He was not a college material

by MulaiAzhagi Sat Mar 24, 2012 12:02 pm

There was this poor white kid who got out of high school with a 2.00 GPA.

He he was obviously not a 'college material'.

So he went to a trade school. He decided to become a mechanic.

After getting out of trade school, the only job he could get was at a garbage company.

One year of fixing garbage hauling trucks did it. He said to himself "I could do better."

So he enrolled in a Junior college, wanted to study mechanical engineering.

But he had to take Introductory classes in Physics and Calculus before he took any engineering course.

The only math course he ever studied in high school was consumer math.

At Junior college, he started from Algebra and worked all the way to Calculus.

Then he transferred to state university went on to get a B.A in Math and M.S in environmental engineering with emphasis on mathematical modeling.

Watch the video from 17:30 to 18:45

http://redwoods.edu/_media/Academics/Math50A/08-29-11.asp

by Marathadi-Saamiyaar Sat Mar 24, 2012 12:20 pm

MulaiAzhagi wrote:There was this poor white kid who got out of high school with a 2.00 GPA.

He he was obviously not a 'college material'.
So he went to a trade school. He decided to become a mechanic.
After getting out of trade school, the only job he could get was at a garbage company.
One year of fixing garbage hauling trucks did it. He said to himself "I could do better."
So he enrolled in a Junior college, wanted to study mechanical engineering.
But he had to take Introductory classes in Physics and Calculus before he took any engineering course.
The only math course he ever studied in high school was consumer math.
At Junior college, he started from Algebra and worked all the way to Calculus.
Then he transferred to state university went on to get a B.A in Math and M.S in environmental engineering with emphasis on mathematical modeling.

Watch the video from 17:30 to 18:45
http://redwoods.edu/_media/Academics/Math50A/08-29-11.asp

I came across a guy very similar (or even better). Went to a trade school in Los Altos, worked for 10 yrs as a mechanic, then GED, to a local community college, transferred to Berkeley in Mechanical engineering - worked in labs of some great profs - got one of the national fellowships to continue onto his PhD at MIT. He must have finished his PhD by now and have no idea where he is. He fitted my view: More important than one's achievement is how he achieved it and where he started his life.

He was not a college material

He was not a college material

Re: He was not a college material