/sci/ - Science & Math

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Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:02:03 2013 No.5877744 [Reply] [Original]

I'm going to Harvard next year as a freshman and I want to get into and successfully complete the course 'Math 55a.' I already know Calc AB, Calc BC, Differential Equations, and Discrete Math. What other math courses should I take that will give me a better chance of getting in and doing well in the course? I also think I'll be also be able to handle the massive amount of work given.

Thanks /sci/

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:12:33 2013 No.5877758 just get started on that material. afaik it's just analysis and algebra. You may want to use easier books to start than rudin and whatever the algebra book they use.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:15:03 2013 No.5877762 >>5877744 If you at least become familiar with the material beforehand, you might stand a shot. Find a copy of the syllabus online and get cracking on the topics outlined.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:17:05 2013 No.5877766 >>5877762 Did you take the course? Because I actually want to know how hard it actually is.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:17:05 2013 No.5877767 [the following may be wrong] Isn't harvard known for it's law department? If you wanted to go to a school known for its math department wouldn't you have chosen caltech or something?

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:18:34 2013 No.5877769 >>5877766 Why don't you ask one of the students who took it? as in, visit the campus? I wouldn't trust 4chan with my education/future

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:21:04 2013 No.5877770 >>5877767 Harvard is actually really good for math, it's actually ranked higher than CalTech according to: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/mathematics-rankings

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:21:04 2013 No.5877773 >>5877766 I wouldn't go looking for personal Harvard experience on 4chan.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:22:34 2013 No.5877774 >>5877770 That's grad schools, you're an undergrad.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:22:34 2013 No.5877775 >>5877773 ok thanks haha

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:23:34 2013 No.5877778 >>5877774 http://www.usnews.com/education/worlds-best-universities-rankings/best-universities-mathematics

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:25:33 2013 No.5877781 >>5877778 I'm just playing devil's advocate, I would kill to go study math at Harvard.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:27:35 2013 No.5877786 >>5877781 Thanks! It took a lot of hard work and extra-curricular activities to get in.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:30:03 2013 No.5877789 >>5877786 >tfw only applied to 3 schools There's a lot of what ifs.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:38:04 2013 No.5877795 >>5877789 I applied to Harvard, University of Chicago, Caltech, and MIT. I didn't get into Caltech though.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:40:34 2013 No.5877798 >>5877795 I pretty much just applied to Stanford and Georgia Tech (guess which one accepted me). Oddly enough, a friend of mine applied to all of yours and some others and only got CalTech out of the elites.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:43:03 2013 No.5877802 >>5877798 That's odd. The only reason I picked Harvard against MIT was the cost.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:48:04 2013 No.5877808 >>5877802 I always MIT was really good about costs.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 20:49:03 2013 No.5877809 >>5877808 Well, Harvard offers better financial aid so

>>	Sceak !!LciZj2frsW6 Wed Jul 3 20:57:03 2013 No.5877817 File: 16 KB, 480x200, _1309763761.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>5877744 >I'm going to Harvard next year

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:07:04 2013 No.5877829 >>5877767 your ignorance makes me ill and angry

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:12:03 2013 No.5877832 >>5877808 >>5877809 MIT and Harvard both pay full need so you'd probably get around the same from both...

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:18:34 2013 No.5877837 >>5877832 "Full Need" is pretty subjective. My school insists they're paying my full need, but that doesn't mean I didn't need to take out a good amount of loans.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:20:04 2013 No.5877838 >>5877837 I thought "full need" was fairly standardized across schools.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:21:03 2013 No.5877839 >>5877837 But it's just derived from your EFC, which is only different if the schools are in different states.

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:24:04 2013 No.5877840

>>5877838
>>5877839

Oh, whatever. I only applied to one school so I didn't really get into comparing them. I guess I wouldn't have gotten better anywhere else without merit anyways.

All I know is I'm paying a hell of a lot more than what I would consider "meeting my full need"

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:25:33 2013 No.5877842 >>5877744 Download Sternberg's Advanced Calculus here: http://www.math.harvard.edu/~shlomo/

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:29:33 2013 No.5877847 >>5877795 Funny because that's exactly where I'm applying to, plus Stanford. OP what are the extracurriculars you did? And what kind of volunteering?

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:35:03 2013 No.5877854

>>5877847
Well, I had over 300+ hours of volunteering. I was in National Honors Society, French Honors Society (President), Technology Student Association (I won one state competition, went to nationals, and got one third place state), I took programming, engineering, and math classes outside of school. I also took AP classes over the summer at the community college over the summer (Chemistry, Literature, US History). I didn't do much freshman year, but sophomore and junior year I really worked.

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:41:04 2013 No.5877859

>>5877854
heh. I wish I'd been motivated enough to think about my future like this earlier in high school. I spent freshman, sophomore, and 90% of junior year after school coming home to play MMOs and waste time in front of the computer. Then I got a 2370 on my SATs and found out I was valedictorian of my high school class. It finally dawned on me that if I had some extracurriculars to put on my app I could get into some top schools. By that point it was too late to do more than scrap some shit together though and make the best of it.

Kudos to you for actually doing this stuff throughout high school.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:42:33 2013 No.5877861 >>5877859 I've been there man. Except instead of video games I was just hanging with burnouts all the time.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:44:04 2013 No.5877865 >>5877859 Freshman year I really did not do anything so yeah. Then I realized what I wanted to do in the future then yeah. And thanks by the way!

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:48:04 2013 No.5877873

>>5877854
*blows through teeth*
I've been doing Mathcounts with countless county and state both individual and team awards. First place team 6 times.
I have like 0 volunteering and I was planning to do that and AP classes and random advanced courses over summer...
Junior year, shit went crazy. Been with CPS up until April. Filed order of protection against my mom. I did get 2010 on SAT, 670 SAT chem, 800 SAT math II, and 33 ACT with writing.
Didn't get into USAMO, which I was hoping for junior year. But I still got in AIME and first place in Arizona AMC12 this year. (My mom literally pulled me out of my middle of AIME test and took me home and started beating me.)
Question is, I'm finally getting settled down. What should I start with? And yeah, it's fucked up.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:51:04 2013 No.5877874 File: 128 KB, 500x686, 250045.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>5877873 >tfw you let your mom beat you

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:53:34 2013 No.5877875 >>5877874 >mfw I fought back and almost killed her >mfw I got 90 day diversion and she is on 3 years probation with probable deportation >mfw I have no face

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:54:33 2013 No.5877877 File: 27 KB, 413x550, Badass.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>5877875

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:57:03 2013 No.5877879

>>5877778
That table is classic US News, altering methodology to make the US institutions seem better. Everyone knows if you want to do maths you do it at Cambridge (obviously there are other top schools which are incredibly difficult to get into, but for maths Cambridge is the place to be)

http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2013/mathematics

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:58:03 2013 No.5877882 >>5877854 What is this weird American system whereby that is actually relevant? They only care about extracurriculars here (UK) if they are relevant to the course you are applying for

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 21:59:04 2013 No.5877884 >>5877882 It's basically more stuff to put on your application

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:03:35 2013 No.5877891

>>5877882
The weird American system that refuses to make standardized testing more difficult than the easy-as-fuck SATs. So when 90% of your applicant pool has near perfect test scores with negligible difference, you need some way to decide who to accept. So I guess having a shit-ton of other activities just shows...I don't know...time management skills?

SAT Subject Tests have the right idea, but are still way too fucking easy. An 800 should be a task fit for a god, not what 40% of people taking the test get. Because if 40% of people that take it get an 800, you can bet that 90% of applicants to Harvard or MIT will have an 800 as well.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:04:34 2013 No.5877893 >>5877859 I basically did this but with shooters, except I live in England so I got into my course on academic merit alone.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:07:04 2013 No.5877903 >>5877891 Not that many people get perfect scores, but it is way to easy. First time I took the SAT without studying, I got a 2340. Then I studied for two to three weeks and got a 2370. I got an 800 on math II and physics, and a 770 on chemistry.

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:07:33 2013 No.5877902

>>5877891
So we kind of have this with A levels in the UK, so Oxford and Cambridge (as well as some other unis who like to bandwagon) make their own entrance tests (for example STEP is the cambridge maths entrance exam, you sit that in last year of high school - google it to get an idea).

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:16:34 2013 No.5877909 >>5877891 lmao, if it was hard to get an 800 guess what would happen? collegeboard would go bankrupt. each state needs to have some hard fucking exams that show how good you are that are mandatory for getting into college.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:18:04 2013 No.5877913 So, on a somewhat relevant note, is it worth forking massive amounts of money over to go to a good school if I am able to attend a meh school for free since my dad is faculty? (majoring in Biology) I'd plan on going somewhere better for graduate school.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:21:04 2013 No.5877918 >>5877913 you're going to have to tell us the school. "meh" is any 2k schools in the US, and it's also really fucking good to go for free (having no debt is far better than going into debt somewhere else)

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:21:34 2013 No.5877919 >>5877913 >>5877918 scratch that, you said bio, just go to the school for free.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:23:04 2013 No.5877925 >>5877919 top lel

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:25:04 2013 No.5877930 >>5877879 My school is much higher here. I like that.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:26:33 2013 No.5877933 File: 559 KB, 200x200, 1371094106884.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>5877919 >hating on bio

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:28:33 2013 No.5877935 >>5877918 The good school in question is University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) (Yeah, it's not Harvard, but it's basically the only alright school that I have good odds of being accepted into) The meh one is Oakland University

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:33:03 2013 No.5877947 >>5877744 >I want to get into and successfully complete the course 'Math 55a.' >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math_55 Get Shilov, Artin, and Herstein's Topics in Algebra and start reading.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:34:34 2013 No.5877950 >>5877919 And if it makes you any less spiteful of me, I'll be minoring in Chemistry.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:36:04 2013 No.5877955 >>5877891 there are plenty of studies that show those tests are the weakest predictors for college success anyways.

