<p>Pizzagirl, Post 515 did more damage to xjis's reputation here than anything you or I could say about him. Forgive him, he doesn't meet many laymen in his parents' basement.</p>
<p>TourGuide446// you would hope. i'd say not more than yours who keep saying everyone around you have no clue what MIT is.</p>
<p>when we say laypeople don't know some of prestigious colleges, we mean obscure ones like UChicago or WUSTL, or maybe even Caltech, but not something like MIT.</p>
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The markets have been wreaking havoc on some of the funds I've been managing and I needed to unplug from the net and focus. I'm back on track now so I'm easing back into life now.
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Yes, given your fund implosion at Bear Stearns and your subsequent arrest, I'm sure you have a lot more time on your hands...:D...j/k</p>
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btw, what's your view on oil prices? you think we're headed higher or do you think the speculators are going to take money and run? its really the $64,000 question on Wall St.
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I work in the oil industry and let me tell you that there's tons of oil on the market. I say after this summer...barring no hurricanes in the gulf and the successful close of the Olympic games, oil prices will come down. If the Fed starts raising rates, watch oil fall like a rock with everyone running for the exits. I don't think it will be a gradual decline at all... This is a true bubble, IMO...we're already in the "this time it's different" phase. </p>
<p>That being said, if Israel heightens rhetoric to attack Iran, all bets are off and oil is over $200/bbl easily.</p>
<p>Wow. Oil futures are crazy. Hopefully everyone who bet on 200 a barrel takes a hit.</p>
<p>Very few of the top schools offer Merit aid. I don't think any of the Ivies/Stanford do actually. The schools a tier below do obviously, so they can attract top quality students. </p>
<p>And I do think that more often then not, people will have heard about MIT/West Point. It's hard to know HYS and not know MIT. West Point is a bit more obscure, but I would still bet on the avg American knowing.</p>
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when we say laypeople don't know some of prestigious colleges, we mean obscure ones like UChicago or WUSTL, or maybe even Caltech, but not something like MIT.
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<p>Again, this is all regional. WUSTL isn't obscure in the midwest in the least.</p>
<p>xjis, the point wasn't that nobody knows MIT, but that more know about Notre Dame.</p>
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Most "laymen" confuse Northeastern and Northwestern, .... ... , and never heard of .... MIT.
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<p>ok. i'm soooo sorry for switching "most laymen" with "nobody."</p>
<p>and Pizzagirl, i think you once asked me where im from.</p>
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Wow - where do you people live that you never heard of Vanderbilt??
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<p>I attended elementary school, middle school, and high school all in the midwest. and yes, im aware that WUSTL is well-known in the midwest and i realize i do know more about WUSTL than most ppl here do in CC.</p>
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also same thing goes with WUSTL. i thought it was an amazing school, but i don't think it's being mentioned as much as it should be.
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<p>that's me back in post # 300-something.</p>
<p>Eh you "im_blue" for someone sporting by name one of the Emory colors don't be mad cuz your jealous ...referring to the line where you said "pretenders"... Pick your words wisely you conceited, ignorant, narrow-minded person. Oh P.S. one of my best friends goes to UChicago, so I'm not the hater.</p>
<p>Georgetown and Notre Dame are viewed as being EXTREMELY PRESTIGIOUS among regular young people. I honestly thought Georgetown was a cut behind Harvard before I came on to CC. Here's what I think the ranking of prestige according to young people would be:</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>Notre Dame</li>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>NYU</li>
<li>Michigan</li>
</ol>
<p>Very, very, very few regular kids I interacted with in my high school had heard of any of the Ivy League schools besides HYP but thought Georgetown and ND were "incredible".</p>
<p>ANYONe WHO DID NOt PUt DUKE In THEIr LiST IS INCREDIBLy STUPID!</p>
<p>In the Los Angeles area,</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Notre Dame</li>
<li>UCB</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>USC</li>
</ol>
<p>Yeah, Duke is definitely not Top 10 in this pointless "ranking."</p>
<p>Where's MIT?</p>
<p>ANYONe WHO DID NOt PUt ____ In THEIr LiST IS INCREDIBLy STUPID!</p>
<p>MIT is not as well known as it should be in SoCal, since hardly anyone gets in (usually 1 person per school max...not many alumni in the area). My brother just graduated and I have had to explain where/what it is to several people.</p>
<p>Of course, the smartest people in the world DO go to MIT, so while it is definitely "prestigious," it lacks the superficial prestige that these other schools have in LA^ (by superficial i mean added "wow" effect and a higher perception of the school than reality indicates [e.g. if you say you go to harvard/yale, people assume you are a supergenius]...if "prestige" was proportional to quality, MIT would be the most prestigious school by far).</p>
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[quote]
Of course, the smartest people in the world DO go to MIT, so while it is definitely "prestigious," it lacks the superficial prestige that these other schools have in LA^ (by superficial i mean added "wow" effect and a higher perception of the school than reality indicates [e.g. if you say you go to harvard/yale, people assume you are a supergenius]...if "prestige" was proportional to quality, MIT would be the most prestigious school by far).
