Very interesting. Some people take this to think MIT students have self-image problems, but I don't see that. To me I see this as most students reasonably confident with their own abilities (although feel they could do a bit better academically, although those are just high standards), but are very humble about themselves relative to their peers.<p>Compared to most groups in life, this is a very rare breed of "yes I know I'm amazing, but I know the people around me are REALLY amazing". Which I'd argue is shockingly healthy for such a large group of people so smart and under so much pressure.
I know I'm judging, but wow, MIT students (for how smart they are in general) are not the most self-confident bunch... 9-21% of students think that next to the AVERAGE, their accomplishments are impressive.<p>I expected this to be skewed above 50%. I wonder what response sets for this survey would be like at other schools.
Perhaps this is a little bit of inside baseball, but LOL at the breakdown by Course number for "Academically, I would consider myself above average at MIT".<p>Course 18 in the lead followed by 8 5 and 6. The only thing that's changed in the past few decades is that 5 is getting a bit more uppity.
very cool, but from a usability stand point, you should show all the questions without the collapsing. Have to click 2 times for answers is not optimal.
I admit to a serious case of greener-grass syndrome, but it seems to me that the environment at MIT would do quite a bit to lower stress. In my experience, the primary source of stress when doing what interests you is dealing with people who are either disinterested or otherwise generating friction within the group (not comprehending, communicating, etc). The less of those types, the more stress you get just from <i>doing hard work</i>– something MIT and at least a few others should be perfectly capable of handling ;)
Perhaps, the respondents are just being humble. Most MIT students must know that they are clearly above-average students. However, being humble and always striving to improve is a good trait.<p>There does seem to be a trend of self-confidence improving year-over-year for undergraduates.