/sci/ - Science & Math

I do.

I don't have enough IQ.

>>6253436
because love

I'm not sure if my university is elite(KCL). what's the elite universities in the United Kingdom?

I do. But only because they pay me to go. I did my undergrad at a decent school because I get essentially the same education as a top school at less than half the price.

>>6253436

wasn't born with a silver spoon

>>6253447
wherever they have the highest IQ

>>6253436
I am pretty sure some guy a knew goes to that school. He was amazingly delusional and labelled himself a genius because he memorized facts all the way through school. Then again, all dependant on how you define genius.

Anyway, it would indeed have its benefits if you care about extra support and employment when you graduate, but you can get the same thing at a library.

>>6253447
It isn't

I didn't give elite colleges an importance when I was in high school, though I easily could have gotten in.

>>6253436
ITT: Everyone claims they do, nobody posts proof

>>6253459
>muh lazy genius

>>6253449
>only rich kids get in, despite elite universities pouring millions into access and bursary schemes
>too retard for a scholarship

When will /sci/ accept they aren't anything special

>>6253466

I'm not britbong or murikan

>>6253459
>though I easily could have gotten in.

sure, you could have got in

>>6253459
Very rational, although If you could have went on a scholarship you probably should have went anyway.

>>6253461
This subtly implies that elite universities are some kind of holy grail.

Prerequisites to enter pretigious institute include:
>Rich Parents who are willing to be extorted
>Achieving a high score on a fact memorizing test which should be achievable by any parrot

It is very hard not to laugh at people like you and people in general who see these schools as the highest pinnacle of life.

>>6253459

>I failed the exam but I know all the material!
>I lost the match but I'm a better player!
>My grades are worse but I'm smarter!

Same mentality.

>>6253436
Get on my level plebs

>>6253481
Which college you at? What are you studying?

>>6253478
>Prerequisites to enter pretigious institute include:
>high IQ

that's it actually

didn't do enough extracurriculars to go anywhere higher than Berkeley

Cause Im a poor and live i a shit country, but i try get at least an exchange in some ivy league uni

>>6253478
Prerequisites to enter pretigious institute include:
>Rich Parents who are willing to be extorted
>Achieving a high score on a fact memorizing test which should be achievable by any parrot

Why are you making bullshit excuses. I agree, going to an elite school isn't the highest pinnacle since connections and internships matter more but going to an elite school will give you better connections than going to a shitty school.

>>6253478
>this delusion

If you just know a lot of stuff you will fail the entrance tests / interviews for any respectable elite institution. The entire purpose of exams like STEP/BMAT/HAT/LNAT and the interview process is to weed out the people that just do stuff by wrote and the people who are actually clever.

>>6253491

>by wrote
>wrote
>actually clever

Guess that's not you.

>>6253490
And once again, I remember why I don't bother arguing with people on /sci/.

No wonder I stopped posting here for about a month.

>>6253495
Wow thanks anon, I forgot how making a spelling mistake invalidates the argument itself.

>butthurt community college "lazy genius" detected

believe it or not there's more to life than school

Because I'm not good enough. Why am I not good enough? I live in a poor city in the North of Brazil.

>>6253481
I finished high school this year and I didn't learn anything (shitty teachers, shitty everything). Next year I'm going to prepare myself for the university. What should I learn in order to get on the level of someone who is going to Cambridge (I'm not going, since I live in another country, but I want to get at your level).

>>6253496

Graduate student at a top five school actually, but thanks for playing!

>>6253499
books cost next to nothing nowadays. You're just lazy and/or unintelligent

As for me, at a tier 2 now, can't wait to apply to grad school

>>6253482
John's, Genetics PhD

>>6253478
This is complete drivel. The whole philosophy of admissions is that no-one should ever be barred access by their finances. There are huge bursaries and scholarships available. The majority of Oxbridge students were educated at state schools (it's about 63:37).

As for the "fact memorizing" test, this is also idiotic. You will generally have an additional entry test, designed specifically to work out who memorised the textbook and who is actually clever. In addition there are multiple interviews with academics at the University to gauge your suitability as an applicant.

Getting perfect A level, IB or SAT/ACT/whatever scores is not (in of itself) a mark of intellectual prowess, nor will it gain you a place.

Go read some STEP papers and get back to me when you know what the fuck you are on about.

>>6253503
[citation needed]

>>6253458
Ah, I see. Is it any good? I'm doing Computer Science there.

>>6253503
You see, I don't get the point of >top five school. So I doubt you go to a top five school

why don't you list the school you go? How are you supposed to find out who you are from loads of students. It's an anonymous board.

>>6253508
Sweet, where'd you go for your undergrad?

>>6253511
>>6253514

Georgia Tech, aerospace engineering. I'm >>6253448. I don't think rankings matter, I just wanted to fuck with >>6253496.

>>6253508
>only includes mathematics entrance exam in counter-argument
I think they may still include memorable formulas though, however, not having taken this exam I can't be sure.

>berates a person for their lack of information
You can not call a person an idiot because they don't know every detail about your school. You can only say they're uneducated about your school.

>Getting perfect A level, IB or SAT/ACT/whatever scores is not (in of itself) a mark of intellectual prowess, nor will it gain you a place.

This sounds highly unlikely, but I don't go to your school so I can't be certain. Your statement about the score not being a mark of intellectual prowess is completely true, though.

Is Purdue elite for engineering?

>>6253529
Most natural sciences students will have to do questions as part of their interview (as do maths students). There are other tests for other subjects (e.g HAT, LNAT, BMAT) but STEP is the classic example.

>This sounds highly unlikely, but I don't go to your school so I can't be certain.

There are a lot of people with perfect/very high scores. They aren't all deserving of a place and they don't all get a place. They will probably guarantee you an interview, but if the academics interviewing you think that you aren't actually all that smart, you just memorised everything, they will turn you down.

Every year the newspapers publish a story along the lines of "poor person with perfect A levels gets rejected from Oxford" and every year the universities give the same response: everyone applying has amazing A levels, you were turned down because you weren't good enough.

>>6253517
>georgia tech
>top 5
pick one

>>6253517
http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2013/engineering-mechanical

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2013-14/subject-ranking/subject/engineering-and-IT

>top 5

University of Surrey

am I cool yet?

