Would you like to dance around the world with me?

A decision for me!

So recently I have been debating about the number of classes to take, plans for research, what I'm going to take in the future, etc. It basically boils down to this:

I have to take 6 classes to get my Master's and write, well, a book (i.e. my Master's thesis). I can try to finish my Mater's my December 2006 or May 2007, but I have to take the qualifying exam (which includes a horrible amount of time and studying) in January 2007. I will most likely take the exam and stay for my PhD (although there is debate on that), but I would consider focusing on work they do in the Man Vehicle Lab or in Engineering Systems Division (instead of my current location in the Space Systems Lab). So anyways, my thought was to graduate in Dec 2006, take 3 classes this semester, and take one class in the fall while studying for quals.

Then I thought, "Why??". I am in no real hurry to leave (other than the fact that I'm currently looking for some partial funding from the department for next year), I love Boston, I really like MIT, and there is so much more I want to do here. So that kind of decided, I needed to think about the classes I'm taking this semester. I needed to do 3 of the 4 of the following (I've been signed up for all 4 until today): take 18.075 (advanced calculus), 18.085 (linear alegbra and calculus course), engineering risk-benefit analysis (which was a definite), and audit biomedical life support engineering. I thought it would be best to take the 3 classes (normally, students take 2 and sometimes listen to 1) and not audit the interesting class. But NO! I made a decision for myself, dropped 18.085, and am listening to the biomed class that I wanted to take in the first place (but didn't have room in my schedule). Yay!

I think I feel confident about this decision. It's going to be a busy semester being the lead of two teams of undergrads, writing my thesis, and trying to do some part time work for Aerospace Corp (we'll see how that goes). I want to enjoy my time here at MIT (and in life in general!), so I'm looking forward to the rest of this semester. :-)

posted by Biff @ 7:24 PM