<p>Getting drunk is pretty stupid. That doesn’t mean that I’ve never done it, though. And it also doesn’t mean that I didn’t have a /really/ good time doing it :P</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I’m 21.</p>
<p>Anyway, Piper, what do you think of 5e parties? Are they just a bunch of nerds sitting around discussing what beer cans are made out of and going to sleep early? :)</p>
<p>Relatedly, MIT made it onto Playboy’s list of the top 10 party schools one year. The reporters apparently came during Steer Roast (annual party thrown by Senior Haus, of the MIT dorms). Nirvana also played Steer Roast back in the day, which is pretty cool.</p>
<p>I will counter your anecdotal evidence with my own anecdotal evidence.</p>
<p>I am a high school senior applying to MIT this year. My GPA is over 4.0 (out of 4.0), and it is probably the weakest part of my application.</p>
<p>I am a very extroverted person and I love parties. There are a lot of other people at my school who are academically successful and very sociable.</p>
<p>stochatos: I never said it was 100% impossible to have 4.0+ and be extroverted and party-going. I just said that those types of people don’t exist at my school. Hell, even the one, lone extroverted 4.0 guy at my school still doesn’t like partying.
“There are a lot of other people at my school who are academically successful and very sociable.”
Define academically successful. There are plenty of popular, party-going 3.25-3.75 gpa kids at my school, but this thread is about MIT, and none of those kids are going to get into MIT.</p>
<p>My former debate partner, who is currently attending Columbia, is a complete extrovert and party-goer. He was valedictorian of his class and is a very intelligent person; however, he likes to let loose and party frequently. He even gets drunk, on occasion. Thus, you can be of top-notch academic caliber and still enjoy partying and alcohol. It happens. Onamatapia, try to shed a few layers of that naivete (probably brought about by your school’s strange, no 4.0+ drinkers circumstances) and experience the real world. Partying and alcohol are media for people to enjoy each other and have fun.</p>
What’s the bright-line difference? Is it defined by blood alcohol content, or by some physiological state?</p>
<p>And why would being buzzed be less stupid than being drunk, if you think that being drunk is stupid?</p>
<p>At any rate, smart people do stupid things all the time. If you define stupidity by the probability of negative consequences, falling in love is extremely stupid. Some smart people are overweight or otherwise don’t take care of their health, which is stupid. Even if we accept your premise that being drunk is stupid, that doesn’t mean smart people won’t do it and enjoy it.</p>
<p>Because it can be fun, and it’s possible to avoid danger even if getting drunk lowers your inhibitions. We make tradeoffs between safety and fun every day. There’s a difference in “so stupid no one should ever do it” (which is the type of stupid you seem to be talking about), and potentially suboptimal depending on the situation.</p>
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<p>Yeeeaaaah, that’s a totally accurate description of 5E ;)</p>
<p>Anywho, if I’m in the mood for a 5E party, 5E parties are hilarious. Usually I’m not that high-energy though ^_^</p>
<p>I’m not usually invited to parties (read: never), but there are a lot of other 4.0 types at my school who are. Same as with jocks, some 4.0s, some lower, some higher (yaay weighting).
Also, I gotta ask, what’s 5E? The only mention I can find from a cursory google is on the I Saw You MIT page.</p>
<p>I’ll be applying to MIT this year, and I’ve found this post very amusing. While I don’t see myself drinking alcohol until I’m twenty-one at least, I accept that that is my own choice.</p>
<p>I still can’t wait to go to college parties. I’ve really only been invited to one dancing party - and I loved it. I also like that “parties” (more like gatherings) that I have with my small group of friends where we make inside jokes, watch bad movies, and play apples to apples.
It seems like I can find both of these parties at MIT. </p>
<p>Question: At the big “frat” parties how likely is it that if you strike up a converstation with some random people, you will end up discussing “nerdy” stuff - doctor who, harry potter, how realistic scifi shows are, stuff like that?
Because I really want to experience a place like that - seems like a great way to meet friends.</p>
<p>Let me try to explain it to you in physics terms. Newton tells us that mass can neither be created or destroyed–conservation of mass. A similar conservation law governs intelligence. But the goal of MIT is to become smarter. Therefore, when one is becoming academically smarter, one must simultaneously make stupid decisions in one’s personal life. </p>
<p>You know, the problem with this whole thing is that most of you are giving me advice from an extroverted point of view, but I’m not an extrovert, I’m an introvert. Parties don’t really appeal to me because I don’t like huge social gatherings. And I don’t know if my school is just exteremely bizzarre, but 95% of the time here, being 4.0 smart = introverted.</p>
<p>Mollie: I would define the line between drunk and buzzed to be the point where you “lose control” of your actions and your judgement becomes clouded.</p>
<p>“If you define stupidity by the probability of negative consequences, falling in love is extremely stupid.” Not true. The implications of NOT falling in love (a lifetime of lonliness, among other things) are much worse, in my opinion, than the hurt you risk when you fall in love. You know what they say, “it’s better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all.”</p>
<p>Piper: “We make tradeoffs between safety and fun every day.” When? I never do anything unsafe in order to have fun. Especially not in my everyday life. I mean, I would like to try skydiving, but that’s actually really safe; there’s only like a 1 in 1 million chance of something going wrong.</p>
As are many of us. And it’s fine if big parties don’t appeal to you. What most of us are trying to point out is that some people who are otherwise similar to you in many respects do like big parties, and like to party in moderation. And you can make your choices, and they can make their choices, and nobody has to be judgy or overly concerned about the choices of anybody else.</p>
<p>
Generally at MIT, p(something nerdy will be said) approaches 1 with increasing length of conversation. </p>
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It’s a floor of the dorm East Campus – the fifth floor on the east parallel.</p>
<p>“Generally at MIT, p(something nerdy will be said) approaches 1 with increasing length of conversation.”