>>6253516
Also Cambridge. I did 4 year straight masters then moved onto this

>>6253540
>Surrey
>Elite

the only elite universities in the UK are oxbridge. all other universities are irrelevant.

>>6253540
Hey bro

I'm also at Surrey

You aren't doing Mech Eng are you?

>>6253547
inb4 Imperial babbies

>>6253547
Imperial College, London
Kings College, London
University College, London

>>6253547
my feelings doe

>>6253549
nope, compsci

>>6253539
What you're saying is an anecdote, but if its true I suppose I may be mistaken about the students.

You also have to bare in mind reliance is given to the interviewers to make sound judgements.

I've also talked to people who have claimed to go to Cambridge whilst being profoundly stupid, however, this is anecdotal also and can't be made certain

>Most natural sciences students
Natural science and math students don't constitute the entire school

I want to thank you however, for having a somewhat civil argument which is extremely rare to have on /sci/

>>6253553
Is it true that Imperial is full of autistic male foreigners?

What about Southampton?

>tfw britbong wanting to study ee

>>6253559
Southhampton is fucking chill m9

do it

I go to University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill studying Chemistry and Theatre.

Am I /sci/ approved?

>>6253481

>cambridge
>literally the hipster of colleges

no ty m8

>>6253563
Ive never been to US but
>North Carolina
sounds like one of the redneck states

so no

First Division
1) Cambridge
2) Oxford
3) LSE
4) Imperial
5) UCL
6) Bristol
7) Warwick
8.) Edinburgh
9) KCL
10) St Andrews
11) Durham
12) York
13) Bath
14) Manchester
15) Nottingham
16) Sheffield
17) Birmingham
18) Southampton
19) Lancaster
20) Newcastle
21) Leeds
22) Loughborough
23) Exeter
24) Glasgow

Second Division
1) SOAS
2) Liverpool
3) Cardiff
4) Leicester
5) Strathclyde
-) East Anglia
-) Sussex
-) Hull
-) Aberdeen
-) Royal Holloway
-) Aston
-) QMW
-) Essex
-) Kent
-) Surrey
-) City
-) Brunel
-) Reading
-) Queen's Belfast
20) Heriot Watt
21) Bradford
22) Dundee
23) Goldsmith College
24) Swansea


Worldwide, the good unis are HYPMS + Columbia and the golden triangle.

>>6253561
I'm very close to Southampton, I live near Portsmouth (aka the shithole of the South with a bankrupt football team and full of pissed up sailors).

You do EE there or something else?

Anyone offering opinions on Imperial? (also looking at Bath and possibly York)

>>6253569
>Worldwide, the good unis are HYPMS + Columbia and the golden triangle.
Sorry, I shouldn't have said that.

I mean that they rank high for employability.

>>6253568
How about now?

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/top-public

>>6253570
>I live near Portsmouth
I'm so sorry

I don't study EE but im sure its fine. Southampton is nice and is always fun

I don't know anything about imperial but I heard its up there academically

GL anon

>>6253574
can we agree that the most important things are: the actual degree, the classification, internship and connections

>>6253585
Yes.

In order of most important to least
-Networking/connections

-Experience/Internships

-GPA

-School Name

School name might be more important than GPA if you want to get into competitive fields like IB. If you want to go into research, then going to a reputable school for your postgrad is important.

>>6253553
the fact that you even mentioned it makes it elite

>>6253583
Sadly I used to live *in* Portsmouth.

Moved away though.

Sounds good, I have read that Soton has one of the best EE depts. in the country so I think I will be good there.

Imperial is also up there but I don't want to spend all of uni with autists (not good enough for Oxbridge, and I've heard there's a high proportion of autists there too). London would have excellent nightlife at a cost as well...

>>6253579
>Rankings
I want to trust you but we have that shit here and they just use it to sell papers

everyone knows its oxbridge, Imperial and then a powergap but I you can find any sources claiming X uni is 4th

im sure its the same there

>>6253592
More like Oxbridge then powergap.
>>6253574
What is HYPMS?

>>6253600
confirmed for UWE undergrad

>>6253600
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford`

>>6253605
What's UWE?

>>6253558
So for humanities subjects they will often ask you to submit essays, or occasionally ask you to do them. It is harder to blag your way in for the humanities because you can't just ace your a levels through memorisation.

Maths/Natsci makes up the majority of scientists. The only others would be the medics/vets (who all do the BMAT) and the engineers (some of whom are asked to do STEP, others will have to do questions in their interview).

If you really are interested look at the admissions statistics - Cambridge publishes very detailed breakdowns of their admissions, including stuff like admissions by A level score etc.

>>6253605
>>6253569
>>6253592

Imperial babby detected. Imperial is not on the same level as Oxbridge. This cannot be stressed enough. Seriously, you guys are worse than durham with their stupid "Doxbridge" thing. Also

>muh golden triangle.

The tier list presented in >>6253569 is close but incorrect. A better list would be.

Elite tier:
>Cambridge
>Oxford

World Class Tier:
>Imperial
>LSE
>UCL
>Warwick
>Edinburgh

Ok Tier:
>Everything else in >>6253569 first divison
>SOAS

Why are you paying for this tier:
>the rest

>>6253628
>Imperial babby detected
I dont study at Imperial

I'll find on if I am next Saturday...

>>6253502
Dont blame the fucking teachers you cunt.
You have the internet, if your teachers suck you can learn it online.

1. Oxford (1)
2. Cambridge (3)
3. UCL (13)
4. Edinburgh (15)
5. Imperial College (21)
6. Manchester (27)
7. KCL (37)
8. LSE (41)
9. Nottingham (45)
10. Birmingham (57)
11. Bristol (66)
12. London Business School (79)
13. Warwick (106)
14. Durham (129)

brackets are world rank in THE


Top 10 (World)

1. Oxford
2. Harvard
3. Cambridge
4. Stanford
5. MIT
6. Princeton
7. Columbia
8. Yale
9. Caltech
10. Tokyo

>>6253646
>Top 10 (World)
No bias in this list

There are pretty decent universities that arent Oxbridge, in America or Tokyo

>>6253663
>Top 10 in the world
>pretty decent

I don't get your point?

