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Panda_Muffins227 karma

it's a major safety point with our branch of the company.

Is it though, if they still don't LOTO?

Panda_Muffins38 karma

It's because most of the Chinese food restaurants in the United States use menus printed from the same string of printing companies in NYC. Check out this NY Times article on the subject.

Panda_Muffins14 karma

I believe so! I usually just see them as Peruvian lilies on websites and in stores, but they should be the same thing.

Panda_Muffins12 karma

I'm not in this group, but I am a PhD student at MIT who has worked in multiple groups.

The work culture varies hugely depending upon which professor's research group you're in. Nearly everyone at MIT is there because they are passionate about their work and have the personal drive, so 60 hours/wk. isn't terribly uncommon if you consider the fact that a PhD student may be in lab for 9-5 and then go home, make dinner, and work at home (e.g. read the literature, write a paper, prepare a presentation) for a few hours. The professor in my group really doesn't mind if we're only in lab about 6 hours a day, 5 days a week so long as we're getting stuff done. I think that's the general trend at most top PhD programs: are you getting results. However, like at any university, you have professors who can be very strict with their rules and will want you to work every day of the week sunrise to sunset. I don't think this mentality is at all characteristic of MIT. For the most part, MIT PhD students are working as much as they are comfortable with out of personal drive, not because the culture or professor has dictated certain hours.

If you are asking this because you're interested in graduate school at MIT or any other top institution, I wouldn't try to characterize the institution as a whole. I'd contact graduate students in the groups you're interested in and try to get an honest answer from them. I'd also talk to upperclassmen in the specific department you're looking at and ask them how the department culture as. Beyond the department level, it's not worth trying to stick a label on anything.

Panda_Muffins5 karma

Yeah, I don't know many grad students at MIT that pride themselves in being busy like the undergrads do. In fact, it's usually the opposite. You'll probably get heckled by friends to take some time off and hang out for once.