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:39:03 2013 No.5877963

>>5877955
That's true. I can't speak from personal experience, but many people I know have done great in highschool without trying and did good on standardized testing also without trying, and then college hit them in the face like a brick wall because they never realized what it meant to study. A better college entrance exam would test one's ability to learn complicated material independently, because that would require students to sit down and study.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:40:04 2013 No.5877967 >>5877935 God Tier: -Harvard -Princeton -Yale -Stanford -MIT Pro Tier -Columbia -Caltech -Berkeley Good Tier -CMU -JHU -Cornell -UPenn -UChicago -Northwestern -Duke Shit Tier -everything else (in USA)

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:41:04 2013 No.5877972 http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~exams/ You should look here. I don't have a Harvard account so unfortunately I cannot access these. Do you mind making a .zip and sharing them with us non-Harvard people?

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:42:03 2013 No.5877973 >>5877967 Some of those good-tier schools would probably accept me but I can't pay out of state tuition and I don't want to be in dept until I'm 40. What's the problem with University of Michigan?

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:43:34 2013 No.5877975 >>5877973 debt*

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:44:33 2013 No.5877977 >>5877973 40.6% acceptance rate, mate. Not saying that's a good way of measuring a school's status, but making it easier to get in does have an impact of the quality of the student body present.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:57:03 2013 No.5878006 >>5877882 Standard testing is too easy and grade inflation is rampant, so to stand out you have to do tons of stuff on your own.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 22:58:03 2013 No.5878007 >>5877977 While acceptance rate is huge, you still need to look at what students are able to do at the school. I think UMich at least offers a great education.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:02:35 2013 No.5878011 >>5877902 A-levels is kind of like AP content wise, but they are not used to qualify students like A-levels are. That probably doesn't make much sense. I wish the US had an A-level type system ( got this from talking to british people I have met ).

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:04:04 2013 No.5878015 >>5877967 Depends on what you want to do. The entertainment industry is dominated by USC, Columbia, and NYU grads. A dork from MIT/Caltech would be eaten alive in this industry.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:04:34 2013 No.5878016 Enjoy your student loans OP.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:05:04 2013 No.5878017 >>5877973 >not land grant In all seriousness. U Mich is good ( I am a Michigan native ), no shame in going there. Don't listen to this "If not Princeton kill yerself" babble.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:05:35 2013 No.5878018 >>5878015 Yeah, that list was more for STEM-type majors in general. Also only for USA. I should have specified, sorry.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:06:34 2013 No.5878021 >>5878011 elaborate

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:06:34 2013 No.5878022

>>5877977
Acceptance rate is an absolutely shit metric. It boggles my mind that people continue to report it.

Schools have an effective cap on class size that changes very little from year to year. They can't take more than that, even if they wanted to. Acceptance rates will vary wildly depending on who wants to apply that year.

Acceptance rates mean less than nothing.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:08:33 2013 No.5878030 >>5878022 Not really true. A lower acceptance rate is associated with higher qualifications among the student body. The better the school, the more students want to apply, and the lower the acceptance rate goes. Pretty basic.

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:13:34 2013 No.5878039

>>5878030
Acceptance rates will vary more closely with the financial ability of applicants to afford college than it will with the prestige associated with a school. Look at any school you care to think of and compare the acceptance rates for consecutive years versus the number of applicants. Acceptance rates will

School prestige will only carry you so far. Other factors will weigh just as much in the decision for students to apply, such as proximity and cost. The rigor of the education is only one factor that causes people to apply.

My own school had a substantial ten percent swing in acceptance rate a couple years ago, but when you looked at the actual acceptance numbers, it was within about a hundred students out of twelve thousand of the previous year's number.

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:13:34 2013 No.5878040

>>5878021
I am just saying if you choose to go there, it isn't a bad place to go. I visited the campus as one of my options, the place is a cluster fuck, campus is scattered all around Ann Arbor and in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the city. It is just an inconvenience ( this is what I meant by not being a land grant school ) . I didn't choose to go there ( chose Michigan State because it was the best option financially, inb4 I get flamed ). Background: I was a CS student coming in as afreshman, now I am a Math student. It is working out great for me. Anyways, U of M will offer a great education though, don't worry if it isn't teh MIT or Harvard.

On the acceptance rate: U Mich has complained several times that they want to privatize in order to make more money and so they don't need to prioritize instate students over foreigners. They are probably trying to take as many students as they can to maximize monetary gain ( this has been a theme for the past decade for the school ). So that statistic might be misleading for this institution, if it even mattered much to begin with.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:17:03 2013 No.5878051 >>5878040 >campus is scattered all around Ann Arbor That sounds like it would get incredibly frustrating.

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:18:34 2013 No.5878054

>>5878039
I agree, to a certain extent. I didn't include schools like Brown, Dartmouth, or Swarthmore either, despite their infinitesimal acceptance rates. But an acceptance rate as high as 40% implies that a large amount of students with lower academic qualifications are being accepted.

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:21:04 2013 No.5878062

>>5878051
You would probably get used to it ( classmates who were top of my class with me that chose to go quite like it there ). It shouldn't be a deciding factor anyways. That is just one of the cons of the school not being founded on a land grant. Again, just visit it and see what you think about it as a whole.

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:24:04 2013 No.5878065

Protip: undergrad doesn't fucking matter. If you're going to grad school, nobody gives a shit, because undergrad is like preschool. If you're not going to grad school, you're probably not getting work in your field, in which case who the fuck cares, you got your degree.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:27:34 2013 No.5878072 File: 8 KB, 300x300, Doctor[1].jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>5878054 MFW I have never heard of Swarthmore, JHU, or CMU. But I live in California.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:28:04 2013 No.5878075 >>5878072 You've never heard of Carnegie Mellon or Johns Hopkins?

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:29:04 2013 No.5878077 >>5878072 JHU is Johns Hopkins University CMU is Carnegie Mellon University Not sure if that helps any. Swarthmore is a small liberal-artsy school where people with rich parents who can't get into Harvard/Yale/Princeton go to feel elite.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:31:34 2013 No.5878083 JHU is a graduate school first and foremost. Their undergraduate program only exists to fund their graduate program.

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:39:04 2013 No.5878096

>>5878075
Never. I had to go look them up. I always thought Maryland was on the border with Canada.

It reminds me of this time I met this girl in LA that went to Emory. She was shocked that not one of us had heard of it. She seemed to think it was a good well known school.

Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:47:06 2013 No.5878111

>ITT we stroke our e-penises as we report how easy it is to get perfect on standardized tests and how trivial getting into a really good school is.

Guys, I hope you know that outside of this fantasy bubble you live in, statistics for the rest of the world/country says that you guys are among the best, not just one of plenty. The tests are not that easy and getting in to a good school is a crap shoot.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:52:03 2013 No.5878118 >>5878111 Most of the argument is over what constitutes a "good school."

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 3 23:54:33 2013 No.5878120 >>5878111 >says that you guys are among the best Chet Hanks is laughing at you from his dorm at Northwestern.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 00:44:03 2013 No.5878182

>>5877744
OP you sound a lot like me.
In high school I had taken 15 AP classes, went to the local university (took diffy q and discrete math along with a bunch of science classes - erie) my senior year, worked in a genetics lab one summer, did academic summer camps, across the board extra circulars, high gpa and test scores, applied to U Chicago, MIT, Caltech, Stanford and a back up state school.
Waitlisted at MIT and Caltech and then denied everywhere except my backup.

Sigh, just wanted to mope a bit. Not complaining too much, I walked in with senior credit standing, got scholarships, got involved with super cool research and will graduate in 3 years. Still... I can't help but imagine how awesome it would have been if I got to go to my dream school.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 10:45:33 2013 No.5878903

>>5878111
>getting in to a good school is a crap shoot.
Sure, whatever helps you rationalise your failure. Everyone I know at my (top) uni got in through hard work and deserves to be here. I went to a good school with loads of high performing candidates. Loads applied for top unis and the ones that got in deserved it. These universities know all their potential applicants have very high test scores, a list of glowing references and extra curriculars. That's why they write admissions tests and interview candidates, so they can find out who deserves a place. If you think it was just "luck of the draw" that stopped you getting into Harvard/MIT/wherever then think again, you just weren't good enough. I'm sure you were a good candidate with top marks and all, but at this level that is the bare minimum, not a guarantee.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 10:50:34 2013 No.5878914 >>5878182 how did you do this much and will only graduate in 3 years?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 10:54:35 2013 No.5878920 >>5878914 Presumably his list of stuff is from High School? It doesn't sound like it would take lots of work other than in senior year (which is too late anyway - advice for HS students:you need to keen your Junior year as well)

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 10:57:34 2013 No.5878926

>>5878903
As someone who was preparing applications to both, neither Harvard nor MIT have an "admissions test" or anything more than an alumni interview.

