<p>To answer la montagne, those things obviously aren’t right for everyone. I didn’t even consider ESG, Concourse, etc. because I felt ready to jump into the mainstream, in-your-face, classic, large lecture approach to all the classes (all of which turned out to be not so large that they were utterly intolerable, unlike 7.013 appears this semester). Specifically, I even heard the drawback of doing those programs is that they delay your experience with full-blown MIT classes, though that issue varies with the program. I felt high school exposed me to enough academic rigor that I wouldn’t need to rely on the group of people there to help you adjust that those programs provide; if you don’t feel your high school did that adequately, then those programs may be right for you. There are obviously more factors than that to consider, but since I didn’t join those programs, I couldn’t tell you what they are.</p>
<p>In any case, there are those who don’t regret their decision to do ESG, Concourse, etc., but there are just as many people who are satisfied with their decision not to partake in them.</p>