>>6253664
I was being flippant

read as "some of the best universities in the world"

>>6253628
>Doxbridge

I laughed.

I do

I didn't get in. ;_;

How many hours a day do you guys study at top universities?

>>6253723
None at all. With an IQ of 375 you don't need to study. Listening to a university lecture is dragging down my intellect. I don't need a professor less intelligent than myself telling me trivialities I figured out when I was 3.

>>6253503

Wow, you didn't get it did you.

The point of going to college is to get a good job afterwards, not sell yourself as a slave to some professor for almost nothing.

What do you plan on doing afterwards when you are 30? Become a postdoc? I make more than double what a postdoc makes as a 24 year old.

Nice try, better luck next life.

>>6253726
why isnt the word IQ banned on this board? like you type IQ and it becomes "I'm a fag"?

>>6253539
>>georgia tech
>>top 5
>pick one

Georgia Tech is top 5 for aerospace engineering

>>6253737
Top 5 in the state of Georgia. Not Top 5 USA and definitely not Top 5 in the world

>>6253743

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate-aerospace-aeronautical-astronautical

I don't see why you guys care about university rankings across the world so much for non-subject-specific rankings. For instance, Edinburgh is 15th in the world for everything, but it's 16th in the UK for physics. Surrey is 10th. Why do you care so much about university reputation across the world if your employers don't?

>>6253752
> if your employers don't
In the real world they do

>>6253747
http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2013/engineering-mechanical

>>6253757
No they don't unless it's a competitive field like Investment banking.

>>6253762
I believe this is the part where you tell me a 1st from Surrey is better than a 2:1 from Cambridge

where does lse rank in all this?

>>6253466
you have to be genius to get on good usa uni if you are from third world and they do not have 100% refund scholarship for those people

>>6253774
LSE is up there with oxvbridge.

>>6253774
>>6253779
LSE is often off the radar for sci as it specialises in the humanities. It is undoubtedly a very good school and is competitive with oxbridge for some subjects (particularly straight econ). Like Imperial, it is good at what it does but not Oxbridge tier. If we wanted to be even more pedantic than >>6253628 you could separate the "World Class Tier" into LSE/Imperial as True World Class and the others as regular world class

Is going to a big name university important if I want to work at/get internship at places like Amazon, Google, Facebook etc.

>>6253736
Because everybody already knows that you're a fag.

Captcha: Kencym affirmative

>>6253442
>Tfw you didnt go to an Ivy League to stay home with your family because your mother was dying of cancer.
>Tfw you sorta regret it but now your family needs you.

>>6253588
Ironically, getting to a good school allows better networking oppurtunities and some grade inflate allowing for a better gpa.

>>6253771
Why isn't it? All undergraduate degrees are pretty much the same.

>>6253807
isn't this some fag movie with that fag actor?

Is it possible for a normal very smart international student to go to one of the great American or European universities without paying? Or only geniuses don't have to be rich in order to be admitted?

>>6253436

Because I already graduated.

Cambridge graduate here. Oxbridge is fast losing every thing that puts it above the other top tiers. It only has supervisions left (and prestige of course). The economy is so fucked it's not even a guarantee that you'll be at least upper-middle-class any more.

imperial fag here

don't come here

ever

I went to Kings and studied History of Art, now I'm on the dole. The degree you do is more important than where it is from.

>>6253822
>this is what retards actually believe

>>6253889
It's not true. Undergrad degrees are not however as important as people think. Postgrad is super important though.

>>6253886
Why?

I need to choose between ICL, Manchester and Durham for physics and I can't pick.

>>6253893
Durham.

Can I get into a top tier math phd program with the following?

shit undergrad gpa from top tier public uni
goat grad gpa from 3rd tier public uni

>>6253895
No. Suicide is probably your best option.

>>6253893
Imperial.

>>6253898
Niggers everywhere - fuck that.

>>6253901
There are niggers at Imperial?

>>6253436
To lazy, will get papers published then GPA/uni doesn't matter. Eat shit faggot.

>>6253903
You never been to London?

>>6253905
I know but I never knew they were that smart.

>>6253896

>>6253906
Not smart. Ethnic diversity quotas.

>>6253910
Keep telling yourself that.

>>6253911
Start of term: 5 black guys in my Engineering Class - 3 dropped out. The other 2 both got thirds.

>>6253913
>confirmation bias
there are no diversity quotas in UK universities

>>6253913
hows it like at Imperial?

>>6253916
My bad then, I thought there were.

>>6253918
Not bad. However, I hated London, full of scum.

>>6253924
Is the social life really that bad?

>>6253436
>no rich parents
>no 140+ IQ to receive full scholarship
>have poor parents that barely finished high school
>had a 3.7 GPA but got an F in my senior year and it dropped to 3.5
>didnt know what to do/major in after HS so I spent 2 years being a NEET
>got fat, social skills dissapeared
>uneducated parents were unable to help me

If I had had a plan, I'd probably could have gotten in a top 10 U.S Public school. Sadly my parents were as clueless as I was. I currently attend a community college and barely have a 3.1ish GPA. I'm an average B student.

>>6253480
>i'm a bad test taker

This is how I know this board is fucking stupid. You have a bunch of threads filled with people with 150+ IQs yet rarely any on this board go to good universities and you all make excuses about why you can't get in.

Because science is a hobby for me

>>6253941
Maybe because intelligence has little to do with attending a prestigious university? Of course IQ is a flawed concept to begin with.

>>6253934
>ace tests
>get shit marks because I don't do the course work

I'm a bad student.

>>6253941
>implying IQ > everything else
confirmed for not having a 105+ IQ

Does top 20 on US world news and rankings count?

We'll make the top 10 some day...

>>6253944
>intelligence has little to do with attending a prestigious university

Sure, mate.

How is McGill ? it's ranked number 1 in Canada.

>>6253955
>Does top 20 on US world news and rankings count?

No.

>>6253941
See
>>6253481

I don't have great grades. I barely do my work, but ace tests and quizzes. I sleep in class. Now in college, sometimes I don't go to class because it's too boring. I know everything. I didn't even get my books last semester. I never got great grades, I'm a shitty student. Doesn't mean I'm not smart. I suspect others have the same experience.