What I was arguing is that admissions to university should be first and foremost an academic challenge. If there are so many people with "top marks", make those harder to get.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 11:01:34 2013 No.5878933

>>5878926
>neither Harvard nor MIT have an "admissions test" or anything more than an alumni interview
Well that's just stupid. Oxbridge will interview candidates in person (some oxford interviews are 3 days long) but by phone if it isn't practical (e.g they are international students). For certain subjects (not all) they will also set admissions tests.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 11:35:33 2013 No.5878973 >>5878933 That's what I was saying. So instead they decide who out of tens of thousands of qualified students is worthy by looking at who was captain of the most sports teams they'll never play again, or who spent the most time doing community service.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 11:46:34 2013 No.5878988 How hard is it to get into a top tier American University with an undergrad degree in the UK. How much does it usually cost for tuition and living and how does one obtain scholarships

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 12:03:03 2013 No.5879021 >>5878988 Quite a few people from my uni are going to the US for masters. One girl has a kennedy scholarship, which is pretty cool

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 12:08:04 2013 No.5879035 >>5879021 What kind of stuff were they studying

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 12:18:34 2013 No.5879056 >>5877766 If can pass it everyone can.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 12:47:04 2013 No.5879088 >>5879021 Law, econ, a few STEM but most STEM courses here have a 4th year option so people tend to take that here to get a masters before they do postgrad,

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:05:05 2013 No.5879114 >>5877854 Do you think one can lie about volunteering? If they're not able to really check, of course. It would make me bitter to not be able to get into my reaches because of bullshit like that since my recommendations and grades are great.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:10:04 2013 No.5879121 >>5878065 Is there no difference in prestige between a guy who got a bachelor's from Stanford and a guy who got his master's from Stanford but his bachelor's at a mid tier school? Also muh connections, undergrad has more

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:15:04 2013 No.5879127

>>5879121
>Is there no difference
Not much, but it will be much easier getting into grad school if your undergrad is Stanford. Also, university isn't just a means to an end, you are living and studying there for a number of years so you want to make the most of it. Top schools have other bonuses besides academic excellence and a good name to put on your CV.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:17:04 2013 No.5879129

>>5879121
>Is there no difference in prestige between a guy who got a bachelor's from Stanford and a guy who got his master's from Stanford but his bachelor's at a mid tier school?

No, not really. Where you got your bachelor's isn't really important once you have a graduate degree. Why would it be?
The biggest advantage to getting a bachelor's at an elite school is that it increases one's chances of getting accepting into a good graduate program.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:17:05 2013 No.5879131

>>5879121
>Is there no difference in prestige between a guy who got a bachelor's from Stanford and a guy who got his master's from Stanford but his bachelor's at a mid tier school?
Not really, no.

Once you bring graduate school into the equation, the game changes. Graduate school is professional training for a career in that specific field. Nobody really cares where you went to undergrad, because all of undergrad is basically the same classes wherever you go. It's all the introductory material, with the same textbooks and same general curricula.

The real difference between schools, at least in STEM degrees, lies in the faculty at the school and whether you take advantage of the opportunity to work with them. And there's not much chance for you to do that at the undergrad level, because you're still occupied getting all the prereqs out of the way.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:24:34 2013 No.5879144

>>5879127
>have other bonuses
Such as?
I'm not asking that for the jobs, but for the people you meet there. Will I be just as likely to meet a bunch of well connected people at a Stanford master's/PhD/MBA?
Also, would it be as fun? Or is the college experience only fun as an undergrad?
>>5879129
Is it really that hard to get into a good graduate program? Isn't it easier than getting into a good undergrad?
>>5879131
>Nobody really cares
As I said above, what matters to me isn't job prospects. It's the opportunities to meet extraordinary people.

But I didn't know both were just as prestigious. To me, an undergrad at Stanford or MIT had a better "wow factor" than graduate studies there. Also, it seems that some students consider that to be true (see the Brass Rat tradition at MIT; they usually look down upon graduate students who get them because of the whole "undergraduate prestige" thing).

I don't know, maybe I should spend a year at Trinity School which has a 40% pipeline to Ivies/MIT/Stanford. As I'm not from the USA, that could be useful, no?

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:25:03 2013 No.5879145

>>5879127
>>5879129
>>5879131
All of this. It is the same as the "hurr <shitty state uni> is just as good as <top school> because <my mate dave> went to <shitty state uni> and got into <top school> for grad."

The point is that picking single examples ignores the reality of the thousands of students applying for grad programs. The Stanford undergrads are going to get looked on much more favourably (and this is discounting muh connections) than the state uni kids.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:29:34 2013 No.5879151 >>5879145 >are going to get looked on much more favourably What, during the graduate admissions process? Or by employers? I don't get your post. >discounting muh connections What do you mean?

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:32:05 2013 No.5879155

>>5879144
>is the college experience only fun as an undergrad
It's certainly very different. You will miss out on a lot of the getting absolutely smashed with a load of kids you barely now, skiving lectures, one night stands and all-night cram fests. The friends you make as undergrads stick with you for life. You are all exposed to this crazy new experience together, and you bond. Grads tend to be a different kettle of fish. You come into it as an "outsider", with a lot of people who did their undergrad there already well established with the traditions etc. It's like joining a new school for 6th form where 80% of the year did Y7-11 there as well. Your workload is more intense so there is less opportunity for getting into uni life proper. On our football team the grads would skip so many training sessions because they were busy, and no-one minded because it was the norm.

Grads do have their own stuff and socialise with other grads, but it is definitely not the classic "unaaay" experience you get as an undergrad.

Also certain universities are just ver different. There are some universities where the experience is so far removed from any other that there is virtually nothing like it anywhere else (e.g Oxford and Cambridge).

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:33:05 2013 No.5879162

>>5879145
>The Stanford undergrads are going to get looked on much more favourably (and this is discounting muh connections) than the state uni kids.
Not really? Graduate school admissions committees are made of the faculty who the students will be working with, not some unattached department like it is for undergrad. The entire graduate school admissions process is set up to let those faculty get a personal feel for your abilities and personality and whether you'll fit in the department.

They look at your accomplishments, your grades, and your experience first and foremost. Shit like your GRE scores are next in line. What school you went enters the equation somewhere around third place.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:36:35 2013 No.5879165

>>5879151
Both. Say you are a college grad admissions tutor. You have 2, otherwise identical applications in front of you - the only difference being one did their undergrad at MIT, and one did their undergrad at the university of wisconsin. Who do you think they pick?

And the "otherwise identical" part is a big big if. The connections you get at top schools mean you might have already interned at that grad school one summer, or done some otherwise relevant work experience. The eventually that the two applications are "otherwise identical" is pretty low. I attend a top school and have had opportunities afforded to me that you just wouldn't get at other schools.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:39:04 2013 No.5879171

>>5879162
Even if we take that as being true, you miss 2 things.

1) You assume that, for the same individual, they will do as well in the first and second stages if they went to a state school. It is not just the Stanford name, but the opportunities and experiences you derive from it that will help you here.
2) Even if it's only as a third factor, it can still be the dealbreaker.

I am not suggesting that state kids can't (or shouldn't) get places at top grad schools. I am just saying it would be easier if they were ivy undergrads.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:39:34 2013 No.5879172

>>5879165
If I was working in plant biology, I'd take the kid from Wisconsin.

Every school has their specialties. What matters less than the specific school is the faculty you got to interact with. It's not unusual for otherwise mid-range schools to have specialties that put them, within that specific field, on an equal or greater footing than the top-tier Ivys.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:41:04 2013 No.5879180 Why would any extra preparation be needed? American "undergraduate" level is equivalent to other country's high school level lel

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:43:34 2013 No.5879183 >>5879180 Maybe at community college, not at a top university. Where are you from mr know-it-all?

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:44:04 2013 No.5879188

>>5879155
I see. So the whole "fun" part gets considerably toned down, meaning that you don't get to make the same kinds of friends.
However, does it also affect the "connections" part a lot? What I'm searching for is a college where I can meet important/powerful/otherwise professionally interesting people. Will it be harder as a grad since I won't have the undergrad experience?
>>5879165
Yeah, okay. Again, can't those opportunities you've been offered be also available to grad students?
>>5879172
>top-tier
Do people really consider some ivies to be vastly inferior to others?
I know that Harvard is in a league of its own, but for example, if you were to compare a Yale grad and a Brown grad.
Will they have the same "privileges"?
Also, will the opportunities offered to them (the aforementioned connections) be different?
Will the Brown grad have a smaller/less impressive network to tap into than the Yale grad? Regardless of the majors, by the way.

I really want to get into a top school, but I don't know what I should do if I don't get in.
I've thought about several things, but I don't know if there's a way for me to considerably increase my chances, or "retry" if I fail.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:45:05 2013 No.5879192 >>5879155 Also, how is the Oxbridge experience so different? Is it less "fun" than american schools? Why are they so "unique"?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:49:03 2013 No.5879200 >>5879183 Yurop. American high school : learn ABC and counting. American undergraduate : start forming sentences and doing basic arithmetic

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:49:04 2013 No.5879206

>>5879188
>Do people really consider some ivies to be vastly inferior to others?
Again, it's specialties. You can get a decent education at all the Ivies, but I'd really count a STEM degree from Princeton more than I would one from Swarthmore.

>I really want to get into a top school, but I don't know what I should do if I don't get in.
Go to the best school you can afford. Affordability is key.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:49:33 2013 No.5879201

>>5879192
Collegiate system, assorted traditions that may be over 1000 years old, the buildings, the location (not a campus but basically a whole city entirely covered by the university), oxbridge rivalry, history and prestige etc

And general features of a top school, but you can get that at Harvard/MIT/Stanford etc

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:50:04 2013 No.5879208 >>5879200 Yurop is a big place, my friend. I am looking for a country

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:50:33 2013 No.5879210 >>5879208 England

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:51:35 2013 No.5879213 >>5879192 >Is it less "fun" Quite the contrary, we can drink from 18 and that culture is a very big part of university life (more so than many other UK universities, much as they like to pretend otherwise)

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:52:04 2013 No.5879216 >>5879210 Funnily enough, I am also english and can confirm you are speaking out your arse. In any case, last year of school requires at least some work unless you want to fail or you are doing babby tier subjects. Have you even finished a levels yet?

