Letters to Prospective Students from Current Students

Jason Acimovic

Seven years after graduating college, I applied to MIT from Liberia, where I was volunteering with a medical relief organization. What drew me to MIT was the diversity of the faculty and their research topics. I knew I didn't want to study finance or problems unique to big corporations (having worked for a bank already), but rather I wanted to research the applications of OR to the public sector. MIT is diverse enough academically that I can meet all my needs, but still be around people whose interests complement mine.

Students and professors are working on a really wide variety of applications, from hurricane preparedness to finance, from combinatorial optimization to the education gap, from airline scheduling to healthcare. Operations research is a rich field with a lot of applications, and most of those applications are being practiced here at MIT (unlike a lot of other places I looked).

The OR students also make up a really supportive group. After being out of school for so long, my math was pretty rusty. But everyone in the ORC is cooperative, and is wiling to take some time to explain a homework problem, a theoretical concept, or their research. Some nights we'll spend with a white board and a marker trying to understand a proof, and some nights we'll knock off early and head to a bar. All of us sit near each other, so it's easy to collaborate.

Additionally, the professors I've encountered have very specific ideas of what they want us to learn beyond what's in the texts, designing large parts of the curricula and lecture material themselves. The fact that they care enough to put the time in to do that makes me glad I chose MIT.

Allison Chang

Figuring out what I wanted to do with my life was hard during my last year of college, and quite honestly, I still don't really know. Fortunately, the ORC is a terrific place to be whether you can specify what you would like to research, or whether you have made little progress towards career planning beyond determining that your greatest interest lies in Operations Research. I doubt that I could have found a more encouraging environment anywhere else. The faculty are recognized leaders in the field, and it is a real treat for me to be learning from them, yet what strikes me just as much as their expertise is their concern for all of the ORC students and their eagerness to see each of us succeed. The vagueness I felt at the end of college included hesitation even about which degree program to enter. I came to the ORC as a Master's student, but have since decided to pursue a Ph.D. instead. Every professor who spoke with me about this conversion showed full support for my decision, and I believe that the desire to do everything possible to help students reach their goals is typical among the faculty.

Another reason to join the ORC is to be a part of the diverse student community. To some extent, we all share similar training as mathematicians, engineers, or computer scientists, but we come from different parts of the world, with different levels of experience. Some have been working for the past several years, and others have just finished a Master's or undergraduate program. The ORC is small, so it is not difficult to get to know your peers and to learn from them almost as much as you learn on your own. Moreover, the students provide an accessible and immediate support system on top of the encouragement already emphasized by the faculty. It is tremendously helpful to be able to work together on problem sets and complain to each other when we feel stressed.

My advice to anyone choosing a graduate school is to form a good idea of what it is like to be in the programs to which you are applying not only the choices in terms of coursework and research, but also the general day-to-day lifestyle. Talk to older students in the programs and if you have the opportunity to see the schools, it is absolutely worthwhile to do so. So if you are considering the ORC, email us with whatever questions you may have and then come visit! I look forward to welcoming you here. Good luck!

David Czerwinski

Decision making under uncertainty. Gotta love it. It was just a few years ago that I was in your shoes, deciding which grad school to attend. And talk about uncertainty – it seemed that I would never gain enough information about each of the schools to know if I was really making the right choice. First of all – relax. Really, you will get an outstanding education at any of the programs you're considering. But if you're interested in OR, then you know the difference between and outstanding education and the optimal education. Which is why you're reading this page.

Well, keep reading. Even though I can't tell you which program is right for you (I'm not a Magic 8-Ball) I can tell you a few reasons that I've found the MIT Operations Research Center to be the right place for me. First and foremost are the people. The professors are brilliant and passionate. And not just passionate about their research, but about teaching as well. In the optimization coursework, there is an emphasis on developing our geometrical intuition that I've found truly enlightening. The faculty's passion comes through in their lectures, in the books many of them have written, and (groan…) in the problem sets they assign. My fellow students are equally amazing and passionate. And I think that is important in grad school. We spend a lot of time together attending classes, discussing problem sets, and musing about life in academia. We're cooperative, not competitive. The problem sets may make me feel stupid an average of once a week. But I know that the other students are there to reach out to. And by the time I've finished a problem set, I've gained not just a passing familiarity with the material, but a thorough understanding (dare I say mastery) of it.

Three other things that the OR Center has going for it. One: Research. There is tons of interesting research going on at MIT, and you will have the opportunity to immerse yourself in it from day one. And because the OR Center is inter-departmental, there's really almost no limit to what you can get involved in. I'm currently working on research for the FAA on aviation safety. My advisor is one of the nation's leading experts on the subject. He also happens to be very down to earth. My education wouldn't be complete without his sage advice and perspective. Two: Boston. There is so much world-class research and teaching going on across Boston. If your intellectual curiosity takes you beyond the world of equations, there is no better place to satiate it than Boston. There are colloquia, lectures, book readings, museums, concerts, plays ad infinitum. Three: MIT. You simply won't find a more rewarding, intellectually stimulating community anywhere on the face of the earth. You will be surrounded by amazing people, and they can't help but rub off on you (as you will surely rub off on them).

Dan Iancu

Not long ago, I was in a position very similar to yours, trying to decide about the right places to apply for graduate school, looking for as much information as I could get, and always feeling that I didn ’t know enough to make an educated decision. While the next passages will probably serve little towards addressing your major questions, my hope is that they’ll help you build a proper image of the OR Center and the people in it.

