I have to laugh, but it's also sad that so many MIT students feel so insecure. I think it must be the shock that comes from being at the top of one's high school, then arriving at MIT and no longer being head-and-shoulders above most of one's peers.
Anyway, maybe the administration should see if there's something they can do to give students a more realistic view of where they stand.
One of the more valuable things you can learn as a smart kid in college is that you're not the smartest kid around. It also means that they're being challenged at the school. There's plenty of schools that are hard to get in, but there's no challenge after you're in.
Besides, I don't know about you, but I can't stand people that think (or pretend) they're heads and shoulders above in ability when they're not.
http://tech.mit.edu/V132/N59/pressure/breakdown/year/index.h...
Although I appreciate being challenged, it can be disheartening whenever I observe the local coding guru / math major knocking out problems in a fraction of the time it takes me.
However, I believe that this student response best sums it up:
"I still believe it’s true that at MIT, students generally compete more against themselves than against each other."
Everyone simply wants to be the best that they can be.
- MIT Sophomore in EECS
It's been a while since I was at MIT, but this was my experience and that of a lot of the people I knew there. I have to admit, though, that if I had taken a survey like this while I was there, I would have rated myself above average. :-)
maybe the administration should see if there's something they can do to give students a more realistic view of where they stand.
Many of the courses I took, at least for the first couple of years, were graded on a curve, so you could tell where you stood, at least roughly, by your grade. Perhaps that's less prevalent now.
Yeah, me too :-)
(Class of 1980)
Yup. Some stats for a recent MIT entering class:
97% were in the top 10% of their high school class. 100% where in the top 25%.
25/75 percentile SAT math: 740/800
25/75 percentile SAT critical reading: 670/770
25/75 percentile SAT writing: 680/770
Only about 9% who apply to MIT are offered admission. I'd guess that the ones that get in aren't the ones who had to work hard for kind of scores listed above--they are the ones for whom those kind of high school achievements come easily, giving them time for the challenging projects and activities beyond the standard high school curriculum that made them stand out to the admissions people.
They now have to actually work hard for "regular" classes. Half of them find that their best effort lands them in the bottom half of the class. That is indeed one hell of a shock.