21–30 of 73 posts
Go to a state school if you live in the US. It's cheaper and you are more likely to encounter professors who are interested in teaching, rather than their classes being a distraction from research and getting published.
Im 16 and I dropped out of school to go learn CS at a university (tau.ac.il). 1. Some of the professors are not interested in teaching- they do it because they have to. They rarely answer questions and go way to fast over the material. 2. We have to take many math courses. I was very interested in math until I got to university. Why? Because if you have a bad teacher you cant learn a lot. 3. Out of the about 300 peop…
Im 16 and I dropped out of school to go learn CS at a university (tau.ac.il). 1. Some of the professors are not interested in teaching- they do it because they have to. They rarely answer questions and go way to fast over the material. 2. We have to take many math courses. I was very interested in math until I got to university. Why? Because if you have a bad teacher you cant learn a lot. 3. Out of the about 300 peop…
Stick through this part, and you'll find that things rapidly become more challenging and interesting.
Im 16 and I dropped out of school to go learn CS at a university (tau.ac.il). 1. Some of the professors are not interested in teaching- they do it because they have to. They rarely answer questions and go way to fast over the material. 2. We have to take many math courses. I was very interested in math until I got to university. Why? Because if you have a bad teacher you cant learn a lot. 3. Out of the about 300 peop…
1. Find one person who is moderately competent. When you study, study with him. You both study a topic or chapter seated beside each other. Then you discuss the chapter to see if you both understood it the same way. If yes, proceed to the next chapter. If no, discuss some more and try to work out what the prof meant. If you do not understand it, skip the chapter and move on. Sometimes it gets clearer later.
2. For some subjects, it's better to read material that is not specific to the subject. For example, let's say you want to understand electronics. If you buy an electronics book, you will have to go through 100 pages of theoretical stuff that is difficult to understand. You will lose interest and you cannot learn it well. A solution would be to buy a physics book that uses electronics as an example (Physics for Electrical Engineers, for example). This book will explain the electronics as quickly and as efficiently as possible, so that they can focus on physics. This gives you a high level understanding that you can then use to understand the denser material.
3. If you have an exam that you have to pass in a short amount of time, work backwards. Take the old exam questions, and study the theory for each question till you understand enough to solve and understand the problem correctly. Do this for a wide range of questions, and this fills in your theoretical knowledge piece by piece, like a crossword puzzle. It's not a good way to learn, but it's an efficient way of passing and exam.
The best way of succeeding in school is by hanging out with the people who want to succeed at school.
Im 16 and I dropped out of school to go learn CS at a university (tau.ac.il). 1. Some of the professors are not interested in teaching- they do it because they have to. They rarely answer questions and go way to fast over the material. 2. We have to take many math courses. I was very interested in math until I got to university. Why? Because if you have a bad teacher you cant learn a lot. 3. Out of the about 300 peop…
Be grateful for the good teachers you have, but don't let the bad ones slow you down. You can be successful despite them.
Nobody really cares that much.
The main reason I'm usually not a huge fan of the college-no-college discussions is because they're "big identity" discussions ( http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html ). Most readers of this site made a choice when they were kids or very near to it and the position that they defend tends to reflect the choice, well informed or otherwise, that they made then.
Good point. Did anyone do one or the other and regret it?
The main reason I'm usually not a huge fan of the college-no-college discussions is because they're "big identity" discussions ( http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html ). Most readers of this site made a choice when they were kids or very near to it and the position that they defend tends to reflect the choice, well informed or otherwise, that they made then.
Good point. Did anyone do one or the other and regret it?
I do not have any experience at a state school, but I would posit that it is worth paying the premium for an Ivy just to meet some of the kids. I have often had this discussion of whether it was worth going to college with my friends. As I am from a small town and they are from different countries all around the world, we would have had no connection with each other. Additionally, the alumni base has helped me talk to tech CEOs and venture capitalists as an 18-year old.
Even though I think the classes are pretty much worthless for long-term success, the extracurriculars and connections you meet during your four-year experience are the shaping factors.