

Bill Gates: Why MIT matters - robg
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/specials/mit150/Gates/?p1=Upbox_links

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rgbrgb
Was there some dispute I didn't hear about? I'm pretty sure everyone knows
that MIT is pretty great. Did Gates just copy-paste info from the recruitment
packet?

I suspect that if this was not written by Bill Gates, it would have never made
it to the front page of HN.

~~~
hugh3
It reminds me of a Point/Counterpoint from The Onion:

"Why MIT Matters", by Bill Gates

vs

"MIT Sucks and Everyone Who Goes There Is A Huge Fag, lol" by A First-Year
Engineering Undergrad at Caltech

~~~
robg
Sad that we can't take time - even just a moment - to appreciate nice things.
Is the default really to assume a conflict? It's like the internet really is a
fifteen year old - highly opinionated and easily slighted.

I've been affiliated with MIT for three years. I hope to never leave. I wish I
appreciated education as a kid and I might have arrived much sooner.

~~~
forensic
The internet used to be cool. It was full of smart people saying smart things.

Now it's mainly a communication tool for 13 year olds and desperate
housewives.

~~~
robg
I wouldn't go that far. I'm just surprised when the internet culture dictates
the zombie response.

If someone sat next to me on an airplane, heard me mention MIT, then waxed
eloquent for an hour, I'd be nodding along with a big grin. Contrast that with
me asking if MIT was involved in a conflict or if the speaker wanted a
donation. It would make no sense.

So why do we allow and enable that attitude online, especially here at HN?
It's not just mean, it's vapid.

~~~
forensic
I think an airplane, and face-to-face life in general, is actually a much more
exclusive and filtered place than you realize.

On the internet you are interacting with people who you would never run into
face-to-face. They don't have a position in the world where they ride on
airplanes. They dress in such a way that you would not even consider them for
a conversation. Their body language communicates hostility and fear.

They generally won't even live in the same city, or even the same country. How
often do you visit Montgomery, Alabama? How often do you visit Turkey and
strike up conversations with the local neurotics?

The internet is where these people go to dump their neural refuse. People who
are seen as pathetic hobgoblins when face-to-face use the internet megaphone
to spew bile everywhere.

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pnathan
I wish I had had the cojones to apply to MIT when I was looking at
undergraduate schools. I was afraid I was too fail, and I was terrified of the
debt I'd accrue. Today, I think I could have made a competitive attempt to get
in.

If you're a nerdy high schooler: Don't let that be you.

~~~
nvarsj
Not that state schools are much cheaper these days, but do you really think
it's good advice to suggest accumulating 200K+ in debt to get an undergrad
degree?

~~~
ipince
People need to understand that MIT and most other top tier schools have
insanely amazing need-based financial aid programs. If you really can't afford
it, don't worry, you won't have to. Yes, you'll accumulate some debt, but it's
more like 16,000 instead of 200,000 (at least in my case). Plus, again in my
case, it's interest-free for as long as you're in school and 9 months after
you leave.

So yes, I strongly advice any high school student from any economic background
to apply.

Edit: changed "keeled" to "need" in first sentence; damn phone auto-complete!

~~~
ernestipark
I am eternally grateful that MIT has provided me unbelievable aid which
without it would've been extremely difficult on my family to send me to
college. Hopefully one day when I'm making money in the work force, I'll be
sending money back to my school and paying it forward.

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bugsy
Bill is right that MIT is a great school.

His statement "almost half (48 percent) of MIT’s undergraduates are
minorities" is a bit misleading.

According to MIT:

"The class of 2014 is 36% Caucasian, 30% Asian, 14% Hispanic, 9% African-
American, a few percentage points for assorted "other". All in all, it's about
75% "over-represented" and 25% "under-represented."

~~~
hugh3
Sounds to me like it's 100% minorities.

~~~
sp332
My great-grandfather fled Mussolini and came to the USA. Does that make me a
minority, or does it still count as a majority because my skin is white? :)

------
jonbischke
Not that anyone would ever accuse Bill Gates of copying anybody else but this
seems pretty similar to what Chris Dixon blogged about a couple of months ago:

<http://cdixon.posterous.com/mit-is-a-national-treasure>