During my first semester at the ORC (and MIT, more generally), one thing I was particularly impressed with was the strong emphasis on teaching. While passionately involved in (often times multiple) research projects, the professors find enough time to prepare their lectures meticulously, with detailed handouts, insightful remarks and problem sets well integrated with the material. I also found the curriculum to be very well structured. While first year students usually take similar courses in probability and optimization, there are a lot of classes available for in-depth exploration of a particular area or simply to satisfy one’s intellectual curiosity. Due to the interdepartmental nature of the center, the classes that can be taken for credit are drawn from numerous fields and hence accommodate all “flavors” of knowledge. For example, if you like applied operations research, then you’d probably find the courses offered in Sloan School to be more interesting. If, however, you have a more mathematical background or like algorithms and implementation, then you have access to a whole array of classes offered in the EECS or the Math Department.

But if you were to ask me what impressed me the most about the ORC, the answer could be only one: the people. The Codirectors are not only active in promoting the Center and its students, but are incredibly open to suggestions and discussion. I’m not aware of many places where, twice a month, the Codirectors have lunch with the students and give, as well as take, advice about all aspects of the student life. The administrative staff is incredibly helpful and supportive, to the point where it’s almost become a rule-of-thumb that whenever someone has a problem or a question, Paulette, Laura or Andrew have the answer. And last – but most certainly not least – the peers, who form one of the most cohesive and friendly student bodies that I have encountered. The fact that everyone shares a common space brings people together much faster than a large, segregated department, and the older students – with their advice and experience – make a first-year student’s transition to the new environment and life-style much easier. Within only a couple of weeks of arriving, you will not only find yourself knowing everyone’s name, but you will have already celebrated at least one birthday and a housewarming.

And just in case these words haven’t already convinced you that the ORC really is a wonderful place (or if you are a skeptic by nature), you always have a chance to see for yourself, during the Open House! For many of us, that was a trip worth a thousand words, and quite possibly the deciding factor in coming here.............

Rajiv Menjoge

MIT is a great place to be for graduate school.  One of the things I noticed after coming here is that as a graduate student, you tend to bond with people who are studying similar things as you.  What's great about MIT is that so many people in a variety of different fields are studying something which relates to your field!  The ORC is particularly great in that way because it is interdisciplinary, and so you end up getting to know not just ORC students, but also students in Sloan, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and a variety of other programs that MIT offers.

MIT and the ORC in particular does a good job making sure that students get to know each other.  MIT organizes a large-scale graduate orientation, where you can meet a lot of people, and the ORC also organizes events throughout the term.

In addition, the Operations Research Center is excellent academically.  The professors are excellent in their teaching as well as their research, you can take classes from a variety of different departments, and there is a good balance between theory and implementation.

Karima Nigmatulina

I think that the ORC at MIT is a unique (non-department) center, which gives students a lot of freedom in pursuing individual interests while providing everyone with a solid background in optimization, probability and statistics. I am sure that I don’t have to tell you that academically this is a fantastic program, so hopefully I can give you some other insight that you will find helpful.

One of the first things I learned, that once a graduate especially a doctoral student, your top priority becomes your research. This for me was a shift in mentality coming out of an undergraduate, class oriented program. This focus on research is true for most graduate programs and because of it students working on different topics often end up not knowing others in the same program. Unlike other top-notch OR programs the ORC really distinguishes itself because of its student community that remains tight knit and close regardless of everyone’s different research focus. We not only work together on occasional problem sets, but also we sit in the same area, attend weekly seminars, go out together to lunch/dinner/drinks, etc. Since your colleagues will be truly brilliant people, it is great to discuss academic and non-academic interests with them and make such great friends.

As for MIT itself, it really is a wonderful place to be for graduate school. First, you can take advantage of the program’s flexibility and take classes in many different departments as well as courses at Harvard. Outside of classes, you are free to pursue any of your interests whether they are sports (including sailing on the Charles river), dance (my personal favorite), theater, music or pretty much anything else. Lastly, you won’t be bored because you can always enjoy a day in Boston: window shopping on Newberry Street, eating amazing food in the many fantastic restaurants, strolling along the docks or wondering through the streets.

Premal Shah

The Grad School that you attend will more often than not be the last place of your formal education and thus directly lead to the career and interests that you are likely to pursue in your life. There are many good schools which will provide excellent platforms to build from, but if you get a chance to go to MIT, arguably one of the best schools, you must weigh the opportunity seriously. It's still early days for me in MIT, but I am impressed by the thoroughness and meticulousness with which concepts are taught in classes and reinforced through insight-generating examples and exercises. This goes on to build a sound foundation in terms of solid and clear understanding of the subject matter. Add to this the presence of a sharp, intelligent and diverse peer class and a faculty on the leading frontier of research in the subject topics they are dealing with and you will get all the ingredients of an ideal learning environment that you can ask for. As an aspiring grad student, I wanted to go to a school with a good breadth and depth of research. MIT's ORC tries to combine together expertise from many different fields to realize this. Find out more about your subject of research and there is a good chance that it happens here!

At the same time, the small size of the center promotes great working relationships, between the members and a highly interactive culture. Besides all this MIT, Cambridge and Boston are wonderful, friendly and lively places to be in, no matter what your background might be! So, if you can bear the cold, do consider coming to MIT - life is likely to be great both while being here at and graduating from MIT!