Remembering the "new" Bexley (MIT Dorm) from 1976-1980

Re: http://destinationexhilaration.blogspot.com/2010/04/everyone-and-their-mother-seems-to-have.html


Yup that's Bexley.

I ran across a blog about my old dorm at MIT, which was (and evidently still is) the hippie dorm. I just picked it because it was cheap, it was close to campus, it was renovated, and it had kitchens. The other stuff had I known that telling somebody you were from Bexley meant they would take a couples of steps back, maybe I would have gone a bit upscale. At least we got new furniture and I had a good 50wx2 stereo, my son going to Santa Clara University which has some fabulous new buildings but the dorm still has cabinets from the late 1950s, and doesn't care about hifi like we did in the 70s.

Nobody I know who went to MIT or Stanford has managed to send any of their kids there. (Actually an MIT alum volunteer says she got two in) My parents sent all 7 to one or both in the 70s and 80s when only the smart kids even applied. Even the old U Washington is idolized by Asian parents who overpush their kids and moved to Seattle from Texas and Witchita to get in. My son got in, but they told us only 50% of sophomores who applied fof CS department get in - Yeesh.  Seems like The Claw from Toy Story chooses "who will go and who will stay".

When I was there 76-80, there was still a struggle between the new "suburb!" Bexley and the "ghetto" Bexley (there would be shouts into the courtyard SUBURB! GHETTO! all night) and the renovations were still new, and we were only getting started on "redecorating" the walls. I painted my room 1970 Plymouth RoadRunner green with matching sheets, and later we wallpapered the walls, and punched a hole in the wall and put in a bar and aquarium. That's suite 210 which probably still looks like that. Bexley residents were featured in a Playboy which covered a scandal where the underground paper had 'performance" reviews of actual men by two women associate with Bexley. Anti-rush was toned down a bit so that the entry in the freshman handbook was "anywhere but Bexley" but stories were that they used to put stoned naked people into the storage cages in the basement.

They were still treating freshmen and freshwomen to "registration day" movies. I think it was the Devil in Miss somebody or other that first year. Later in the 80s when they dropped the tradition and replaced it with Star Wars there was huge outrage. The houseparents served lox and bagels on sunday mornings. I was in Tech Catholic Community as guitar and singer, Violin in MIT Symphony, chamber soceity, musical theater guild and was the guy defending nuclear power and South Africa investment in the Tech. I still have a photo of a beast roast where they dug a pit in the courtyard and set up a bed, dunno if they still do that. Put up a snow C3P0 and R2D2 next to Bexley in the blizzard of 1978. Wikipedia lists among the notable alumni the guy who invented Visicalc, perhaps a coincidence that I was also a spreadsheet developer of "The Twin" which was C-language clone of Lotus 1-2-3 of the mid 1980s based on early object oriented programming ideas they taught us in the late 1970s.

Back the, Boston was like a Phoenix rising up out of the ashes of industrial decline and rebuilding for the big bicentenial celebration. The T subway stations were completely renovated (they're rebuilding them again as they've since fallen into disrepair) and the minicomputer industry. based largely around Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) was just getting into its stride, so that Boston was booming by the mid 1980s after I graduated in 1981. Too bad the entire minicomputer industry (or at least the 80% of it that was in New England) collapsed by the 1990s as DEC, Data General, Prime, Wang, Computervision, you-name-it all imploded at the same time as PC's took over. The computer museum is now in Silicon Valley and a lot of the old DEC peopled ended up moving to Seattle at Microsoft, and HP which was just a computer toddler in the 1970s bought what was once #2 DEC and is now the #1 computer company in the world.

Vanderbilt - The Southern Ivy Asian Parents Haven't Heard About

Vanderbilt proves my theory that the difficulty of getting in has much more to do with how many Asians know about that place than the ACT or SAT score. Every Asian parent knows about Harvard (17) , Stanford (24) and MIT (26), but not so much Vanderbilt which is only 7% Asian. There are even questions on college boards on whether it's OK for Asians because it's so "low". Heck MIT was 5% when I went in 1976-1980 and we thought that was a lot of Asians. Sure, some Asians are from schools that are 50% Asian, and so are some campuses like UC Irvine, but then most of the US is 70+ white, so maybe 7% is a good number. They have a good sized Asian club, and everybody who has actually been there says it's just fine for any race or group, as long as you don't need to be in a city with a China/Asia town or an Asian grocery the size of a Walmart. Macalester in St Paul is a lower version of the same thing, test scores about even with Brown or Cornell, but with a 46% admit rate, you'll actually probably get in if you have an average test score, instead of being turned down at Cornell. Same with Vanderbilt, if you have a Harvard level test score, you'll actually get into Vanderbilt, but your chances will improve from impossible to highly unlikely if you "only" have high test scores at Harvard. Kids from Bothell high went there and they said the campus and city of Nashville look great and the people are friendly if with funny accents.

