Option1
Work for Innovators in Health for 3 weeks in India. It's a start-up by few MIT alums who work towards deployment of technology for healthcare programs in developing countries. They have tied up with an NGO in India, Operation Asha, that distributes free TB medicines in the urban slums of Delhi. I worked with IIH over the summer to design the first prototype of an Electrical Medical Records (EMR) system for Operation Asha. An IIH member working at Microsoft India Research in Bangalore is developing biometric devices, which will be used in conjunction with my system to enable wireless tracking and monitoring of patients. My prototype is currently being tested and I am still remotely doing the bug fixes and interface changes that are required to make the system fully functional as well as usable by the semi-literate staff of the NGO. Over IAP, I would be finalizing its implementation, running complete tests, making further required changes, and then if time permits, also adding features such as wireless data entry, and patient tracking/monitoring.
Option2
Come back to MIT and be involved in some of the awesome things going on campus that time, such as a cool course 6 class, an IAP UROP, a PE class etc. I really want to do either 6.370 (Battlecode, a competition in which you code AI players for a strategy game and compete with other people's players) or 6.470 (A web programming competition). I also want to look for a UROP in the Media Lab/CSAIL. I UROP'ed last year in freshman spring, but didn't have much time to devote to it during the semester. I don't know if I'll be able to UROP next semester as well, and I doubt I'd stay in Boston over the summer to UROP, so IAP would be the ideal time to UROP. I also need/want to do a PE class, which I have done only 1/4 of. Also, MIT has awesome sports facilities, which I have very little chance to exploit during the school year due to the work load; IAP would be the best time to make use of these!
Pros for Option1:
- Assured Hourly pay- earning in dollars and spending in rupees is always a great deal. By the end of 3 weeks I will be able to earn upto a round-trip's fare. (although if I UROP I might also get paid at MIT)
- Delhi is by far the awesomest place to be!
- Family- Pampering by mom and dad is always good :)
- More time with best friends- The ones studying in the US will be free during Dec, and early Jan but the ones in Delhi Univ will be free only after the 2nd week of Jan. Also, if I leave in the 1st or 2nd week, I'll be one of the earliest people to leave, something I hated last year.
- Good home food for 3 extra weeks as opposed to shitty MIT food
- Higher temperatures as compared to freezing Boston
- Seeing a software I built from scratch being implemented, and adding cool features to it.
Pros for Option2
- Option to be in college without the immense work load that's there during the semester. Last IAP I came back but did WAY too much (2 classes+TA'ing one class+studying for Physics ASE) and hence it felt much like school time rather than IAP
- Being free in college (where there are no curfews etc) is usually more fun than being free at home :P Many of my friends will be here and we'll be able to do a lot of fun stuff throughout the month and not just on Friday evenings like we do during the semester!
- Chance to learn stuff I think would be really cool to know but haven't gotten the chance to in MIT's regular academic framework.
- Both 6.370/6.470 would greatly help improve my skillset- 6.370 in terms of strengthening programming skills through experience, and 6.470 in terms of learning web programming in general.
- Even apart from classes, there is so much other stuff going on during IAP; MIT is in general an amazing place to be in during that 1 month.
- Dad has promised me that if I do end up leaving early, I'll go home for spring break even if only for 9 days.. The break then would be much needed :P
