As a junior at Bucknell, I have been continuously disappointed with the initiative and attitude of my fellow engineering students. It seems like people don’t have a will to learn and perform. I wonder how it is at other schools.
I’m an alum (many years ago), and I hear you. Different major entirely, but I experienced much the same. I’m not sure how different it is at other selective schools, maybe at a few of them it is but all depending on the department. It’s a question I’ve asked various students and alum over the years (I used to think “if only I went to school X, I would have been surrounded by other people totally into this subject…”). I just had an intern (so smart) from UPenn this past summer and asked how intellectual/obsessed the students there were in “my” department and they said “uh, are you kidding? Maybe one or two really care about that beyond just getting the work done…honestly the school’s kind of lonely in that regard.” What I did find in my career, and I hope you do too, is that if intellectual exploration/achievement in your chosen field is what you care deeply about, you will end up at either grad school or a company that hires the best of the best in that field. And when you do, it’s pretty fantastic. The people there will, with any luck, be the kind of inspiring, push-you-hard colleagues you dream of–they are out there. I still remember getting to a place like that and it was (still is) amazing. The total “finding my people” cliche. Just because you don’t have it now at Bucknell does not mean you won’t have it later. Good luck! You have just 3 more semesters to go!!!
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