Advice for Sophomore - MIT

OperaDad
Sun, 05 May 2013 21:29:04 +0000

I’m taking Linear Algebra & Multivariable Calculus over the summer



Don’t do it. I did, and regretted it. Take it over a semester. You need the time to let it soak in while you are learning it.

Statistics is good. Just make sure you take statistics for math or statistics majors (not business majors, not biology majors, not even engineers). You want the rigorous theory behind it, not just the application. take classes through multiple regression analysis. Learn about financial investments - alpha, beta, gamma, and delta as measures of risk/return.

I’m guessing that Statistics is really beneficial in Cryptography.

See if you can do any research or internship work in Cryptography.

Note: there are a lot of intelligence/military uses for cryptography. Maybe see if there is a way to leverage some financial aid for college.

Try to do EC’s related to your field of interest. You want to show a passion in your application. Something close is robotics. See if there is a High School First Robotics team you can join. What you want to do is vision processing - autonomous driving and aiming of the robot. There is a lot of pattern recognition, which I’m guessing basic cryptography skills could be applicable.