Is MIT too hard

Is MIT too hard For most people, sprinting a mile in under 5 minutes is physically impossible.  And yet world-class marathon runners are able to run twenty-six back to back 4:45 miles.  How do they do it? The answer is that they arent sprinting.  Instead, through training theyve built up an enormous aerobic capacity, which allows them to run at blazing speeds for long, sustained periods. Whats sprinting for us, is a comfortable pace for them. A proper base of training shifts your perspective of whats possible. ^ a non-metaphorical sprint, from a past weekend in Big Basin. I used to think that MIT was unnecessarily hard.  Certainly it feels that way in the middle of a hell week whats the point of having midterms, psets, and essays clustered in the same few days, anyway? And you know what? MIT is unnecessarily hard at least if you think the purpose of school is to teach you material.  Tight, clustered deadlines dont make you learn material any better.  Turning in a pset 24 hours late doesnt mean that you have a lesser understanding of the subject. But now that Im here working in the Real Worldâ„¢ (sort of), Ive learned to appreciate the frantic pace of MIT the sense of urgency for urgencys sake.  Like the marathoners training, it builds up your base endurance, your tolerance for discomfort. It sucks in the moment, but lets you do cool things. And it means that when something is actually urgent, youre prepared. After all, when Tim Cook wants something on his desk in three hours, punting is not an option. Last week, I worked 75 hours which, well, is not something to be proud of.  As my friend Steph C. 15 sardonically put it, Congratulations on being a professional workaholic. But what I am proud of, is the fact that Ive managed to put in these hours while also (1) getting the most sleep Ive ever gotten, (2) eating the healthiest Ive ever eaten, and (3) exercising the most Ive ever exercised.  And the reward? Getting to work on and take some ownership of the coolest projects Ive ever seen. Without the rigor of MIT, I dont think the transition would have been so smooth. In the end, people who tell you that life is a marathon, not a sprint, are correct.  One way to respond to that statement is to slow down. Another way is to train so well that your marathon pace is someone elses sprint pace. Work hard, play hard, and listen to your body. Thats how you pull away from the pack. Michael C. 16 is currently taking time off from MIT to work in Apples iPhone Product Design team.  He spends most of his time frolicking in the sun while laughing at the snow photos his MIT friends post on Facebook. He also is finding it increasingly awkward to write in third person, though second person is fun too. For the Course 7s out there looking for a more scientific answer to the marathon metaphor: an untrained athletes slow-twitch muscle fibers are not powerful enough to run at high speeds for long periods of time without dipping heavily into precious glycogen supplies and getting assistance from powerful but inefficient fast-twitch fibers.  On the other hand, an elite marathon runner can derive 95% of the required energy to sustain such a pace from slow twitch fibers using an efficient mixture of fat and sugar for fuel, only sipping at glycogen reserves.  For more on training, check out my friend (and elite mountaineer/Patagonia alpine ambassador/overall badass) Steve Houses fantastic book Training for the New Alpinism.