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:53:34 2013 No.5879219

>>5879201
Ah, the traditions, ok. I thought you were saying that the whole undergrad experience there was completely different.
>general features of a top school
The network part, too?
>>5879206
So no Ivy is "inferior" to another in general.
Even for the connections?
>the best school you can afford
What if I can afford all of them full price? My uncle's given me a fair bunch of money for my studies so that I can pay for everything without having to take any loans whatsoever.
>>5879213
Ah, that's cool. So it's a very similar experience when you compare it to US schools, only the tradition is more deeply rooted?
As I asked to the other anon, what about muh netwerk

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:55:05 2013 No.5879225 >>5879216 >I am also english Yea sure m8 >Have you even finished a levels yet? Finished undergraduate at a proper uni son. And I'm not talking about babby American standard

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:57:33 2013 No.5879228

>>5879219
>The whole undergrad experience there was completely different
I was saying that as well. Also I forgot about supervisions

It really isn't anything like other universities. The college system and the history make it very unique. This is why oxford and cambridge have an 800 year love/hate relationship.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:59:34 2013 No.5879233

>>5877786
>extra-curricular activities
This is why I'm so glad I live in Europe. Here I can go to the best school of continental Europe (Great Shitstain doesn't count since they have a retarded system similar to the US) with no entrance exam, no extracurricular activities and no need to present myself as a model student with memberships in 999 extracurricular clubs at an interview with some dude who has to judge my academic prowess and personality based on like 1h of interviewing at the max. I just get in with no test, take the base year exams at the end of the year (which I'm studying for right now and am fairly certain I'll pass with flying colors) and if I pass, go on to do the rest of my BSc.

Congratulations to you though. And back on topic, look at the curriculum for that course and try to solve the exercises that go with it. It's all about familiarity with the topic IME.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 13:59:34 2013 No.5879235 >>5879225 > at a proper uni son Define "proper"

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:00:36 2013 No.5879239

>>5879228
>I was saying that as well
But it does ressemble America in terms of the social experience itself, right? As in drinking, parties, friends you make, shit like that.

Yeah they're rivals but which is the strongest one for STEM? Cambridge? Or are both just as strong?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:02:05 2013 No.5879244 >>5879233 >(Great Shitstain doesn't count since they have a retarded system similar to the US No we don't. Enjoy mediocrity

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:03:34 2013 No.5879247

>>5879239
>drinking, parties, friends you make, shit like that
Yes, but in very different circumstances. Getting smashed off the college port in a 600 year old dining hall is a bit different to cramming 40 people in a house to drink budweiser out of plastic cups

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:04:05 2013 No.5879253 >>5879235 Oxbridge/Imperial/Lse

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:04:35 2013 No.5879255 >>5879239 > which is the strongest one for STEM The cliche answer is Cambridge, but in truth there isn't much difference between the two and you are better off looking for your particular subject, and obviously it is different for undergrad/grad

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:05:06 2013 No.5879256

Could anyone give me some kind of objective ranking of the best schools in the US (public and private)
I can't figure out how they really compare in terms of overall excellence (prestige, academics etc)

eg. some people tell me UCSD is a great school while others tell me that anything else than Cal and UCLA in california (public) is a waste of time

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:05:33 2013 No.5879258 >>5879253 >imperial oxbridge reject detected Don't even put that shithole in the same sentence as glorious Oxbridge archon ltudeti

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:06:34 2013 No.5879263 >>5879256 It pretty much depends on what standard you set yourself to. Some people will say second and third rate unis are good, others won't accept anything less than a top tier school.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:07:03 2013 No.5879268 >>5879247 Yeah, okay... Are there equivalents of frats/secret societies/final clubs and the like at Oxbridge? >>5879255 There isn't much difference? Ok, so there must not be much difference in terms of chances of acceptance, right?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:08:05 2013 No.5879270 >>5879258 Imperial is better though. Oxbridge is in the middle of nowhere. Lse is the most prestigious of them all of course

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:08:33 2013 No.5879269 >>5877795 I'm curious, why didn't you pick MIT, I hear the environment is much more friendly than Harvard, less children of politicians and rich people.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:09:05 2013 No.5879271 >>5879263 What standard.. well I'd like to work in the bay area when I graduate since I feel pulled to the environment and everything I don't know how people there consider schools

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:10:04 2013 No.5879276 >>5879268 Frats are basically drinking socities, which we have loads of. And your college is basically one massive frat house, in terms of living and identity.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:11:05 2013 No.5879278 File: 26 KB, 220x183, 1370971174105.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>5879270 >Imperial is better though >Oxbridge is in the middle of nowhere > Lse is the most prestigious of them all

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:14:05 2013 No.5879284

>>5879276
Yeah I know that most frats are drinking clubs, I was asking about the more "serious" ones (as well as real societies, such as Yale's Bones or Harvard's Phoenix). Are there similar "sekrit clubs to help each other out after graduation" type stuff?
>one massive frat house
Oh, that's cool. Like when you meet an Oxbridge grad you'd ask him "what's your college" and evaluate him based on that?
Is there some kind of elitist bond between those people (eg. Class Rings) or not at all?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:15:05 2013 No.5879286 >>5879278 >cant handle the truth Enjoy getting rejecting left right and center by banks in favour of lse students lel

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:17:07 2013 No.5879296 >>5879286 Can you only get good jobs in the UK if you graduate from Oxbridge? No recognition in the USA?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:17:33 2013 No.5879293 >>5879286 >implying i want to work in a bank >implying every economist in my year isn't either doing a masters or working at GS or equivalents tl;dr >projecting

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:19:36 2013 No.5879298 >>5879296 http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2013/reputation-ranking

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:20:07 2013 No.5879299 >>5879298 Yeah I know but will a Cambridge grad get less recognition than a Berkeley grad for example just because the latter is in the USA Also is there an active alumni association/network of Oxbridge grads in the US

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:22:04 2013 No.5879300 >>5879296 No uni only matters for prestigious jobs. Everyone know oxbridge I think, other Uk unis - probably not. Lse is known everywhere for financ/consulting

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:24:03 2013 No.5879303 >>5879293 All bright students want to work in banks - guess you are not bright

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:24:36 2013 No.5879305

>>5879299
I very much doubt it. It probably would be true of places like Imperial/UCL/Warwick that are good UK universities that don't have the brand name/"wow" factor of Oxford and Cambridge, but the name carries a lot of weight pretty much wherever you go.

http://www.cantab.org/
http://www.oxfordna.org/alumni_us.htm

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:26:34 2013 No.5879311 >>5879300 >>5879305 Oh ok. Thanks. so being a cambridge or oxford alum in the US is basically the same as being a top ivy alum (HYP)

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:31:33 2013 No.5879320

I'll be going to MIT next year for my Master's.

Do you people think it's a bad idea for me to get a ring? It's not for bragging purposes but rather, will be used as a conversation starter and mean of recognition.
As I didn't go there for my bachelor's, which I did at a public school, would it be stupid?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:35:03 2013 No.5879323 >>5877879 Yep, this this this. Cambridge is where its fucking at for maths.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:35:35 2013 No.5879325 >>5879320 Why the fuck not. The only people that might whine are undergrads, who you will stop associating with pretty soon after you finish MIT. The ring will be a memento for life.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:36:35 2013 No.5879328 >>5879320 if you're wealthy then go for it. If not I can think of much better things to spend money on. My opinion is rings are particularly gay but if I got into MIT I'd probably do the same thing.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:37:05 2013 No.5879329 >>5879323 Are you a cambridge maths student?

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:38:05 2013 No.5879332

>>5879325
Why are undergrads so conservative about it, though?
>who you will stop associating with
Well as I said, using the ring for networking purposes will make me run into fellow MIT alums, so will it be the same then?
Will I be considered by alums as a "fake" one? I know that they're very elitist about that stuff
>memento for life
Yep.
>>5879328
Well yeah I can afford it. And I think the ring is less gay than other shiny stuff like Harvard's ring.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:39:03 2013 No.5879336 >>5879320 Those rings are ugly as all get out. But one from MIT would be awesome just for the name.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:45:35 2013 No.5879341 >>5879320 get it after. however, getting it as a "conversation starter and a means of recognition" is pretty much wanking.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:46:06 2013 No.5879344 >>5879341 After graduation, you mean? >>5879336 >just for the name Well getting it just for the name isn't really cool, there's symbolism, too.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:54:05 2013 No.5879359 File: 74 KB, 640x480, IMG_0192.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] Harvard Alum here, at Yale Law now. Hope you be the change that you see in the world, young Harvardian--and not another Unabomber.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:56:34 2013 No.5879364 Nobody gives a shit where you went for grad school. It's all about the undergraduate degree. You will always carry the disdain of other ivy leaguers.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 14:57:34 2013 No.5879368 >>5879364 wat

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:00:33 2013 No.5879374

Guys.
I'm not targeting Harvard but I really, really want to get into either Stanford or UC Berkeley.
I have no safeties nor other targets, so I'll send applications to both of those and nothing else. If I don't get accepted, then I'll educate myself on my own, but I would like to know how I can "retry" if I fail once. Do you have any advice? Since I've been in eighth grade or something I wanted to get into either of those, and it hasn't changed since then

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:01:34 2013 No.5879379 >>5879364 >Nobody gives a shit where you went for grad school Who's "nobody"? Employers? >It's all about the undergraduate degree Why is that? >carry the disdain of other ivy leaguers Why?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:03:06 2013 No.5879383 >>5879374 Have you not heard of transferring?

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:05:03 2013 No.5879387

>>5879383
1) It's extremely hard to transfer into Stanford. Less than one percent acceptance rate. I don't know about Berkeley but I guess it's not much higher.
2) Transferring after two years or even one year will make me "lose" one year of undergraduate experience at the schools I mentioned. Which isn't that much of a big deal, but...

