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>I had to choose between MIT and the University of Iowa You had to choose between MIT and UofIowa? Most of the people I know who are at MIT also got into other

by kunjaan 16y ago

>I had to choose between MIT and the University of Iowa You had to choose between MIT and UofIowa? Most of the people I know who are at MIT also got into other great schools. Did you get into anything better than UofIowa? What is your major? Did you graduate? If so, do you regret not going to MIT? Don't you think it would have made a difference in the long run to have graduated from MIT? This is really really interesting.

jaysonelliot 16y ago
U of Iowa is also a great school. One of the things I would say is actually better about U of I than MIT is the diversity of programs that it is great at. Iowa has the world famous Writer's Workshop, one of the top medical schools in the country, the largest Dada art collection outside of Zurich, and an amazing media school, just to name a few. The issue was one of cost, but I'm glad I chose the school I did. I was in Boston last weekend, and spent the day at the MIT museum. It was inspiring, and I'd be lying if I didn't say I felt a bit of regret, looking at all the accomplishments of MIT students. When I was a kid, I must have read Steven Levy's "Hackers" half a dozen times. To me, the MIT hackers spending days on end cloistered in a basement with Chinese takeout and soldering guns was about the most exciting thing I could imagine. That's what I wanted to be. I started out majoring in mathematics, but I was drawn to the equipment in the media department. I ended up with a major that I created with my advisor (Iowa was starting to experiment with customized majors) which combined communications with multimedia art. In my junior year, I started a 'zine, thanks to the computer lab with its desktop publishing software and scanners. By the end of the year, it was making money, and my best friend and I had started a store. We both dropped out, and I went on to publish the magazine as an actual business. It lasted long enough to get me into web design in 1995, and my career took a completely different turn. I'm now the national head of a UX department for a large agency based in New York. I wish I had been able to go to MIT. I imagine that I would have been someone like Jeff Han or Marc Andreesen, but the reality is that going to MIT wouldn't have been an automatic ticket to brilliance. It still would have been me, with my lack of focus and direction at the time. Jeff Han and Marc Andreesen didn't go to MIT, nor did Steve Jobs, or Woz, or Dean Kamen... it's all about the person, not the school.

by kunjaan 16y ago

jaysonelliot 16y ago

U of Iowa is also a great school. One of the things I would say is actually better about U of I than MIT is the diversity of programs that it is great at. Iowa has the world famous Writer's Workshop, one of the top medical schools in the country, the largest Dada art collection outside of Zurich, and an amazing media school, just to name a few. The issue was one of cost, but I'm glad I chose the school I did. I was in Boston last weekend, and spent the day at the MIT museum. It was inspiring, and I'd be lying if I didn't say I felt a bit of regret, looking at all the accomplishments of MIT students. When I was a kid, I must have read Steven Levy's "Hackers" half a dozen times. To me, the MIT hackers spending days on end cloistered in a basement with Chinese takeout and soldering guns was about the most exciting thing I could imagine. That's what I wanted to be. I started out majoring in mathematics, but I was drawn to the equipment in the media department. I ended up with a major that I created with my advisor (Iowa was starting to experiment with customized majors) which combined communications with multimedia art. In my junior year, I started a 'zine, thanks to the computer lab with its desktop publishing software and scanners. By the end of the year, it was making money, and my best friend and I had started a store. We both dropped out, and I went on to publish the magazine as an actual business. It lasted long enough to get me into web design in 1995, and my career took a completely different turn. I'm now the national head of a UX department for a large agency based in New York. I wish I had been able to go to MIT. I imagine that I would have been someone like Jeff Han or Marc Andreesen, but the reality is that going to MIT wouldn't have been an automatic ticket to brilliance. It still would have been me, with my lack of focus and direction at the time. Jeff Han and Marc Andreesen didn't go to MIT, nor did Steve Jobs, or Woz, or Dean Kamen... it's all about the person, not the school.