Credit: Dawn Ashley, Flickr
Last week a story on the Boston Globe’s The Next Great Generation (TNGG) blog pointed again to the perennial issue of grade inflation and deflation in Boston-area schools, looking specifically at what is apparently inflation at Harvard and deflation at MIT. Think idiosyncratic grading policies are harmless? Maybe. After all, recent grads’ resumes contain more than grade point averages–internships and extra-curricular activities count for a lot. But in this difficult economy, good jobs are harder to come by; a strong GPA can make a difference.
Excerpted from TNGG blog:
“Our grades are oriented toward the brightest students in the world. Those that get As are those who are the smartest and hardest workers in the world,” said MIT sophomore David Couto. “If you are not extremely smart or working very hard, you simply will not get an A. An A is a grade reserved for a master of a subject, unlike high school where you could semi-know a subject and get an A.”
On College Confidential, MIT has a reputation among engineering schools — which are notorious for their extreme emphasis on advanced problem solving and intricate mathematical logic — for lower GPAs due to grade deflation.
“In my experience, this has been difficult to transition to because I’m not accustomed to having to work so hard and still not doing as well as I would like on exams,” said Iris Sheu, a sophomore at MIT. “I would imagine that goes the same for everyone else here. Part of going to this school is learning that getting a grade other than an A may be okay.” [Read the full article.]
Discussion boards on College Confidential remain active around this topic. One concerned prospective student wrote, “I also plan to do graduate work and am concerned that GPA might become a hindrance.” The prospective student received the following reply:
If you are average at MIT, that will probably be good enough to get into just about any grad school. The only reason not to choose MIT is you think you will be so overwhelmed that you will learn less at MIT than a school with easier classes. But that’s hard to know before getting there. I would try really hard for the first year-and-a-half or so. If you are course 6, take one or two of the core classes in your major as a freshman (6.01 or 6.02.) For chemE, see how you do in 10.213 (thermo for ChemE)–most people take this as a first-term sophomore. If you can get a “B” in these classes, I would say it is in your best interest to stay. If not, you might think about transferring to another school or asking yourself whether you really like engineering. (Did you really excel in and enjoy physics and/or organic chemistry? Maybe then you would be more suited to be a course 8 or course 5 major.) Plus, if you like programming and like math but hate course 6, you can always major in applied mathematics.
Alumni, what do you think about discrepancies in grading policy? Does grade deflation affect admission rates to graduate school or hinder professional success? Tell us what you think in the comments section below, or leave us a note on Facebook.
Good news, lifelong learners! The staff at MIT’s much-lauded OpenCourseWare (OCW) has been busily updating the site with new courses that you can view online for free. Among the recent additions:
- People and Other Animals
This class provides a historical survey of the ways that people have interacted with their closest animal relatives, for example: hunting, domestication of livestock, exploitation of animal labor, scientific study of animals, display of exotic and performing animals, and pet keeping.
- Stem Cells: A Cure or Disease?
In this course, we will explore the underlying biology behind the idea of using stem cells to treat disease, specifically analyzing the mechanisms that enable a single genome to encode multiple cell states ranging from neurons to fibroblasts to T cells. Overall, we hope to provide a comprehensive overview of this exciting new field of research and its clinical relevance.
- Game Design
This course provides practical instruction in the design and analysis of non-digital games. Students cover the texts, tools, references and historical context to analyze and compare game designs across a variety of genres, including sports, game shows, games of chance, card games, schoolyard games, board games, and role–playing games.
- Riots, Strikes, and Conspiracies in American History
This course uses readings and discussions to focus on a series of short-term events that shed light on American politics, culture, and social organization. It emphasizes finding ways to make sense of these complicated, highly traumatic events, and on using them to understand larger processes of change in American history.
