uMwizerwa wa Ngoboka

`My first MIT rejection. One thing I have learned since my admission to MIT is that there are tons of things to apply to. I realized my MIT application for admission was one just the main door opening up to a multitude of other doors. Once I got in, I had to apply for the residence hall lottery, advising seminars, pre-orientation programs and many more. Most, if not all, of the application I did them last minute- apparently I am the queen of procrastination. Most of my MIT ventures had been successful so far. I got into my first choice pre-orientation program- Discover Mechanical Engineering. I had started the application the day it was due, and had to write five essays. At first I was not planning to apply, but was indirectly influenced by a friend. DME was her first choice too, but she didn’t get it. I fully realized how much of a privilege it was when I talked to upperclassmen- course two majors- who had been rejected from the program. The freshman evaluation essay which was l...

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, we set out to carry out the first stage of the community service challenge. By We, I mean all the participants of the critical thinking for peace camp. We were divided into groups of six or seven, and each group was given a family to visit. The families were identified by the social affairs office of the cell. I was in group eight with six other mentees. We left the village before four P.M, and headed to the village. My team and I were to visit an elderly woman called NYIRAKAMANA Stephanie. The lady had no child and lived alone. Stephanie’s home is quite a distance from the main road, a small mud covered house with a compound, a makeshift kitchen, and a small land. The chief of the agglomeration led the way, occasionally saying hello to acquaintances. As we neared her home, we started having suspicions- she didn’t seem to be home. Our doubts were confirmed when we found her door closed with a padlock. We were almost to tears as we moved back to the road...

It is 9:xx p.m, and I am sited all alone in the Athena Cluster ( Computer Lab) trying to pass -waste- time. This isn't the first time I find myself all alone. Despite the technology that enables us to communicate with people miles away in a blink of an eye, I can't find anyone to talk to. When I say talk, I mean deep conversations. It is three a.m in Kigali, home. My family and friends back home are fast sleep. I am thousands of miles away from them, and I can't reach them at this time. However, most of my friends are here, in college. Despite that I can't find anyone to talk to heart-to-heart. One, they are really busy trying to figure out what to do with all this freedom. Maybe, they're getting ready to go to late night parties they were never allowed to go to back home. The most docile ones are getting ready for classes tomorrow, doing homework, or research, or whatever university students do to get ready for lectures. Two, you can't just tell someone y...

Dear Gashora Girls Academy class of 2017, As I write this, I am in the MIT orientation. Last year at this exact time I was at home, sick. Less than a week earlier, I had a mental breakdown. The next day I was given permission to go home, and this marked the first of many trips I took home that term. I might have had a slightly different experience in the last term, but I believe I can give you some words of wisdom. Senior six (grade 12) was a frightening year for me. I was not a proactive person, and I liked​ to keep things to myself. Selling myself to a college seemed so hard for me. I had to talk to Mr John, our University counselor, do research, standardized tests, and all those things. I didn't know where to start. I was simply confused, so I stopped everything. I started the year with a 31 score in ACT practice, however, it went downhill from there. When I'm overwhelmed with multiple thing to do, I tend to freeze and not do anything at all. So I stopped ACT pract...