I was asking for any ways for me to "reapply" for the next class year.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:12:39 2013 No.5879398

>>5879233
Yes you do. You don't have universal admission, which was what I was getting at. The whole money thing US universities have going on are yet another chapter in the long book about why the US education system is meh tier. I'm not gonna deny that they have some awesome universities, but the way they handle getting into them is a joke as far as I can see.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:13:33 2013 No.5879402 >>5879398 Meant to quote >>5879244.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:18:04 2013 No.5879407

>>5878111
Pretty much this. The competition is so cut throat, that people who are equally deserving will get cut just by attrition, even if they are as deserving or accomplished as the next guy. Has nothing to do with rationalizing "failure".

>implying not getting into Harvard or MIT == Failure.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:18:35 2013 No.5879408 >>5879398 >You don't have universal admission Sorry, I don't know what this means. Does every high school graduate get an automatic place at uni?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:20:04 2013 No.5879414 >>5879407 But anon, not getting into a top school is a failure of a sort. Certain doors will close to you, and others, while still open, are now harder to reach.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:20:04 2013 No.5879415 >>5879407 >Failure Not failure, but lack of opportunities.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:22:33 2013 No.5879425 >>5879408 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETHZ#Admission_and_education

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:23:05 2013 No.5879428

>>5879407
>even if they are as deserving or accomplished as the next guy
This is a myth. There are criteria, which might seem harsh to you, but there are some. And when they are applied the weak get cut. Meeting all the requirements doesn't mean you are as good as all the people who got in. Face it anon, sometimes your best just isn't good enough.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:25:35 2013 No.5879430 >ITT: High school seniors over-valuing the importance of an undergraduate education.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:27:05 2013 No.5879431

>>5879430
I'm not over evaluating it, but how can you get the same connections at a mid tier school? You have to admit that top schools have one advantage at the undergrad level: you get to know so much important people that at the end of your undergrad years, you end up with a massive and extremely useful network

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:27:05 2013 No.5879432

>>5879425
>About 50% of the students fail the Basisprüfung on first try and many of them choose to drop out after the failure.

This system actually sounds pretty cool. I guess it is easier in switzerland because the country is smaller and there are fewer universities. Though there is a selection for actual entry onto degree courses (see above).

That system wouldn't work in the UK/US. And in any case, I would still rather be at a top school than ETZH, decent as it is. Still, if you aren't an elite student then you might as well stay there.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:27:34 2013 No.5879433

>>5879428
Lets say one guy gets cut cause he has 1 less point on his ACT, or did not have one extra bullshit extracurric ( even though said person would be just as capable at said school than the other guy who got in ), that is what I am talking about, not the kid applying to harvard with a 2.5 for top lels. Sorry you fail to realize this yet. Maybe you will when you go off to school, and then maybe more so if you go to grad school ( IF ).

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:28:34 2013 No.5879434 >>5879430 >ignoring the abundance of Ivy grads commenting their opinions

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:29:34 2013 No.5879435 >>5879430 >ITT: bitter community college graduates rationalising their failure to get into a decent school

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:31:33 2013 No.5879439

>>5879433
>1 less point
It is still one less point. And if the school cares about "bullshit extracurric" then they presumably have a good reason to. There are 2 metrics right there. The other guy beat you in your ACTs whilst doing more extracurricular. It's not a perfect system but it doesn't mean it's just luck of the draw.

Also I have finished undergrad and start grad next year, so fuck off

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:32:04 2013 No.5879441 >>5879431 The strict dichotomy Harvard mustard race or Community College pleb is just a bogus one, which is the view typically held by overachieving high school students and is one being parroted in this thread.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:34:04 2013 No.5879443 >>5879441 I know that it's stupid. The only reason why I want to get into those schools is because of the network there. The connections just are NOT available anywhere else.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:34:34 2013 No.5879444 >>5879374 >>5879387 I think you can apply again, but unless you add something major to your application I doubt you'll get any better results. Also, other UC's aren't bad, just sayin'. (I went to Berkeley though.)

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:35:04 2013 No.5879445 >>5879441 Doesn't have to be a dichotomy. There is obviously middle ground in the decent state uni level, but it is still far below top Ivy tier

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:36:04 2013 No.5879447 >>5879444 >berkely >not bad top lel

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:37:35 2013 No.5879450

>>5879444
>I think you can apply again
Won't it be considered as "not going to college"?
>unless you add something major
Such as?
I'm interested in the tech industry, for example. Say... Creating my own tech company? Some shit like that?
>aren't bad
Such as?
UCLA is cool too, just not Berkeley level. I also heard good stuff about UCSD and (not an UC), USC. But I don't know if they'd fit me. Cal and Stanford really are my dream schools.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:38:04 2013 No.5879454

>>5879439
I am not even talking from experience or a particular person, just the inevitability of what it comes down to when evaluating applications. I never said it was a perfect system, but I am just reinforcing what another anon said about being a crap shoot, which is what a lot of it comes down to with many students in the end ( i.e. crapshoot ). I am not discrediting those that got in, but just admitting there is an element of luck involved in the system that people underplay.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:40:05 2013 No.5879458

>>5879445
For an undergraduate education, unless one is in business or a path of study that requires connections less than skill, it isn't as far below one thinks ( need to stress undergraduate here ). Also, there is grey area between mid and top tier. It isn't as black and white as people make it out to be.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:46:34 2013 No.5879472

>>5879450
Startups are a dime a dozen these days, you'd have to actually be successful and that's unlikely. Perhaps more of a human interest sort of thing? Volunteer project? I dunno.

What do you want to do? Become a programmer? Sure, Berkeley and Stanford have the prestige, but it's about standing out among your peers. Know your stuff, get good grades, get along with other people; that's all you really need.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 15:48:03 2013 No.5879480 >>5879472 For a job like a programmer, work experience counts more than anything. Any of those schools will do you well, dream school or not.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 16:01:33 2013 No.5879513

>>5879472
>Startups are a dime a dozen
Startups founded by high school students?
>actually be successful
Define successful.
>Volunteer project
I thought everyone did that, though...

>What do you want to do
I'd like to get involved with the Silicon Valley startup culture, not necessarily as a startup founder myself (I don't know yet).
I won't necessarily do a CS degree either.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 16:07:34 2013 No.5879526

>>5879513
>Startups founded by high school students?
Yeah, it's a cliche by this point.
>Define successful.
Angel funding, Y Combinator, something worth talking about.
>I thought everyone did that, though...
True, but it's all about distinguishing yourself. Something bigger and better than everyone else. Stanford especially is looking for "leadership" type things.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 16:12:36 2013 No.5879535

>>5879526
>it's a cliche by this point
I didn't know that. Are there any other notable accomplishments that aren't cliche/are rare that you know of?
>Y Combinator
So if I can get a small company to get funding it's good enough? I'd do more stuff in the meantime, of course.
>Something bigger and better than everyone else
Yeah, I see what you mean... well, it's all about luck at that point.

Apart from taking a year off to do personal projects (which is hit or miss), are there any other things I can do?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 16:14:04 2013 No.5879538 Are there any top colleges that have a relatively high transfer acceptance rate (compared to the other top colleges) I'm at a shitty state school, have excellent results and all, and would like to transfer out

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 16:28:34 2013 No.5879575

>>5879535
Well maybe I'm a little too harsh on the startup thing. The problem is that you need something to say about it, not just "look I made a startup". Put yourself into the admission office's shoes.

Any particular reason why you think you won't get in straight off the bat? Stanford is a crapshoot, but good grades and extracurriculars will probably get you into Cal.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 16:32:04 2013 No.5879581

>>5879575
I got a few extracurriculars. Not a lot.
I spend a lot of time on them and dedicate myself to them as much as I can, so I don't have the whole "10000 hours of volunteering for the red cross, captain of 36 clubs" thing. I got a handful of things I put a lot of work into, but leadership positions, bullshit stuff like that... No, I don't have any.

Also high school is really competitive and harsh, so there's grade deflation.

I know that Stanford is based on luck, but Cal... Accepts 18 percent of candidates. That's a crapshoot, too.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 16:32:34 2013 No.5879582 >>5879575 >crapshoot >projecting

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 16:33:05 2013 No.5879584

>>5879575
Also,
>you need something to say about it
So basically explain the admission office why I made it, how it has changed me, and give a legitimate reason as of why I took a year off to make it?

>>5879582
Stop samefagging with your "it's not a crapshoot, you're just a shitty student" thing. It's down to luck, at a certain point. Grades and all will help, but at the end it's the admission office's feeling about the whole thing.
So, fuck off, please

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 16:37:03 2013 No.5879592 US universities seem really different to UK ones. You guys don't specialise in one are do you?

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 16:42:34 2013 No.5879608

Muh elite university. Muh I´m being better than everyone else. Muh dickwaving.

But in the end you have to know everything beforehand or you´ll not pass because they make it artificially difficult to look more elite. Enjoy your life, enjoy science and don´t define yourself by what university you went to.

>but Anon, it looks so nice on my CV and momy is so proud
Whatever, it´s your decision.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 16:43:10 2013 No.5879610

>>5879584
> It's down to luck, at a certain point
I'm not denying that. There is obviously some luck involved but it's not a fucking lucky dip like you make it out to be. Those that are disadvantaged by luck are relatively few.

Most of the people who claim they were unlucky were never good enough in the first place.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 16:45:35 2013 No.5879614

>>5879584
Sounds about right. Sorry I can't be more helpful.
>>5879581
Yeah, it does seem to be more competitive these days.

>>5879592
No tracking in secondary school like you guys have. There are a few special math and science high schools around the country, but they're very special.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 16:54:36 2013 No.5879631 >>5879614 Yeah. It doesn't matter, I'll do whatever I can. If I still can't get in though, I don't know what I'll do. Probably educate myself on my own, as I said. Competitivity increases over time, a lot...

