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Show HN: UChicago admissions asked me to find Waldo. I did.

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Re: Show HN: UChicago admissions asked me to find Waldo. I did.

#31

Post by spamizbad »

tymekpavel wrote: post #27

This is very impressive. However, I think the essay was poorly written. The point of the essay is not just to highlight your talents, but also to present yourself in a coherent manner. I feel like you focused a lot on the coding aspect and half-cooked the writing, which happens all too often in this industry. Nevertheless, good job on the project; you got an early start on a bright future.

I disagree. I'd estimate his writing skills are in the 95%+ percentile for 17/18 year olds.

In the last 5-7 years, the English curriculum in US schools has changed significantly in an effort to improve NCLB reading scores. One part of the curriculum that had to get trimmed down was writing composition.

These days, unless you were home schooled or attended grades 9-12 at a quality private school, you probably won't be taught how to write a proper essay until college.

Re: Show HN: UChicago admissions asked me to find Waldo. I did.

#32

Post by memset »

This is neat! Best of luck to you!

Here is a thought: one of your goals with this essay is to write it as a "counselor-friendly essay". Do you feel like it is as friendly as it could be?

I think there is tremendous value in being able to explain technical concepts to non-technical people, and a skill that is worth practicing. Iterate on this essay! Or write more of them! How would you "tell a story" while conveying this information? Is that even possible? Or even worthwhile? Tinker with it.

The one thing I really liked about your essay was the end: "To reliably solve this sort of problem, I’m told, I’d want to [use fancy computer science terminology]. So, UChicago, shall we revisit this question in CMSC 35400 (Machine Learning) or CMSC 35500 (Computer Vision)?" It ties this back to your own personal goals and how they mesh with the university.

Great stuff.

Re: Show HN: UChicago admissions asked me to find Waldo. I did.

#33

Post by wdr1 »

marcuswestin wrote: post #22

I'm a UoC comp sci alumnus working at silicon valley startups since graduation in '08. Though a fantastic place in many ways, it's not one to encourage actually building stuff. If you're a hacker who loves to see code run and solve real world problems you may be frustrated at the UoC. I was :) on the other hand, if you go through with their BS degree in CS then you will have learnt a lot of fascinating theory. Best o…

> If you're a hacker who loves to see code run and solve real world problems you may be frustrated at the UoC

I graduated from the U of C in '97. Did the startup thing for a while, then went on to Yahoo & Google. In my early career, I used to lament the fact that the U of C hadn't taught me various "practical" things. I was shocked the first time I heard a coworker mentioned they had a class on just a programming language.

Eventually, I grew to appreciate that those "practical" things both change & are relatively easy to learn on your own. Whereas an academic environment is a much easier place to learn things like theory.

Not to say they need to be mutually exclusive, just to say there is value in the emphasis on theory.

All that said, and as much as I love the U of C, I'd tell a high school kid interest in Comp Sci to go to Stanford, U of I, or CMU.

Re: Show HN: UChicago admissions asked me to find Waldo. I did.

#35

Post by mvzink »

marcuswestin wrote: post #22

I'm a UoC comp sci alumnus working at silicon valley startups since graduation in '08. Though a fantastic place in many ways, it's not one to encourage actually building stuff. If you're a hacker who loves to see code run and solve real world problems you may be frustrated at the UoC. I was :) on the other hand, if you go through with their BS degree in CS then you will have learnt a lot of fascinating theory. Best o…

Indeed, the department has changed a bit recently, and the student hacker community is thriving. Theory is still strong, but I would like to add to bwaldrep's point by noting that a few classes are (now) dominated by actually building stuff: in Networks, students build an IRC server, a stripped-down TCP stack, and a rudimentary IP router from scratch; in Operating Systems, students fill in some of the interesting parts of threading, virtual memory, user programs (i.e. implementing system calls), and file system access in the Pintos educational kernel; in Databases, students build a stripped down SQLite-alike database library.

That doesn't necessarily discount your point about frustration, but my impression is that the situation has 'improved' (I'm not one to make normative claims though). In any case, as a math-disinclined hacker, I've been very happy with the courses I've taken.

Aside: I encourage you to drop by a hack night and see what's going on if you find yourself in Chicago on a Friday evening. We love having alums visit and talk about what they are doing!

Re: Show HN: UChicago admissions asked me to find Waldo. I did.

#36

Post by mvzink »

kenko wrote: post #3

Waitaminute, Supplement to the Common Application ? Oh, Chicago, how you have strayed!

There was a trend of renewed lamentations over the "de-weirding" of UChicago following the Common App switch, but they seem to have fallen off after 4 years...

Re: Show HN: UChicago admissions asked me to find Waldo. I did.

#37

Post by mvzink »

superuser2 wrote: post #25
marcuswestin wrote: post #22

I'm a UoC comp sci alumnus working at silicon valley startups since graduation in '08. Though a fantastic place in many ways, it's not one to encourage actually building stuff. If you're a hacker who loves to see code run and solve real world problems you may be frustrated at the UoC. I was :) on the other hand, if you go through with their BS degree in CS then you will have learnt a lot of fascinating theory. Best o…

I "prospied" last weekend and the professor I met at Hack Night said that the systems side of the department has a stronger focus in that area, though he may be in the minority there. The theory side is interesting as well, though I don't want to get too far away from reality. Thanks so much! This is why I love HN. I will definitely be in touch.

Now I regret missing hack night last week! I hope you got to meet some of our outstanding crew. Sounds like you talked to Borja. I had the good fortune to meet him when I visited and probably wouldn't have even bothered with a 4 year college if I hadn't. Here's hoping your essay does the trick! Shoot me an email if you want to discuss UChicago: mvz@mvz.so

Re: Show HN: UChicago admissions asked me to find Waldo. I did.

#38

Post by chris_wot »

memset wrote: post #32

This is neat! Best of luck to you! Here is a thought: one of your goals with this essay is to write it as a "counselor-friendly essay". Do you feel like it is as friendly as it could be? I think there is tremendous value in being able to explain technical concepts to non-technical people, and a skill that is worth practicing. Iterate on this essay! Or write more of them! How would you "tell a story" while conveying t…

I'd say this is counsellor friendly. One of the most impressive things was that he was willing to acknowledge sources - basically he gave credit where it was due. This doesn't take away from his essay, instead it shows that he can use existing ideas in an original way.

I hope he gets accepted! I tip my hat to the author.

Re: Show HN: UChicago admissions asked me to find Waldo. I did.

#40

Post by brianchu »

spamizbad wrote: post #31
tymekpavel wrote: post #27

This is very impressive. However, I think the essay was poorly written. The point of the essay is not just to highlight your talents, but also to present yourself in a coherent manner. I feel like you focused a lot on the coding aspect and half-cooked the writing, which happens all too often in this industry. Nevertheless, good job on the project; you got an early start on a bright future.

I disagree. I'd estimate his writing skills are in the 95%+ percentile for 17/18 year olds. In the last 5-7 years, the English curriculum in US schools has changed significantly in an effort to improve NCLB reading scores. One part of the curriculum that had to get trimmed down was writing composition. These days, unless you were home schooled or attended grades 9-12 at a quality private school, you probably won't be…

Keep in mind that the University of Chicago is considered roughly a top 10 university (tied for 4th, if US News is to be trusted, which of course it should not). The 25th percentile of admitted students is at the 95th percentile of SAT scores. Rest assured, 80%+ of people who are admitted into the University of Chicago know how to write a decent essay (the other 20% allowing for athletes and development cases).

That being said, I don't find anything wrong with his writing, especially since he is writing a short technical explanation rather than a reflective memoir.

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