>>6253891
Yes, this is what I believe. I fail to see how undergraduate degrees vary so much from university to university, though.

>>6253955
What school

>>6253979
Laziness makes you useless to society, doesn't matter if you could do all of it.

>>6253481
How is it like studying in cambridge?

>>6253996

>muh utilitarianism

being good to society is not necessarily top on everyone's agenda or morality

>>6253996
>implying he has to be useful

>>6253996

>useless to society
>so what?

>>6254001
Why do you believe that his "talent" is real if he can't prove he can do anything? Even if he could, why would you value the talent for its own sake?

>>6253570
m8 i live in pompey :)

I've got offers from manchester and ucl for chem eng

>>6253986
Northwestern.

2/3 of the student population really loves it here, but a lot of people whether they show it or not have a chip on their shoulder for not getting in to HYPMS. I wouldn't rather be anywhere else, though.

>>6254016

I don't need to believe anything about him, and he doesn't need to care what I or others believe about him. the point is that he could have self-respect and live a very fulfilled life content with his genius even if he didn't contribute a single fuck to society

>>6253436

too retarded, didn't even think about being this hardcore about university admissions until I got in university, only then did I realize that I cared about elite academic institutions.

>>6253996

So what if he's useless to society?

>>6254019
Great school. I'm about 30 minutes away from you. I got waitlisted myself and ended up going to a university in California though.

>>6253979
>lazy genius
Literally everyone on /sci/ believes this

>I don't try that hard but get good grades
>I go to a second rate university because I didn't try and top tiers are a scam and you can only get in if you are black/mega rich/legacy
>But I could ace every test if I tried
>But I could be at MIT/Cambridge/Harvard if I tried
>But I could win a nobel or a field's medal if I applied myself

You are mediocre /sci/. You aren't shit, but you aren't a genius either. Sure, if you applied yourself you could do better, but you'll never be HYP/Oxbridge quality.

>>6254030
it's fairly easy to get into oxbridge for post grad

>>6254030
You forgot to add
>I could solve triple integrals if I worked on my mathematical abilities 25 hours a day instead of only 20

What a bunch of delusional neckbeards, man.

>>6254035
Do they care about what university you go to? I remember them just wanting a first. I mean you could go to the worst university and get a first easily?

>>6254030
Being intelligent and being hard working are two very different things

>>6254029
Thanks, are you at USC by any chance? I remember during acceptance period it was one of the most common schools people were deciding between.

Most of the schools in California seem to have a really nice lifestyle, a lot of the East Coast schools felt really self-entitled and uptight to me.

>>6254045
they don't care as long as you can interview well and have a 1st from a decent university

I know someone who went to Swansea for his Beng and did his Meng at Cambridge

>tfw 2100 SAT with 3.5 GPA and shit extracurriculars meant I couldn't get into anything that I actually wanted

>Be a senior in High School 6 years ago
>Get a call at home
>pick up the phone
>it's some minority student group at Harvard
>they encourage me to apply because my test scores were really good for a minority
>apply to Harvard
>get rejected

fuck me.

>>6254065
>tfw they only wanted you to apply so that they'd have a lower acceptance rate and look more selective and elite.

>>6254073
I doubt Harvard needs to do that. I think their reputation is enough at this point that everyone applies already anyway.

>>6254073
>tfw schools like UChicago, Harvard, Columbia send huge "Apply now" packets
>tfw their counselors and alumni always say "You have a good shot"
>yfw they collect massive jewbucks from idiots applying on CommonApp

>>6254047
Yes indeed, but just because you aren't one does not mean you are the other.

>>6254047
Guess which one is more important

>>6254019
I go to UT and this is pretty much the same impression I've gotten. Really enjoying it so far though. I sometimes worry that I'm not in HYPMS and it will disadvantage me when looking for a job, but oh well.

>>6254035
>it's fairly easy to get into oxbridge for post grad
k m8

>>6254030

I never thought of myself as a genius. I'm not that arrogant.

I do consider myself a little bit above average. I have friends in Brown and MIT, and I'm better at math than them, and they're both comp-sci majors.

>>6254050

I'm from an east coast school, damn straight everyone's self-entitled.

>>6253436
Just as a side comment (I didn't even try for the top schools because I did badly on SATs), admissions to elite US schools is kind of a joke, not even in a good way. The US is a huge country with literally hundreds of thousands of students who could succeed at top schools, and on top of that they get tons of international applicants who are on average even better qualified than the US kids. Then they have to worry about their image, so choosing applicants from tons of different backgrounds with interesting life stories for their promotional literature is a big deal. The smaller ones have to ensure that they admit people with a variety of majors so that their faculty/student ratio is good. Then there's all the bullshit about legacy and keeping donors happy that is probably only half true..

Basically no one can say they're in a top US school because of anything they did better than the average Harvard reject, because it was probably luck.

>>6254099
>>6254030
Another trait of the lazy genius, they all think they are above average.

>>6254092
Neither. Intelligence or hard work alone does not guaranteed "success". It is the result of being well-equipped for your environment, and of favorable circumstances.

Captcha: For taryntf

If you study at a bad uni but read the right books in the right way, does it make any difference?

Because I couldn't get in (and I damn well did try). I got rejected from MIT, Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia.

...at least I got into Cornell. Decent for engineering.

>>6253436
Because I'm just not smart enough.

>>6254050
No I'm at Berkeley. I posted earlier in the thread.

>>6254174
I want to spend this next year studying to prepare for uni. How much math/sci did you now before getting into Cornell?

>>6254174
What is Cornell like anon?

I am currently a grad at Cambridge but very few places do my discipline (veterinary medicine) and Cornell is pretty much the only decent US university with a vet school. I don't know whether I want to spend another 4 years in Cambridge (when I finish I will have been here for 6) so am considering going elsewhere for a PhD

i didn't try, and if i would have i would have almost certainly been rejected

Cambridge Mathematician Master Race reporting in.

>>6254280
same, who's your dos?

>>6254284
Dr Skinner, you?

>>6254286
>sidney sainsbury's
eww

>>6254286
dorrzapf. what year you in bro?

>>6254304
Fresher, but I've had to defer entry due to illness so I'm not technically a student at the moment (I got to go to matric and then was in hospital for two weeks). Which college are you at?

