"How did HE Get In?"

[texaspg]

<p>Xiggi got a two for one and it is not even about mathematicians. Didn’t know he could reach out and touch so many at once. :D</p>

<p>Mollie - did you forget counting once you went to the other school?</p>

[sylvan8798]

<p>

@cobrat

I have known some MIT students/alums who used that as a way to ease their academic workloads by taking the more advanced hardest major/core courses first so they’ll have higher GPAs for the future and an easier time for the rest of their MIT undergrad to have hobbies, hang out on/off campus, ECs, or attend an on-campus party*.</p>

<p>While it worked for them, what would you and others think of that seemingly unintended use of the “no grades first semester”?

Many courses have prerequisites (at least at most schools). Are MIT students permitted to take courses for which they have no prereqs and then have them count even if they are unable to actually pass them?</p>

[cobrat]

<p>

Are MIT students permitted to take courses for which they have no prereqs and then have them count even if they are unable to actually pass them?

</p>

<p>From their accounts, all they needed to do was to go to the Professor’s office hours and persuade him/her that they were ready to take the course and succeeded. </p>

<p>Wasn’t very different from how I successfully persuaded several Profs at my own LAC to allow me to take their intermediate/advanced courses without taking the required prereqs.</p>

[jym626]

<p>That Harvard/MIT joke has gotten a lot of mileage on CC.</p>

[lookingforward]

<p>A few times, Alh has mentioned resources. Now I wonder what she sees as a U’s resources. Is it limited to academics or do you see it more broadly?</p>

[geomom]

<p>I don’t think you even have to get the professor teaching the course to agree to let you take it without the prerequisite at MIT, you just need to get your adviser to sign. They pretty much assume you are a responsible adult. </p>

<p>But no, you can’t fail and get credit. In fact, you need a C or above to get credit freshman year. And passing is not trivial.</p>

[Beliavsky]

<p>

@Pizzagirl

If a potentially talented student lives in poor-ville, or rural-ville, and doesn’t have access to the kinds of mentors, teachers and coaches to enable him to fill his potential (or who would have heard of USAMO, etc.) oh well- there’s always the internet where they can maybe find out about those things. Let them eat cake (or pi).

</p>

<p>I think there should be ability grouping (and provisions for grade-skipping and subject acceleration) in elementary and middle school, not just in high school as is common nowadays. Then gifted low-income kids, whose parents are unlikely to enroll them in an activity such as an out-of-school math club, would be challenged in school. Ability grouping and gifted programs are not favored by many educators because they don’t want to recognize differences in intelligence.</p>

[unicameral2013]

<p>Popping back in after watching some of the documentaries about the IMO process (Hard Problems (USA) and Beautiful Young Minds (British)), and I think they are very telling about why some USAMO qualifiers are passed over. First, let me say that these kids are unquestionably brilliant. But most are also severely lacking social skills, and some come off as arrogant and/or unable to communicate about anything other than math. I don’t think it can be overstated that MIT is trying to build a campus community, not just a collection of 1000 great minds in adjacent dorm rooms.</p>

[unicameral2013]

<p>Ah, missed the edit window. I’d like to pose a question about a specific example. One of the British students remarked: “I’m not going to listen to anybody who hasn’t shown that they’re better in math than me.” If that was said in the interview, is that grounds on character flaws (can’t recall exactly what the proposed exemption was) to not auto admit him? Even if he was on the IMO team?</p>

<p>[Beautiful</a> Young Minds - Part 2 of 6 - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube) 10:16</p>

[sylvan8798]

<p>

@unicameral2013

If that was said in the interview, is that grounds on character flaws (can’t recall exactly what the proposed exemption was) to not auto admit him? Even if he was on the IMO team?

I certainly wouldn’t want to teach that one.</p>

[poetgrl]

<p>really cool link unicameral. thanks.</p>

[molliebatmit]

<p>

@texaspg

Mollie - did you forget counting once you went to the other school?

Mighta been then. Hard to say. Can’t count back that far.</p>

<p>(I should mention that my collaborator/best friend went to Yale, so I hear the Cambridge supermarket joke a lot. Also, I get it through the nose any time I can’t fix a broken lab machine.)</p>

[molliebatmit]

<p>

@alh

If you want to argue science is really essentially useless, I am pretty much prepared to agree.

[quote=C. S. Peirce]
True science is distinctively the study of useless things. For the useful things will get studied without the aid of scientific men. To employ these rare minds on such work is like running a steam engine by burning diamonds.<a href=“That’s%20my%20self-aggrandizing%20quote-bomb%20for%20the%20day.”>/quote</a></p>

[poetgrl]

<p>This is one of the comments beneath one of those videos. I would like to meet this guy.</p>

<p>

Liu Zhiyu, the guy at 10:10, and gold medalist of 2006 IMO (with perfect score), is a legend. In 2010 he got admitted by MIT as a graduate student after he finished his bachelor study in China. However, he declined MIT’s offer and chose to become a buddhist monk in Longquan temple in the mountains near Beijing.

</p>

<p>I imagine, if I were MIT, I’d be sad to lose him. But, in the video, he says that to compete is good, but to do so you lose other things, like a sense of peace and good emotions. Interesting.</p>

[unicameral2013]

<p>I noticed that comment too, and I was interested in hearing about the things Zhiyu gave up to train. Additionally, at the very end of the documentary, Daniel remarks that he is thrilled that he has aged-out of the IMO so he can do “real maths” at university the following year. He noted that he disliked the competitive nature of the process, and was finally was able to say it now that he had won a medal.</p>

[poetgrl]

<p>I have to say I liked Daniel an awful lot, as a person, and I just wish for his happiness in life. He seemed so sensitive and open, to me, and like a really good person.</p>

[texaspg]

<p>Harvard could not buy any of those guys?</p>

[lookingforward]

<p>It’s a good example of how “fit” can be off. I don’t just mean how one fits into the U, but also into the usual bulk and weight of human interactions. </p>

<p>I’m concerned if this all was edited to give a pointed view- perhaps unfairly. (Maybe not; I don’t know.). But, you can imagine how the question could be: can this U- as it exists, not how we think it should- serve these kids? This is more than a superficial question. More than a matter of saying, these kids are brilliant and this U is tops, so we have to put them together. </p>

<p>Ultimately, you want to satisfy and fulfill three parties: the Daniels, the campus community, and the institution itself. </p>

<p>I’d want to know MIT or whatever school could serve more than just these students’ academic needs.</p>

[collegealum314]

<p>

One of the British students remarked: “I’m not going to listen to anybody who hasn’t shown that they’re better in math than me.” If that was said in the interview, is that grounds on character flaws (can’t recall exactly what the proposed exemption was) to not auto admit him? Even if he was on the IMO team?

</p>

<p>I didn’t watch the entire 6 parts, but the one you linked to really shocked me. I’ve never met anyone like that. It’s worth noting that two out of the four or five featured on the video were autistic, including the specific example you cite, so I don’t think they are representative. I think the question of autism and admissions needs to be considered separately. However, to answer your question, yeah, without considering the disability it would be justified to reject someone who was making such extremely misanthropic statements.</p>

<p>My take is that the Brittish filmakers looked for the most bizarre people–some of them seemed like caricatures.</p>

[collegealum314]

<p>The American movie, “Hard Problems”, most resembles the math contest winners that I knew growing up. I only watched the first part (linked below,) but they seemed fairly normal to me and able to relate to people. </p>

<p>[Hard</a> Problems-The Road to the World’s Toughest Math Contest PART 1/3 - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>