Reply to MIT decisions out

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "MIT decisions out"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The 'math competition industry' thing reminds me of Spelling Bee. My kid went to national one and lo and behold all the top placers were in like a hidden Spelling Bee Industrial Complex nobody knew about.[/quote]

Its like the sports industry. We know kids who are training for squash in Egypt and Malaysia. That plus the amount of money one needs to spend on private coaches, traveling to places made us decide not to pursue it. One family in Greenwich built a squash court in their home and had a renowned squash coach as a full time employee (he could not coach other kids).[/quote]

That's not the same as cheating, though. That's intensive preparation that can be expensive, which some might consider "unfair", but still depends on the talent and effort of the skill of the student.[/quote]

Indeed, money just tilts the scales. But the rampant cheating on the AMC exams is just that -- cheating. Again, not that important in the big scheme of things but there used to be this lore that MOP qualification meant a ticket to MIT. Certainly not the case any more. [/quote]

It becomes pretty obvious at MOP[/quote]

Yes, but this year's MIT admissions has been tough. A lot of MOPpers that my kid knows were deferred (at least half a dozen). Some of these kids made it to the team selection test group, so not the cheater crowd. Apparently, there's a new AO at MIT who looks at the math kid applications, so that may have contributed. I'm sure these kids will be fine wherever they go though.
[/quote]

MIT has been able to corner the market on Americas best math minds.  It would probably be a mistake to let an air bubble form in that pipeline.[/quote]

My kid is a freshman at MIT (planning to focus on math) --where do you get the idea that MIT has "cornered the market" on the best math minds?  Seems to me there are brilliant math minds all over the country.

And isn't that a good thing?

Your second sentence implies that it would be a mistake if MIT failed to keep a monopoly of great math minds.  How so?

I mean, #1, I don't agree with your premise that MIT has such a monopoly but #2, even if it did, why would it be a mistake to bust up the "pipeline"?[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics