Assignment 7 — Theodore

Don’t rank colleges by prestige or population. Measure them by the refreshments they offer at conferences. The University of Indiana (at Bloomington) offers impressive catering; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) displays a dozen types of tea; Princeton University’s teatime stands out for its variety. You exclaim, “This is ridiculous. How does the quality of refreshments affect the quality of the college?” But how do population and prestige affect college quality?

Students should pick a college based on what it offers them, not eye-catching statistics. For example, some students like a small-town college, but others prefer to live in a bustling city. Unfortunately, students at an urban campus rarely meet students in small towns, preventing interaction between different types of people. However, MIT’s location cuts the Gordian knot. Situated in a city (Cambridge), MIT’s campus also maintains a small-town atmosphere since Cambridge’s next-door neighbor — Boston — dwarfs it. No matter their preference, students feel at home at MIT.

That matters because meeting a variety of people in colleges will expose me to a variety of ideas. Of course, my classes remain the major source of new information; nevertheless, knowing different people enables me to decide who I want to be.

Careerwise, I want to become a mathematician. While thousands of students study math at small liberal arts colleges, I fear that the math departments there face staffing or budget problems. As a college centered on the sciences, MIT avoids that issue. I predict that my college years will predispose me towards a branch of math (Number theory? Game theory? Something completely different?); MIT would allow me to explore that passion. (From a sentimental point of view, I learned how to multiply in Cambridge.)

But the most important part of my college experience will be — I don’t know. It takes time to determine the theme of the past four years of my life, let alone draw a conclusion from the next four. It’s a safe bet that college will demolish most of my preconceptions about life and academics. Two years ago, I firmly believed that a writer’s only task was to follow proper MLA format. Apparently not.