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 17:19:03 2013 No.5879703 >>5879631 Do something useful with your gap year or don't take one

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 17:46:05 2013 No.5879775 >>5879432 It's officially the best school in continental Europe. Doesn't get much better than ETHZ for engineering and sciences.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 17:57:34 2013 No.5879811 >>5879775 >Doesn't get much better than ETHZ All ivies, MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Oxbridge, Imperial etc

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 17:58:03 2013 No.5879818 >>5879811 >in continental Europe HURR

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 18:02:03 2013 No.5879825 >>5877873 Do you go to Basis? University High School bro here?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 18:02:03 2013 No.5879826 >>5879818 >born and raised DURR

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 18:02:35 2013 No.5879829 >>5879826 >in a playground is where i spend most of my days HERPA DURR!

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 18:23:04 2013 No.5879876 [DELETED]

>>5879114
This

Fuck this shit, between two sports, my 3.96 GPA, mock trial, and the 9 AP courses I've taken through Junior year I never had shit to made a photo-op at my local soup kitchen.

Is it true that if you're not good enough to play at the school sports matter fuck all for admissions?

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 21:30:34 2013 No.5880278

>>5879256
Depends on what you want to study. If you're interested in plant biology, UCSD is GREAT. You've got the Salk Institute right there, you've got a great botany department, it's a great school and a real hub of research.

For other areas of biology, or other fields entirely, eh...

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 21:31:34 2013 No.5880284

>>5879431
>you get to know so much important people that at the end of your undergrad years, you end up with a massive and extremely useful network
The fact that you actually think this is true makes me think you're still in high school trying to justify your upcoming 40K a year tuition.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 21:46:34 2013 No.5880304 >tfw I'm just hoping to get into Notre Dame or UVA Fuck me I did nothing all Highschool and I'm not even that smart to count for it

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:06:28 2013 No.5880502 >>5880304 For anything other than business or law undergrad, you are better off going elsewhere than Notre Dame ( the 55k a year price tag would not be worth it ).

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:16:03 2013 No.5880516 >>5880502 Granted they are good about fulfilling need, but doesn't change the fact there are better places.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 04:29:34 2013 No.5880862

>>5879256
>eg. some people tell me UCSD is a great schoo

I went to UCSD. It is a reject school filled with ugly boring students. Not to mention the campus is ugly and very boring.

The truth is within California you have the following:
Stanford Caltech
Berkeley
USC UCLA
All the others.

No one cares is you go to UCSD or CSUN.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 04:31:03 2013 No.5880868 >>5880304 >religious uni >single-sex halls NOPE.bmp

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 04:49:03 2013 No.5880896 >>5879305 Oxford and Cambridge are well known because people in LA/NYC chose to set films/tv set at those two schools. If they decide to never mention them and instead start using St. Andrews in a few years people around the world will know St. Andrews.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 05:02:18 2013 No.5880923 >>5880278 Well I didn't ask about UCSD only, but thanks. NO I'm not planning on studying plant biology What about other public schools like UVA, UMichigan, UIUC, Georgia Tech, etc, how do they compare to the Ivy League

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 05:06:34 2013 No.5880930 >>5879538 ivy leagues are a shot in the dark, they're harder to get into than freshman admissions. best choice would probably be a top tier state school or something

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 05:06:34 2013 No.5880931

>>5880284
Are you telling me that you get the same opportunities at a random state school than you do at Harvard, Stanford or Yale? Seriously?
These schools form a virtuous circle which perpetually allows powerful people (well, their children) to meet, that's why the alumni network is so huge.

Also, tell me, why does Harvard has the highest rate of billionaire alumni? Because of its world class education? Nope.
How come only top schools have the most billionaire SELF MADE alumni?

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 05:09:33 2013 No.5880936

>>5880862
>Stanford
Near impossible to get into
>Caltech
Seems easier, since everyone there is an aspie, they don't care that much about ECs do they?
Also, as good as Stanford? For what, education?
>Berkeley
It's the easiest of the bunch but it's still really hard
>USC
Expensive as fuck, I heard it was a daddy's money circlejerk
But maybe it's a good school too
>UCLA
I thought it was in the same tier as Berkeley
It seems like the best one in terms of atmosphere

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 05:58:34 2013 No.5880981 >>5880931 You're right, but you can get those "opportunities" you're talking about in grad school too. As far as I know, Google founders met during a PhD program.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 06:10:33 2013 No.5880994

I'm currently in the final year of my mechanical engineering degree, but lately I've been thinking more and more about doing math instead. Should I even bother going back to the start and doing a math degree? Try a MechE-Math dual major instead? I've already done calculus and linear algebra I and II (dunno what US equivalent is, but I've covered greens theorem, divergence, LU matricies etc in the 'highest' math course), differential equations (laplace etc) and have exposure to PDE's (numerical analysis courses).

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 06:14:04 2013 No.5880995 >>5880994 Just finish and go to grad school in math. If it does not cost too much try to get a minor in math.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 06:17:03 2013 No.5880998 >>5880996 He should post it on quora.com

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 06:17:34 2013 No.5880996 >>5877744 Why don't you poast on the 2017 facebook page, fucking weirdo?

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 06:26:35 2013 No.5881004 >>5877744 >going to Harvard either jew or ethnic

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:20:05 2013 No.5881038 >>5880502 I am hoping to do exactly one of those things, probably business or finance

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:22:05 2013 No.5881039 Which colleges with high acceptance rates are good? The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign?

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:32:03 2013 No.5881050 >>5881039 For Math/Science: UCLA UC Berkeley UIUC CMU U of Wisc - Mad. USC Texas A&M SUNY (Buffalo/Stony Brook) CUNY CC NYU Harvey Mudd C Those are the "elite" schools that most people don't think of when they think "elite" (HYPSM, etc).

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:33:34 2013 No.5881053 >>5881050 >Texas A&M What about Austin? Thanks though, I'll look into those I definitely can't get into HYPSM, so...

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:38:04 2013 No.5881058

>>5881050
Almost forgot JHU. A few others I'm sure I forgot as well.

>>5881053
Austin is good too. I'm sure I missed some others that fit somewhere in the top 30 for fields they excel in. Which one you really aim for should depend on your intended specialization and non-academic preferences (environment, size, etc).

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:41:03 2013 No.5881063

>>5881058
Ok. I intend to get a degree in a field related to cosmology and minor in CS or EE. I don't know which schools are good for that.
>environment
As long as there's a good party scene/night life/opportunities to meet interesting people, it's alright
Size should be big

>JHU
I thought they were the best at medicine and good/meh at the rest? I might be mistaken

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:43:04 2013 No.5881066 what do you guys think of reed college, amherst, williams and all the other top liberal arts colleges? do they have the same quality of education, and the same recognition/muh connections thing?

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:44:34 2013 No.5881067

>>5880931
>These schools form a virtuous circle which perpetually allows powerful people (well, their children) to meet, that's why the alumni network is so huge.
Stop parroting the shit your college admissions counselor told you.

The only "networking" worth mentioning that happens in undergrad happens in fraternities.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:46:04 2013 No.5881069

>>5881063
Yeah, JHU is excellent for anything related to Bio but they are pretty good (not as good) at other things as well.

Well the best EECS you're gonna get from that list is going to come from UCB. UIUC and CMU are god-tier at CS. UCLA is great too.

I know fuck all about cosmology, you'd be better off googling "best universities in cosmology". It shouldn't matter too much though since it's just an undergraduate degree, so just look for schools that have good physics programs.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:46:04 2013 No.5881070

>>5881067
Then explain the billionaire thing I mentioned earlier.
How come top schools get such a high rate of UHNWI (self made) if the network isn't great?

Also frats... They're better at those colleges too. Final clubs at Harvard/Secret societies at Yale/all that stuff > typical state school frats

>undergrad
Are you actually telling me that real networking happens post grad? Come on

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:48:04 2013 No.5881072 >>5881069 Alright, thanks. I'll look at that.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:49:35 2013 No.5881074 What are the best colleges for future entrepreneurs Apart from Stanford and MIT Some anon asked it earlier but nobody responded. Basically which universities are the most entrepreneurship-friendly or provide a good network of startup founders

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:50:05 2013 No.5881075 >>5881072 I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just see where you get in and go from there. You might change your major anyway. GTech and VTech are pretty good too.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:50:33 2013 No.5881077 >>5881074 UCB.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:50:33 2013 No.5881078 >>5881075 Yeah I know undergrad isn't that important. Heard good things about Georgia Tech indeed, I don't know much about VT

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:51:04 2013 No.5881079 >>5881077 Okay, nothing else? Obviously all the colleges near the Bay Area but apart from Cal/Stanford/etc

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:54:34 2013 No.5881080 >>5881070 >Then explain the billionaire thing I mentioned earlier. Fraternities. You think poor kids with no business sense manage to pull together the grand a semester for fraternity dues?

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:55:34 2013 No.5881082 >>5881070 >Are you actually telling me that real networking happens post grad? Come on I'm saying that any networking worth mentioning happens in professional schools or in the business world proper, not in party-land university.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:56:04 2013 No.5881086

>>5881080
So you're admitting that the frats at top colleges are much better than the others.
I think that the college itself provides enough means for getting a great network if you're not too aspie (I mean, your roommate might be the son of Bernanke or something, that helps)
>>5881082
>worth mentioning
I don't think so. The alumni network you can tap into when you graduate from MIT, Harvard and all is huge and all over the world.
>buisness world
Could you explain that?

Uni is what you make of it, but I have yet to see a guy from a top college fail at life.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 08:02:04 2013 No.5881091 >>5881080 >>5881082 Do you mean that if I'm in a meh/good college but not top and I join a frat or a secret society (Quill and Dagger, IMP, stuff like that), I'll get the same experience (meeting "useful" people) than at great unis?

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 08:02:33 2013 No.5881092

>>5881086
>So you're admitting that the frats at top colleges are much better than the others.
No, I'm not admitting that. I'm saying that fraternities self-select for people with money, and that most "networking" in college consists of calling up one of your brothers and getting them to lend a hand.

