3 ms·

It's just a humblebrag.

• gumby 8y ago
  I had to upvote this! Not the 50s the 80s in Boston when it was pretty common to go to schools close by (New England/New York). And MIT didn't have the rep it has now (except among SF readers like I was) -- because engineering wasn't as worshipped.
  • sk5t 8y ago
    +1; MIT (and CMU, and Berkeley) have somehow shot above the reputation of schools such as Rensselaer, Worcester Polytechnic, UIUC, Rochester, etc., all of which are solid.
    • lotsofpulp 8y ago
      Because they were and are more selective.
      • gumby 8y ago
        Well this is slightly true in part — but I don’t remember the US news ratings being that high profile. I fact, at that time (at least) MIT was not particularly selective compared to other schools in the area because a lot of people didn’t even apply. IIRC they accepted more than 15% of applicants (presumably why I got in). Nowadays with the common app and common essay it’s easy to apply to lot s of schools. In those days every school had a unique application and needed different essays. A friend of mine who works in the Harvard admissions office said to me once that things haven’t really changed: lots of people now apply just in case as it’s so easy, so once they toss the egregiously unqualified they end up picking through around the same number of applicants as they used to in the 80s. This was a convo at a bar so take it with whatever sized grain of salt you think appropriate.
• gumby 8y ago
  Whoever is down voting this comment is being unfair (note: I am the person being mocked and I think the downvoting is unfair). The comment was brief, but did add to the conversation. And was on point :-)