From my ACT ranking
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Apd_BaQPgLcSdDljYlA1MzlfcjhnQkhxbEctb3FHSEE&hl=en

ACT        Admit
31 35 08 Harvard
31 34 12 MIT 

29 33 10 Stanford 
29 33 38 Carnegie Mellon University
29 33 33 Vanderbilt Nashville
28 33 14 Brown University
28 33 35 University of Chicago
28 32 21 Cornell
28 32 46 Macalester College St Paul
 

Here is the money that gets awarded:
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/financialaid/2010-Financial-Aid-Brochure.pdf
$55,368 is full price

Income Range     Avg. Award #Awards Award Range

$0 – 39,999        $52,727  107 $30,789 – 59,156
$40,000 – 59,999   $49,903   85 $28,399 – 56,390
$60,000 – 79,999   $47,588  100 $20,917 – 56,169
$80,000 – 99,999   $43,902   97 $22,819 – 55,057
$100,000 – 119,000 $40,062   62 $22,314 – 50,510
$120,000 – 139,000 $34,370   64 $11,379 – 49,110
$140,000 – 159,000 $29,805   54 $ 7,323 – 43,414
$160,000 – 199,999 $24,040   63 $ 4,221 – 42,569
$200,000+          $18,408   34 $ 2,585 – 30,679

So if you have one software engineer at $60,000, the average award is $47,000 so it would cost $10,000. Even if you have two, the average award is $35,000, so it still doesn't cost more than some state colleges with dorm.

So if you want a school with Ivy level students, but isn't a lottery to get into if you have the test scores, and don't mind going to a school most people in Seoul haven't heard of, give Vanderbilt a try as the "southern" Ivy.

How to program Sony STR-DE675 and other AV Receivers on FIOS remote

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Comcast Custom DVR
Xfinity on demand Nov 2011
3 device red button
Hit aux button
Press Setup until aux flashes
type code 30158
press power to check
Buttons: 3=DVD/LD 9=MD/TAPE 1=video 1 2=cd
Mute Vol
Down = sleep timer

FIOS: 4-9-2010
Programming your Philips RC144 Remote To set up your Philips RC144 remote, follow the steps below:

1. Find the remote codes for the devices you want to set up. You can find the latest codes below:
   
   Codes
   Televisions
   DVDs
   VCRs
   Audio Receivers
   Audio Amplifiers
   
   In addition, remote codes are listed in the Philips RC144 Remote Control User Guide.
2. Write down the remote codes for the devices you want to set up.
   
3. Turn on the device you want to program into your remote, for example if you are programming your remote to control your TV, then turn on the TV.
   
4. Press and hold the appropriate device button and press OK.
   
5. Release both buttons. The device buttons blink twice. STR-DE675 3714
   
6. Enter the remote code for the device (if there is more than one remote code listed for your equipment, start with the first remote code in the list).

1085, 1285, 1468, 1585, 1685, 1785, 1786, 1885, 3606, 3621, 3622, 3631, 3640, 3641, 3642, 3643, 3648, 3651, 3657, 3671, 3672, 3673, 3674, 3684, 3685, 3714, 3716, 3717, 3730, 3735, 3739, 3744

The device button blinks three times.
1. Point the remote at the device and press the Power button.
Did the device turn off? Yes: Keep the code you wrote down above for future reference. You may need it again if the remote code is accidentally erased. No: Repeat these steps using the next remote code listed for your equipment. Note: If none of the listed codes work for your equipment, you can use your remote to manually search for a valid code.
2. Repeat this procedure for each device you want to program into your remote control.

