Searching for a titan among giants
I can't write. I can't find the time, the privacy or the inclination. Don't expect anything to be written for a while. It isn't happening.
So, now that that's over, I'll share what university has resembled for me so far. But first, some background. I should state that I'm not bragging about anything, I'm simply sharing how it is so that you can understand.
My educational history is what's relevant here, so that's what I'll share. In elementary school, I became acclimatized to being ahead of the class. Eventually, when the MCAT tests came about, they labelled me a gifted child and shipped me off to be taught with the other gifted children. I expected to be normal there, but for whatever reason, such an amount of chaff slipped through the MCAT tests that I was still ahead of the class. I got adjusted to that, too. Now there were a few people who could keep up with me grade-wise, but they were... not stimulating conversation.
Fast forward to high school, where I was re-emersed into the masses. It was a bit of a shock, but again, I adjusted. By grade twelve, my courses were such that I was with the supposed elite again. They kept up with - or were ahead of - me in grades, but most of them were the kind who learned in specifics instead of concepts, so they always struck me as kind of dull. There were a few that were good company, but even then in terms of intellect, even they have said they were behind me.
So, I started university. Four times, they gave us a speech to the effect of, "You were the top of your schools, but everyone here was the top of their school, so you're average now." So far... that hasn't been the case. I have, so far, been catastrophically disappointed by my class. I'm sure there are geniuses in there, but I've yet to really encounter them, and it's... disappointing.
I'm not so low as to whine about something like the burden of genius. It's simply that I saw university as a chance to be among my peers, and I've been lacking that so far. I wonder if I'll meet them in first year, or if it will take a while to weed out those who shouldn't be there. I hope to encounter someone who is far and away more intelligent than I, to the point where any comparison would be humiliating. It'll take someone like that to motivate me to really pour myself into this course. I can't help biology. I crave competition.
So, now that that's over, I'll share what university has resembled for me so far. But first, some background. I should state that I'm not bragging about anything, I'm simply sharing how it is so that you can understand.
My educational history is what's relevant here, so that's what I'll share. In elementary school, I became acclimatized to being ahead of the class. Eventually, when the MCAT tests came about, they labelled me a gifted child and shipped me off to be taught with the other gifted children. I expected to be normal there, but for whatever reason, such an amount of chaff slipped through the MCAT tests that I was still ahead of the class. I got adjusted to that, too. Now there were a few people who could keep up with me grade-wise, but they were... not stimulating conversation.
Fast forward to high school, where I was re-emersed into the masses. It was a bit of a shock, but again, I adjusted. By grade twelve, my courses were such that I was with the supposed elite again. They kept up with - or were ahead of - me in grades, but most of them were the kind who learned in specifics instead of concepts, so they always struck me as kind of dull. There were a few that were good company, but even then in terms of intellect, even they have said they were behind me.
So, I started university. Four times, they gave us a speech to the effect of, "You were the top of your schools, but everyone here was the top of their school, so you're average now." So far... that hasn't been the case. I have, so far, been catastrophically disappointed by my class. I'm sure there are geniuses in there, but I've yet to really encounter them, and it's... disappointing.
I'm not so low as to whine about something like the burden of genius. It's simply that I saw university as a chance to be among my peers, and I've been lacking that so far. I wonder if I'll meet them in first year, or if it will take a while to weed out those who shouldn't be there. I hope to encounter someone who is far and away more intelligent than I, to the point where any comparison would be humiliating. It'll take someone like that to motivate me to really pour myself into this course. I can't help biology. I crave competition.