Become a Hacker: My Journey to MIT and Quantum Computing

[Tenshou]

Ha, though the tittle seems misleading it is the main reason why I wish to go to the college of my choice, MIT. I am not the most intelligent person, I don't even have the best grades, but if there is anyway for me to go to the school of my dreams I do need the guidance. Let me start here. My grades have not really been the best for the last two years, yet I am pretty sure I won't do horrible on my SATs and ACTs. There is a problem with that last statement, it is true, I currently have a minimum of a 2.0 (or maybe worse) GPA and I am drowning trying to get a better GPA, such that I can go to the school, or even have the chance of getting accepted. I enjoy the maths beyond all reasonable doubts, but I feel as if the reason my GPA is low because I am a lazy slacker. It seems that I cannot make ends meet, being that next year is my last year here in the High School and I cannot seem to figure out how to or what to do to get this better GPA. The reason I wish to go to MIT is the fact that, yes this is truly where the "Hacker" community started, but mainly because they have a Quantum Computer(I am deeply interested in Q-M-T's). Ever since the 9th grade I remember watching an episode of Through the Wormhole, it was an episode about the Q-Bit and the mind. This episode seemed very mysterious and got me interested in Quantum Mechanical Theories. Before this interest I was into Fractals, Fibonacci numbers and stuff of that sort. If anyone is there I hope they can show me the way through this maze of a psychological mishap. Much Appreciated :)

 

[Astrum]

I am/was in a similar position.

I'm afraid you're most likely screwed. Go to a state university for a year, and depending on your grades, you have a shot (maybe) of getting into MIT.

But you would probably have to show that you really could do the work, as in, minimum 4.0.

This is all hearsay, I can't guarantee anything.

 

[Mépris]

People with low grades do get into schools like MIT, but I'm willing to bet that they've usually done more than just "watching an episode of Through the Wormhole" or "being interested in Fibonacci numbers."

I'm no authority here, but you probably won't get in if you haven't done anything awesome out of class. You know why you want to be there. Why should they want you there?

This guy got into Brown. Take a look at his LinkedIn profile, and you wouldn't be surprised to see why. In his high school career, his done more things than many college grads.

---

Even if you're trying to transfer, it'd be stupid to focus on only one school. Especially one that accepts less than 50 transfers per year. Last I checked, it was 20-ish.

Lots of fine schools in the US. Go to your state's flagship U, or CC first, and then you can go to grad school at MIT. There's lots of people doing amazing stuff at supposedly no-name schools. Ask Hadsed.

 

[Permanence]

Why would you believe you would need to attend MIT to become a 'hacker'? In-fact why would you even want the title of black hat, such a disgusting label IMO.

If you are interested in computing, especially penetration testing, you should start off by understanding the way a system works. Any moron can run some tools from BackTrack, but those who go down in history have made contributions through intuitive genius.

I've always been under the impression that any Average Joe can acquire the skills of a mediocre hacker, but can't simply work towards becoming a security guru. For whatever reason some of us are just suited for the field.

I'd just like to make it clear to you that you do not need to attend MIT to become a 'hacker'. In-fact, why would it make a difference what school you're at? Do you understand how important staying anonymous is in that field? When I use to do some white/borderline grey hat, I never got permission but I never exploited without consent, I was living in constant paranoia. If I was taking the time to avoid leaving a footprint, I sure as hell wasn't going to go bragging to my buddies or bouncing ideas off someone who knew my identity.

I'm sorry to say, but it looks like your chances at attending MIT is almost zero. You could hit a perfect score on the SAT and you still would have a less than 10% chance of attending IMO. That being said, you can be successful in life attending community or even abstaining from formal education. My advice to you is to first pull your grades up. I don't care where you're going, but maintaining a 3.0 in high school requires less than 15 minutes of work a night. Then if you can handle the two simultaneously, start exploring some programming languages. May I suggest Python?

 

[Mépris]

I agree with Permanence. Get to work! High school is easy. If it's too easy that it bores you, then invent deadlines for yourself. I work very well under pressure, and my "deadline" is always "in 25 minutes." I use a kitchen timer that I set to 25 minutes and then work. This is my second day of doing this, and so far it's working great.

More info on how I work here: http://99u.com/tips/7032/A-Day-Without-Distraction-Lessons-Learned-from-12-Hrs-of-Forced-Focus

My study hours only amount to around 6 hours though, not 12. That's 6 more than I used to do, hehe. :-) :-)

At any rate, 15-30 minutes of work, on top of homework, would be a great start. It's far better to work for 15-30 minutes while focused, as opposed to working for 3 hours when not focused. Figure out how long you can stay concentrated, and work from there. A "reward system" helps. Right now, my "reward" is just that I am able to get something done.

 

[DrummingAtom]

Just on a side note, I found this site to be pretty cool:

http://www.hackthissite.org/

 

[Tenshou]

I am/was in a similar position.

I'm afraid you're most likely screwed. Go to a state university for a year, and depending on your grades, you have a shot (maybe) of getting into MIT.

But you would probably have to show that you really could do the work, as in, minimum 4.0.

This is all hearsay, I can't guarantee anything.

Thanks, yet I only wish to go to this school because of the Quantum Computer.

People with low grades do get into schools like MIT, but I'm willing to bet that they've usually done more than just "watching an episode of Through the Wormhole" or "being interested in Fibonacci numbers."

