Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Questions about your college experience...

My undergrad experience was basically the worst experience of my entire life. I still get nightmares about it. Really. Large state school - I had a free ride for the Honors' Program.

I ultimately gave up and retreated into my room, slept, ate pizza, and played computer games all the time. My first semester's grades were a 3.75. At the end, I was getting 1.75's and failing classes right and left. I eventually graduated, took the LSAT, and went to law school.

Most of this had to do with me being extremely immature, particulary socially and emotionally. Actually practing law has helped immensely.

I'm pretty sure that college isn't supposed to completely destroy your sense of self worth and leave you feeling like your life is over. I wish I knew now what I knew then.

I majored in chemical engineering and had no interest in engineering. The weed out classes were pretty easy, since I didn't have to study or attend class and I could still get about a 3.5. My problem arose when I had to take the actual engineering classes, which required actual work. Having never put any effort into any academic subject, other than to simply sit there and absorb the information, the requirement to actually work and think in the upper level engineering classes basically destroyed me.

I don't really wish college on anyone.

I left college in much worse shape then when I had started. Basically, the worst I ever felt in my entire life was when I graduated from college.

I'm just glad that I wasn't paying for college.

Law school (T14) was better overall, but it wasn't very hard, and I could get back to may ways of not paying attention or doign work.

I didn't have any interest in either engineering or law. I just had to *do* something. I recommend not majoring or getting a graduate degree in something in which you have no interest.

Although I can give random advice about law as a career now that I've been practicing for 10 years. I have a pretty good idea of the general layout of the legal profession.

I'm personally still toying with the idea of going to medical school, but I don't feel like being sleep deprived.

I enjoyed college, although it wasn't particularly challenging until the end of grad school. It helped me realize that as much as I like science, working in a lab was not for me. My favorite part of my college experience was spending hours curled up in a chair in the library reading the latest journal articles.

Yes, this is very true. You are describing my husband here, alas (he has his "ABD"--short for "All but Dissertation," for those who don't know).

I got a BS degree in something that makes good money.

After working for a couple of years, I finally realized it's not what I wanted. I went for a graduate degree part time and worked full time. I was extra busy, but I love the challenges.

If money isn�t an issue, I would love to work in academia.

You sound like you have no idea what to do for your undergrad degree, let alone graduate school. Have you gone through any career counseling through your college? Have any trusted teachers who know you and your strengths and might provide guidance? Unless you develop a true passion or have a specific job in mind that requires a degree, I would not pursue graduate school at this time. Without a goal in mind, it sounds like you will be bidding your time and incurring expenses. I did that with mixed results.

As for my experience, I went to an Ivy league school for undergrad. I got my degree in something that initially interested me but that had lost it's spark by the time I finished it. I went ahead and just finished my degree since the culture at my school and finances dictated that I finish in 4 years. After that, I had no idea what to do so I applied to law school based on some specious logic. I went to a UC school back when they were cheap and excellent. I wanted to quit after my first year but had no better plan so I finished my degree.

I might have made different choices if I had had more real life experience especially before law school. Also I would have looked at different types of law and avoided big firm life. I learned the hard way that I like being involved in problem solving long before anyone would call a lawyer. I doubt that I could have come to that realization without work experience. Of the different careers I've had, being an ombudsman/internal advocate for an organization suited me best.

I think real life experience before law school would have been an excellent idea for me as well.

My biggest problem was a complete failure to adjust to college life. Also, my mother died from cancer when I was there and that just made everything worse. I was having a poor college experience (socially) and got a family death on top of that.

In my case, I probably should have worked at a larger law firm (it would have been easier to bill hours without having to cut my own time) than I did and in a different area. I went with intellectual property/patent law, which turned out to be an area in which I have no interest, although I can do it quite well.

I'm now essentially a litigator, also something in which I have no interest, although I can do it, as well.

So, the moral of the story is, definitely get real world experience before law school.

In terms of what I would have done differently, I would have gone to a smaller college, majored in something in which I had an interest, and not gone to law school. I would have also gotten work experience instead of going through 8 years straight of school while being completely miserable most of that time.

I posted my K-12 school experience in one of my first posts.

I tested out of most of the lower division classes and my first taste of college classes was Engineering Thermodynamics with an older German professor who used to teach at Caltech. It was a very non-trivial class. He got my number and I learned how to study for the first time.

I also took a lot of classics classes, ie Greek and Latin, and math classes. I liked upper level math better than upper division engineering due to the way it was taught - and with professors' urging switched my major to math.

The math program was very rigorous, small, collegial, and Socratic with students and professors having to daily defend solutions in front of the class. This approach put a premium on solving problems quickly and then being able to explain the solution or being able to follow a train of thought and then point out the errors immediately. It was a lot of fun and required an immense amount of preparation. It was like getting a Law degree in Math. I formed very close relationships with everyone in the program.

Later when I took upper division engineering and physics, I was clearly superior to the students ( and many professors) in those classes. I and other math majors were able to solve problems the professors could not. I ended up with a math degree heavy in engineering and classics that included 3 graduate level courses in math.

I took the GRE and got accepted at a number of places, but decided to go into industry as the job offers were very lucrative for those who could teach themselves and who could work hard. I later went back to MBA school which was trivial academically.

As far as schools go, it comes down to the programs and the professors. Based on my math experience, I would prefer smaller, niche, intense, Socratic programs at large state schools where there are 8-10 students max per upper division class. The large state schools will attract top professors and the students in the smaller programs will be self-selected for motivation and high intrinsic ability. Or smaller engineering programs where you can get a lot more of the professors' time.

The key is to end up obsessively working on something so you get very, very good at it within an environment that will support you academically and emotionally.


I second what Beckee said about grad programs. I took a few more graduate math courses at a different school a few years ago. I felt very different at that school as it was much more formal. I did very well with the stats/numeric methods profs but the algebra/topology professors were a different story.

I think intelligence is not fixed. I think that beyond a certain point, it comes down to hard work. In my math program we had a handful of bright people from Eastern Europe and China. They were clearly talented mathematically and had been singled out back home for extra preparation. They were clearly ahead when we started the Real Analysis/Abtract Algebra classes, but after the first few months, everyone caught up. The pace of work was so hard and we all worked so hard and lived and breathed math that they were soon in the middle of the pack. In later classes where you had to do original thinking and grunt stuff out, they were no better than anyone else.

After two years in the math program I went back to take some engineering and physics electives. Quantum physics was easy. Thermo was easy. It was all easy where it had been moderately difficult before.

I've also posted on here about my HS classmates who were not National Merit nor tested as I high as I did, yet they are all MDs leading departments, research PHDs with dozens of papers, etc.

The Polgars' life story really begs your question.

Polgar

No substitute for hard work!!!

Intelligence is pretty fixed. Skill level is improved with the right experience.

A lot of things come down to tacit knowledge that are separate from native intelligence. The only way to learn certain things is through experience. Not by book.

For example, in this bear market in the stock market, as opposed to the last bear market (2007), I was able to short the market at a much more appropriate time because I have been paying close attention to it for the past few years and I know what to look for now having absorbed a much greater amount of information.

My intelligence didn't change (in fact, it probably declined with age). But my market timing skill got better.