MIT/Caltech anons

Sometimes I lurk this board just to look for MIT/Caltech anons and ask them how the hell they got in

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=hRp3ND-fBNw
youtube.com/watch?v=PR7SG2C7IVU
youtube.com/watch?v=R9TWt_9ARrg
colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities?_mode=list
colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate
twitter.com/NSFWRedditVideo

welcome, you have found one. ask your question child

what is MIT stands for ??

Sometimes I lurk this board because I want to find a lava sun/ice sun thread to laugh at new folk who fall for the bait.

how the hell did you get in?

like i'll get out

Friend went to caltec
>asian
>valedictorian
>graduated a year earlier and took dif eq and multi var already
>35 or 36 ACT but medicore 2200ish SAT
>good scores on subject tests
>academy soccer

I might do a post-doc there or might even try their grad school because why the fuck not.
also i'm a russke

by falling for the meme.

reap the benefits of their classes by watching them online
save yourself from the insufferable dick measuring by going somewhere else

I decided to one day to compare my degree requirements to caltech's requirements for the degree.
What the fuck is this shit!?
Do you guys have a class called sophomore mathematics? Why not just call it calc 3 or whatever math subject is taught in it. Same goes for the physics class. What the hell are units, why not call them credits?

I am trying to measure dicks using inches, but caltech uses ohms.

>Do you guys have a class called sophomore mathematics?

No, it's Ma 2 / Ma 3, part of institute core (i.e. everyone takes it). Ma 2 is differential equations, Ma 3 is probability and statistics.

Similarly "sophomore physics" is Ph 2abc which is Waves, Quantum, Thermal physics.

Freshman year everyone takes Proof-based calculus, Linear Algebra, and Multivariable calculus.

Not really sure why we call them units. They're (in theory) supposed to represent the hours/week necessary for the course (but generally this is a huge underestimate). You need 36 to be considered full-time student (to get financial aid etc.) and 40.5/term on average to graduate on time.

Why would you want to go to one of those trade schools?

I know someone in Caltech.
He helped around in a research group in Irvine and so got a paper with his name.

Not everyone rofl.

My engineering programme also had a sophomore course following the calculus sequence just called "Mathematics" which was some elementary real analysis course and linear operator course, I'm assuming Caltech has something similar; something the math department threw together without really thinking it through in their ceaseless attempts to make all academics programmes similar to their undergrads'.

>Thermal physics.
Hate this term. Thermo and statistical should be kept distinct.

to make money

Someone left the back door open.

CS majors don't real.

Eh they go hand in hand, especially at that intro level.

One time I went to MIT as a random asshole off the street they let me into the engineering library in the main building completely unattended

could have stole a bunch of those little cards

could have stole a bunch of shit actually

Are certain departments in MIT easier to get into than others?

For example, is CSAIL more difficult to get into than area IV? What about distributed systems/networking?

hayden library is a public library

You dont happen to live in nj do you

pretty comfy place to jerk off I M O

>tfw bachelors at georgia tech, masters at caltech, and phd at mit

Are you meaming me or can you tell me how you got in

Not often do I meet someone who even has a masters and rarer yet got it at a different institution than their doctorate

Eurofag here. Currently enrolled in an university sitting at spot 200-300 in the world rankings. So far my grade average is pretty good. How hard is it to go to graduate school in Cambridge, ICL, St. Andrews. Any other good universities you guys would recommend (for a math masters).

I went to Caltech as a CC transfer, so in some ways I feel like I cheated to get in. Overall, most my classmates were smart, but by no means genius level, and very hardworking with great study habits. A ton of people were also very passionate about research in general which made the long hours more palatable.

I think it's important to realize that not everyone in these schools are geniuses and that people change a tremendous amount during their late teens to early-mid twenties. I saw a lot of students go from being the top of their class in high school to being very mediocre researchers and being out competed by better candidates from less prestigious undergrad programs.

Yeah the thing that sets top tier places apart is everybody's annoying work ethic. Buncha try hards

>implying you aren't butt-devastated that your brainlet mind couldn't qualify even if you tried your best

yeah man why don't they just, like, smoke bowls n shit instead right???

That wasn't what I was trying to imply. In fact, it was pretty great being around so many other students who were both passionate about science, and extremely independent. For me, one of the best parts of attending Tech was how mature most of my classmates were.

