[helicalspiral]

At face value, their attempts to defend the Recurse Center are largely backfiring. It makes the Recurse Center seem harsher and stricter than even a traditional university course. And references to it being a "scene" makes me think that the "scene" feels really pretentious and exclusive rather than inclusive.

[rcthrowaway]

Poor wording on my part. NYC is full of different scenes/social circles, clubs, programs, so on and so forth. There is a flakiness (in my opinion) that often accompanies people that try out lots of different things.

For a program like RC, having people join and drop out or decide to only show up for a few days a week or whatever directly cheapens the experience for others and damages the community and serendipity and mood that arises when you have a bunch of smart, dedicated, and focused people there.

My belief (and I emphatically am not staff, just an alum with opinions) is that they want to make absolutely sure people are committed. They also want to make absolutely sure everybody is getting the same start.