Date:         Mon, 22 Aug 2005 01:41:43 -0700
Reply-To:     Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Subject:      NVC, really  - was RE: Vanagon mentioned on Car Talk today
In-Reply-To:  <6da57934050821215953fc9fb0@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Oh sigh, I guess I'll have to reply to John.

Tom and Ray do stand-up, albeit stand-up about cars.  Do you think their
audience, for all that they're on NPR, would take to them if they said how
hard MIT was and is both to get into and to get through as an undergrad?
Of course they knock the place, it's part of their shtick!

Oddly enough, it does have a quite exceptional humanities program, not that
anyone goes there for that.  Some leading people nationwide in political
science, history, etc. are on the faculty.  The kids who major in humanities
are those who realized too late that they didn't want to be engineers, but
had friends at MIT by then so they didn't want to transfer.  They are really
smart.  MIT's graduate programs in political sciences, planning,
linguistics, and other social sciences are among the best in the country.
And yes, their business school as well.

The only time it was easy to get into MIT was just after it went coed (early
1970s) and then only for women.  They recruited like MAD at my (all-girls)
high school around then.  Most of us weren't tempted - we didn't want to
handle the MIT undergrad experience, WAAAAAY too intense!  (I was there much
later for grad school, whence my email address.)  More power to Tom & Ray if
they got through it and stayed as humorous as they are.  Even if they don't
like Vanagons!



Joy


:::-----Original Message-----
:::From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
:::Of John Bange
:::Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2005 10:00 PM
:::To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
:::Subject: Re: Vanagon mentioned on Car Talk today
:::
:::> They might just know better.  They are MIT grads who ran an auto repair
:::shop
:::> for fun and profit.
:::
:::Heh. Really, I wouldn't put too much value on their MIT degrees. Ray
:::says "I studied everything and really learned nothing, and I
:::eventually graduated from MIT in 1972. I ended up with a degree in
:::humanities and science. MIT is known for its humanities program. After
:::all, with a name like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, you know
:::they must have a splendid humanities department." and his brother had
:::little to say about his college time other than to complain that it
:::was boring, there were no girls, and the place was full of NERDS NERDS
:::NERDS. He also failed to mention what his degree was in-- probably
:::because it was something like "business".  From the way their bio's
:::read, it sounds like they chose MIT because it was a decent school
:::they could attend while living at home in Cambridge. Nowadays MIT is
:::essentially a super-elite school for technological and scientific
:::geniuses. Historically, not so much. You have to remember that back in
:::those days pretty much anyone with even average brains could get into
:::anywhere.