>>5881086
>I don't think so. The alumni network you can tap into when you graduate from MIT, Harvard and all is huge and all over the world.
"Alumni network"? Are you for real?

Do you know how alumni networks work? Your uni sends you letters asking you to pay fifty bucks a year to register with their alumni office, and then eventually someone also from your university might show up hoping that you'll ignore their poor qualifications and give them a job because you happened to go to the same school.

It's ridiculous. Alumni networks are a money-making scheme for the university.

Nothing you've said so far makes me think you've actually attended any college.

>>5881091
Yep.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 08:07:33 2013 No.5881097

>>5881092
>self-select for people with money
Huh? I might've not understood that, but you can get into a frat if you don't have money. It's not about being daddy's money. Oh and hazing.
>Alumni network
You're at some random place. Some guy spots your brass rat. You begin conversation; the guy's a VC. You just met an important person because of your alma mater.
You're at your uni and attend the same class as Ben Bernanke's daughter. You get to know her better, you meet her father. You just got to know one of the most powerful people in america because of your alma mater.

Those are rare cases and exaggerations, but you get it. Alumni networks aren't just what you're talking about. Opportunities are greater at top schools, that's just a fact.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 08:12:04 2013 No.5881102

>>5881092
>Yep
But do you need a lot of money to get into a good fraternity? And how do you even know that it's a good one?
Also this guy >>5881097
What about hazing? I guess that if the frat's prestigious, it's harder to get in.
Can you get into collegiate societies (eg. Skull and Bones) if you're a grad student or is it exclusive to undergraduates?

Also are there really no different interactions between random state school and Harvard? Don't you meet important people?

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 08:37:34 2013 No.5881121 >>5881079 This, please My only goal in terms of jobs is entrepreneurships so I'd like to know

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 09:50:03 2013 No.5881188

>>5881097
For 1% of the student population, that might be true for what you call the "alumni network". Otherwise, grad school or work experience triumph after you get your foot in the door ( in something that requires skill like math/science fields, this is more so due to merit than knowing that special rich daddy ).

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 09:52:05 2013 No.5881191 >>5881078 VT is perfectly fine for undergraduate. Doesn't hurt to apply and keep options open if you are considering anyways.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:08:34 2013 No.5881214

>>5881188
Yes; but those 1% (I believe it's much higher though, between 10 and 15 percent) gain access to incredible opportunities that no other programs, be it grad school, MBA or whatever, can equal.
Undergrad at those schools is typically where you get to meet important people. There's no other explanation for the aforementioned lists.
http://www.forbes.com/special-report/2012/1205_power-factories.html
" their reputations attract people who would go on to achieve greatness"
That's the thing. It's not some magical network that makes you a successful person automatically, but it's where the people who will contribute to the world all meet
In undergrad more so than in grad school.

You're talking about jobs, I presume. It's true that grad school and work experience are all that matters when it comes to getting a well paid job. Hell, if you got a Stanford, Harvard or Wharton MBA, you're guaranteed to earn at least 120k.
What I'm talking about isn't only jobs: it's the whole spectrum of opportunities, meeting people, and personal projects (entrepreneurship being one, but there are other kinds of stuff where the network is extremely important).

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:11:03 2013 No.5881217

>>5881097
>but you can get into a frat if you don't have money.
Yes, but good luck keeping up the dues if you don't have money.

Being in a fraternity is an expensive proposition.

>>5881102
If you're a grad student, your program is your society. Even if you had the time to fuck around with that nonsense, why bother? Your career is now defined by your reputation, which is based on your publications and your skill. Do you want to get more publications? Collaborate with your peers. Want more skill? Walk over to their lab and ask questions about their methods.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:12:34 2013 No.5881218 >>5881214 So you're really willing to drop several tens of thousands of dollars on the off chance you're that 1% of alumni who manage to get a lucky break and run into a millionaire at the gym?

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:13:03 2013 No.5881219 >>5881218 >1% You got that wrong, not going to bother to repeat myself though

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:15:03 2013 No.5881222 >>5881219 I think your 10-15% figure is a laughably high overestimate. Those schools graduate thousands of people every year. And I still think you're deluding yourself.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:16:34 2013 No.5881224 >>5881222 Just out of curiosity - did you attend one of those schools we're talking about as an undergrad? Not asking that to be an asshole, but if you didn't, I doubt you can assess their value as a professionnal network.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:19:05 2013 No.5881230

>>5881224
UNC-Chapel Hill. Not one of the traditional Ivy's, but in rankings it pretty consistently floats in the top 25 to top 10 depending on which specific department you're looking at.

A good 3/4s of my graduating class from high school went to proper Ivy's, though, and I've kept in touch.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:23:03 2013 No.5881235

Wow, you guys are taking things too seriously.

Ivy Leagues/MIT/Stanford/whatever do give their undergraduate students more opportunities, because of the kind of population that attends. You'll be much more likely to meet the guy who's going to be the next prime minister or a very successful trader at Harvard than you are to meet them at, say, Ohio State or something.
These opportunities provide connections, that you can tap into when you're done with undergrad.
Another benefit is the name, which will impress a lot, giving you more chances to get into X company or to get funding by a VC or whatever.
The environment of those schools are also arguably more exciting because they "train" the elite (and it's tangible, I went to Yale for my undergrad and then UMich for my graduate studies, definitely not the same atmosphere, at Yale, I could feel that relationships were always shaded by positions of power and high level networking).

Apart from that, a top school is useless.
Endowment? You'll take advantage of that if you're a grad student.
Professors? They're not available, too bad for muh world class education.
The anon talking about out of this world opportunities is right and wrong at the same time. You get more opportunities to make friends with important people, but in the end, it won't matter at all.

A network depends on you as an individual. If you have charisma, you'll end up with much more useful friends than if you're an asshole who went to Harvard and Stanford and MIT.
Look at Jobs. The guy went to Reed, which isn't bad, but not that good.
Why did he succeed? Drive, spirit, etc. Not because of his alma mater.

It doesn't work like "I went to X therefore I can do Y".
It's more like "I got the potential to do Y, so I went to X". And if you didn't go to X, it doesn't mean you can't do Y...

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:25:04 2013 No.5881236 >>5881230 Yeah, it ranks consistently at the top and is one of the best public schools, that's undeniable. What I'm talking about is the really elitist ones. HYPSM, and perhaps Berkeley. >I've kept in touch And how do they feel about it, may I ask?

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:28:03 2013 No.5881240 >>5881217 >expensive How much, approximately? If I don't use the locals (I know some people live at the frat, but I don't know if it's possible to continue living on campus)

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:30:03 2013 No.5881242 >>5881240 Depends on the school. Some are low, around 500-800 a semester, but at some schools it can be as much as $2,000 a semester.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:30:05 2013 No.5881246 >>5881242 Oh. Does the price depend on the prestige?

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:35:04 2013 No.5881251

>>5881246
Mostly it depends on how many parties they throw and how expensive the house is.

Taxes and whatnot are usually quite expensive, and insurance on a frat/sorority house is always balls expensive.

>>5881236
They seemed to have enjoyed it, from what I've heard. Not many are doing the grad school route, but a few are. I know some people from Stanford who got to do some good internships, and some people from Brown who got some good opportunities doing journalism there.

Hey, if you have the money to spend, go for it. I won't deny the prestige of going to a super-elite school will be useful for job applications if you don't end up going to grad school. If you can afford the prestige, fine on you.

What I think is silly is busting the bank to go to an Ivy if you can't really afford it.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:36:33 2013 No.5881252 >>5881251 Oh so it doesn't depend on the usefulness of the frat. Ok, it doesn't seem TOO expensive anyway, I can work around it.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:45:35 2013 No.5881266

While we're way off-topic anyway, am I crazy for going to a "worse" school because of the environment? I hate cities, and couldn't imagine living in one for 4 years, which kind of limits my options. I was accepted to (among others) to Columbia, CMU, and Johns Hopkins for CS/Math, but picked Cornell because of the less urban environment.

Did I fuck up?

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:53:04 2013 No.5881274

>>5881266
You need to find a place that's livable. Yeah, the school you're going to is important, but that's not going to help you if you're a nervous wreck all the time because you can't deal with cities.

Ask any five faculty on which factors are most important in choosing grad school, and you'll get five different opinions. However, I don't think it's controversial to say that your comfort in an area is definitely a non-trivial aspect of the decision. There's tradeoffs in everything.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:53:33 2013 No.5881275 Is what >>5881235 and >>5881214 describe only available at Ivies I got accepted to Oxford, as well as Duke, UVA and UMichigan Did I fail my life /sci/

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:56:04 2013 No.5881279 Just how much more value is there in going to a prestigious university in America than say, a state school? What kind of opportunities can you really miss through an undergraduate degree? Don't see a lot of this cut-throat competition in Australia.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 10:56:06 2013 No.5881280 >>5881279 Would like to know this too I'm American though, and I'm the wannabe-entrepreneur anon that posted earlier in the thread

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 11:04:36 2013 No.5881296 >>5881275 confirmed faggot. those are all good schools.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 11:05:33 2013 No.5881299 >>5881296 >not understanding irony

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 11:16:39 2013 No.5881317

Since we're all giving life advice, I have something to ask:

>got grades good enough for any uni in UK
>couldn't afford accomodation so had to go to uni ranked ~40 and still live with parents
>doing engineering, getting great grades
>doing final year masters at imperial or cambridge costs £23 k
>staying at home to do the masters costs nothing
>I really don't want an engineering job after graduation, I want something in finance
>really want to move to different city

To top it off, most of the engineering jobs are in the same town as my parents and uni.

