Fish

MIT doesn't teach you just Physics, or CS, or whatever your degree is about. MIT teaches you how to think, how to learn.

The guy had 3 degrees in Physics (Berkeley, Caltech, MIT), but now has a company in biotech. He never got a degree in Chem, but was able to teach himself. MIT instilled a way of thinking. 

does it only pertain to MIT? 

if you make it about that, you will accomplish that. -- Oni 4/2023

_________________________________________________________

I finally understand why MIT Harvard are so renowned---they open a whole new school of thought (school of thought school of fish get it haha).

It all started with this reddit post that compared UIUC to Berkeley. "UIUC has HEAVY recruiting for quant roles". the thought lingered in my mind. do i want to become a quant? I've never taken math seriously to the extend I would pursue a career in math. Up until now, i've only ever considered cs. it is inevitable: mother, father, brother all cs related. there's no denying the heavy influence. perspective is built from experience. 

initially i was sure i wanted to be a mobile app developer, full stack, work at the Big Five and for tech giants because of my family's influence. later after cookies4agoodcause, the thought of cs entrepreneurship floated around; perhaps i want to pursue a life of trying for startups, over and over again. after rmp, i thought i was sure i wanted to pursue academia, research the rest of my life. i idolized jeff dean. I wanted to research at google brain. but what about now? it took me 4 years in high school to decide i want to (maybe) pursue academia, i thought i had already decided and that my years in college would be working towards that goal. 

INCORRECT. FALSE. COMPLETELY WRONG. this may sound cliche, but i genuinely mean it: life is about exploring and learning. this is why top schools are so great. it opens up a whole world of ideas. the opportunities are truly endless. all of what im saying sounds like a cliche college app essay, but rn i mean it to the very bottom of my heart. HELL, COMPLETELY THROUGH THE BOTTOM. right now i am amazed and in despair. MY LIFE IS TOO SHORT. my mind is utterly blown. I am glad I going out of the bay area. I haven't even gone to Illinois yet, but UIUC opened my mind to a whole new world of possibilities simply because of its location and a reddit post. who knows how many times my mind will explode again and again when im actually in college. 

that sounded like an ending, but i have more to write. quant is big at mit. my friend's brother at berkeley eecs worked for citadel as a swe. quant roles at top quant firms are also huge at uiuc. sorry, i j listed three facts. i will try to formulize my train of thoughts. jk i cant. i forgot. anyways. i talked to my mom abt my thoughts---turns out she also gave being a quant a try when she was younger. she worked as a swe for a quant firm, and was offered a role as a quant. she tried it, she didn't like it, not interesting, didn't think her mathematical computational skills were agile enough to be successful in the field. i was shocked, my mom used to be cracked at math when she was in high school, like top of her province iirc. anyway, she said most quants have a phd in physics/math. her quant coworkers got those from either mit or cmu. does this mean i need to take my amy vu lin alg class seriously from now on?? am i going to invest in math? idk. i don't think i'm a genius, but i also never gave math a try. 

go with the flow. friend's brother at citadel also noted that the best thing berkeley provided was a way of thinking. i can understand that a lot more, not just the surface level, now. everything changes. i found it a little absurd to get b.s. then work, then go back for m.s., work, go back for another m.s., work, phd?, work. anyway u get the point. now it makes so much sense. EVERYTHING changes. life is truly about the continual learning. this is why my parents said to never go to a vocational state college. said to go to cc if i was in that position. i can see myself getting b.s. cs, math, business (apparently gies business is good at uiuc) then work/try startup or get m.s. cs then go back for m.s. in math, then work, then go back for phd for smthing like biocomputation then decide i want to go to industry for something cancer related, and then go back to school thinking i want to pursue academia again to research on cs and bioengineering. the possibilities are truly endless.

now what if i wasn't born in a family of cs-related engineers. i've never considered pre-med, law, fashion, music. i want to live multiple lifetimes. life is too short. it truly is. i want to explore everything, try everything out. i like dimsum, bc i cud try everything. it reflects in life. i want to take a bite out of everything, but life is too short. i want to live a life as a doctor, then another life as business woman, a musician, an athlete, a comedian, EVERYTHING. 

i say i want to die at 80 and also claim life is too short. yes. i mean it still. i want to relive my 18-38 yrs over and over again, infinite times. i want to try smthing new every time while preserving my energy, peak shape, and performance. i want it all.