For a student who has difficulty writing...

_theorymom
Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:44:39 +0000

“If you son wants to avoid applying to MIT to avoid having to write in undergraduate classes, he will also have to avoid applying to any of the other top colleges and universities, because they all require writing.”

I guess I did not make myself too clear. HE wants to apply, it is the worrying Mom who wonders if it will be “too much”.

He knows he has to express himself, and has always done so, but it is a real struggle. He is truly brilliant, scarily so, but there seems to be a small disconnect when it comes to getting it out in the written word. I feel it may be something that is developmental in some way, but it improving all the time. Those of you have not experienced this as either one afflicted, or a paren to someone who has this difficulty may not be able to relate.

So this is not an issue of him not WANTING to do it, his dream schools are MIT and Stanford (Stanford is a reach) and he is an avid learner, and scary smart.

My question had more to do with requesting info from MIT students and alum as to the rigors of writing at MIT. He can handle research papers. But things like creative writing, essays about literature, history, things like that will, despote his efforts, drag him down. So I wonder how much of that there is for a math and comp sci major who also wants to continue music studies.

The truth is, if he is accepted, there is not a thing in the world I could say to him, even a warning about rigorous writing requirements, that would cause him to decline acceptance, so I suppose the question is rhetorical in a sense and only for my own edification.