I'm a dumbass, but out of curiosity one day I searched on YT videos on how to get into MIT. Basically, emphasize and show how different/unique you are compared to the other applicants. You're applying for acceptance into the best school in the world (as of 2016, acceptance rate is 7.9%). Being a valedictorian, having 4.0+ GPA , amazing SAT scores, and etc. is practically the basic minimum. They're all going to be incredibly smart like you; only way you're gonna get in on smarts alone is if you're so smart it's like a gimmick for MIT to boost their reputation further (see Kelvin Doe, the Sierra Leone kid who built his own radio station from a landfill at 12yo).

Again, you need to stress on what makes you unique compared to the other applicants. Show proof how you volunteer at hospitals for shitz and giggles despite being busy with your studies. Show how you built a college-level STEM project by yourself in your parents' garage out of curiosity. Talk about how you're an amateur boxer or some other sport. Show your awards from prestigious band competitions.

Make yourself an interesting character, not another application to toss into the trash.

youtube.com/watch?v=hRp3ND-fBNw

Or be black or hispanic. If you're either of those and not applying to a STEM program it isn't terribly hard to get in to MIT. Caltech will still be difficult though.

There are extremely few black and hispanic kids at caltech. In my lecture hall of ~70 I saw one black person. Lots of asian people and indian people

Yes, I know. I went to Tech.

Oh... but you implied being black or hispanic made it easy to get in. If it's really easier, wouldn't there be more of them?

>it isn't terribly hard to get in to MIT. Caltech will still be difficult though

I implied it would make getting into MIT less difficult. Caltech more or less won't give a shit.

It doesn't stand for anything, you pronounce it like "Mitt" as in Mitt Romney

Any ideas on volunteering?

Nope

shut the fuck up pussy

Why? That's actually accurate.

Lol ya and most of the doors on campus don't even lock

>implying your choice of undergraduate institution matters

> implying everyone wants to get a phd
> implying it doesn't even if you want to get phd

Being black/spic in US/EU is life on easy mode.

Go to the hood and say that shit please

They definitely have more opportunities in some ways

If they choose to show interest in engineering then they can go very far. Not many do though

youtube.com/watch?v=PR7SG2C7IVU
Grow the fuck up.

being a hood nigger makes it even easier because then your income is nothing so you qualify for all the income based help too. they are just too lazy/stupid to do anything with all the free shit they get so the squander it all.

almost every hood nigger i met wanted to be a rapper. how many fucking shitty rappers does the world need?

> buzzfeed

the least credible source on the planet

> "I applied to 50 to 100 jobs everyday for months"
> "they said no just because my name is jose"

you can't be serious

it is a well established phenomenon and this isn't /pol/ so I won't debate you here.
But I do urge you to mature as an individual and have an open mind and be more rigorous and practice more critical thought.

youtube.com/watch?v=R9TWt_9ARrg

What am I supposed to get from this?

The only relevant piece of information from this video is that black names are correlated with uneducated/unmarried mothers.

My point was
> If they choose to show interest in engineering then they can go very far. Not many do though

the rest of video is just about black names. I doubt you even watched it.

If you were born upper middle class+ and a minority then yeah, otherwise no

So how hard is it to actually get into a top tier grad school like MIT / Cal / Stanford / ETHZ?

Would maintaining 90th percentile GPA at a top 20 school be enough?

>I have nothing to say but I'll call you a /pol/ poster and say I'm smarter than you

Stop race-baiting you nonstop dedicated stupid cunt.

I got a 34 on the ACT and am taking it again, and have a 91 average at a good high school. I also am in debate club and have over 200 hours of community service. I can probably write a good essay too. Where can I get in?

I had a 35 on my ACT, 3.8 GPA and like no extra curricular or anything at an international school in Europe. Got into UPenn, Brown, and Hopkins. Rejected from Harvard and CMU (didn't apply to any other notable schools).

Went to Brown; applied as a physics major.

I didn't really stand out but wrote what I consider (and still do, 5 years later after all I'm all jaded and shit) to be rather good essays.

Not sure how helpful that is. Brown obviously isn't Stanford/Caltech/MIT.

Do I have a better chance of getting in if I know what major I want to do? I'm in the middle of my junior year and don't even really know if I want to do STEM yet. I'm considering just doing engineering at Buffalo, which is the best state school at engineering, but I'm worried I'd be missing out at a better education/experience.

