Meet the Admissions Officers Mari McQuaid

Meet the Admissions Officers Mari McQuaid Name: Mari McQuaid Job title: Assistant Director of Admissions Hometown: Verona, NJ High school: Verona High School College: Tufts University for two years and then my degree from Harvard Extension in Art History Favorite things about MIT: Personally, I love all the stereotypical things about MITthe hacks, the zany, nerdy students building (and destroying) cool things, crazy but strangely compelling stuff like the Time Traveler Convention. Got to love the wonderfully hideous modern architecture on campus too! Just the general gestalt of the place is very cooldown-to-earth and yet on the cutting-edge with a hint of a retro sensibility. Favorite things about Boston: Bostons nice, but to be honest I spend most of my time in Cambridge where I can always find: interesting people who share my values, great live music, gourmet food, and great places to shop for antiques, books, and CDs. Cambridge is a hip, progressive city with the feel of a small townone of the best places to live on this planet, really! Favorite movies: Rear Window, Its a Wonderful Life, Dancer in the Dark, Spoorloos Favorite music: Hank Williams Sr., Bob Dylan, Graham Parsons, Steve Earle Favorite books: Anna Karenina, The Lord of the Rings, Islands of Silence Favorite foods: smoked salmon, strawberries, cheese Advice about applying to college/MIT: Dont lose yourself in the craziness of trying to do everything right to get into MIT or any top school. Its really important that your personality, not just your achievements, shows through in the application. Youre competing against thousands of other students who have the same or better test scores, grades, and awards. What no one else has on you, though, is your personality, your sense of humor, your unique home and community context, your personal set of values, your particular talents and interests. Let us get to know you as a three-dimensional person and youll have a better chance of standing out. Dont get hung up on the detailswe dont really care if your essay is 499 words long or 550 words long, we dont really care exactly how you fill out the self-reported course work form, we dont really care if you got a 750 vs. an 800 on your math SAT IIwe want to feel that you are an intelligent, interesting, and motivated person who will be a positi ve influence on your classmates while youre at MIT and the world beyond after you graduate. I guess thats a pretty tall order, sorry! Fun fact about yourself: This isnt at all a fun fact, but kind of interesting: my grandfather on my fathers side was a US Air Force pilot in WWII and a distant cousin on my mothers side was a kamikaze pilot. What a difference a generation makes!