edu @ gatech
March 27th, 2003 | by john |This will be another one of my rants about the exclusive education system provided by this well-established institution of Georgia Tech. I am at another point of apathy and I need to get my thoughts out as soon as possible before reaching a new level of insanity here.
Quite frankly typing here, I don’t know what I am doing here anymore. The classes I am taking now – as my fourth semester will soon come to an end – still doesn’t relate in any way to what I have thought when I fill in the oval marking what major I wanted to be when applying to this school. That leaves me approximately another 4 semesters (or more) to delve deeply into the real reason I came here. The first two years have been like repeating the last 2 years of high school for me; except this time, I am not protected by the extra points padded in by the IB system when calculating GPAs and receiving Bs and Cs didn’t bother me much since I didn’t think it would affect me negatively. In all honesty, it has affected me negatively… but not how I imagined it would…
Putting grades aside, the heightened attention of the humanities in the IB program has really skewed the way I do things. I have learned in high school that procrastination can pay off if you quickly step on the right stones while crossing the river to Gradu-land. Four- four years, have I been able to step on the right stones- now look where it landed me… in a land facing an even larger river that you have to cross; except this time… the stones aren’t visible… and the only way you can get across is by trying to see through the flow of the river and taking a leap of faith – hoping for the best. If you fall into the river, you have to pull yourself out and find another stone to step on while you dry yourself off and encourage yourself to work to find the next stone. It’s rather scary here; sometimes, you’ll fall so many times, you are exhausted and don’t know what to do anymore. This is where I seem to be.
In another subject matter – I know so many people here who came in knowing exactly what they want to do but get discouraged. I’ve been there if I am not already there right now. No matter how much effort I put into it, no matter how much I study, no matter how much time I put into it, no matter how much resources I have to use – I can’t seem to do any better then how I have been doing. So where do I turn now? Why should I spend the effort? What would I be spending the effort here to do? What is really involved in the studies I am doing right now?
I have one great friend who was forced to decide to leave this school. And now, another great friend will be leaving this school for similar reasons. The circumstances are a bit different but in the end, they are similar. Now, imagine this – the two friends that I am referring to are both great people. Their high school academics and activities can’t be questioned because they were accepted here; their intelligence can’t be questioned because they are both smart and this shows; their effort can’t be questioned because I’ve seen their extreme effort, except there didn’t seem to be any good prize for their efforts. I’m seeing the same kind of pattern in some of my other friends and I’m afraid that I can see this pattern in me. Now, imagine this – these guys never really did anything out of the ordinary as other college students accept they put in more time (mostly throughout the weekdays) working on stuff for classes or studying for tests. Excuse my lack of attention to this matter but what have they done wrong – I can’t seem to answer this question. You both can blame yourselves all you want for whatever mistakes you think you made – but these aren’t mistakes and you will realize this down the road. No matter how much I value our friendship; build your own road and drive down it at a speed appropriate for you and don’t let anything behind you haunt you, discourage you, or skew the direction at which you want to go; don’t let other things slow you down or force you to go faster.
By scheibe on Apr 3, 2003
stepping stones are nice – a good prof here, a curved test there – but often aren’t enough to pull through here, at one of the toughest schools in the country. What mettle do you think the people who drop out of here are made of? I do not question their integrity, work ethic, ability, or judgement – only their reasoning. I have yet to know someone who has dropped out of tech because they lack the ability. Certainly not because they lack the intelligence or work ethic. A good portion of the reason tech is so difficult is because they have a reputation to maintain. They don’t want to put a stamp of approval on just any random high school student. Only those with the mettle to stick it out and wade through the river up to their necks win the prize.
Yesterday I went to a lecture by a man named Alex Gregory. One of the more successful people in this country, and is the current President of YKK America. Gregory grew up in the Macon, GA area (an area not particularly known for its technology or resources, if you aren’t familiar with it) and came to tech. He struggled through, barely making grades high enough to stay in school as a textile engineer here. Out of his own mouth he said the words “I hated this school.” … but at the end of the day, his report card for being president of an enormous company relies on how dedicated to his goal he is. He also told the story of how a friend of his came up to him one day, not having seen him in a long time, and said “you know, you should have never left that plant in Macon – you could have been plant manager by now.” His response was in agreement, not wanting to give away that tech had opened an opportunity for him to become president of a 6 billion dollar company.
Point of this long story cut short: You don’t HAVE to stay here and graduate, but imagine the doors that will open for you when you do. All things made equal, how many people do you know that are having a good time and breezing through here that aren’t a fluff major?
…
my thoughts exactly.
anyway, take it for what its worth – just my 2 cents.
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Scheibe