4 ms·
I agree with you but also want to share this anecdote. I went undergrad to a state school, studied CS and graduated to a great tech/finance job. But something
by xyzelement 4y ago
I agree with you but also want to share this anecdote.
I went undergrad to a state school, studied CS and graduated to a great tech/finance job. But something I recognize in retrospect I never got in college was "being challenged by my peers."
I didn't really get this until I started doing recruiting for my company. I would go to career fairs at most colleges and the kids would remind me of kids I went to school with. Then I'd visit a "top" school and the kids blew me away: they were mature, articulate, focused and ambitious. It came through in how they talked about their careers.
The student body at a top school makes it harder for you to coast as an unfocused mushmouth. So you have 4 years of being shaped by the environment and challenged by your peers. I didn't get that until after I graduated and lucked out into a company that gave me such an environment.
- strikelaserclaw 4y agosame here, when you are surrounded by high achievers, it kinda wants to make you achieve and push your limits and boundaries, not to mention the many learning opportunities from the peer group.
- xyzelement 4y agoYes, and I think it just changes your own idea of what's acceptable. In my college, I probably ranked pretty high on "articulate and driven" so there was no motivation to elevate that. At MIT, I would have probably been below average on these categories, and you don't want to be below average so you naturally do it more and better.