I know it looks obvious, but dropping £23 k seems like a big step

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 11:21:41 2013 No.5881323 Anyone has tips on MIT's 8.012? Will calc 1+2 from their OCW be enough to plow through it?

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 14:45:40 2013 No.5881632 >>5881323 You're at MIT?

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 15:05:41 2013 No.5881676 Quick question. Between Cambridge and Oxford, which one is the most famous in the USA? Which one has the most active and fun student and night life (parties, etc)? I have to choose where to apply. Also, I presume there's no "easiest"? (For STEM)

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 15:08:11 2013 No.5881681 time to die

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 15:14:10 2013 No.5881690 >>5881066 >>5881235 Since I've seen it come up a few times, where does Reed rank in the pretentious liberal arts college power rankings? I'm trying to choose between it and Oberlin

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 15:17:39 2013 No.5881697 >>5881690 I don't really know but I do know that it's an excellent school in that most of its students pursue PhD studies. Apparently the math program is very strong.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 16:46:10 2013 No.5881848 >>5881632 Will be a freshman soon.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 16:47:39 2013 No.5881849 >>5881848 Congrats Did you have any extraordinary ECs in particular?

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 16:51:40 2013 No.5881855

>>5881849
Two documentaries with my name on it and main guy of local theater's tech support; from lighting to sound to organisation. I guess I'm a lucky fucker, as I don't even have perfect scores.
Anyways, what should I learn over the summer to be able to understand and pass 8.012?

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 17:09:11 2013 No.5881895

>>5881855
>perfect scores
What were yours if you don't mind me asking

As for your work, I don't go to MIT so I wouldn't know, but it's about classical mechanics right? Don't they give requirements at the beginning of every course? I thought they did.
For anything basic just use Khanacademy (which you know about already I guess)

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 03:40:10 2013 No.5882850

>>5881895
>reading and writing low 700s, math 800
>SAT2 math and physics 800 due to curved grading

8.012 is classical mechanics, yes, with heavy calculus background and I wouldn't even consider myself to know single-variable calculus properly. It's considered probably the hardest course a freshman can take. I could take the easier 8.01, but I wanna see what's hard in MIT terms.

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 05:18:10 2013 No.5882948

>>5882850
Oh ok. So your stats were good/perfect but attainable. GPA (AP/IB)?

Single variable calculus? I wouldn't know, I learned that in 11th grade. The american system seems different. As I said, Khanacademy must have some courses on that.
>what's hard in MIT terms
I think you're not going to be disappointed, students there seem to have some of the hardest workload of all, except maybe Caltech

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 08:52:10 2013 No.5883168

>>5882850
>I wanna see what's hard in MIT terms.
you'll probably regret that a few weeks into the semester, when the first midterms come back.

I go to a state school now, but am hoping for MIT/caltech/berkeley etc for grad school. I've been working at that goal since I got here freshman year.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:02:12 2013 No.5883179 >>5883168 First semester (or entire year, I'm not sure) if pass/fail, no grades. That said, he'll probably be assraped.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:04:12 2013 No.5883182 >>5883179 >First semester (or entire year, I'm not sure) if pass/fail, no grades oh wow that's nice but yeah people underestimate the difference between high school and uni.. let alone MIT.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:07:40 2013 No.5883185 >>5877744 >I'm going to Harvard welp and that's bullshit you could have just asked what to do well in your math course the people who get into universities like harvard/yale as undergrads do not go on 4chan

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:08:10 2013 No.5883186 >>5883185 there's plenty of people like that on 4chan, a lot of them may just lurk, but they're here. I know several myself (I am not included in that bunch).

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:09:11 2013 No.5883187 >>5881676 >Which one has the most active and fun student and night life (parties, etc)? you want to go to oxbridge. There is no such thing as fun.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:10:10 2013 No.5883189 >>5883186 I know some in graduate level. Not undergrads. because you are all just bunch of lying underage b&

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:10:39 2013 No.5883190 >>5883189 the fuck does it matter if it's undergrad or grad?

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:11:39 2013 No.5883192 >>5877744 underage b&

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:11:44 2013 No.5883193 >>5883187 Why?

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:12:40 2013 No.5883199 >>5883190 because then you would be underage b&

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:14:11 2013 No.5883201 >>5883199 >yfw I'm 21 and also, around 99% of incoming freshman are 18, so not underage

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:14:39 2013 No.5883202

>>5883193
because its very competitive and challenging. I did my masters in Oxford and am applying to do my PhD in Camebridge next year.

If you want to do well, you drop fuck all and work. If you want to fail out of uni then go ahead and party.

You won't have time.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:15:40 2013 No.5883204 >>5883202 So it's basically like Caltech: ">have fun >sleep >work Choose two"

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:15:40 2013 No.5883205 >>5883201 >21 >undergrad wot?

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:16:40 2013 No.5883206 >>5883201 at 21 you should be done with your bachelors or in your last year

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:17:13 2013 No.5883208 >>5883201 did you get cancer or something? why the fuck are you 21 and applying as an undergrad

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:18:40 2013 No.5883211 >>5883205 >>5883206 >>5883208 I'm not applying for undergrad, I'm going into my junior year the fuck is wrong with you guys

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:19:40 2013 No.5883212

>>5883204
pretty much. I dunno about caltech though.

If i were you, i'd go to another university than oxbridge. It has a very cutthroat atmosphere when it comes to marks.

Consider Imperial, Warwick, and Durham, all excellent univerisities but not as well known because of the 'Muh Oxbridge portrayal

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:20:40 2013 No.5883215 >>5883211 so you are not OP? Why the fuck did you not just say that.

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:21:42 2013 No.5883217

>>5883212
I don't live in the UK, I just know that Oxbridge was as renowned and provided a great education just like HYP so I got interested.

I want a school with good education, prestige and good professors but also time to have fun...
In the US, though. Apart from Ox/Cam, the UK doesn't really interest me that much.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:22:09 2013 No.5883219 >>5883215 one of my favorite improvements on /b/ over the years is the id system I know 4chan is supposed to be anonymous etc but it alleviates issues like this

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:25:10 2013 No.5883226

>>5883217
>Apart from Ox/Cam, the UK doesn't really interest me that much.

this is the wrong mentality. It is all dependent on your major. There are other unis that excel in certain subjects where Ox/cam fail

I went as an undergrad in 'Murica and regretted it so much, even though i went to a pretty good university. (Rochester)

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:27:39 2013 No.5883231 >>5883217 The UK system is different as you only study one subject. So you had better be damn sure you want to study that for 3 years. There is no turning back. If you are not 100% rock solid in your decision just go to the US

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:27:39 2013 No.5883232 >>5883226 You did not go to America. You went to boonies New York. You experience was unique to that area.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:28:41 2013 No.5883235 >>5883217 are you aware how admissions in the UK are

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:30:42 2013 No.5883238 >>5883232 i didn't regret the experience or location. It was just that i could have studied the subject i loved and could have gotten into a better university

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:38:40 2013 No.5883243

>>5883226
No but I'm in the USA atm. I just thought of moving to the UK because Oxbridge looked to have a great environment, and education that equaled HYP.
Major will be CS.
>>5883235
I am
>>5883231
Yeah I'm sure of CS but considering what the other anon said, I'm not sure that Oxbridge is the best choice for me

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:48:10 2013 No.5883252

>>5883243
>Oxbridge looked to have a great environment, and education that equaled HYP.

I it absolutely does if you love your subject 100%. For me HYP was too casual (assuming i got in with all its list of EC's Community and stupid GPA System) and i preferred the hardcore and focused environment that Oxbridge gave me. If you are willing to put your dedication towards the subject and work day and night, i think its a vastly superior experience, but as they say, each to his own.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:50:40 2013 No.5883257 >>5883243 >CS Are you doing AP's or IB. (are you undergrad?) Because AP's really are not enough for Computer Science. (IB is only slightly better)

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:50:40 2013 No.5883259

>>5883252
Oh, so you have to be really dedicated. I prefer being free to study a broad range of subjects instead of focusing on CS in a hardcore manner. I guess Oxbridge isn't for me, then.

Are there any schools in the USA apart from HYPSM and Caltech that "equal" Ox/Cam for the education?

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:51:40 2013 No.5883261 >>5883257 IB program

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:54:41 2013 No.5883269 >>5883259 >I prefer being free to study a broad range of subjects Yeah then the UK is not for you. You only study computer science (With mathematics) for 3/4 years. Forget trying to take a minor in Russian or Humanities or something like that

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:55:41 2013 No.5883270 >>5883269 Ok, I'll stick to the USA then. Thanks for your advice.

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:56:40 2013 No.5883272

>>5883261
then you are slightly better off.

I'm going to be very blunt and say this, you are probably not going to get in if you are an international. Unless you absolutely blow them away at the interview. It's a very competitive course and there will likely be people with better stats than you and more work experience.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 09:58:39 2013 No.5883273 >>5883272 You mean at Oxbridge? I probably won't apply after all...

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 10:02:39 2013 No.5883281 >>5883273 it's competitive everywhere. In oxford 138 apply, 25 get in (all domiciles). Keep in mind that the people who apply are generally top of their class.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 10:06:40 2013 No.5883285 >>5883281 Yeah, that's a given. I'm a valedictorian too but it won't get me in HYPS.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 12:32:47 2013 No.5883450 >>5881317 >couldn't afford accomodation Bullshit, SLC give you cheap as fuck loans to cover that, and if you are poor they give you loads of grants. But hey, justify it however you want.

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 12:34:47 2013 No.5883454

>>5883202
>Camebridge
Confirmed for not knowing anything about oxbridge. Just finished undergrad at cam (grad program starts in sept), if anything you can have more fun here than anywhere else. It is perfectly possible to spend most of it hungover and still do well.

Anon is either lying or is just a retard who couldn't handle it but somehow slipped through the admissions net.

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