FWIW, I never went to MIT (went to a small liberal arts college); but I work at an MIT affiliate, so by virtue of proximity and affiliation, go to talks given on campus, eat at their cafeteria, have audited classes and play basketball at their gym. But basically a third-party observer to campus culture, my subjective $0.02:
The undergrad population is much to my dismay similar to any American school trained on the professional treadmill; most conversations I overhear involves seniors applying to medical school or law school or consulting or underclassmen discussing Google internships.
To use a Bostonian (maybe NYC too?) metaphor that Bostonians can understand, there are just as many people with Canada Goose jackets on MIT campus as on Newbury Street.
Like any school, it is not a homogenous population, "nerd's paradise" as parodied in the 80's movie "Real Genius"; although there are people who are genuinely interested in tech, there are people who want to pursue academic route who don't care for the Slashdot culture, jocks who are also science nerds, theatre geeks, int'l students who don't get the "American geek" culture...
The only real insight I can offer in a Computational Biology class I audited, I've never seen so many interruptions in lecture when the professor is flying through the slides on the derivation of this algorithm and that proof. Hands fly up right there asking for clarification on what is this greek variable on the previous slide... whereas during the same undergrad class I took years ago, none of us would have spoken on the spot due to lack of confidence to avoid looking dumb/lack of drive to try to understand something right there on the spot.
You're definitely missing a significant subculture that exists among MIT undergraduates. The kinds of MIT-affiliated events that you describe are certainly not the ones where you are likely to discover it. You are correct, though, in observing that not all MIT undergraduates fit into that subculture and many will go into finance, law, or medical careers. And there is certainly nothing wrong with that.
Hi phd514, in reading your comment, you are absolutely right; my comment did paint a broad brush. In reconsidering my response, I'd retract what I said about MIT culture and say my remarks really says more about me and my own cynicism/preoccupation at my age, late twenties.
It is in direct response to the parent post where the poster lamented about missing out a chance to experience the idealistic/radical youth culture when he was young, I responded more cynically about how in college I and my other friends did live in creative undergraduate communities; but whereas it was easy and natural to take on that attitude during undergrad, I found it became much harder to sustain those ideals in adulthood, as hard choices and realization of human nature creeps in, whether to truly sacrifice precious time and energy in your adulthood working towards them vs. "establishing" oneself professionally and socially; and because I struggle mightily with this, I put more value on what imperfect choices that people commit to as adults vs. the exciting (albeit memorable/enriching) experiences that they partook in as undergrads.
Sure it is a fashionable jacket that you see a lot of people wear on the streets and subways of NYC/Boston that cost about $750-$1200 (a comparable Northface jacket would go for 1/3 or 1/2 of that price). It's a viral trend where the utility doesn't justify the price, but people blindly follow the trend as a status symbol. Newbury Street is the most famous/prominent downtown shopping district in Boston where yuppies and hipsters go to see people and be seen and hence, the jarring conclusion that you'd see as many Canada Goose jackets there as in the long hallways (Infinite Corridor) of MIT.
You really don't need to attend MIT to work on projects with people like these. Near me there's a tool library, a makerspace, two hackerspaces, a biotechspace, an art college, several medical schools, many different kinds of collectives, and several big art-focused festivals with grants.
As a person who dropped out of high school and never went to college, i've worked on big art builds involving mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, software engineering, thermodynamics, biotech, and mixed media art. The only thing i've ever worked hard on are these projects, which were all for fun.
I'm sure a school like MIT is great, but thankfully you don't need it :-)
There is a massive difference in how credible you seem (and ergo, are treated) if you have an MIT, Ivy, or Stanford degree. I'm not 100% sure, but my hunch is that very few YC founders come from state schools like mine (although I know at least one did).
Schools only give credibility as a replacement for experience. If you don't have school credibility, go get some experience. This applies to practically everything in life, the exception being when a degree is legally required to do a job.
The undergrad population is much to my dismay similar to any American school trained on the professional treadmill; most conversations I overhear involves seniors applying to medical school or law school or consulting or underclassmen discussing Google internships.
To use a Bostonian (maybe NYC too?) metaphor that Bostonians can understand, there are just as many people with Canada Goose jackets on MIT campus as on Newbury Street.
Like any school, it is not a homogenous population, "nerd's paradise" as parodied in the 80's movie "Real Genius"; although there are people who are genuinely interested in tech, there are people who want to pursue academic route who don't care for the Slashdot culture, jocks who are also science nerds, theatre geeks, int'l students who don't get the "American geek" culture...
The only real insight I can offer in a Computational Biology class I audited, I've never seen so many interruptions in lecture when the professor is flying through the slides on the derivation of this algorithm and that proof. Hands fly up right there asking for clarification on what is this greek variable on the previous slide... whereas during the same undergrad class I took years ago, none of us would have spoken on the spot due to lack of confidence to avoid looking dumb/lack of drive to try to understand something right there on the spot.