So if the conversation is infinitely long (that would be torture for me, I don’t like small talk), then there is 100% chance of something nerdy being said?
75% of my conversations with friends are about nerdy things, btw.</p>
<p>“It’s a floor of the dorm East Campus – the fifth floor on the east parallel.”</p>
<p>What exactly about and its parties is funny?</p>
<p>@mollie: “What most of us are trying to point out is that some people who are otherwise similar to you in many respects do like big parties, and like to party in moderation. And you can make your choices, and they can make their choices, and nobody has to be judgy or overly concerned about the choices of anybody else.”</p>
<p>Let me repost the reason why this is making me depressed and judgmental: It’s called cognitive dissonance. The state of believeing two contradictory things at once, or in this case, having logic seemingly lead to two contradictory conclusions at once. On one side, my logic is telling me it is completely irrational to take the risk of doing something stupid by getting drunk, which leads to the conclusion that getting drunk is stupid. But on the other side, most everybody gets drunk, even smart people, which logically leads to the conclusion that getting drunk is not stupid. See, two contradictory conclusions. When this happens, a person tends to feel depressed and experience “dissonance”. The person either changes their belief, or rejects evidence that challenges their belief. I haven’t really done either, which is why I am continually feeling depressed.</p>
<p>Onamatapia: I think what you want is a feeling that at MIT, everyone will be like you. Everyone has given you their word that you will be able to fit in at MIT, even though you consider yourself an introvert, so that’s the only conflict I still see as being possible. If this is the case, there are probably 0 schools anywhere that will have students who are all exactly like you, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.</p>
<p>Even so, being an introvert isn’t like a disease. You can grow out of it the more you interact with people. I’m not much of a partier (high-school senior now, applying to MIT early), but when I went to MIT for a weekend recruiting trip last week, I went to several parties with my host and had a great time. They really do vary so much that you will definitely find a place for you: There was a frat that played lots and lots of beer pong with loud music, a frat that sang to nearby sororities, typical dance parties, dorms that hosted an event where one person gets drunk and gives a scientific lecture for entertainment, sober environments consisting of students playing super smash bros, and lots of pset action…you get the point. So don’t worry about this part.</p>
<p>And to address your “cognitive dissonance” over getting drunk: if you really are as smart as you say you are, which I don’t doubt at all, it shouldn’t be hard to socially drink and remain responsible. Just because you drink some alcohol at a party doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to get plastered and pass out. It’s alcohol…hundreds of thousands of college students anywhere are able to have fun with it and stay safe. If you’re considering MIT, this shouldn’t be at all a worry to you. And this explains why smart people do occassionally drink. For some people, drinking is a way to have fun for a night.</p>
<p>And at the end of the day, if you really don’t buy anything I said above, then just don’t drink or change your belief. Be yourself. You won’t be the only person at MIT who doesn’t drink, much less get drunk. If you surround yourself with genuine friends, it’s not like you will have to worry about looking “stupid” ever.</p>
<p>“Even so, being an introvert isn’t like a disease. You can grow out of it the more you interact with people.”
Introversion is a personality trait. You can’t “grow out of it”. I don’t want to anyway. I like being an introvert.</p>
<p>" Just because you drink some alcohol at a party doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to get plastered and pass out."</p>
<p>Again, I never said I thought drinking a little is stupid, I only said getting drunk is. And I’ve seen it mentioned that students at MIT do get drunk, and I still do find it a bit strange that a smart person would make that decision.</p>
Alternately: it leads to the conclusion that other people think getting drunk isn’t stupid, even though you think it’s stupid. Either way, it’s an opinion – it’s fine for you and other people to have differences of opinion on this matter.</p>
<p>You are using words carrying multiple meanings; one thing you’ll realize is that being smarter than your peers means you can process things faster, and stuff like that, on average. But there will always be infinitely many things out there you don’t know, and which some people know better than you. It depends what you pay attention to. Having the capability to reason at lightning speed doesn’t mean you’ll choose to apply that reasoning to how you should regulate your health. I think you are seeking the term “sensible” more than “smart” … and even then, we have the distinction between having a wild night in good company you trust to keep you in check, vs in bad company, and that makes the difference between still retaining sensible and stupid.</p>
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<p>Although sometimes, there isn’t a difference, and someone or both parties just haven’t understood the other side fully, and are “agreeing to disagree” because they’re too lazy!!!</p>
<p>“Alternately: it leads to the conclusion that other people think getting drunk isn’t stupid, even though you think it’s stupid. Either way, it’s an opinion – it’s fine for you and other people to have differences of opinion on this matter.”</p>
<p>I don’t see how considering something stupid is an opinion. Either it’s stupid, or it’s not.</p>
<p>Anyway, getting down to the heart of it, I have three main worries about this whole thing that are depressing me:
I’m worried that if I drink, and especially if I get drunk, that I’ll become an alcoholic like my dad
I’m worried that I’ll do something really stupid if I get drunk
and 3. This is the biggest one. I’m worried that if I DON’T drink, I’ll miss out on an apparently really fun part of life and I’ll never actually get any enjoyment out of life (Because honestly, I haven’t gotten much enjoyment so far).</p>
<p>These are obviously extremely conflicting worries.</p>
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