<p>Okay, let’s take each of those. I’m a parent of a junior physics major at MIT. Since she wasn’t sure for the first two years whether she’d major in Computer Science or physics, or double major, she took quite a few computer science courses and had a paid research position related to computer science. Plus, since she entered the Battlecode competition last year, I guess you could say she knows quite a few of the MIT students who are strong in that area. Here’s my perspective on numbers 2, 3, & 4 in the article you posted (I’ll paste in the original text for each, so readers can follow):</p>
<p>“2. The students are “smart.”
There are different kinds of intelligence and much too often people confuse them. At MIT, the undergraduates are insanely intelligent. They’re quick-witted and can learn things in a flash. The undergrads here are also very good at spending lots of time working. That said, the students here aren’t necessarily more motivated, disciplined, worldly, or otherwise well-rounded or well-informed as you might hope. People still procrastinate like none other, half-ass their work, and aren’t necessarily bothered if they don’t understand what’s going on in the Middle East, despite potentially working on the next W.M.D… You really have to remember that MIT is an Institvte of Technology, not a Bastion of Brilliance. And you also have to remember that everything I just said doesn’t apply to everyone here. There are undoubtedly those who’ll just blow you away by how well-adjusted they are while making time for amazing research and getting a 5.0, but honestly, there are people like this at every university.”</p>
<p>Yes, there are brilliant students at every top research university, but MIT has a distinct culture. My son is touring college campuses with his father as I am writing this post, but I know full well that at each of these colleges, the admitted students are attending events planned and organized by the Admissions department. At MIT, CPW – like it or not – is bursting at the seams with events planned and organized by the students themselves. Princeton students, as far as I recall, somehow do not manage to pull this off on their campus. What your son saw and loved at CPW is the student culture at MIT, and although there may be individuals like MIT students “at every university,” that broader culture is unique to MIT.</p>
<p>“3. You want to be happy.
They don’t call this place “Hell” for nothing. And amazingly, it’s really not the academics (although there are infamously difficult courses, like Aero/Astro’s “Unified,” Physics’ “J-Lab,” or Architecture studio). It’s really a pervasive mentality that, at MIT, you’re not supposed to be happy, and if you are, you’re either not working hard enough, not doing anything outside of classes, or you’re just one of the lucky ones I mentioned earlier. Every time you ask someone how he/she is doing and he/she responds with “I’m so busy, I have five psets due this week and two tests next week and a UROP!” There’s no escaping the underlying sadness that a lot of people here are sacrificing a substantial portion of their health and social lives for their work.”</p>
<p>I would argue that students in top computer science programs anywhere are sometimes going to feel as if they are in hell. I know this is true at Stanford University, which has a higher-ranked program than Princeton’s. It’s more hidden at Princeton and Stanford, because there are large numbers of humanities and social science majors on the campus, whereas at MIT, the vast majority of students are struggling together. The upside, if you look at MIT retention and graduation statistics in the engineering and science programs, is that the culture at MIT creates a sort of “we’re all in this together” collaborative environment that enables students to succeed. </p>
<p>“4. You like an empty inbox.
Some days you really have to wonder whether there isn’t a leak in the Internet’s “series of tubes” that’s spilling half the world’s e-mails into your inbox. Even with all the discipline and Gmail filters you can muster, the empty e-mail inbox at MIT is a myth. Be ready to either spend a lot of time sorting through messages that resemble IM chats more than e-mails and deleting lots of random flame wars that might erupt on you dorm’s mailing list.”</p>
<p>You can encounter an overloaded inbox at any college and university, and you can find flame wars at any college that has a strong student government and student-led residence halls. </p>
<p>Final note about “well-roundedness.”
My daughter and her MIT boyfriend came out during Easter Break, and before they took off on a road trip, they were here one night for a large gathering of family and friends. One of the men here had recently founded his second technology company, having sold the first and retired early. He was working on a software simulation and had a question about something in C++, so he and my daughter talked for quite a bit at dinner. I was impressed that she could maintain a technical discussion to one side of her chair and engage an elderly woman on the other side with thoughts about the economic problems in Greece. Her boyfriend is equally skilled at this sort of multi-faceted small-talk. I consider my daughter to be highly capable of a “well-rounded performance,” although I believe her to be quite pointy, by nature.</p>