Is anyone else sick of seeing all these college threads where everyone plans to go to MIT/Caltech/Berkeley/etc?

beer

Lifer
Jun 27, 2000
11,169
1
0
I wrote this last fall. I think it needs to be reposted. It's happening again! And after the supreme court ruling, it's even more true.

man, this gets on my nerves more than most things. Every day I see another half a dozen college threads and they're always about Comp Sci, EE, or some variation thereof (EECS, Comp Eng, etc).
Furthermore, in every thread there is the obligatory "we'll I'm going to apply to Caltech/MIT/Berekeley and if I don't get into any of those three than I'm going to wither up in a corner and die because I never will be anything, because only people coming from those three schools will ever amount to anything in life."

I'd like to dispel a few myths that all you high school senior-bound-MIT hopefuls need to realize. First of all, unless you have straight 1600s, outstanding extracurriculars especially including science fairs (international is the only thing that really matters) and a 4.0+ (4.5+ if your school gives you 5.0 for APs) you won't be getting into any of these private schools, period. That is, unless you are a minority (hispanic or black, don't be calling me racist because most universities outside the 5th circuit's juristdiction do practice some sort of affirmative action, even if it isn't a quota). Every single person in the top 10% of most nationwide high schools wants to get in. Last time I checked, MIT received about 7,000 applications, all of which are from briliant people, and less than a thousand were actually accepted. I would assume CalTech is the same way.

And then there is Berkeley. Most years, Berekeley is ever harder to get into than Caltech and MIT if you don't live in California, because somehing like 90% of the admission spots are reserved for in-state applicants. When I was a senior in high school, we had, in our class of 800, 3 admitted to MIT, 2 admitted to Harvard, and none andmitted to Berekely. Two of the three admitted to MIT were our salutorian and valedictorian, respectively, both of which had nothing but A+s for every course in high school, including Physics C, Calc BC, AP everything, etc., as well as international science fair achievements.

You people need to realize that in all liklihood, you will not get accepted to these schools. And if you do, Tuition, room, and board will run almost $40,000 a year and you will be severely burdened by financial reasons long before you ever graduate. And with Berekeley, I honestly don't think many uber-dorks can even begin to conceive about what Berekely is all about. It's NOT about science and engineering reseach as much as it is being one of the single most liberal havens in the entire country. If you get freaked out about pot and believe that "all drugs are bad, people that use drugs should die and be thrown in a dumpster" then how can you ever begin to make it at Berkeley?

Finally, life after college seems as dependant on your ability to interact with people as much as it is dependant on your intelligence. If you go to a school and stay locked in your dorm for three years, seeing the outside world only for class....you will NEVER be as well-off as someone that can work with people. If you want to graduate and stay locked in a lab all day, that will be fine....but at some point you'll have to deal with people, some which aren't as smart as you, and it seems like most prestigious graduates are so tied up into their own ego that they'll never end up in positions where working with people and teams is their first job priority.

With that last paragraph in mind, a collorary also develops. You can go to a *decent* or even *good* university and still do better than those coming from the most prestigious ones if you can understand people and situations to your liking. I'm not saying every EE program is identical, but for the most part, EE programs give you background and SHOW that you can learn, so when you get to a job where you work on something you didn't study in college, your employer has faith that you can do the job, not that you already know every mundane detail about it.

Thank you for your time.
 

MrChad

Lifer
Aug 22, 2001
13,507
3
81
I was accepted at MIT and Carnegie Mellon, but I ended up going to University of Maryland. They offered me a full four-year scholarship, and I really enjoyed the campus when I visited. I don't regret my decision at all. I had a great experience at UMD, I got a great education as a CS major, and I came out of school with zero debt.
 

dcdomain

Diamond Member
Jan 30, 2000
5,158
0
71
LOL... I didn't even bother applying to any of those schools because as you said, I had no international science fair crap, nor did I get any of those grades mentioned. I did get some nice rejection letters from Columbia and Cooper Union though...

Just to throw in some more advice from a 5th year (no I didn't screw up, I'm in a five year program) architecture major, it really doesn't matter where you go to school. If you make the most of it anywhere you attend, you'll get a decent job. And yes people skills matter!

