
The MIT Guide to Avoiding Burnout - byrneseyeview
http://www.zianet.com/wpickens/jokes/mit.html
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SandB0x
In a similar vein, there's a Facebook group "Oxford University: Where Your
Best Isn't Good Enough, Since 1117".

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yosho
That's also Cornell's Facebook group

"Cornell University, where your best hasn't been good enough since 1868"

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roundsquare
And Also: "Cornell: Where If Your Best Hasn't Been Good Enough Since 1868 Then
You Should Probably Leave"

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inmygarage
Campus wisdom states: At MIT, you can have enough sleep, good grades, or a
social life. Pick two.

The monthly three-day weekends are nice though.

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storborg
Worth noting to outsiders that the monthly three-day weekends are colloquially
referred to as "suicide-prevention days".

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alexgartrell
We used to have a joke like that at CMU as well
<http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/djj/architectsLeap.html>

Stopped being funny when someone committed suicide there

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baguasquirrel
I've always wondered what goes on in people's heads when they jump down
something like that. Do they ever muse about the irony of what they just
committed?

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nfnaaron
I've read (from memory, sorry) that almost all survivors of suicide leaps
regret it and want to take it back the instant they commit to gravity.

I don't recall irony being reported.

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dkasper
Hypothesis: if you find that you have a balanced life you'll eventually get
burned out on that too and shift the balance.

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shrikant
Especially if you have a 'balanced life' and nobody in your family or social
circle does. (I speak from personal experience)

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aaronblohowiak
The real secret sauce: sleep, variety.

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rywang
Who all on HN is at MIT right now?

Despite MIT's reputation for entrepreneurship, it's been difficult to find
collaborators actually willing to take the start-up plunge--perhaps especially
in grad school.

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cyen
I've got a couple of my own theories about this -

While MIT prides itself in admitting students with passion and interests over
those with 1600 (I suppose 2400, now) SAT scores, I think that the truth is
that the overwhelming majority of the students who admitted are still the type
to overachieve, overcommit, and - most importantly - follow the rules. To get
good grades in high school, you turn in all the assignments, complete tasks
(as inane as they may seem), and take the tests.

What this turns into, from my experience, is a large set of students who are
not natural risk takers. What's more, I'd argue that MIT makes it or made it
difficult to take risks and explore on your own. They load you down with work,
pressure you into taking on a UROP (undergrad research for the uninitiated),
and it's a rare student who has a significant project on the side as well.

In contrast, places like Stanford seem to encourage thinking outside of the
box / trying different things. Their culture definitely doesn't seem like it
slants toward loading yourself up with classes as a badge of honor, and I
think that's a hugely positive effect on the ability of students to find time
to dream. It feels like a cop-out answer, but I've finally admitted to myself
recently that this east coast - west coast cultural divide (see inmygarage,
above) does exist, and is incredibly influential.

So while the students who have left MIT and become successful are well-known
and, frankly, represent, their reputation is disproportionate to their number.
You don't see* MIT sophomores walking around handing out business cards for
their "startup" - and I don't think it'd be such a bad thing if that changed.

* in comparison to other schools

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nostrademons
I'm not sure that lack of time to daydream is an east-coast/west-coast thing.
Amherst is also on the east coast, and it (and I've heard many of the other
"little Ivy" liberal arts colleges) encourages you to take a reasonable,
balanced courseload and have time for things outside of school. I would say
(based on who my friends are at Google) that Amherst and Brown are culturally
much closer to Stanford than to MIT, despite being geographically clumped in
New England.

The lack of a supportive environment for startups, and consequent lack of
risk-taking, _is_ an east-coast/west-coast thing. There aren't very many
Amherst entrepreneurs. Most of my classmates did the minimum-wage "life
experience" thing before finally going to law school when they wanted to
settle down. It's like MIT encourages you to work really hard, Stanford
encourages you to find your passion and _then_ work really hard, and Amherst
just encourages you to find your passion.

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rtperson
I went to Amherst, and I think you're spot-on with the east-coast mentality.
In my experience, most of the students there just got onto the law-
school/grad-school/Wall-Street bus and sailed comfortably into their next gig.

It's also worth noting that Harvard used to actively encourage undergraduates
to take a year off to recharge their batteries and get a better sense of life
outside of college.

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DenisM
We need to blackhole every single one of the 55 users who upvoted this
submissions. This is precisely the kind of stuff that will turn HN into digg.
What's next - lolcats? Seriously?

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txt
KEEP YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR. Begin to bring job and happy moments into your life.
Very few people suffer burnout when they're having fun.

