| Author |
Message |
nrf
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2003 8:22 am
Post subject: Re: What to do on a college visit to MIT and Harvard |
|
|
"Peter" <go@away.com> wrote in message news:3fe773b9.0@news1.mweb.co.za...
| Quote: | Yes, it does CS. In fact, it's get a better CS department than Penn,
Columbia, or Dartmouth, which again begs the question of why would you
have
no interest in Yale and yet have interest in the other 3.
*I* know that Yale does CS - and I've heard that it's quite good at it
too,
from guys like Joel Spolsky (www.joelonsoftware.com). However, most other
people in S.A. don't know that it does. And I was asking about those other
schools just out of interest, because I'd had them recommended to me
frequently for undergrad, and I was wondering why I hadn't heard anything
about them regarding grad study.
|
Yet surely you're not implying that the people in SA somehow believe that,
say, Dartmouth is a CS powerhouse?
The fact is, most of the strength of the Ivys' are the undergraduate schools
and the professional schools. With the exception of Harvard and maybe
Princeton and Cornell, the Ivys' weaknesses are their graduate schools.
This is why you don't hear people talk about the Ivys' as much when it comes
to graduate school then when they talk about undergrad. Dartmouth, for
example, has almost no graduate programs of note.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
KSG
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2003 12:05 pm
Post subject: Re: What to do on a college visit to MIT and Harvard |
|
|
"Peter" <go@away.com> wrote in message news:<3fe773bd.0@news1.mweb.co.za>...
| Quote: | How many times do you plan on getting your first job?
Good point.
Unless you plan
on being mediocre on your job and for your degree to get all your
future employment, it's foolish to place the weight on the name over
the quality of the program.
And I also took a look at the Rhodes web page, and I'm not sure if
they'd compare favorably to any top 50 US program.
That's encouraging to hear - primarily because it means that even if I can
"only" make it to a school that's ranked 34th, I'd still be better off than
if I stayed here.
|
As bad as it sounds, that's probably a correct assessment with respect
to the quality of the schools.
I wouldn't concern myself nearly as much with the "name" of the
program. I work with people from Harvard, MIT, CalTech, and less
well-known schools. My impression of these people is based almost
completely on the quality of their work, and not where they went to
school.
KSG |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Peter
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2003 6:34 pm
Post subject: Re: What to do on a college visit to MIT and Harvard |
|
|
| Quote: | Oh, okay! Well, don't worry about this. Admissions
officers look at what you have done to pursue your
interest. Do you have internships or part-time work
in your chosen field? Do you have a good letter of
recommendation from someone in your chosen field?
Those things are more important.
|
Would internships doing regular software programming work count at all? If
so, how much weight would they be given? (Obviously it's better than nothing
at all, but would part-time work alone [i.e. no independent research other
than the "Senior Thesis Project"] be "good enough", for example?)
| Quote: |
SUCCESS FOUR FLIGHTS THURSDAY MORNING ALL AGAINST
TWENTY ONE MILE WIND STARTED FROM LEVEL WITH ENGINE
POWER ALONE AVERAGE SPEED THROUGH AIR THIRTY ONE
MILES LONGEST 57 SECONDS INFORM PRESS HOME CHRISTMAS.
We just passed it... Dec. 17, 1903, this is
the telegram that the Wrights sent to their
father after their successful flights. 
|
Ah, it all makes sense now!
Peter |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Peter
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2003 6:34 pm
Post subject: Re: What to do on a college visit to MIT and Harvard |
|
|
| Quote: | The fact is, most of the strength of the Ivys' are the undergraduate
schools
and the professional schools. With the exception of Harvard and maybe
Princeton and Cornell, the Ivys' weaknesses are their graduate schools.
This is why you don't hear people talk about the Ivys' as much when it
comes
to graduate school then when they talk about undergrad. Dartmouth, for
example, has almost no graduate programs of note.
|
Oh, okay, I didn't know that (about the Ivy's generally having weak grad
schools) - thanks! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
David Ames
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2003 3:03 am
Post subject: Re: What to do on a college visit to MIT and Harvard |
|
|
There are a couple of things you can do while still in South Africa.
MIT has an intended program of posting course materials in all
subjects to the Web. So browse the mit.edu Web site and discover what
you can about teaching and research in the areas that interest you.
Also use a browser to do compound searches such as "lecture notes" AND
"mit.edu"
There was a book published several years ago about an MIT grad student
(in physics, was it?) and how he tried to make the grade there. His
oral comprehensives weren't good enough (IIRC) and they put him out
with a Master's degree. Find someone who can identify that book; then
read it. If you can e-mail the MIT Libraries, the MIT bookstore, the
MIT grad student association, you can perhaps track it down.
Yes. The grad student association. They've got to have one. It
would be pretentious and overreaching to associate with the professors
while you're at your current level. But perhaps they could pair you
with someone knowledgeable in your intended field, who can explain the
ropes to you and how you must prepare yourself.
The weather. Boston/Cambridge hovers at or below freezing most of the
winter.
Zero Fahrenheit is uncommon: it happens every three years or so. But
the wind! Three Saturdays ago we had a classic northeast storm.
Boston had about 16 inches of snow and some communities had 30 inches,
plus. There was a Christmas concert scheduled at a church hall about
one block from our house. We could either walk in the road and risk
getting run down by an oncoming snowplow, or walk through the slushy
unplowed church parking lot. Either way, the wind was so strong that
I felt like a mime and I had no intention of falling. I urged my wife
that we were not going to walk to that concert. And we didn't go.
