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Being an undergraduate at MIT was an incredibly unique experience. This place will amaze you from day one, and you will feel every possible feeling towards it. You will love it. You will hate it. You will be happy. You will be sad. You will feel connected. You will feel lonely. But you will most certainly feel glad to have lived through it, and you will take great experiences and friendships from MIT.First Impressions: Prospective Student/Freshman YearEverything is beautiful. The campus is nice, the dome is awesome. The columns are really cool. If you visit during summer or spring time the grass is green, the flowers grow and the people are happy (The winter, on the other hand is COLD!)There is a crazy building by Frank Gehry (The Stata Center)People seem to have a lot of fun. There are a variety of "hacks", one of the recent ones (and among my personal favorites) was the Tetris Building:(Yes, this is actually a building on campus, and yes, this was playable Tetris! The lights were programmed to respond to a controller!)From my first visits, I was impressed and very excited. I could definitely see myself here, and I knew that it would be a worthwhile experience.The Setting: Boston & CambridgeThe greater Boston area is a great place for students. There are multiple universities and colleges around the area as the map shows. MIT and Harvard are nearly neighbors in Cambridge (we are just two subway, a.k.a. T, stops away), but there are also Boston University, Boston College, Tufts, Berklee School of Music etc... (see map for more)This means there are a lot of young people around, and a good amount of bars and parties.Transportation is very good around MIT; the #1 bus goes up and down Massachusetts Ave, and there is a T stop on the east side of campus. There are also shuttles that cross the bridge from Cambridge to Boston, to connect MIT to some of the fraternities on the other side of the river.The Settling in: FreshmanOnce you get into MIT, you have to pick what dorms you are going to live in. Each dorm has a unique culture, and you can check them out here: Undergraduate Residence Halls. Most undergraduate dorms are located close to campus, and you can definitely walk from any of these dorms to classes, but some people choose to get bikes. For reference, I lived in Baker House, my room had a beautiful view of the Boston Skyline, and most of my classes were within a 5-10 minute walk.Deciding where you live is very important though, and I advise you to check out each dorm, meet the people there and choose the place that matches your culture as well as possible. I do advise incoming students to make this choice based on their tastes rather than their parents'. Sometimes parents will not like a place and try to get you to the dorm they find the nicest. But this decision should definitely be up to you, as a new student, because you are the one that will be living there for possibly the next four years.Moving was straighforward, and like most big cities, you can get all your things at any of these Bed-Bath megastores. They usually make lists for college students, to help you get everything, so I did not have any issues there.Fees and TuitionMost students get some kind of financial aid from MIT. All financial aid is need-based, so every year we have to complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) which calculates how much aid you should receive. MIT is not cheap at all (tuition and fees come out to $42,050, plus costs of living and dining), but MIT does try to help out.Drinking water from a firehose, Part I:You are a freshman, have just picked your intro classes (usually first-years take Calculus, Chemistry or Biology, Physics and a Humanities course) and everything is ready to start. And in orientation you get the great news that your first semester is actually Pass/No Record.What does that mean?No grades! (insert celebration dance here!)MIT, in order to help you transition from high school to, well, one of the most intense universities in the world, gives you a "freebie" semester. No grades, if you get above a "C-minus", you get the credit.This may seem great, and a reason to party all semester, but it is not that simple. MIT is tough. It is intense, it is challenging, and it will destroy you if you are careless. So people that take this semester lightly and not use the opportunity to get used to MIT's style, often have a tougher time adapting in the following semester.Once the semester starts, you begin to understand classes at MIT. Freshman lectures are usually in large lecture halls, with sometimes 300 students in a class. But you do get the opportunity to learn from great people in their fields. Many freshman have had the opportunity to take Introductory Chemistry (5.112) with Nobel Laureate Richard R. Schrock, or Introductory Biology (7.012) with Eric Lander, who worked on the Human Genome Project.These are great opportunities, to learn from people who play a very significant role in their fields. As a freshman, learning about ongoing research of Nobel Laureates is an incredible experience.However, the academic part is not easy at all. Once you get your first problem set (Pset) for homework, you notice that MIT is not at all like high school. The questions really challenge you. They are not simple repetition of what you had done in class, but rather, they require you to read additional sources, collaborate with others and ask your TAs and Professors for help. Very few people work on their psets individually, there is a lot of collaboration at MIT.And then exams came. You study, do your best, and you get your results back with the lowest grade you have ever seen, and the average score among all students was a 50 (out of 100) or lower. It is a humbling experience. From being among the top students of your high school, used to getting straight-As, getting a 40- or 30-something on an exam makes you realize that MIT is going to be tough. Here, you are no longer the best student, and you need to come to terms to getting bad grades and getting over them by studying harder and preparing better for the next exams.In the end of the semester, you have your finals. A final at MIT is, jokingly, compared to the following scenario:You take a class on how to build a house. You learn about walls, and windows and doors and pipes and electric systems. And then your final exam comes and asks you one thing: "How do you build a boat"MIT finals usually cover a great amount of material, and they challenge you. They ask for applications of what was learned in class, rather than simple repetition of facts. So the exams here actually make you think rather than spit out memorized answers.This is why MIT is compared to drinking water from a firehose. There is so much happening around you, so much academic material, and you try to grasp as much as you can, but you find out that it is impossible to get it all.Drinking from the firehouse: Part IIThe rest of my years at MIT required great dedication, but I was able to take all the required classes, get a double major (in Math and Physics) and a minor (in Management Science), I worked as a grader and Lab Assistant (great opportunity to make some money) and I also had the opportunity to do research with great professors (including a brief time at the Higgs group at MIT!) I was also able to get a decent amount of sleep, probably more than the average MIT student, was able to play soccer in Intramural season, and have fun in general.The main lesson that you take from here is that you have to be balanced. You cannot possibly do it all, and you must accept that. Don't put more on your plate than you can eat. This is just how MIT is, you always have to give something up. Do your work, study, but also go out to eat, go see the Boston Symphony Orchestra, walk around Boston, visit Harvard, go to parties, and you will have a great time.MIT is a great place. It is very challenging, but you will make great friends, and learn more than you have ever learned. I would not change this opportunity for anything.I hope this helps to paint a picture of MIT for people that haven't had a chance to come here!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------PS1: One of MIT's informal mottos is IHTFP, an acronym that can stand for many things, but usually meaning "I Hate This F***ing Place", but also used as "I Have Truly Found Paradise". You will use it with both meanings as a student here.PS2: I love MIT so much that I am doing my PhD here. So this will probably be some 5 more years of MIT and Boston life!PS3: If anyone has any other specific questions, please let me know and I'll try to edit this answer!

