FWIW, I don't think I was emotionally prepared for MIT, although I was probably academically prepared. I think I would have been better off going elsewhere. I have written various things about my experiences at MIT in my journal, but none of them are tagged as such.

I can relate to some of what jim_p wrote about instructors who digressed. I believe I would have benefitted more from lectures that were more oriented towards the syllabus. There were also times when the recitation instructors and TAs were not particularly helpful. OTOH, I got my money's worth from doing a UROP and thesis with MIT-LCS.