My first exposure to Don was very different than most. I was in the Navy and applied to the LFM (the name back then) program and selected aerospace engineering as my engineering major even though my undergraduate degree was in electrical engineering because I was flying for the Navy and thought I wanted to work for a defense contractor after graduating. I was admitted to Sloan and was called by a student encouraging me attend Sloan. The person didn’t make it clear they were a student and I asked if I had also been accepted to the LFM program and they said I had been. I was so excited!
The next day I called my superiors in the Navy to tell them I wanted to get out early to attend MIT. Despite the fact that the military was in the middle of a major reduction in force and they had paid many friends of mine to get out early, I was told I could not get out one year early. I was crushed and called the LFM office to see if I could defer my acceptance for one year. It was a very awkward call and I was told Don would call me back (I had never spoken to him before). He called later that day and I asked me who had told me I was admitted to the LFM program? I explained that I wasn’t sure of the person’s name, but they had called me the day before. Don was incredibly gracious and informed me I actually hadn’t been accepted to the program because I had applied to the aerospace engineering department. He encouraged me to defer my Sloan acceptance and reapply to the LFM program as an electrical engineer. Fortunately, I followed his advice and was thrilled one year later when I received the “Don call” most people remember so vividly.