Getting a PhD at MIT was the right decision for me for several reasons. It means I am part of a rigorous academic program that challenges me every day to find creative solutions to important problems. As an interdepartmental graduate program, the ORC has a pretty unique status in the MIT archipelago, and it’s easy to grab a canoe and explore other fields by taking classes, going to talks or collaborating with researchers in economics, computer science, health care, finance, and many more. Most importantly, being a graduate student at the ORC means being part of a community of incredibly driven students with diverse backgrounds and interests, working on many different problems, and always happy to discuss a new idea or perspective. Finally, I love living in Cambridge: it’s a young, vibrant (and walkable!) city where there’s always something happening.

If you are thinking of coming to the ORC for graduate school, I would recommend choosing your advisor wisely. As a graduate student, your relationship with your advisor is by far the most important relationship in your professional life, and will be a huge influence in your development. The ORC has many world-class faculty working on a lot of different problems, so whatever your interests you will probably find an advisor who is excited about working with you. When you come to the open house and meet with faculty, try to picture yourself working with them regularly for a long period of time. And of course, most important of all, try to talk to as many of a particular advisor’s students as possible to get a sense of what working with them is like. Are they more hands-on? hands-off? do they prefer longer or shorter meetings? what is it like working on an industry collaboration? At the end of the day, ORC faculty care about the success of every single student and so it’s really a matter of finding the right fit for you.