Audio Receiver Remote Codes

Device	Manufacturer	Code(s)
Audio Receiver	ADC	0558
	Adcom	3725
	Aiwa	0148, 0216, 1415, 1432, 1668, 3614, 3615, 3616, 3617, 3627, 3636, 3670, 3680, 3718
	Alco	1417
	Amphion Media Works	1590, 1642
	AMW	1590, 1642
	Anam	1101
	Anthem	3757
	Apex Digital	1457
	Audiotronic	1216
	Audiovox	1417, 3754
	Bose	0666, 1256, 1280, 1960, 3741
	Capetronic	0558
	Carver	0216, 1216, 3636
	Classic	3664
	Coby	3751
	Denon	1387, 3602, 3633, 3662, 3663, 3676, 3681, 3682, 3691, 3694, 3700, 3702, 3703, 3704, 3709, 3721
	Emerson	3603
	Fisher	1828
	GE	3635
	Harman/Kardon	0137, 0216, 0918, 1331, 1333, 3626, 3636, 3699
	Hitachi	1828
	Integra	0162, 1325, 1347
	JBL	0137, 1333, 3626, 3752
	JVC	1401, 1522, 3618, 3659, 3668, 3686, 3695, 3706, 3712, 3713, 3715, 3729, 3737, 3738
	Kenwood	1340, 1596, 1597, 3619, 3646, 3649, 3656, 3658, 3675, 3688
	KLH	1417, 1455
	Koss	1393, 3749
	Lexicon	3758
	LG	1320
	Linn	0216, 3636
	Magnavox	0216, 0558, 1216, 1296, 1541, 3636
	Marantz	0216, 1216, 1296, 1316, 3636, 3727
	McIntosh	3759
	Mitsubishi	1420, 3708
	NAD	3637
	Nakamichi	3638, 3639
	Onkyo	0162, 0869, 1325, 1347, 1558, 3628, 3650, 3653, 3660, 3666, 3669, 3687, 3693, 3697, 3705, 3707, 3710, 3711, 3719, 3753
	Optimus	0558, 0697, 1050, 1101, 3634
	Oritron	1393
	Panasonic	1315, 1335, 1343, 1545, 1575, 1660, 1790, 1791, 3629, 3630, 3667, 3683, 3701, 3723, 3728, 3731, 3732, 3733, 3734, 3736, 3742, 3743, 3745, 3746, 3747, 3750
	Philips	0216, 1216, 1293, 1296, 3636, 3698, 3749
	Pioneer	0041, 0177, 0558, 0657, 1050, 1411, 3607, 3608, 3625, 3644, 3645, 3652, 3654, 3677, 3678, 3679, 3689, 3690, 3722, 3740
	Polaroid	3605
	Polk Audio	0216, 1316, 3726
	Proscan	1281, 3635
	RCA	0558, 1050, 1101, 1281, 1417, 1538, 3609, 3620, 3635, 3748
	RCA & Dimensia	3610, 3611, 3612, 3613, 3635
	Rio	1896
	Rotel	3760
	Samsung	1322, 1527, 3720, 3755
	Sansui	0216, 3636
	Sanyo	1496, 1828
	Sherwood	1104, 3632, 3724
	Sonic Blue	1896
	Sony	1085, 1285, 1468, 1585, 1685, 1785, 1786, 1885, 3606, 3621, 3622, 3631, 3640, 3641, 3642, 3643, 3648, 3651, 3657, 3671, 3672, 3673, 3674, 3684, 3685, 3714, 3716, 3717, 3730, 3735, 3739, 3744
	Soundesign	0697
	Sunfire	1340
	Teac	1101, 1417
	Technics	1335, 1545, 3629, 3630, 3661, 3665, 3667
	Thorens	1216
	Venturer	1417
	Wards	0041, 0216, 3625, 3636
	Yamaha	0162, 0203, 1203, 1303, 1358, 1402, 3600, 3601, 3604, 3623, 3624, 3625, 3647, 3655, 3692, 3696, 3756
Zenith	1320

University of Washington Computer Science: Good News and Bad News

The good news is that the University of Washington has an awesome computer science department. They claim to be in the top 10 undergraduate or graduate, but my feeling is that they are just as good as anybody but the top 5 schools, which would include MIT, Stanford, Berkeley and CMU. They have a terrific new building funded by Paul Allen and Bill Gates of MIT with a dramatic atrium, and a building that's built to be wired and rewired with visible cable tracks in all the hallways. Technology review in one year had TWO UW people highlighted for their research one year and they had one in another year when most colleges don't get any. The University of Washington overall is about the equal of UCLA, but relatively easy to get in with an admit rate of 65 percent, SAT math range of 560 and 670 and ACT range of 23 to 28. I know of many high school students with 99 percentile test scores good enough to get into Stanford and Harvard, or got into places like USC who still put UW at the top of their list, and Asian parents who moved here from Texas and Kansas who put their kids through academic hell to get their kids into the UW.