Having said that, I wish I had saved my money and gone to Rutgers rather than Carnegie Mellon...
 

Red

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2002
3,704
0
0
Elemental - let them figure it out on their own. Book smarts and street smarts (people skills) are equally important in this world in regards to financial / career success in the world. Mostly people who are doing everything to succeed have materialist goals or doing it because their family has told them they will fail at life, etc. A lot of them will find happiness in this materialism, develop extremely poor relationships with everyone else, and have a lot of stress on top of it all. But as long as they make enough money to go out and BUY the things they want, they have succeeded in life. Sorry bunch of people.

 

ziptie

Banned
Sep 27, 2003
65
0
0
uhhhh.....berkeley isnt a private school. quit b!tchin because people prefer going to california than texas.
 

MegaloManiaK

Golden Member
May 27, 2003
1,207
0
0
Originally posted by: ziptie
uhhhh.....berkeley isnt a private school. quit b!tchin because people prefer going to california than texas.

haha

Well, berkeley called me the other day begging me to go to thier school. I was like Bitch go make me a sandwich first. They love me because i got 1650 on my SATs. On top of that i have a nobel peace prize for inventing velcro and the wheel.

Bow down before me.

 

beer

Lifer
Jun 27, 2000
11,169
1
0
Originally posted by: ziptie
uhhhh.....berkeley isnt a private school. quit b!tchin because people prefer going to california than texas.

Reread my goddamn post, where I mention Berkeley's acceptance rate for people OUTSIDE OF CALIFORNIA. That implies that it is a PUBLIC SCHOOL.
 

Legendary

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2002
7,019
1
0
Hey, I applied to MIT and Caltech, didn't get in. Didn't kill myself, just went to NYU instead. People need to learn to deal with defeat, I was quite aware of everything you wrote up there when I got rejected. Life does, however, go on. And where you go for undergrad doesn't mean a whole lot anyway, at least if you plan to do grad.
 

Originally posted by: Elemental007
Originally posted by: ziptie
uhhhh.....berkeley isnt a private school. quit b!tchin because people prefer going to california than texas.

Reread my goddamn post, where I mention Berkeley's acceptance rate for people OUTSIDE OF CALIFORNIA. That implies that it is a PUBLIC SCHOOL.

Apparently, he didnt get accepted to MIT/CalTech/Berkley, otherwise he would be able to read and comprehend your post. :)
 

I spent most of my teenage years partying and surfing (lived on the beach). I dropped out and screwed off for years. I met a great girl got my GED, and now am a CS major at University of Cincinnati. Life goes on...
 

I'm a PoliSci major, and I got into Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and the U of M's LS&A school. I chose to go to U of M because with in-state tuition, it's a great deal, and it's really really close to home for me. I could have gone to Cornell and had a just-as-good education, but I'm really really happy that I am staying close to home, and that I'll be leaving school without my parents going broke.
 

hevnsnt

Lifer
Mar 18, 2000
10,868
1
0
Didn't read your post, didn't go to any of the schools listed, didn't care.

Get over it.
 

LanEvoVI

Golden Member
Jul 18, 2001
1,629
0
76
Originally posted by: dcdomain
LOL... I didn't even bother applying to any of those schools because as you said, I had no international science fair crap, nor did I get any of those grades mentioned. I did get some nice rejection letters from Columbia and Cooper Union though... Just to throw in some more advice from a 5th year (no I didn't screw up, I'm in a five year program) architecture major, it really doesn't matter where you go to school. If you make the most of it anywhere you attend, you'll get a decent job. And yes people skills matter! Having said that, I wish I had saved my money and gone to Rutgers rather than Carnegie Mellon...

I agree that people skills are some of the most important tools for you to develop. You can be the smartest person in the world, but if you can't communicate your ideas and points, you're not going to get far.

