Student Name: Marina Tosi

School: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Major: Management

“Tl;dr: college is hard, explore every possible interest while you’re here, and, most importantly, do what you need to do at your own pace. ✨

I’m Marina & I’m a sophomore/junior at MIT. I’m currently studying management with a concentration in finance and hope to go into consulting!

In full honesty, my time at MIT has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs. I entered MIT as a pre-med hoping to study biological engineering, but quickly figured out pre-med wasn’t for me. I played with the idea of studying neuroscience or biology, but nothing really excited me. I ended up leaving MIT halfway through my first semester in an attempt to figure out my life goals and tend to my mental health.

Needless to say that first semester was BRUTAL. I dropped a ton of classes, cried a lot, struggled to turn in psets, and spent a lot of time procrastinating. This is the side of college (especially first year) that no one tells you about.

During my time off from MIT (winter & spring ‘19), I lived at home, taught figure skating, and took some classes at community college. I spent summer ‘19 teaching STEM in Shanghai, China where I had the absolute time of my life.

I ran into so many challenges while I was there (misbehaving children, broken iPads, missing metro trains, getting food poisoning, etc), but I gained a significant amount of confidence each time I overcame an issue.

My favorite thing to say is “if I can thrive in China with no support system and no familiar resources, then I can survive MIT where my biggest problems are psets.” This confidence drove me to return to MIT last fall.

I’ve been back at MIT for over a year now and while I still struggle from time to time, I now know how to help myself and push through.

I’m dearly thankful for my friends, family, and all the support I’ve received at MIT. Lastly, IHTFP – I have truly found paradise and… uh iykyk ;)”—@t0si @mitpics

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