

I also had to take a last HASS-D class, but other than that I didn’t need any more classes to graduate, so I could really do whatever I wanted. Plus, I could take two classes on P/D/F.

There are a huge number of classes I wish I could take: 6.115, 6.006, 2.002, 18.06, 6.832, 2.674, 2.813, 2.050… I’m kind of a sucker for the course catalog. There are so many basic things I would love to learn in detail and more formally, like linear algebra, microcontrollers, algorithms, etc. Plus all of the advanced subjects I may never get to try! Like a class entirely on internal combustion engines. But my main concerns were: not wanting to take intense project classes (other than 2.72) and not wanting to take any classes with psets or finals. So that was pretty limiting.

I settled on the following:

• 2.72 Elements of Mechanical Design (12 units)
• 2.674, Micro/Nano Engineering Lab (6 units)
• 21L.004, a poetry reading class that fulfills my HASS-D requirement (12 units)
• 21W.771, an advanced poetry writing workshop I’ve been meaning to take for several semesters, (12 units)
• 6.S080, Mechanical Invention through Computation, a really fascinating cross-disciplinary class about creating mechanisms (12 units)

While this is actually 4 1/2 classes, more than my regular load, (yes, I try to not take more than 4 classes a semester,) I think it’ll be significantly less work than usual, or less of the kind of work I’ve grown tired of (psets, exams, etc.). I have no psets, no exams — the most regular thing I have to do every week is read and write poetry, which is a joy compared to my regular tasks from other semesters. I’m taking two on P/D/F (2.674 and 6.S080). I think it’ll be awesome.