Great question! This was a question I had myself faced in 3rd semester when clinical postings had just started. I felt out of place and regretted taking up medicine instead of a pure science course at IISc or IISER. But I later realized that it was just a phase and studying medicine is indeed a wonderful portal to enter into the field of healthcare research. To know why, please bear with me in this rather long answer.Here there are two different things that you are talking of - doing pure science and being a scientist.Firstly, Pure science is just a fraction of research that happens but forms the bedrock and foundation of any application that stems from it. Watch this wonderful explanation by Dr. Eric Lander, for a better understanding watch this video in the link attached at the end of the answer. You could be doing pure science with no intended application whatsoever. As Hardy says,“I have never done anything "useful". No discovery of mine has made, or is likely to make, directly or indirectly, for good or ill, the least difference to the amenity of the world.”However, his work has found application in numerous areas including the Hardy-Weinberg principle that we all study in population genetics in high school. But I digress!Secondly, you could be a scientist not only by doing pure science (bench work science), but also translational work (bench to clinic), clinical research (seeing patients on one hand) or epidemiological and public health research (aiding in policy making). So yeah, you could basically become a “scientist” by doing any of that. All depends on what kind of a research question you are asking. I’m emphasising on this because one does not need to be doing GWAS, CRISPR or optogenetics in a fancy million dollar laboratory to become a scientist. I agree these are cool, fascinating, overwhelming and savvy, but there are examples of extremely fine research being done in the most backward and tribal areas - for example Abhay and Rani Bang in Gadchiroli.What should you be doing during MBBS?I think of MBBS as a grand guided tour of all departments and specialties. There’s a lot of time to explore our interests and invest on learning skills. But there is never time for regrets!Contact a lab in your college. Work with them, get hands on experience. An STS ICMR project would be a great start.Once you have a little idea, contact labs around India that intrigue you. Ask if you could join their lab as an intern for the vacations. Most professors are sweet and do reply, if they deny or don’t respond, you still have so many labs you could reach out to! I did such an internship at NCBS, b’lore - a backdoor entry since my college din’t permit students for internships. If yours does, there are many programs like IAS SRFP and TIFR VSRP - links of which are attached below.Now that you have sufficient experience, apply for international programs. Many universities around the world take in undergraduates as interns and summer fellows. But these are highly competitive and a prior research stint is usually expected. Although I haven’t tried, there’s no harm attempting a backdoor entry for international labs too!Meanwhile, build skills like statistics, programming and data science - those that can be self learnt. Also, sound reading in a niche area does no harm. Be informed about latest developments and happenings in science.Most of all, do not lose the inquisitive mind and the scientific temperament. The traditional teaching of medicine and the quantity to fodder that you have to mug up to pass exams is certainly immense. It is indeed commendable if you maintain the curious mind of childhood till you graduate. That is essentially a pre-requisite for any science!Lastly, become a good clinican :)After MBBS?You could straight away join a PhD program in many research institutes in India and abroad.You could do a clinical MD in India and do clinical researchYou could do a Community Medicine MD in India and do Public Health and Epidemiological researchYou could do a preclinical MD (Anat, Physio, Biochem) as Anurag Kumar had mentioned - one that I wouldn’t recommend since you could directly do a PhD.You could do an MD and then decide to do a PhD (never too late!)You could do a research track residency in the US (very competitive for FMGs.You could do a residency in the US and do clinical research. You could even diversify into translational research as, universities there have flexible clinic schedules, giving a choice of greater time for research.You could do a Masters in Medical Science or Masters in Public Health abroad.There are a few MD-PhD programs coming up in India too.How’s doing an MBBS an advantage for research?Clinicians have a better understanding of diseases and the practical issues as compared to their straight out of a science degree counterparts, who have never spoken to a patient. Well, they have better understanding in areas that we don’t, but still, I assume, it doesn’t cancel out to a zero!You could do research alongside clinical practice.You could do a PhD straight after MBBS.If you’re so frustrated with MBBS and healthcare, you could always switch tracks and get in to chaste untouched pure science by doing a PhD in such a lab. There are many institutes in India, that take in MBBS grads for their PhD programs. Universities abroad might be a better option. But as mentioned earlier, do explore possibilities before taking a decision.MBBS is a long journey - long enough to change interests and perceptions. Who knows, you might end up wanting to solely practice in clinic, which too is perfectly fine!Lastly I would recommend the Wellcome Trust DIPS (Developing Indian Physician Scientists) program to be held in Hyderabad in March 2018, which I believe will further answer all your queries and surely inspire you!Links:-Abhay and Rani Bang - WikipediaVSRP-2018 Homehttp://web-japps.ias.ac.in:8080/fellowship2018/application_instructions.jspUndergraduate Scholars Programwellcomedbt.org/news/164