David Ames |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Peter
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2003 5:09 am
Post subject: Re: What to do on a college visit to MIT and Harvard |
|
|
Hi David
| Quote: | MIT has an intended program of posting course materials in all
subjects to the Web. So browse the mit.edu Web site and discover what
you can about teaching and research in the areas that interest you.
Also use a browser to do compound searches such as "lecture notes" AND
"mit.edu"
|
I think you're referring to OCW (ocw.mit.edu)?
| Quote: | There was a book published several years ago about an MIT grad student
(in physics, was it?) and how he tried to make the grade there. His
oral comprehensives weren't good enough (IIRC) and they put him out
with a Master's degree. Find someone who can identify that book; then
read it. If you can e-mail the MIT Libraries, the MIT bookstore, the
MIT grad student association, you can perhaps track it down.
|
Yes, it's a book by Pepper White - I read it about 6 months ago; very
interesting, and it puts the difficulty of getting an MIT degree into
perspective (Most people seem to be of the attitude that "once you're in,
it's picking a thesis topic and actually doing the research work that's
hard" and that the graduate courses and qual exams aren't much of an issue.
This book debunks that to a certain extent.)
| Quote: | Yes. The grad student association. They've got to have one. It
would be pretentious and overreaching to associate with the professors
while you're at your current level.
|
Okay, thanks for the warning! I think I'm going to forfeit speaking to
faculty members unless I've got questions that I'm confident won't waste
their time and that graduate students wouldn't be able to answer.
| Quote: | But perhaps they could pair you
with someone knowledgeable in your intended field, who can explain the
ropes to you and how you must prepare yourself.
|
Graduate students, here we come.
| Quote: | The weather. Boston/Cambridge hovers at or below freezing most of the
winter.
Zero Fahrenheit is uncommon: it happens every three years or so. But
the wind! Three Saturdays ago we had a classic northeast storm.
Boston had about 16 inches of snow and some communities had 30 inches,
plus. There was a Christmas concert scheduled at a church hall about
one block from our house. We could either walk in the road and risk
getting run down by an oncoming snowplow, or walk through the slushy
unplowed church parking lot. Either way, the wind was so strong that
I felt like a mime and I had no intention of falling. I urged my wife
that we were not going to walk to that concert. And we didn't go.
|
Thanks for the heads-up. Since I'm going in April, snow shouldn't be an
issue, fortunately.
Peter |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Moca
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2003 6:31 am
Post subject: Re: What to do on a college visit to MIT and Harvard |
|
|
David Ames wrote:
| Quote: | There was a book published several years ago about an MIT grad student
(in physics, was it?) and how he tried to make the grade there. His
oral comprehensives weren't good enough (IIRC) and they put him out
with a Master's degree. Find someone who can identify that book; then
read it. If you can e-mail the MIT Libraries, the MIT bookstore, the
MIT grad student association, you can perhaps track it down.
|
You probably mean "The Idea Factory" by Pepper White. I read it
several years ago; it's an enjoyable read. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Abe Kohen
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 12:49 am
Post subject: Re: What to do on a college visit to MIT and Harvard |
|
|
"Irrational Number" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote
| Quote: |
Admissions officers do NOT "dis" any application
randomly based on geography or reputation. I think
you're hoping that there is some kind of diversity
requirement that will give you an edge. It won't.
You need to look for research /classes/internships
that show you are heading toward the direction you
say you are on your application.
|
This is the fundamental difference between admissions officers for
undergrad, law and business on one hand, and graduate (engineering) school
on the other hand.
For top-notch graduate engineering programs merit (not diversity) counts.
Abe |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Abe Kohen
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 12:51 am
Post subject: Re: What to do on a college visit to MIT and Harvard |
|
|
"Peter" <go@away.com> wrote in message news:3fe6c8ae.1@news1.mweb.co.za...
| Quote: | I didn't read the book, but my better half did. So as I recall, Richard
Feynman got stuck in the snow while driving and had to get out and put
"chains" on his tires. That's when he knew that Ithaca, NY was not for
him,
and knew he had to live in Sunny California.
That doesn't sound pleasant at all. Does it get as bad as that often in
Boston?
|
A rule of thumb, is that when it's 35F in NYC, it is 25F in Boston, and 15F
in Ithaca.
Of course, it's only a rule of thumb.
Abe |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Abe Kohen
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 1:01 am
Post subject: Re: What to do on a college visit to MIT and Harvard |
|
|
"Peter" <go@away.com> wrote
| Quote: |
Thanks for the heads-up. Since I'm going in April, snow shouldn't be an
issue, fortunately.
|
Statistically speaking - no. However we do have snow storms in April in NY
and Boston every so often.
2001 and 1983 or 1984, IIRC.
Abe |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
nrf
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 7:06 am
Post subject: Re: What to do on a college visit to MIT and Harvard |
|
|
"Abe Kohen" <akohen@xenon.stanford.edu> wrote in message
news:bt1mig$28dv1$1@ID-102750.news.uni-berlin.de...
| Quote: |
"Irrational Number" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote
Admissions officers do NOT "dis" any application
randomly based on geography or reputation. I think
you're hoping that there is some kind of diversity
requirement that will give you an edge. It won't.
You need to look for research /classes/internships
that show you are heading toward the direction you
say you are on your application.
This is the fundamental difference between admissions officers for
undergrad, law and business on one hand, and graduate (engineering) school
on the other hand.
For top-notch graduate engineering programs merit (not diversity) counts.
|
Oh believe me, diversity in grad engineering programs still counts, if for
nothing else, for fending off lawsuits from rejected applicants who then
threaten to sue for discrimination.
But I agree that it doesn't matter as much.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| |
FAQ
Memberlist
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in