>>6253962
>sure, mate.

sic rebuttal dude

To start off, yes my parents are fairly well off and I had no reason to go to college other than they said so. I never had any plan of what to do in life and money is just given to me so long as I'm breathing.

I went to UC Berkley and after 12 years of fucking around on my parents money I managed to finish a degree in English. I moved back to the midwest after my grandmother died to take care of my grandfather because it was free housing and my grandfather is a cool old dude.

After a few years (I realize this dates me to my late 30s and I'm here hanging around 4chan) I finally decided to go back to school because I was bored. I went back to a local university here in the midwest to start a degree in Geology. I think it's about time I did something with my life instead of play video games and watch Chinese cartoons.

Holy shit, this school is a joke. I mean, I fucked around at Berkley, I never took my education seriously but even then a degree in English was twice as hard there as this school's degree in science. Maybe I just haven't hit any hard teachers?

Can someone answer this for me? I'm not particularly brilliant, just average so why do I feel like I'm suddenly back in high school? Are most schools like this? I'm actually shocked.

>>6254334
How the fuck did I fuck up the spelling twice? goddamn it.

>>6253484
if that were the case harvard and MIT would be nothing but aspie containment facility.

most of the students at high power universities are very well rounded and have a range of aptitudes and are usually very motivated.

not to say motivation can't at least as important as problem solving, but countless people apply to high power schools. All of them have great academic records. Some of them still won't make it in. You have to demonstrate uniqueness, ability to overcome adversity, some special interest/motivation, demonstrate extraordinary creativity if you want acceptance.

>tfw no good unis in the netherlands
W-well I guess my uni is ranked 24th worldwide on its subject

>>6254330
You can't have low intelligence and expect to get into prestigious universities

FELLOW JOHNIAN

wazzup in da hizzle

>All these Cambridge people in these threads

>>6254341
>if that were the case harvard and MIT would be nothing but aspie containment facility.

I don't understand this comment - is the implication here that high IQ = aspie? Because that is extremely incorrect.

Its k we r all retarded rly

>>6254357
oshi-

year and subject?

Mathmo fresher. Which will probably give my identity away o_o

>mfw when I go to UPenn due to my high iq

Is NYU elite?

>>6253436
its for a certain kind of person
you pretty much have to be asian or an extrovert as i understand it

>>6254370
dunno, only know freshers on the football team / medsoc

>>6254358
>>6254358
They are all better than me. Fuck off, fuck life, fuck everything.

I hate being a fucking stupid 17 year old whose only knowledge of science and math comes from Dawkins and Sagan. I hate living in a shitty country with no opportunities. I hate every single one of you (just kidding, I love everybody on 4chan, except s4s idiots). Above all, I hate and blame my own disgusting self.

I want commit suicide because, even though my dream is to become a good and respectable scientist, I'm too lazy to change my habits and start studying to get into the best uni in my country and become the best student, so as to be admitted into Oxbridge or something similar when doing my Phd. I'm too lazy. I'm too fucking lazy. It was not always so. When I was 15 I loved to read to all kinds of books, specially popular science. But now all I do is browsing 4chan and masturbating to weird pornography.

I've been reading a great, clear and very instructive book on suicide. If by 2020 I'm still a failure, I'm going to kill myself (and /b/ will watch it).My epitaph with be the same as Yeats', for I cannot write poetry of my own.

>>6253436
Because I went to one my freshman year, took classes at my state flagship university over the summer and realized the quality of education is really not any different outside of a handful of top-level classes and that little bit of difference is not even fucking close to worth the extra $20,000 in tuition.
>>6254388
lel, and now on top of all that shit you have to deal with getting underageb&

It's weird how this is pretty much my first time on 4chan and people from my college are appearing on the same thread.
Cool.

>>6254377
Only if you're in Stern

I'm not smart like the rest of sci, I just go to USC. At least going here helped me land a sweet internship at a big tech company.

I decided I was too young to go out of state far away from home

and I was right, as much as I hate myself for not even applying out of curiosity, there was no real point

>>6254411
Did isn't the average SAT score just to get in like 2050? That's nothing to scoff at.

I know this is 4chan, where everyone has an 11 inch cock and an IQ of 150 but don't undermine your own education.

>>6254403
It's classic cambridge small-world syndrome, get used to it. I went to India and these random people I met turned out to be long time family friends of one of the dudes in my house.

You in new Cripps then?

>>6254425
USC's not actually that good of a school, its just super fucking rich so they can pay for good faculty and it's private so they let in a shitload of super smart asian grad students instead of saving spots for americans, half the undergrad girls and about 1/4 of the guys are dumb as fucking bricks and only make it because their parents are spending 80k a year on them.

>>6254444
Ahh I see, I looked it up and figured it was pretty decent from its 20% rate and SAT scores

I didn't get it because I spent time studying my own hobbies then learning English or chemistry.

>>6254426
How much racism is there in Cambridge?

>>6254451
Pretty decent yeah, it's not quite elite though, there are some top notch grad programs and of course the #1 film school in the world but undergrad isn't that exceptional.

>>6254458
In what sense?

>>6254361

the implication is that there are plenty of individuals who test well because they are focused exclusively on academics, but are otherwise unremarkable.

>>6253436
I do, pic related.

>>6254473
maybe I shouldn't be here, forgot pic.

>>6254473
>no picture

>>6254444
>>6254425

I'm >>6254411 and that's kind of true. I met a business student and told her I was from the Washington DC area, and she asked me where that is. She was an international student but come on...

And I'm one of those Asian grad students (not super smart) but at least everyone in the mechanical engineering department is cool. One of my classmates is an Imagineer at Disney

>>6253436
Very smart guy.

Always wanted to be an astronaut and or a medical doctor. (X-Files errday)

Got accepted to MIT, UCLA and UOC.

Too poor to attend any of them

Looks like 4 years of the army it is.

>>6254476
>columbia
>elite
nice try anon, thanks for playing.

>>6254483
>Got accepted to MIT, UCLA and UOC.
No you didn't

I go to a top 5 university for my area of engineering

>>6254465
In the sense of white people who don't like black people, Muslims, Jews, Australians etc.

Also, how about sexism and homophobia? Are sexist and homophobic jokes accepted among young heterosexual males or do people always fake being feminists and lgbt activists? Would you be judged harshly if you told people you enjoy browsing 4chan?