Programmed robots. Asocial cliches who spend the rest of their lives trying to prove they're not.

Choose a major that you think will complement your essays well. Or choose a major that is unpopular at the school (potentially less competition).

But I don't know. University applications are basically a lottery.

If it helps, the Ivy League is a total circlejerk and I don't think I received an education that was better than if I had gone to any other top 50 US university.

I now go to graduate school in Europe and attend a university that lets just about anyone in. It's not so different.

yo brown is a small school, not a lot of research opportunities there.

I'm at umass honors college in math and physics and there are tons of internships and research projects going on, not as prestigious but I think it is a better option

How did you all choose a major, and do you have tips on networking? I want to not hate myself or go to decades of school while making mad dosh.

No, we had a ton of research opportunities. And virtually everyone I knew was whisked away to SF or somewhere for the summer on an internship.

I didn't know what I wanted to do (other than STEM), so just chose physics. Seemed like a good all-rounder.

I regret that choice now. I think pure math would've been a superior option.

But, I'm in CS grad school now and the physics has served me alright in terms of mathematical maturity so it wasn't a terrible choice.

If you don't have the brain for pure math or don't want to go to graduate school, I think CS is unquestionably the best option at the moment. Both in terms of interesting content and future career prospects.

If I'm purely there to make money and do cool stuff, would engineering or finance be a better choice than math/physics?

>If I'm purely there to make money and do cool stuff

Do CS. Take ML/AI/signal processing (might be in the EE/CE dept)/image classes. Take as much math as you can though. Don't take BS classes like software engineering.

Sorry if this is a meme, but isn't CS saturated af? Also engineers have the highest average earnings, I don't exactly know what they do though. It seems working on wall street has the highest pay.

I dunno too much about it, but seems like there are a fuckload of CS jobs at the moment.

Pretty sure CS grads make more money than engineers (although they're often considered engineers themselves by the industry).

My understanding is that wall street has high paying jobs for people with strong mathematical backgrounds (grad CS/math/physics). But doesn't seem like particularly interesting work.

At any rate, I don't know a lot about jobs. I just study what I think is interesting, idgaf about money.

If we're doing this now, my stats are ACT higher than 30, GPA isn't too bad, never done a single extracurricular, 2 charisma (KHV) and 6 foot 6.

however all I really care about is STEM shit. I spent 500$ on electrical tools and have plenty of c/c++ projects that are pretty impressive IMO as well as some hardware projects.

And I have some pretty good excuses (was in basically the special ed alt school 8th grade, ended up self learning some classes and was in the hardest classes by junior year, lost 100+ pounds)

what school can I go to that will be good for someone who has no life but aren't elitist assholes like caltech

It was always my dream to go to Caltech.

>HS senior, class of 2017
>work hard all through HS
>test out of several classes
>take calc III at local college senior year
>ranked 1 in class
>unweighted 4.000, weighted 4.780
>36 ACT, only ever in school history
>800 SAT subjects, math II and physics
>varsity tennis, best spot on team
>varsity robotics, team captain
>NHS, other community service groups
>hundreds of hours of service
>avid amateur scientist, do astronomy, chemistry, physics experiments
>own 12" telescope
>astrophotography too, sent in some really great images
>two published papers
>white male
>good home life, loving family
>no sob story
>mfw rejected
>not even deferred

>>white male
that's what you get for being born a racist. should have been born a nigger so you would have been admitted just for not going to jail before finishing high school.

>white male
That's your problem user :(

>good home life, loving family
>own 12" telescope
>Able to afford classes at universities
>Able to participate in sports and other activities

You already had a good life. Fuck you. You don't deserve it. I'm glad you didn't get it, asshole. Leave some room for the other people. Can't believe there are people who had their life so easy and STILL deny someone poorer than them a chance for catching up by going to a top uni.

Fuck you, asshole.

>grow up in the hood
>don't be a retard
>everything you'll ever want in life is handed to you because muh diversity muh equality
unfortunately most of them fail at step 2

fuck off

No, you fuck off. You absolute fucking motherfucker.

You had such an easy life, faggot. Now go to your shitty state school and stay there. Get left behind a little so you can feel what people from other backgrounds felt in the past.

If we allowed you to keep living the high life you would never understand your own privilege.

