<p>OK, this is kind of a weird question, but is there anyone at Columbia who is dumb or has like straight Fs in his or her college classes?</p>
<p>Just wondering.</p>
<p>No. The University has a guild of assassins that exterminates anyone who is in danger of failing.</p>
<p>idk but there are dumb people everywhere. money can get you into places</p>
<p>Those are two different things.</p>
<p>what are–assassins and dumb people? I guess that’s true because assassins are evil, not dumb =)</p>
<p>yes. by my own opinion, they are the majority here, but i suppose this is highly subjective.</p>
<p>In the age of grade inflation and affirmative action, it’s very, very difficult to get “straight Fs” in all of one’s courses.</p>
<p>That’s not called “dumb,” that’s called “lazy.”</p>
<p>^
Are there any lazy people? It seems like there would be those types of people everywhere, but I’m curious as to how they got in.</p>
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<p>These people are everywhere. As a student at Duke, I notice that while 90% of my classmates are ridiculously intelligent, there are those that probably paid their way in, got recruited, etc. My friend at Stanford feels the same. My friend at Columbia said the same as well. The good thing about these good schools though is that while a few “less intelligent” people may walk the halls as well, most of the people you meet may make you feel that YOU’RE the dumb one, pushing you to higher limits.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that at some schools, athletes who struggle a lot but are really good at their sport seem to get through because the school pulls some strings for them to keep them on their teams…
That musn’t happen very often though. And it is true that other factors like money can get you in. It happens at all schools. But ultimately if you want to stay in you have to work very, very hard, regardless of your intelligence level.</p>
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<p>Sure, lots. Though I don’t exactly agree with lvilleslacker. I find most students here are normal people who work hard. There aren’t many truly brilliant intellectuals; most are intellectually insipid. It’s funny in light of the Core Curriculum.</p>
<p>I agree; getting into a very selective college ends up largely being about hard work, but not necessarily innate smartness or intelligence.</p>
<p>hahahahahahhaha I actually laughed at this question. Its 12:50 AM where I am and I’m stressing about colleges and all that jazz, and this was just a much needed thingy mcbobby (idk what to call it). hahaha oh dear oh dear… now I can sleep peacefully.</p>
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<p>Everyone feels this way here. We all have a fair amount of contempt for our peers…don’t believe that people don’t think the same about you tho…</p>
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<p>One probably falls into the “dumb” category if s/he sees 9 out of his 10 classmates as “ridiculously intelligent.”</p>
<p>… Was that really called for, jerk? Maybe I came from a high school where I was not surrounded by smart people and coming to duke put me with some. </p>
<p>Lol if that’s how you want to play, I’m glad I chose duke over columbia.</p>
<p>“Dumbness” is relative really, thus rendering it into the “vague” category. It also isn’t a very useful or descriptive term due to the aforementioned point. I don’t see how you could concievably expect a conclusive answer with such a question. How would you define vague? Lack of core inner potential? One with minimal success in and outside the class room? Anyone you percieve as an unsavory character that you secretly envy [for getting into such a prestigious school] regardless of mental intellect?</p>
<p>Simple answer: yes.</p>
<p>Complex answer: most people here are very intelligent. Some struggle in certain areas. Some are lopsided: brilliant in one thing, completely idiotic at others (note that this is not just academic disciplines but common sense, people skills, etc). If you’re very proficient in a given area, you may see people fail laughably in that area. If you’re a scientist, you will hear people make completely idiotic statements in Frontiers of Science. If you’re a great writer, you will read some hilariously bad essays while peer reviewing for University Writing. If you’ve got a background in art history, you’ll probably laugh at some stuff people say in Art Hum. I tend to have the background assumption that anyone I meet at Columbia will have a good deal of proficiency in some area, and no one has proven me wrong on that score yet (obviously). But I have met lots of people who are incompetent in one way or another, or who don’t come off as “smart” at all (and I don’t even mean that they come off as something else, like “artsy” or “jockish”, I mean if I ran into them on the street, I would not guess that they were very bright individuals). So yeah, it’s not like being surrounded by a horde of super geniuses. It’s like being surrounded by a horde of people who are probably very good at one thing or another, but not everything.</p>
<p>^yeah, I’d say people are usually more than proficient at one skill, they are usually exceptional at one or two things they have devoted themselves to. No one is very good at everything, that statement is nonsensical. But I have come across a few people who are brilliant at 3-4 things, like stand out accomplished. Like I have a friend who is an amazing mathematician, an amazing guitarist, speaks several languages fluently, and debates me well on politics. Another is a brilliant pre-med kid, running a marathon, great debater, extremely well versed in international relations, funny as hell, loved across campus, 3 huge/prestigious campus organizations want him to be their next president, I’m sure this kid has more talents but he doesn’t talk as much as he does. These are stand out kids that would have destroyed their surrounding / impressed people in any environment. Could they be thought of as dumb? in several contexts, absolutely yes. And there’s your answer.</p>
<p>Well there are people in my classes that appear dumb, but that could be because whatever class we have together isn’t what they’re good at and I don’t get to see them anywhere else. </p>
<p>On the other hand, they could just be dumb.</p>