>>6254497
Pretty low. Cambridge is very left wing, and is pretty pro-actice in that regard. There are also very active societies for various minority groups, which do lots of social stuff as well as advocate on their behalf.

>Are sexist and homophobic jokes accepted among young heterosexual males or do people always fake being feminists and lgbt activists?
I think it very much depends on the company. Homophobic jokes are very much a no-no. Casual sexism is pretty rife, but at a low level (and almost always to do with sexualisation/objectification). You will meet the odd angry second wave feminist who will call you out repeatedly for any perceived slight, but the majority are tolerant (though they would probably disapprove).

So if you call someone a faggot, an eyebrow might raise, but that's it. Casually objectify some women, no-one is likely to say much. If you shouted "where the sluts at", you'd probably get told that was a bit much. But if you were actually a racist/homophobe/raging misogynist you would find yourself without friends quite quickly.

> Would you be judged harshly if you told people you enjoy browsing 4chan?
Unlikely, the majority won't know what it is. The general opinion of those that do is negative thoguh. Here is a fun screenshot of a discussion on my friends' wall. A picture of two of my friends (incidentally a couple) doing one of those "i need feminism because" billboards got #1 on r/cringepics, which somebody noticed and posted to their wall.

>tfw turned down Imperial for Manchester for Electronics

Dunno how to feel about this

>>6254334
Are you in your first year of Geology and are you getting your undergrad in Geology? This is important.

>>6254483
>Too poor to attend any of them
good thing MIT offers every student it admits financial aid to meet 100% of their need then right

but i guess since you are a lying faggot that isnt going to help you

>>6253436
I do.

>>6254541
jesus, sounds like a horrible fucking place

well either that or you are a total fag so all your friends are fags and fag enablers and your description of the average student is biased just due to your perspective

id like to believe the latter is true but i really cant tell

>>6254670
>fag enablers
I really hope you are trolling

>Being an elitist
>Implying "elite" schools aren't grade-inflated as fuck.

where is the science in this thread?

>>6253517
I thought georgia tech was a good engineering school until we hired a georgia tech engineering graduate

>>6254483
I doubt this.
It's pretty rare for MIT acceptees to refuse for financial reasons.
MIT financial aid dept. is usually exceptional at ensuring even the poorest students can afford if they're accepted.

>>6254541
jESUS FUCKING CHRIST. Their doucheknob arrogance hurts my passive aggressive gut.

Since it's the talk of the town all of a sudden, can /sci/ tell a HS senior where to want to go?

710 / 710 / 730 for CR / M / W (and I'm not even good at writing, made 9/12 on the written part of the exam) with 4.0 and finishing this year with 10x AP classes taken (3/4 on all thus far, 5 exams this year).

I'm computer sci wanting to go stanford, cornell, or maybe carnegie mellon. Where can I actually go and which schools will pay for a white, 170k /year family male to go?

>>6254215

>vet medicine as a major

What a waste

>>6254334

Schools vary wildly in difficulty
It's all a stupid game of muh feelings for the lower tier schools

>>6254781
You blow my stats out of the water, but I'm warning you to not get unrealistic expectations because that 710 in Math for something like Comp Sci will get your application almost immediately thrown away at CMU or Cornell

My family is poor, mother is nurse father is trucker. Therefore I went to very low quality public schools. It's hard to learn and be enthusiastic about academics when the facilities are shite, and when the teacher is spending 90% of the time dealing with troublemakers from broken homes with young parents, uneducated, drunks druggies, on welfare. It's a miracle I managed to resist the peer pressure to become a 2bit wannabe gangster party kid, like most of my peers. The only reason I am now in university studying engineering is because I live in a country with subsidized tertiary education. Also when I was 15 I watched sagans cosmos, which made me very interested in science and math. I shudder to think what I'd be right now if it wasn't for the internet, and my 2 good friends at that school who were also poor as fuck, yet rejected the peer pressure shit just like me.

>>6254792
It's even worse because I'm not a good writer nor do I give a fuck about the ramblings of edgar allen poe or shakespear's plays.

From what I've read, many applications processes are major-blind nowadays because students change majors so often.

>>6254802
>>6254792
oh yeah I forgot to add. My breakdown was 50/54 correct, which doesn't sound bad but apparently is -90 points.

>>6254781
you will almost definitely get rejected from stanford
you will probably get rejected from cornell, you have a pretty good chance at carnegie mellon, dont go to cornell anyway it is cold as fuck and in the middle of nowhere and it would suck being stuck there for your entire college experience

what state are you in? you are probably better off just going to your state flagship tbh, you are not exceptionally intelligent and you will be better off saving your parents money being surrounded by your peers, if you are in some shitty ass state with no good public schools though i can understand you wanting to leave.

>>6254814
I'm in GA, but GA tech is an engineering school. I wanted to go there until my school hired some shit for brains engineering grad, at which point I couldn't stand the concenpt.

>>6254809
I got a 690 with 5 wrong, so I hear you.

My biggest advice is don't get set on brand name universities like Stanford and Cornell. I don't know shit about Comp Sci because I picked Economics but try schools like Michigan or Virginia if you're in state. Basically try for the best public school in your state because that's the best way to save bux + it doesn't really matter where do Comp Sci I'm sure unless you're in UCB or MIT

>>6254213
err I knew up through Calc BC and Physics C, if you know about AP courses. Basically introductory calculus with series and basic mechanics and E&M with calculus.

>>6254215
It's nice. Cold and gray alot, but it's a beautiful campus and there are lots of nice people here.

>>6254829
Doesn't Cornell have the highest suicide rate of any school or something? It was dreadful and depressing when I visited, plus the faces of Asians and Whites seemed to scream "Don't come here"

>>6254814
From someone who goes to Cornell, it's not that bad (see my above post). Sure it's cold, but honestly everything you would really need can be found in Ithaca. Beautiful scenery, hiking and running trails, lakes, etc beats a polluted groggy city any day imo.

As far as his scores, CMU and Stanford may be a stretch, but he's got a shot at Cornell. I know some people who scored in that SAT range, but you have to make up for it with leadership shit and great essays.