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<p>in other words, what you are really trying to say is that LA / Hollywood is a particularly strong magnet for vacuous people. while this may very well be true, it doesn't mean that MIT's "street cred" trades at a lower relative value in SoCal than, say, Podunk, Iowa.</p>
<p>the fact that "hardly anyone gets in" doesn't take away from HYPS' cred and those aren't any easier to get into than M. your logic doesn't really follow.</p>
<p>I live next to Harvard/MIT. 3 minutes away from MIT infact. I can probably attest to that fact that MIT ppl are probably the smartest in the world with Harvard ppl lagging not that far back. MIT is exceptional. I generally consider MIT to be better in general. Hardly anyone gets into MIT from my school, those get in are just genius.</p>
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the fact that "hardly anyone gets in" doesn't take away from HYPS' cred and those aren't any easier to get into than M. your logic doesn't really follow.
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</p>
<p>HYPS are cake to get into compared to MIT. I've known countless kids who had to settle for H or S because they didn't get into their dream school--MIT. The fact is, pretty much each of the top private high schools in Los Angeles (there are about 5 of these) send about 5 kids a year to HYPS. But MIT? Maybe 1 kid every 5-10 years. The above poster^ recognizes what I'm trying to say--MIT is seriously in a league of its own, and to get into MIT, you need to either be really good at rowing or have genius potential.</p>
<p>Princeton/Harvard have science programs that are pretty good compared to MIT according to my bro, but Yale's pretty much suck compared to it (like just about every other school with a few exceptions). So to act like Yale is somehow on par with MIT is a joke...Yale admits 8% because a lot of idiots apply...MIT admits like <15% of one of the most self-selecting applicant pools in the country. So MIT is, in reality, much more difficult to get into (e.g. MIT doesn't send brochures and mail out to 100,000 kids midway through their junior year to try to encourage them to apply like <em>ahem</em> some other schools [Princeton/Yale] that would love to be able to accept less than 5% of their applicants to appear more exclusive and elite).</p>
<p>MIT is one of my favorite schools because it lacks the elitism and pretentiousness of the Ivy League even though its programs are arguably the best in the world in economics, the sciences, engineering, and basically any subject involving numbers, but its "prestige" (which I find to be a pointless and superficial quality to crave) in Los Angeles simply does not compare to the other schools I mentioned. Despite this, anyone who knows anything about academia will treat an MIT alum with a lot of respect, even though the school is not integrated into pop culture as an "elite" institution (a classification I despise, btw).</p>
<p>It is ridiculous to say that the admission to HYPS are cake compared to MIT. By what criteria are you using? SAT score? Top ten percent of h.s. class? Admit rate? HYP all beat MIT in those critieria.</p>
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HYPS are cake to get into compared to MIT.
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</p>
<p>No, they have different admissions processes.</p>
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I've known countless kids who had to settle for H or S because they didn't get into their dream school--MIT.
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<p>And I've known countless kids who had to settle for MIT because they couldn't get into H or S. ;)</p>
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to get into MIT, you need to either be really good at rowing or have genius potential.
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</p>
<p>Honestly, it's this sort of awe that pervades the general public about HYPS. MIT, like them, isn't looking for a prodigy; just look at the MIT forums, as this sort of thing has been discussed ad nauseum.</p>
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arguably the best in the world in economics, the sciences, engineering, and basically any subject involving numbers
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</p>
<p>Just throwing this out there: MIT is not necessarily the victor in those disciplines, nor does it have a monopoly on greatness in those areas. I'd say there are a few schools that exceed MIT by a hair in some cases.</p>
<p>^ I agree. MIT definitely does not hold a monopoly in those subjects. Actually, according to the National Research Council, MIT only ranks 3rd in mathematics. (Behind Princeton and Berkeley)</p>
<p>These rankings, however, are really arbitrary. It's hard to separate the best from the best.</p>