- Community Growth and Land Use Planning
This subject explores the techniques, processes, and personal and professional skills required to effectively manage growth and land use change. While primarily focused on the planning practice in the United States, the principles and techniques reviewed and presented may have international application. This course is not for bystanders; it is designed for those who wish to become actively involved or exposed to the planning discipline and profession as it is practiced today, and as it may need to be practiced in the future.
View more courses that have been added within the last six months. And if you’re feeling generous, consider making a donation to support OCW.
More than 40 years ago Noam Chomsky wrote, “The Responsibility of Intellectuals,” an essay about scholars and the Vietnam War. He revisited the topic in a lecture last week and again lamented intellectuals’ willingness to overlook inconsistencies in U.S. policies–specifically those related to climate change efforts and the promotion of democracy overseas.
“The official line is that we promote democracy,” said Chomsky, who is an Institute Professor and Professor of Linguistics (emeritus) at MIT. However in practice, he claimed, the U.S. “supports democracy if and only if it conforms to strategic and economic interests.” Chomsky said that rather than challenging inconsistencies, many scholars and experts adopt safe and “responsible” views that serve to perpetuate the status quo.
The lecture was part of MIT’s “Ideas Matter” series, which is sponsored by MIT’s Department of Political Science and The Boston Review.
View video of the lecture below or check it out on TechTV.
Still from the video. Credit: FAP 2011
Students in MIT’s 2011 Freshman Arts Program produced the short, lyrical video below, which is currently featured on the MIT Admissions homepage.
Alumni, what do you make of it? Does it remind you of your first few weeks on campus?
Photo: paul+photos=moody, Flickr
While Freedom Baird SM ’98 was pursuing her master’s at MIT, Furbies (remember those? the furry little robot toys that talked?) were all the rage, and Freedom started thinking about the connection between machines and dolls. She wondered: Are machines are more alive than dolls?
More than a decade has passed, but Baird still has Furbies on the brain. In fact, in a recent Radiolab episode, hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich help Baird conduct an experiment with a number of small children, involving a barbie doll, a hamster, and of course, her Furby. Curiosity piqued? Check out the podcast, available at http://www.radiolab.org/2011/may/31/. Baird’s segment is about 30 minutes in.
Credit: http://www.mit.edu/~kimo/gelsight/
A handheld device created by researchers in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences lets (relatively) unencumbered users achieve resolutions that were previously only possible with large and expensive lab equipment. The device uses GelSight, which is basically a slab of synthetic rubber that is coated on one side with metal-flecked paint. When an object is pressed against the device, the paint-coated side distorts. Cameras mounted on the opposite side photograph the results, and computers analyze the images.
According to research affiliate Micah Kimo Johnson’s website:
Complete information is recorded in a single frame; therefore we can record video of the changing deformation of the skin, and then generate an animation of the changing surface. The GelSight sensor has no moving parts (other than the elastomer slab), uses inexpensive materials, and can be made into a portable device that can be used ‘in the field’ to record surface shape and texture.
Interested? Check out the video below.
Even if it has been years since you were a freshman, you might still enjoy the new video posted by the MIT News Office. It looks at Interphase, a rigorous seven-week residential program for MIT freshmen. In addition to calculus, physics, and chemistry training, Interphase participants (who must apply to participate) undertake lab research with faculty mentors and engage in a variety of workshops.
Learn more about Interphase at http://web.mit.edu/ome/programs-services/interphase/
And for the more inquisitive among you, scroll down to see the program’s current academic curriculum.
Frank Moss. Credit: Andy Ryan
Still in the market for summer reads? Consider checking out former Media Lab director Frank Moss’s recent book, “The Sorcerers and Their Apprentices: How the Digital Magicians of the MIT Media Lab Are Creating the Innovative Technologies That Will Transform Our Lives.”
In the excerpt below, Moss discusses the difficulty of turning an idea in a lab into a market-changing product.