Also, it's unlikely either of those 3 schools would pay for you with that income. Sorry, you're in that income bracket that gets fucked over by not being able to afford tuition but being ignored by financial aid, too.

>>6254833
No, that's not true. There was a string of suicides a few years back that led to this misconception.

How do you define "dreadful and depressing"? Like I've said, I like the more rural atmosphere, and the cold is something you just get used to. The competition is harsh, because most everything is graded on a curve, but once you get used to not getting straight A's without working anymore it becomes okay. There are plenty of interesting classes, plenty of opportunities for research/internships/other projects, which is why I really like it here.

>>6254836
Ehh it was probably the weather that left a foul taste in my mouth that day, plus the 4 hour drive to Ithaca kind had me feeling like I was in the middle of nowhere

>>6254844
I could see that. I guess it's different for someone who loves the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere.

>>6254781
APPLY TO YOUR FUCKING STATE SCHOOL SON.

I'm not kidding.

>>6253568
UNC and Duke are top-ranked public and private universities, respectively

>>6253568
North Carolina is actually home to the Research Triangle Park, NC is mostly only rednecky in the more rural areas.

>>6254855
Unfortunately for me, this meant Rutgers, so I was more or less forced to go out of state if I wanted to even consider ever finding a job.

>>6254860
Dude Rutgers is seriously underrated in Jersey. People I met in NC and CA legit think it's one of the best schools in the Northeast.

That, and the alumni network is huge and basically will guarantee you a job in the NYC, Philly, and to a lesser extent Miami, Seattle, and Atlanta areas.

I was there once, Rutgers wasn't the "cool" school to go to, but you honestly have to fuck up royally to not have a job after leaving the banks.

>>6253436
Why don't you stand on the streetcorner soliciting gay sex from faggots with full-blown AIDS you 1% piece of shit? Fuck the fuck off.

>>6254863
I don't know, I saw Rutgers claim the careers of so many of my classmates and upperclassmen I hated it. Kids in my school averaged around a 2000 on their SAT and we took a shit ton of premed courses, I hated seeing them squander possible Ivies for Rutgers.

As far as reputation it goes it only seems bad in NJ because so many fucking people go to it it's ridiculous. I wouldn't imagine student #434646 to graduate from there to have much of a chance since more than likely he was competing or being associated with student #434647 for the same job.

>>6253447

KCL is nowhere near elite, my mate does Math at KCL and their exams are a joke

>>6254818
Georgia Tech is still definitely your best bet for CS, a bachelors in CS coming from an engineering school is generally worth more than from a more science oriented school anyway. Honestly if you can't get into CMU you'd probably be better off at UGA than going to a shittier school out of state, but shit anon you are lucky enough to have one of the best STEM schools in the country in your home state, take advantage of it.
>>6254834
>As far as his scores, CMU and Stanford may be a stretch, but he's got a shot at Cornell.
Isn't Cornell more selective that carnegie mellon? I know it is higher ranked, and it is an ivy league too, it definitely has a much better liberal arts program and I was under the impression it is comparable on the STEM side. Either way Stanford is more than a stretch, it's pretty much out of the question, and the others aren't very likely either, sub 2100 SATs, a weighted 4.0 and 3s and 4s on APs are not very strong numbers at all, he'd have to be really exceptional outside of school and since he's asking for college advice on 4chan that seems pretty unlikely.

And you don't need to tell me about going to school in bumfuck, I'm in my fourth year in Gainesville and I am absolutely sick to fucking death of that ghetto little shithole, I guess some people enjoy living in the middle of nowhere though.

>>6254874
I agree with everything you said, except CMU is exceptional (on par with MIT and Stanford) at CS in particular, and so is very difficult to get into.

>>6254874
CMU has higher math credentials since that is pretty much its focus. The average math score at Cornell may likely be lower since they may expect reading or writing to also be up there to substitute.

>>6253436
Because...
>leaving my basement
>food, internet, exercise, 100% healthy

No, thanks

>>6254874
Anecdote here, but I was accepted to CMU and UPenn cs and waitlisted/denied at Cornell.

Went to Illinois instead because I'm too male, middle class and white to get any money. Also better rankings if you believe that bullshit.

Since this has turned into a not shitty advice thread, can anyone help me out here with picking out a school? My parents are dirt poor so money is almost a nonissue.
>>6254064

>>6254818
Hey, from georgia too.. Georgia Tech is an interesting place from what my friends there tell me. Your GPA will probably get destroyed if you're an engineering major, but their co-opt program allows you to get experience, which is really important for your career. I probably would have gone to tech if I didn't go to Yale. So, I hear that Tech is hard, but you'll probably be employed when you graduate.

>>6254869
Remember though student #434647 has the support of alumnus #6843043.

You can make a big school small, but you can't make a small school big.

Also, the reason that most kids with high SAT scores typically don't do well at RU is because they underestimate it, don't do the work, and that comes back to bite them.

Also, with your impressive stat's, a free education is tough to pass up these days.

>>6254899
Good point, although I'm glad I was able to be accepted out of state for Virginia, leaving this place from the commerce school literally gets you offers from Goldman Sachs right away

>>6253531
hell yeah it is. boiler up.

So from my understanding to the /sci/ mind, you need to have a high IQ/Intelligence/Understanding to make yourself useful, in the real world. With this, its assumed that you obtain this intelligence as a child. So, how can we make (or tell if) all our children ( or some of them) have this intelligence. Sorry for my bad English.

>>6254874
I thought UF was regarded as a decent school?

>>6254863
Rutgers please stay out of the big 10.

>>6254818
Don't forget about Berkeley and WASHINGTON!!!!

>>6254556
Why would you do that?

Can someone explain to me what elite colleges provide to you normal colleges can't?

>>6257206
Connections

>>6253559
Id say its about 1/4 cool foreigners, 1/4 autistic foreigners, 1/4 dull brits, 1/4 cool brits

>>6253901
are you having a bubble? Theres 1 black person on my course, fuck all niggers around south ken in general aswell

>>6254782
>medicine on hard mode
>actually fun
It was that or do maths, but I didn't want to be some smelly autist with no career options but academia or selling my soul to the finance industry.

Woe betide anyone who chooses a career path they might actually enjoy.