BTW, don't go to Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh sucks. :p
 

cchen

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
6,062
0
76
Originally posted by: Elemental007
I wrote this last fall. I think it needs to be reposted. It's happening again! And after the supreme court ruling, it's even more true.

man, this gets on my nerves more than most things. Every day I see another half a dozen college threads and they're always about Comp Sci, EE, or some variation thereof (EECS, Comp Eng, etc).
Furthermore, in every thread there is the obligatory "we'll I'm going to apply to Caltech/MIT/Berekeley and if I don't get into any of those three than I'm going to wither up in a corner and die because I never will be anything, because only people coming from those three schools will ever amount to anything in life."

I'd like to dispel a few myths that all you high school senior-bound-MIT hopefuls need to realize. First of all, unless you have straight 1600s, outstanding extracurriculars especially including science fairs (international is the only thing that really matters) and a 4.0+ (4.5+ if your school gives you 5.0 for APs) you won't be getting into any of these private schools, period. That is, unless you are a minority (hispanic or black, don't be calling me racist because most universities outside the 5th circuit's juristdiction do practice some sort of affirmative action, even if it isn't a quota). Every single person in the top 10% of most nationwide high schools wants to get in. Last time I checked, MIT received about 7,000 applications, all of which are from briliant people, and less than a thousand were actually accepted. I would assume CalTech is the same way.

And then there is Berkeley. Most years, Berekeley is ever harder to get into than Caltech and MIT if you don't live in California, because somehing like 90% of the admission spots are reserved for in-state applicants. When I was a senior in high school, we had, in our class of 800, 3 admitted to MIT, 2 admitted to Harvard, and none andmitted to Berekely. Two of the three admitted to MIT were our salutorian and valedictorian, respectively, both of which had nothing but A+s for every course in high school, including Physics C, Calc BC, AP everything, etc., as well as international science fair achievements.

You people need to realize that in all liklihood, you will not get accepted to these schools. And if you do, Tuition, room, and board will run almost $40,000 a year and you will be severely burdened by financial reasons long before you ever graduate. And with Berekeley, I honestly don't think many uber-dorks can even begin to conceive about what Berekely is all about. It's NOT about science and engineering reseach as much as it is being one of the single most liberal havens in the entire country. If you get freaked out about pot and believe that "all drugs are bad, people that use drugs should die and be thrown in a dumpster" then how can you ever begin to make it at Berkeley?

Finally, life after college seems as dependant on your ability to interact with people as much as it is dependant on your intelligence. If you go to a school and stay locked in your dorm for three years, seeing the outside world only for class....you will NEVER be as well-off as someone that can work with people. If you want to graduate and stay locked in a lab all day, that will be fine....but at some point you'll have to deal with people, some which aren't as smart as you, and it seems like most prestigious graduates are so tied up into their own ego that they'll never end up in positions where working with people and teams is their first job priority.

With that last paragraph in mind, a collorary also develops. You can go to a *decent* or even *good* university and still do better than those coming from the most prestigious ones if you can understand people and situations to your liking. I'm not saying every EE program is identical, but for the most part, EE programs give you background and SHOW that you can learn, so when you get to a job where you work on something you didn't study in college, your employer has faith that you can do the job, not that you already know every mundane detail about it.

Thank you for your time.

What do you have against people having high amibitions? Sure, a lot of these people won't get in but at least they will try and have the drive to want to go to the best school possible
 

SXMP

Senior member
Oct 22, 2000
741
0
0
Originally posted by: MrChad
I was accepted at MIT and Carnegie Mellon, but I ended up going to University of Maryland. They offered me a full four-year scholarship, and I really enjoyed the campus when I visited. I don't regret my decision at all. I had a great experience at UMD, I got a great education as a CS major, and I came out of school with zero debt.

That is so similiar to my original acceptances. However, I chose to go to UofI (instate) instead of the University of Maryland, MIT, or Carnegeie.
 

Doggiedog

Lifer
Aug 17, 2000
12,780
5
81
One of my best friends is a white Jewish guy who went to MIT with a 1360 SAT 98 GPA and no extra curriculars.

That dispels your myth about 1600s.

On another note, he also graduated 7th in his class at MIT and later got a PhD in finance from Harvard.
 

pg22

Platinum Member
Feb 9, 2000
2,644
0
76
I got into UCLA and Berkely for this fall quarter and I'm loving it so far. UCLA just started last week.