The BAD NEWS ... the student I called for was admitted to the UW, but did not get notified that he was admitted into the computer science department, like he was for every other college he was admitted into (Santa Clara University ,Worcester Polytechnic, Villanova, Seattle University). When I called they said that all students who applied for the department who had taken enough classes (mainly calculus by graduation) were considered, but if he wasn't notified, he wasn't in. Most students have to take and do well in all of the required courses (chem, physics, calc etc) and apply in the spring. She said about 50% of applicants get in. HALF? That cuts the overall chance of 65% overall to more like 35%, which would be approaching Ivy League admission odds. Add that to the recent Seattle Times coverage of ridiculously huge freshman classes (budget swells class sizes) and rowdy frat crowds throwing bottles at officers checking out open bonfires, and the usual stories about crime in the area, and it's not such an easy call.

Northwestern University National High School Music Institute = College Application?

Northwestern University National High School Music Institute in Evanston Illinois is June 27-June 30, 2010. This is what they need for an application (?!), it looks like a college application, plus an audition:


http://www.music.northwestern.edu/pdf/nhsmi/nhsmiapp2010.pdf


• Complete this information form and mail it to the address listed below.
• Write a brief history of your musical background on a separate sheet of paper. Please include information about your activities in music: length of study; private teacher(s); participation in special workshops; a list of works you have studied and performed in the last four years; solo performances; choral, jazz, orchestral, or wind ensemble experience; chamber music experience; roles in school productions; secondary instruments, etc.
• Request that your guidance counselor provide us with information on
your academic background. Please provide your counselor with a stamped envelope addressed to us and ask that the following items be sent:
• A transcript of your high school record
• Your grade point average
• Your high school class rank
• Your PSAT, SAT, and/or PLAN, ACT scores

The application fee is $50, about on par with college applications


It's five weeks for $4700 (by contrast Marrowstone Music Festival in WA is 2 weeks for about $2500)

Macalester College St Paul Minnesota

Macalester College

Location: St Paul Minnesota

Similar ACT Scores:

 

Links:

http://www.macalester.edu/: Macalester College Website

Cappex 

 

 

Similar ACT Scores

It's at the bottom end of the best schools. It's not as well known as NYU, USC or Brown (an Ivy League), but because of that, it's 46% admit rate means it's not impossible to get in even if you meet their standards which is often the case at the most competitive schoos.

 

• 95 29 Columbia University NYC
• 29 33 Vanderbilt Nashville
• 28 33 Brown University
• 28 32 Macalester St Paul
• 28 32 Kenyon College Ohio
• 28 33 University of Southern California
•         University of California at Berkeley
• 28 31 New York University
•  

Brag points:

 

• admit rate 46% (means it's relatively easy to get in for a school with very high test scores and quality vs more famous schools)
• The New Ivies: 25 Hot Schools
• One of the top five liberal arts colleges chosen by National Merit Scholars
• Class size 17
• Student faculty ratio 10 to 1
• 80% of science majors conduct independent research
• 313 students studied in 50 countries through 119 program
• 2 out of 3 complete internships, 301 students at 200 sites
• 63% of grads attend graduate or professional schoosl within 5 years
• 90% admission rate to grad school
• Medical school admit rate 40% above national average  
• 80 languages spoken on campus
• 21% of US students are "students of color" (that's a bit less than US population, and including Asians)
• 18% students are citizens of another country

 

 

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Washington University in St. Louis

Ranks with Harvard for ACT, but below Tufts and Brandeis, Rice on Forbes rating

Here's some similar ACT composite score schools:

31-35 Harvard
31-34 Washington University in St. Louis
31-34 MIT

Forbes 2009
38. Brandeis University (MA)

39. Tufts University (MA)
40. Barnard College (NY)
41. Lawrence University (WI)
42. DePauw University (IN)
43. Rice University (TX)
44. Reed College (OR)

45. Washington University, St. Louis (MO)

46. Bucknell University (PA)
47. Mount Holyoke College (MA)
48. College of William and Mary (VA)
49. Hamilton College (NY)
50. University of Notre Dame (IN)