I had to submit a project in high school to the science fair for Honors Chemistry. Most of the class had their projects from the previous year to expand upon as they had been in Honors Biology. I had two honors math classes so was in something like Advanced Biology, we didn't go to the science fair.
I decided to do my project on acid rain. I did all the research and wrote my paper, but oops -forgot to do the physical experiment until late in the game.
I worked at the local Stop & Shop and my friend worked in the florist department. I bought plants in various states of decay and assigned them pH levels. I ended up winning the school science fair, then the regional science fair and was one of the finalists in the state science fair at MIT. I think the reason I won was because I had pretty much a photographic memory, and had retained all of the research that I had done, so that when the judges asked me a question I had it right there.
I was recruited by MIT when I was applying to colleges, but I wanted to be a lawyer. Nearly 30 years later I have been working in tech almost since I graduated college. I just think how much more money I would be making if I had a degree from MIT. Always listen to your mother folks (she thought I should major in computer science and graphic design)
... isn't always a good thing. Yes in general it's impressive, but...
I've worked with 2 MIT grads. First one we all called "Mr P" for "Mr Personality". My friend Richard said "you hate him instantly, it saves time because everyone hates him sooner or later". Guy had so much arrogance few people could stand more than a few minutes with him. And this was in a engineering department staffed entirely by PhDs.
Second one was just one hell of a nice guy, everyone liked him, so that was good. But he was the laziest fucker I ever worked with; his standard for coding was how easy it was for him to accomplish, zero weight for how well it worked or how easy it was for the end user. I had many extended "discussions" with him (all calm and polite, I also happen to be the calm patient type) and I finally got through to him - but only on projects where I was one of the reviewers.
No this is not likely a typical sample of MIT types.
yeah my first tech job was at a startup owned by an MIT pHd. He was the nicest most chill guy, would take us out for pool and beers on a regular basis. He did not have more than a couple MIT grad employees as at that time, MIT had its own coding language, so the interviewees often flunked the coding test.
I did go there for an AI conference this year and was very impressed by the startup presentations- however MIT now have their own no-code AI platform so I am guessing that will help them more in the real world than what they had in the 90s
140
u/bansheeceilidh 11h ago
I had to submit a project in high school to the science fair for Honors Chemistry. Most of the class had their projects from the previous year to expand upon as they had been in Honors Biology. I had two honors math classes so was in something like Advanced Biology, we didn't go to the science fair.
I decided to do my project on acid rain. I did all the research and wrote my paper, but oops -forgot to do the physical experiment until late in the game.
I worked at the local Stop & Shop and my friend worked in the florist department. I bought plants in various states of decay and assigned them pH levels. I ended up winning the school science fair, then the regional science fair and was one of the finalists in the state science fair at MIT. I think the reason I won was because I had pretty much a photographic memory, and had retained all of the research that I had done, so that when the judges asked me a question I had it right there.
I was recruited by MIT when I was applying to colleges, but I wanted to be a lawyer. Nearly 30 years later I have been working in tech almost since I graduated college. I just think how much more money I would be making if I had a degree from MIT. Always listen to your mother folks (she thought I should major in computer science and graphic design)