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A comment on How good were you at college?. Parent comment

Re:How good were you at college? by rms on Monday November 12, 2007 @11:19PM (#79030)
That's generally good advice but isn't realistic for most people here, except maybe cperciva. Something tells me you're a good two or three standard deviations ahead of the average IQ of this board.

I barely passed Calculus III; there is no way I could have proven any auxiliary theorems.

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Re:How good were you at college? by DaniFong on Monday November 12, 2007 @11:54PM (#79050)
I think people are capable of a hell of a lot more than they think they are if they put their minds to it. I see this over and over again. I don't think that pure math or quantum physics or research or, in general, going academically above and beyond the call of duty, is something beyond the reach of regular people.

I do think that it takes years of general dedication towards learning to start tackling such topics, and it takes confidence to know that what one is aiming for is achievable, and it takes the honesty to realize when one truly is and when one truly isn't understanding some topic. I am continually astounded by the insight and intelligence of what some on this board might consider regular folk, and I think that what sets me apart from the masses isn't in hardware (a better brain), but software (beliefs and an outlook more conducive to learning).

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Re:How good were you at college? by jimbokun on Tuesday November 13, 2007 @12:43PM (#79358)
"I think that what sets me apart from the masses isn't in hardware (a better brain), but software (beliefs and an outlook more conducive to learning)."

From your list of accomplishments, I suspect one of the skills that sets you apart is your time management capabilities. Otherwise commonly known as self-discipline.

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Re:How good were you at college? by breck on Wednesday November 14, 2007 @12:17PM (#79771)
I think if you are doing something you are passionate about self-discipline will arise naturally. You'll want to be better at what you are doing and so you start waking earlier, focusing more, turning down potential distractions, etc. Maybe most importantly you start meeting successful people in your fields and start to replicate their more productive habits.
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Re:How good were you at college? by amichail on Tuesday November 13, 2007 @12:19PM (#79337)
The problem with your argument is that it is based on trust. You trust that the people in your field are doing interesting research and teaching you important things.

Unlike physics say, students have less reason to trust those higher up in this way in a field such as computer science.

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Re:How good were you at college? by jimbokun on Tuesday November 13, 2007 @12:33PM (#79348)
DaniFong addresses that here:

"Learn everything from first principles, and when something looks wrong, bring it up."

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Re:How good were you at college? by amichail on Tuesday November 13, 2007 @02:40PM (#79446)
My issues with computer science go a bit beyond that! I think there's a general misunderstanding about what is important.
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Re:How good were you at college? by jimbokun on Tuesday November 13, 2007 @05:21PM (#79541)
What do you think is important?
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