Re: CHAT: University Advice (was Re: A bit of advice)

"Thomas R. Wier" wrote:
>
> Robert Hailman wrote:
>
> > >  One of
> > > my best friends is currently thinking about doing research on finite automata
> > > (he's absolutely brilliant:  he got a 1600 on the SAT twice -- the second time
> > > just to see if he could do it -- and got his first B in a class just last semester
> > > for the first time since, I think, fourth grade, and he's my age, 21).
> >
> > Y'see, I'm not that smart. Also, some of the finer details of Computer
> > Science bore me to death, but with Ling. little does.
>
> Well, very few people are.  His IQ is easily over 180 (although I have serious
> doubts about his EQ...).  Eric, my friend, is ranked as something like the
> 15th best College Bowl player in the country, and mind you, CB questions are
> far harder than Jeopardy! questions are, both in obscurity and complexity.
> Most of the people who excel him are, like, in their 40s or something.  I,
> unfortunately, do not have the instant recall that he does, and so don't do anywhere
> near as well in tournaments.
I once did one of those online IQ tests, and I scored 136. Mind you,
those tests are questionable at best, and the one I took said for people
below 16 (I was 14 at the time), all bets are off as to the accuracy of
the test.

Also, your comparison of CB to Jeopardy!, while true, may be more of a
representation of the easiness of Jeopardy! questions than to the
difficulty of CB questions.
>
> > > I'm assuming this means University of Texas (not University of Tennessee, nor
> > > University of Toronto).  About these others I can't say much, but much of
> > > the following will apply in very general terms.
> >
> > I meant University of Toronto. I should have been more specific. Damn me
> > and my Toronto centric view.
>
> Well, I assumed a rather Texanocentric stance myself, so...
>
I think we all do that when we don't offer specifics in things like
that.

> (Aside:  I bet I just coined a new word.)
Excellence.
>
> > However, I haven't decided on a university
> > for sure, so I read everything you wrote with great interest.
>
> I'm sure affairs are roughly similar for universities in most places of
> North America right now.
That is probably true.

>
> > <snip - Texas specific, but good to know>
> > My school has one US History course, but I don't know if it applies to
> > that goal.
>
> Well, you might want to take it if you're thinking about going to school
> here in the States.  I believe most Universities require something similar
> to those requirements I mentioned, though their content will vary somewhat
> (obviously, there won't be many schools outside of Texas that require
> Texas government and history).
This whole idea of required history & such seems vaugely reminiscient of
the required exams in Scientific Socialism in Soviet Universities. We
need only one Canadian History course here in Ontario, but that's
because us Candadians have no pride whatsoever.
>
> I think I should repeat my suggestion about taking AP tests, though:
> I got out of 40-something hours with it, and many people I know got
> out of 60 or more (Eric did).  It can turn a 5-year stay as an undergrad
> into a 3-year one.  Look into the language AP tests in particular:  Eric
> got out of 22 hours of Spanish, all as As, his freshman year by getting
> a 5 on the Spanish AP.
>
I'll look into it, but I'm not sure how open they are to me hyar in
Canada.

> > Excuse me for my ignorance, but what precisely is a "credit-hour"? I
> > have an idea, but I don't know the definition. Either way, I could see
> > how I wouldn't want to take too many courses.
>
> I remember that confusing me when I was about 17 as well.  I think John has
> answered well for that question already.
>
Yup. I understand now.

> > We all know someone like this Ilya of yours, but the ones I know aren't
> > Stalinists and get more sleep than that.
>
> He's a particularly odd fellow.  I have always meant to ask him what he
> thought about Stalin's liquidation of the Ukrainian poet-bards, but I've always
> feared getting into a shouting match.  He's also a proselyte for atheism, and
> something of a fundamentalist in that faith (or lack thereof, whatever you want
> to call it).
That'd be a good question to ask. Of course, you can expect either an
outright denial or a rationalization of it.

Most Stalinists are stauchly devoted to atheism, but then again, most
are my friends (but not me).

--
Robert