In the dead of night about a week before Christmas 2009, members of the Smart Cities group quietly pushed a car out of their second-floor workshop of the brand-new Media Lab building, into the freight elevator, and down to the lower-level atrium for its first test drive. This was the first demo of the working prototype of the CityCar, the project that had consumed the past three years of their lives. PhD student Will Lark had the first crack at the remote control, and when he first commanded the car to move forward, it lurched so quickly that it would have crashed through one of those glass walls had one of the students not grabbed and braked it from behind. The second attempt went more smoothly, though, and soon Lark and fellow PhD student Raul-David “Retro” Poblano were passing the remote back and forth as they took turns moving the car through its paces–forward, backward, and sideways. Meanwhile undergraduates Tom Brown, Charles Guan, and Nicholas Pennycooke were helping PhD student Ryan Chin make repairs on the fly. Screws needed to be tightened; a few wires needed to be cut. The power level on the wheels needed to be adjusted so that they would have enough torque to move easily along the smooth marble floors. When a wheel started to fall apart, Chin hastily patched it together. He didn’t have a choice; there were no spares.
The Smart Cities group will keep refining and test driving as many versions as it takes to get the design just right. As Chin puts it, “If a cell phone dies, no one is going to die. But there is a degree of complexity in building a car that doesn’t exist with most other lab projects. There are many moving parts that have to go together. We have to make sure that the controls work, and we have to make sure that the safety systems work. Think about it. The car as we know it is the product of a hundred years of evolution, and it’s a very difficult task to reinvent it with just a small team of MIT students, no matter how smart they are.”
People often use the terms invention and innovation interchangeably, but they are actually quite different. Invention is the art of coming up with and creating revolutionary new ideas and technologies, whereas innovation involves figuring out how to actually execute and implement them. In other words, the wheel robot and the CityCar are brilliant inventions, but true innovation would mean taking those inventions out of the lab, and putting them to use in the real world. Moreover, while inventions can be born from the imagination and hand of a single individual, and many are, true innovation on the scale needed to solve today’s complex, interconnected, and global problems requires a larger collaborative effort among people and organizations alike. In his book Reinventing the Automobile, Professor William Mitchell referred to these kinds of problems as “wicked problems.” According to Mitchell, these are problems that “don’t seem to have a clear answer, that will require consensus building, with solutions that may be in conflict with one or two key constituent groups, and will require the cooperation of large slow moving organizations.”
Hungry for more? Listen to Moss’s interview on the New York Times’s Tech Talk podcast.
Design from a 1998 t-shirt. Credit: WMBR
Heads up graphic designers, art hobbyists, and doodling enthusiasts: WMBR needs designs!
Each November, the station hosts a week-long fundraising drive to replenish their capital budget and keep shows on air for another year. Typically, the station rewards donors with premiums such as WMBR-branded t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc.–which is where the call for designs comes in. According to WMBR’s music director:
We are reaching out to the local artist community for logos or other images. This year is special for us, we’re celebrating 50 years on the air! Because of this, we’re especially looking for designs that highlight the 50th anniversary of WMBR.
While we can’t provide cash payment, any designers whose images we use will receive publicity via on-air mentions and on our website, as well as ample samples of their work on the actual premiums. In addition, you’ll be helping out one of the premiere radio stations in the region. Rough drafts are welcome if accompanied by examples of other finished work.
Interested parties should send a jpeg or link to their proposed design to premiums@wmbr.org. Deadline is Monday, Sept. 12.
Check out examples of previously used artwork here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43949&id=22335947090
Emile Bruneau, a postdoc in the Saxelab Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, has long been interested in group identity. What informs our opinion of others?” he asks. “And how does experience change the way people think about others’ actions and thoughts?” Recently Bruneau’s research has led him to focus on empathy.
“You could think of empathy as stepping into someone else’s shoes and seeing through their perspective,” he says, “but an equally valid definition of empathy might be stepping in their shoes and thinking from your own perspective.”
Learn more about Bruneau’s empathy research and experiments in the video below, which was produced by students in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.
