cargo culting
I would love it if someone allowed me the time and the intellectual freedom to make things instead of filling in tiny, dark circles on a piece of paper as proof that I'm worthy enough of a future as judged by some vague overlord.
I want to learn and understand things thoroughly, but I will not learn anything to pass some exam. So, for someone like me, but smarter and more driven, this might actually be a net win. I fail to understand how this might be a cargo cult.
On the other hand, I doubt that I will apply. I just don't think that I'm good enough for such programs, and why add more noise?
Thank you.
Yes - you could theoretically learn all the stuff you need to learn off of something like opencourseware - but will you?
And there's some cool stuff that will be much harder to learn on your own because you don't have the equipment. The 2 I have in mind are FPGA design, and feedback control systems (balancing pendulums, levitating metal balls with magnetic fields, autonomous race cars)
A good college program is like that, but where I live college programs are about reading books, sitting in lectures and getting good grades. I just have this funny feeling that it isn't for me. That said if I had to choose between MIT and Peter Thiel then I would choose MIT hands down no matter what.