Can Success Be Achieved Without Attending Elite Universities?

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The discussion critiques the mindset of individuals who fixate on a limited number of prestigious schools, expressing frustration over unrealistic expectations and a lack of effort in their academic pursuits. It highlights the irony of aspiring to elite institutions like MIT while not demonstrating the necessary commitment or performance in school. The conversation emphasizes the importance of aligning aspirations with actual achievements and the potential pitfalls of placing too much value on specific schools without a solid foundation of effort and results.
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http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/13/time.cover.tm/index.html
 
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Five years in Clown College!
 
I've always been amused by people who set their sites on 3 or 4 schools that they want to go to and claim that they will die if they don't get into one of them. Or the ones who say things like, "I'm way smarter then everyone else, but my grades are not that good and I've never put a lot of effort into school and my dream is to go to MIT".
 
After a year of thought, I decided to adjust my ratio for applying the US/EU(+UK) schools. I mostly focused on the US schools before, but things are getting complex and I found out that Europe is also a good place to study. I found some institutes that have professors with similar interests. But gaining the information is much harder than US schools (like you have to contact professors in advance etc). For your information, I have B.S. in engineering (low GPA: 3.2/4.0) in Asia - one SCI...
I graduated with a BSc in Physics in 2020. Since there were limited opportunities in my country (mostly teaching), I decided to improve my programming skills and began working in IT, first as a software engineer and later as a quality assurance engineer, where I’ve now spent about 3 years. While this career path has provided financial stability, I’ve realized that my excitement and passion aren’t really there, unlike what I felt when studying or doing research in physics. Working in IT...
Hello, I’m an undergraduate student pursuing degrees in both computer science and physics. I was wondering if anyone here has graduated with these degrees and applied to a physics graduate program. I’m curious about how graduate programs evaluated your applications. In addition, if I’m interested in doing research in quantum fields related to materials or computational physics, what kinds of undergraduate research experiences would be most valuable?

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