Current techer here. The real reason you got rejected was that you didn't have any research experience, nor any national or higher level awards.

>tfw you will never channel the pain of your past ancestors into your enemies

>had everything you had except telescope
>also had sob story
>white

Sorry pal.

fuck off

I'm glad your ridiculous ideology is finally receding

Depends on the department. If you are a foreigner it is outrageously difficult. Practically speaking are you in the top 50 most qualified undergrads in your field in the world? If not, then theres a fair chance you wont get in.

>Would maintaining 90th percentile GPA at a top 20 school be enough?
Lol

Very similar situation here, and i had an ap exam perfect score on chemistry exam. Fuck caltech.

>easy life
>privilege

Obviously you didn't get into any decent school because you're unable to read and remember.

>>work hard all through HS
>>ranked 1 in class
>>unweighted 4.000, weighted 4.780
ACT, only ever in school history
SAT subjects, math II and physics
>>varsity tennis, best spot on team
>>varsity robotics, team captain
>>NHS, other community service groups
>>hundreds of hours of service
>>avid amateur scientist, do astronomy, chemistry, physics experiments
>>own 12" telescope
>>astrophotography too, sent in some really great images
>>two published papers

Oh nvm I didn't see the two published papers part. Idk why you didn't get in kiddo. Maybe you came off as an annoying entitled prick in your essays or something???

Theres stuff in there you can do without being well off but the correlation between owning telescopes and being wealthy is rather.... well you get the idea.

what is your cumulative GPA up to first semester senior year, and what state
A 30 can get you places

where did you get accepted, I assume you also did EA to some schools

Which school are you talking about? For MIT undergraduate admission is almost a lottery at 8% acceptance rate whereas for grad school it's 14%.

I realize that the quality of applicants for grad schools would be much higher, but I'm wondering if you really need to be a Tao-level genius, or would there be a good chance (50/50) just by maintaining a high GPA in a decently ranked undergrad program.

I mean you're talking as if being a putnam fellow is what it takes to get admitted into one of those programs, in which case I'm probably better off giving up on studying and focus on networking to do a startup or something.

I'm studying EECS.

Sure, his life was "easy" in the sense that he didn't have to worry about going hungry, and he had a mom and dad who would either be at home or otherwise available and reliable. But that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to get into caltech. I am saying his body of work does deserve to go to caltech. Even without the damn telescope. I'm certain the telescope/astrophotography were the only things on that list that were really expensive, and he totally could have picked up work at 14 for neighbors, and then real work at 16 and paid himself.

robotics, tennis, volunteer stuff, it's all free(part of school) or super cheap.

You "worked" hard. You were allowed to work hard by your own privilege. A poor black man with a shitty family could not have done those things, even if he really wanted. Therefore, he deserves the opportunity more than you

And

>Obviously you didn't get into any decent school because you're unable to read and remember.

I am going to be gracious and not tell at whitch Top 5 I am. Just so that you don't get too salty. Because even in your privilege, I still love and respect you. You faggot.

>Because you could put in the work and work hard to get good grades, a black guy deserves it because he can't
I am not that poster but that guy regardless of his race doesn't deserve something he did nothing to get regardless of whether he had the ability to do so.
And its not like the kid has the lack of oppurtunity to get straight A's, that is just innately possible. He is at a legitimate disadvantage with the ACT/SAT though as he can't afford test prep shit and the best he could do to get his score up is try to find a teacher in his school who gives a shit to help him, which isn't guaranteed or reliable.

No.. no.. no.. you're thinking of the Pubic Library across the street--big difference.

What if you're a 22 year old college drop out who's trying to get into a school like this?

Any options? I'm about to inherit $100,000 and I'm self-studying mathematics while living off of daddy's money. I didn't drop out from partying; I'm just autistic.

about 3.7

that good, you could probably get in to any that is above #32 on this list
colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities?_mode=list
for a ranking more relevant to someone on Veeky Forums, these are what this site (which is the most reputable ranking) considers the best engineering
colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate

so assuming you have absolutely no regional preferences some great engineering schools you could go to are Georgia Tech, University of Wisconsin-Madison, IF YOU LIVE IN MICHIGAN you could get into University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Penn State, Purdue, UIUC, etc.
I can help more if you tell me more shit about what you want to do and be for college (location)