<p>Sth very typical:
You graduate in the top 5% of your class. You are accepted into MIT. You join and begin freshmen year.
Here’s my question:
If that did happen…would you find yourself (in the beginning) lost?
To give some context to my query let me post the exact words of my friend whom i have just had a discussion with: ‘One minute you are seen as the smartest person in this HS and the next moment the dumbest person in MIT’
Any comments?</p>
<p>It’s P/F your frosh yr which takes a lot of the pressure off. MIT is not the pressure-cooker it was a generation ago.</p>
<p>i m not talking about the pressure… rather about the material that u face in college… would it be too hard for some people even though they were good students back in their HS.</p>
<p>Not everything is about getting in or being able to cope with the pressure(which is a very abstract word) Its more about whether You are at that point where you can start off with college education smoothly… I hope I am clear?</p>
<p>let me say what i see… The class valedictorian feels the need to ace tests. he simply memorizes a bunch of questions/answ due to lack of time and the need to do well and he also does his SAT well. Gets into MIT. Would he be lost? </p>
<p>to plainly ask: Is high school education enough to give you a start in MIT? Or do you need to be extaordinarily good … with deep understanding of you High school material to even begin freshman classes.</p>
<p>Warning: This post may seem misled but remember its just a way of thinking.</p>
<p>Some of this is addressed in another recent thread titled “Be Careful What You Wish For.” If you haven’t already done so, you should read through that thread.</p>
<p>Your hypothetical valedictorian, the one who aced her way through high school by simply memorizing everything, would be over her head in any of the top colleges and universitites. The writing placement test given by MIT to all incoming freshman gives a hint of what’s ahead. </p>
<p>This August, incoming freshmen taking MIT’s online writing test had three days or so to download a collection of articles about New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. Some articles were written from an economic perspective; others from an engineering perspective; a political perspective, and so on. Within that 3-day period, students had to synthesize information from all of the articles in two essays, citing references. I don’t think this has anything to do with memorization. Can your hypothetical valedictorian read a wide range of literary and scientific materials critically and very quickly? Can she synthesize and evaluate the material and craft a well-written paper within a 24-hour period? My daughter graduated as a valedictorian from a top Silicon Valley high school, and she never learned these skills in her public school. She did well on the writing placement test, but she summed it up this way: “It’s a good thing I started entering science fairs several years ago, or I would never have learned to synthesize material and write it up properly.”</p>
<p>And this post only covers what you’d encounter in a humanities class.</p>
<p>It’s not such a simple question. High school education in the US varies widely. Individual standards of excellence vary widely. It depends on what the student expects of himself/herself. It depends on your attitude towards competition, intensity, etc. It depends on whether you knew what you were going to study before coming to MIT, and whether you started learning material related to your major before you came here.</p>
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<p>Um. In this respect, it’s harder than it was a generation ago, not easier. Current MIT students get one semester of pass/no record and one semester of A/B/C/no record. Previous MIT students (from 1968 until a few years ago) got two semesters of pass/no record.</p>
<p>Freshman classes tend to start pretty near the beginning. Obviously people who have seen the material before are ahead, but having gone to a really good high school is not a prerequisite (about 5% of MIT freshmen never took physics before MIT, generally because their high schools did not offer it). The issue is less one of being behind and more that the class will move at a much quicker pace and expect you to understand in much more depth than most students are used to.</p>
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<p>If that’s how he’s been approaching his education thus far, then yes, he might be lost, at least for a while. The pass/no record first term is meant to help people cope with this. But in the ideal case, he has already had some practice regarding education as something other than memorizing a bunch of facts and equations to get good grades on tests.</p>
<p>My spouse is a MIT alum. Among our friends who went to MIT, there are some who struggled academically the entire four years. Pretty much everyone accepted by MIT was a stellar high school student, but not all high schools prepare their students well for college. </p>
<p>Of our friends who struggled, one was burned out and took a few years off between junior and senior year. When his girlfriend refused to marry him unless he graduated , he returned and completed his studies (undergraduate thesis.) He has had a fine career. Another friend worked harder than most of his peers but struggled to keep up with borderline grades, and he has not had much career success. MIT will offer you endless chances to graduate, even if it takes you years longer than your peers, but for some accepted students it is a real struggle to keep up.</p>
<p>Well, your hypothetical valedictorian sounds exactly like the valedictorian, 2400s on SATs, but maybe not so much “passion”/initiative/life outside of school that MIT and other top schools routinely reject, probably just for the reason you implied: that person would not be prepared to think critically and do well in such a school (as well as that that person would not have as much to contribute to campus, but that’s another point). I think MIT/top college admissions are so tough partially for that reason - it takes more than memorization and good grades to do well in college, and in life.</p>
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Frequently, yes.</p>
<p>Most freshmen come into MIT thinking they’re totally awesome, and the majority of them get a big wakeup call first term freshman year. Many MIT students who came from average high schools simply don’t know how to study when they get to college, since they’ve never had to before. I certainly failed a whole bunch of tests first term freshman year, personally speaking. But I came back second semester and poof! I had figured out what I needed to do to get the grades I wanted. (Hint: it involved reading the book and going to lecture for me. ;))</p>
<p>See, I’m smart. If I do get into MIT, I’d only have that “totally awesome” attitude when it comes to basketball. ;)</p>
<p>On the other hand small town DD did great freshman year almost 5.0 including the P/F actual grades, then assumed next year it would be easy. It was not. Fall sophomore grades helped return her to reality. I hope a good lesson learned. Bottom line is if you get in, you can do the work. It is really a case of if you are willing to do so.</p>
<p>K2,
Its simple : You can study for 2 things
- Be val (by whatever means) and get into a very very selective uni
- Learn from your text b/c u think what you are learning is actually going to help you …by this I mean refer to outside sources and encyclopedias…and get a thorough idea of what you are learning. AT the COST of some extra points in your GPA. Of course the method of study is longer BUT it gives purpose …real purpose to studying even though you may not get a thorough idea all in one day.
This is what i did for my chem test: We are learning hybrid orbitals…
If you want to do the test all u wud need to do is refer class notes and memorize answers. 100% yay! But I am sorry …that’s not what my conscience would let me do…I razed down the college chem course book in my school library on pg.546 which had orbitals explained in detail. And obviously i dint have time for the economics test which was on the same day.
So there are pros and cons yet this is what makes me happy so i do it.</p>
<p>Okay now i might be in top 5% of my school but i am definitely NOT val. It has no meaning to me.
So your question rephrased would be : Who has a better chance? the val or me?
wallah …hopefully someone like MIT can identify this difference. (Otherwise the val ‘gets it’ yeahh.)
If not…then be happy where ever u get in. Btw the uni isn’t important , YOU are. I always tell myself: Einstein was a dropout not VAL. So to be a scientist , be thorough. Yeah man that is it.</p>
<p>I wud appreciate it if any1 would support me. Or if they think i am misled and naive …i hope they do correct me.</p>
<p>That was excellent advancer! Tht was my question precisely.
@molliebatmit… thanks a lot.</p>