Uniquely Bright: Experiences and Tips?

An anonymous reader writes: "I would like to hear from fellow /.ers that consider themselves unusually but non-traditionally 'bright' and how you have dealt with it. What are you doing now? What did you do for education? How is your life now? I'm on the verge of entering college, never having liked school much yet always in love with learning. I would like some tips, suggestions, and experience in living with an extra degree of intensity, depth, and general intelligence. I love learning, yet I never have found school enjoyable. I'm incredibly intense and concentrated, yet I often become bored of specific projects in a few months. It's not anything diagnosable (I've looked into it) but more an inherent trait. Academically, I have managed to be alright, but nothing spectacular. Lots of people I meet think I should have a 4.0 easy, but I'm pretty far from it. My interests are broad, from computers (linux/os x/php/mysql/etc) to photography to cookery, I'm creative and technical. Friends and others recognize my strength in these areas. I can't stand being completely technical alone, but I love it in moderation. My attention span is practically unlimited when I am interested in a topic, and I get intensely interested in it. I want to hear from people who share some or all of these traits. I'm just coming up on entering college, so most of my life is ahead of me. I'd like to hear about everything from your education to your career to things you wish you had done differently!" Sounds like an INTP to me.

Comments

College Life

[Laivincolmo]

Unfortunately in today's business setting, some sort of official training is neccesary. Even if you have spent 10 years of your life working with computers every day, you still unfortunately need a college degree. I'm planning on going to college in the fall and enduring the classes while also learning through experience. I think it was Herman Hesse in Siddhartha who said something about it being impossible to be taught anything. The experience is everything...

Your first textbook should be ...

[garyok]

... "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. Forget about how damn clever you think you are, just remember that all anybody has ever really been doing is trying to give you a boost when they tell you you're clever. You're not that clever. No-one is. Everybody has their own talents (and deficiencies) and people deserve respect, not some teenage nitwit telling them they're all dummies in comparison to him. Try to be clever and and 'beat' people in arguments and you'll only piss people off.

You want to learn something useful: it's better to be kind than clever.

Re:Advice

[jarich]

Smart is not always what succeeds.

Exactly. Smart is important but discipline more so. If you can't finish something, you'll never succeed at anything. And this "stick-to-it-ness" is what you'll learn in college (if you can finish it).

Why did I have to take 3 semesters of calculus, then 2 semesters of calc based stats, etc? Was it because all computer science folks need to know how to calculate volume under a curve?

No. It is to teach you how to think, how to stick with something and to finish it.

If you are as smart as you think you are, add discipline and the world is your oyster.

Re:No, I disagree

[jrockway]

Getting a PhD is helpful. At Abbott, for example, you start at level 17 whereas BS people start at 13. 17 means much higher pay, and your own office. So it does pay off. And being called Doctor isn't a bad thing :)