>>6257206
Connections, superior teaching, better learning environment (since everyone else there is smart too), better facilities (they are often much much richer), big name brand (when a graduate recruiter has 100 CVs for a single job she is going to give each of them 10 seconds at most. Having MIT on it will grant you a second look)

Bump for interesting thread

>>6253540
my mates at surrey doing aerospace or someshit

>>6253481
What's it like studying at a glorified hipster diploma mill?

>>6253807
>using cartoons

go to /b/, immature infantile.

I'm doing gender studies at Harvard.

>>6258154

>>6253436
My situation prevents me from doing so.

I still try my best.

Why don't I?

Because I come from white trash.
I did 8 years in the Army just to get a free ride through college.
I have to do 2 years at a community college then I transfer into a regular university and assuming I even get accepted, then I would be able to go to a decent college to do PHD/Masters level work.

Unlike some of you fucks I had to work to get what I have....

I don't even mind the radiation exposure from Japan.

>>6258155

>>6258174
I know that feel bro

You can learn all you want from a high end institution but it won't teach you wisdom. Wisdom comes from experiencing pain.

>>6253506
>books cost next to nothing nowadays

Either you're using terrible material, or you've found some sort of holy grail where you can get books extremely cheaply. Even when looking around, a lot of the books I'm buying for University are costing £30-£100 each.

>>6258188
>2014(practically)
>buying books

I didn't buy a book for my programming class, used a physics encyclopedia at the library for physics, bought some maths filed from my school for my maths classes, bought used books for the rest.

Learn to be a poor person dude.

>>6253436

Because my parents aren't poor but they saved up nothing for uni. Tuition fees are a non-issue obviously, but there's no fucking way I can spend £7k+ per year on accommodation.

I got 4 A grades at advanced higher maths + 3 sciences and was the only one in my school year to even take that much. I don't really feel inferior to people who go to Cambridge / other better unis, since a tonne of them went to private school and got 3 As. (And I don't feel superior obviously, because if you want to be GOAT it all comes down to hard work).

I'm pretty sure I could get in to Imperial / Cambridge for engineering post-grad, but I'm not sure if I want post-grad.

People are lying to themselves if they think they're getting an education as good as Cambridge/Imperial, by going to their less known uni, but I think it's kind of hyped up too much. I'm still getting interviews from "prestigious" companies. I really think the career aspect of elite unis is hyped up too much in the UK (it matters more in the USA). And in terms of the academic side, if I cared about that, I'd go do a PhD at one of them (but I'm not sure)

>>6253436

Unless you're going to research the only difference between elite schools and every other school out there is the quality of the kids who go there. Honestly, the only reason why you would go to Harvard is to get sweet contacts and connects with future Senators and business leaders.

>>6254107

I'm a UKer, and I agree with this. Your admissions systems is a joke. Places like Yale/Harvard seem like playgrounds for rich kids. There was an article that talked about the grade inflation at harvard.

>>6258216
so where did you end up going? don't you get money from a student loan.

>>6258188
>or you've found some sort of holy grail where you can get books extremely cheaply.
ya dude
theres a link to it at the top of the page
not even joking, ive gotten 2/3 of my textbooks the past 2 years from links in the /sci/ guide, found the rest myself

>>6254357
ID RATHER BE AT OXFORD THAN AT JOHNS
YES ID RATHER BE AT OXFORD THAN AT JOHNS
YES ID RATHER BE AT OXFORD
YES ID RATHER BE AT OXFORD
YES ID RATHER BE AT OXFORD THAN AT JOHNS

Because I didn't have a chance at most of them, and the ones that I could have (or did) get into were prohibitively expensive. I'm going to try for an elite college for graduate school though.

For someone like me who was a bit lazy early on in high school, I didn't even have the slightest chance of getting into 9/10 prestigious universities. The kind of competition in the US is different nowadays. Having the highest possible grades in both school and on standardized tests is implied. The competitiveness comes in extra-curricular activities and advanced courses.

Hell, I'm going to decent, but unremarkable, state college, and the average high-school GPA of incoming freshman is around a 3.8-3.9. The interesting part is that after the first year, their college GPA tends to be around a 3.0 to 3.1. This is a pattern that is almost universal in any decent school, and it shows how much of a joke our high-schools are in terms of course difficulty.

>>6258221
That's true to some extent, but the gap in students' abilities isn't nearly as great as I thought it would be.

I did a Master's in engineering at a school ranked in the top 40-50. I was above average there, with a high GPA and excellent recommendations from my advisers. There were students who were undoubtedly better than me in their ability, their productivity, and so on but I fared well.

I was a little scared when I transferred to a university ranked #3 for a PhD. All the Chinese students in my department come from Tsinghua. All the Indians come from the IITs. Still, I performed better than average in my classes, helped students with their homework, and was told my my adviser that I was among the top 5% of RA's that he's ever had (though I bet he's revised that on account of all my recent failures). I'm not a genius. There were definitely people better than me in at least one aspect, sometimes more. I feel that the percentage of people doing better than me is higher here than it was at my last university, but that large gap in ability I expected to find between universities just isn't there. The drive of the students is ridiculous though, as they attend every conference they can, apply for any available fellowship or scholarship, and in general just constantly try to improve their resumes. But a lot of these students have no business working in the cleanroom where I spend most of my time. They constantly break machines by misusing them, mix chemicals together in dangerous ways, leave messes all over the place, and just piss me off with their incompetence. However, there are others who are exceptional. I just don't really see a big gap in laboratory ability at a top university either.

>>6258304
Sign on, pleb.

>>6258152
>being this mad
Sorry bro I couldn't hear you over the massive chip on your shoulder.

Because there is none in my country and I am too lazy to go abroad

Also I think that teaching of medicine is here as good as everywhere else

>>6258392

I'm talking purely undergrad here, maybe I should have mentioned that before.

>>6254818

I'm >>6255462 and the only reason I didn't inquire about berkeley was that the admissions deadline was Nov 30. Didn't consider it early enough and now that door is closed (unless I can transfer). I also never looked at washington, and their admissions deadline is also closed.

Because I am shit and I did shit in STEP, failing to get into the Warwick mathematics course, let alone the Cambridge mathematics course.

I wish I could get into an elite college, but sadly, I'm retarded.