MIT’s graduate student orientation is historically a measured, months-long affair, ramping up in the summer with informational webinars and gatherings hosted by alumni around the world, and continuing in the fall with dozens of on-campus events. This is anything but a typical year, of course. For example, many of the nearly 1,700 incoming graduate students have never set foot on campus; the annual spring visiting week, which allows them to get to know MIT— and particularly their department — was canceled when the Institute closed in mid-March, in response to…