I'm no authority here, but you probably won't get in if you haven't done anything awesome out of class. You know why you want to be there. Why should they want you there?

This guy got into Brown. Take a look at his LinkedIn profile, and you wouldn't be surprised to see why. In his high school career, his done more things than many college grads.

---

Even if you're trying to transfer, it'd be stupid to focus on only one school. Especially one that accepts less than 50 transfers per year. Last I checked, it was 20-ish.

Lots of fine schools in the US. Go to your state's flagship U, or CC first, and then you can go to grad school at MIT. There's lots of people doing amazing stuff at supposedly no-name schools. Ask Hadsed.

Thanks and I do agree but I just don't know any other schools with the Quantum Computer!

Why would you believe you would need to attend MIT to become a 'hacker'? In-fact why would you even want the title of black hat, such a disgusting label IMO.

If you are interested in computing, especially penetration testing, you should start off by understanding the way a system works. Any moron can run some tools from BackTrack, but those who go down in history have made contributions through intuitive genius.

I've always been under the impression that any Average Joe can acquire the skills of a mediocre hacker, but can't simply work towards becoming a security guru. For whatever reason some of us are just suited for the field.

I'd just like to make it clear to you that you do not need to attend MIT to become a 'hacker'. In-fact, why would it make a difference what school you're at? Do you understand how important staying anonymous is in that field? When I use to do some white/borderline grey hat, I never got permission but I never exploited without consent, I was living in constant paranoia. If I was taking the time to avoid leaving a footprint, I sure as hell wasn't going to go bragging to my buddies or bouncing ideas off someone who knew my identity.

I'm sorry to say, but it looks like your chances at attending MIT is almost zero. You could hit a perfect score on the SAT and you still would have a less than 10% chance of attending IMO. That being said, you can be successful in life attending community or even abstaining from formal education. My advice to you is to first pull your grades up. I don't care where you're going, but maintaining a 3.0 in high school requires less than 15 minutes of work a night. Then if you can handle the two simultaneously, start exploring some programming languages. May I suggest Python?

Thanks, yet I never said I wished to be a black hat hacker. I mean yes I wish to be a "hacker" but not what it has come to be, but what it "once" was, a person who liked to tinker and expand upon them in various ways(kind of like a Sasha Shulgin and his chemicals). I only want to go to MIT because I do wish to get to experience the Quantum Computer and the beauty of the first (almost) fully functionally Q-bit.

I agree with Permanence. Get to work! High school is easy. If it's too easy that it bores you, then invent deadlines for yourself. I work very well under pressure, and my "deadline" is always "in 25 minutes." I use a kitchen timer that I set to 25 minutes and then work. This is my second day of doing this, and so far it's working great.

More info on how I work here: http://99u.com/tips/7032/A-Day-Without-Distraction-Lessons-Learned-from-12-Hrs-of-Forced-Focus

My study hours only amount to around 6 hours though, not 12. That's 6 more than I used to do, hehe. :-) :-)

At any rate, 15-30 minutes of work, on top of homework, would be a great start. It's far better to work for 15-30 minutes while focused, as opposed to working for 3 hours when not focused. Figure out how long you can stay concentrated, and work from there. A "reward system" helps. Right now, my "reward" is just that I am able to get something done.

Thanks, there was a good bit of information in that link. Although, I do not believe I am truly distracted, more or less jaded and drowning. I mean I try and juggle everything from School/Homework to my project dealing with networks and flows of information (with which I have been dealing with for just about a year now.) to learning two computer languages, Python and C++, also learning two other languages German and Chinese. I am a novice in these two computer languages and leaning where the debugging errors are. I am slowly just not caring for homework and its tedious boring exercises(I mean the one you get for homework) I would rather work on something much more interesting, for example work on my network analysis of a special object near and dear to my heart.

I just do not want to give up on Learning these two computer languages. I need a way, I need a light in which the direction to MIT is so I can work on that beautiful Machine of a Beast!

 

[Number Nine]

Why do you need to be near the quantum computer? How much do you know about them? What makes you think you would be allowed anywhere near it? They can't even really do anything yet.

 

[Tenshou]

Why do you need to be near the quantum computer? How much do you know about them? What makes you think you would be allowed anywhere near it? They can't even really do anything yet.

I need to be near one, because I simply love information theory! I can't wrap my mind around how the Q-bit can be yes and no at the same time, I don't understand definiteness . The Quantum Computer is just a natural wonder! If I could be near one and tinker with it and understand the complex physics of the Q-bit I feel I would know a little bit more about this strange and unusual world. The Quantum computer is living magic, if you ask me. I know little about quantum physics in general. I do know and understand manipulations of Maxwell's equations (non relativistic ones of course) and I do wish to understand that by the end of the this up coming summer(relativistic manipulations), if God let it be so. Maxwell's equations are the essences and beauty of the nervous system, which are probably the only real Q-Comps(excluding Nature it self). If I ever am near a Quantum Comp I would love to get to know more about them and natural phenomena of this world. After all, Information is the life bread. Even if I could not get near it I would find away, I would figure out how! it must be done by all means! Nothing, If they don't let me near it I am not sure why they would not, I would figure out a way none the less, even though if it is just going in there and looking at it for a few moment such that I must create my own(I do not believe I am smart enough to do such a feat, just look at my GPA...). I hope those answered your questions, my friend.

 

[berkeman]

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