MIT alum from 1980s here (and former nightline staffer). I am disappointed to hear that NL shut down. We did get non-MIT callers, but the fact that we had dormline (probably doesn't exist any more either -- student-run internal phone system) and no mobile phones limited its reach. There were some horrible suicides back then too, and pretty much everyone had at least one all nighter per week. If I remember the Institute had pretty good mental health services for its time, though I doubt it had free, indefinite length psychotherapy or everyone would have been on it.
But despite the grind I had a really really good time. Perhaps it was because I was (AFAICT) in the bottom half of my (tiny) high school so showed up never worrying about how I was doing compared to other students.
The Institute, at least back then, was impersonal and basically uninterested in undergraduates (not anti-, just didn't care). For me that was liberating: I could take classes in pretty much any department, and if my transcript was a mix of 5.0 and 3.0 that was OK since I was learning a shitload every day. As an undergrad I got to take a lot of graduate seminars and I got to spend a LOT of time in the lab (a majority of my last two years).
But despite the grind I had a really really good time. Perhaps it was because I was (AFAICT) in the bottom half of my (tiny) high school so showed up never worrying about how I was doing compared to other students.
The Institute, at least back then, was impersonal and basically uninterested in undergraduates (not anti-, just didn't care). For me that was liberating: I could take classes in pretty much any department, and if my transcript was a mix of 5.0 and 3.0 that was OK since I was learning a shitload every day. As an undergrad I got to take a lot of graduate seminars and I got to spend a LOT of time in the lab (a majority of my last two years).