The final week of RSI has officially begun. It’s often referred to as “hell week” — and for good reason. I’ll tell you all about that in my next (and final) entry. For now, here’s what happened during Week 5.

As expected, it was another extremely busy week. By the end of it, we had to submit our penultimate paper, which is reviewed by last-week teaching assistants and RSI alumni. Their feedback will help us revise our work and prepare our final paper, which is submitted to the CEE committee and contributes to the letters of recommendation we receive at the end of the program.

Because of this, most students wrapped up their research early in the week and shifted their full attention to writing. This stage was more stressful than any of the earlier milestones. Everyone knew how important this paper is, and some students even gave up sleep entirely to get it done on time. Thankfully, I managed to finish mine without sacrificing too much sleep — though it definitely took a lot of energy.

While waiting for feedback, we also began working on our final presentations. I’ve never had to build a slideshow where so much thought has to go into every detail. It’s definitely a new experience, but I’m lucky to have support from my mentor, tutor, counselor, and the last-week TAs, all of whom are helping us polish both the content and the delivery.

Even with all the pressure, we still had a few interesting lectures this week. We heard a presentation from a quantitative finance company, attended a lecture by an MIT mathematics professor on the P vs NP problem, and finally, had a talk from a successful entrepreneur (and RSI alumnus) whose company is now valued at over one billion dollars.

After finishing our papers on Saturday morning, we had time to work on our presentations or just relax a bit. In the evening, there was a surprise event that I won’t spoil — but it was a lot of fun.

On Sunday, apart from making progress on our presentations, we had a long-awaited ultimate frisbee match against another summer program in the area. A lot of us had been practicing in the evenings, and many RSI students came to cheer us on. We started strong and took an early lead, but eventually lost the game. Still, we gave it our all and had no regrets.

Later that day, each Counselor group performed a skit about their own group, which led to a lot of laughs. I heard more than a few people say ours was the funniest. After the skits, most of us went back to work — we had just received feedback on our papers, and it was time to revise.

Overall, this has been the most exhausting week of RSI so far, and I know Week 6 will be even more intense. Still, I’ve managed to keep running and working out regularly, even though I slept a little less than in previous weeks. I’ve also made time to enjoy and socialize, and my Counselor group went on a few fun outings in Boston.

I’m happy with the balance I’ve managed to find between work, health, and enjoyment — and I hope I can maintain it, not just during the final week of RSI, but after the program ends as well.

More soon,

Aliocha Faurisson