Brown Student Writes Trivial Column About Orgo, Yale Student Gets Way Too Pissed Off
The Education Life section of the New York Times website features several columns written by students about their college experiences. One of the students whose column is featured is Brown senior Matthew Scult. Matthew's piece is about the semester he took organic chemistry, the universally evil class that results in thousands of changes in major every year. However, this column isn't about Matthew's perseverance or self-discovery in his semester of orgo. He is neither a pre-med student nor a chemistry major. Whereas everyone else who enrolls in organic chemistry does it because they have to, Matthew Scult took the course for the hell of it. If this seems like an attention-seeking thing for a student to do, that's because it is.
Matthew writes about how he took the class all the way to the end, despite advice from all sides to drop it, and eventually failed in a blaze of glory.
The test was handed out, and the furious scribbling began. I slowly flipped through the 15-page exam, answering the two questions I knew, guessing on another and staring blankly at the rest. After about 15 minutes, I stood up and walked over to the T.A. at the front of the room. I said, “Thanks, I’m all set,” and handed him my exam.
Then 400 eyes turned to follow me as I walked out the door — and into the bright sunshine.
Odds are even money that he spent most of the rest of the day thinking about how he would write about taking the test in his submission to the New York Times.
Matthew's column may be slightly irritating to say the least. But for one Yale student (who will remain anonymous), it was the equivalent of slapping Jesus or saying non-complimentary things about Bill Simmons. This Eli expressed his out-of-proportion, boiling anger at this column in a mostly-caps locked e-mail--reproduced in pertinent part after the jump--sent to a Brown student friend of his.
SOME MAJOR DBAG FROM BROWN 2010 WROTE THE MOST ANNOYING ARTICLE FOR THE NYT COLLEGE EXPERIENCES PROFILES:
I WANT AN EXPLANATION FROM YOU. BUT BEFORE THAT, A FEW HIGHLIGHTS:
"I know many students who failed the first time and had to take [ORGO] a second or even a third time. Others retook it over the summer at pushover schools like Stanford or M.I.T. and waltzed out with an A+."
THIS SHITHEAD JUST CALLED MIT A PUSHOVER SCHOOL. I HOPE HE MEANT PUSH-YOU-OVER-THE-EDGE-OF-A-14-STORY-BUILDING-BECAUSE-YOU-ARE-A-SENIOR-AND-HAVE-YET-TO-BE-IN-THE-RUNNING-FOR-A-NOBEL SCHOOL. WHAT A LITTLE FUCKER.
"Despite this advice, I was not ready to walk away with my tail between my legs. Because of Brown’s grading policy, my transcript would not reflect the class if I dropped or failed it. But by skipping the final — and thereby dropping the class — I would be admitting defeat, and Orgo would have won.
I had made it this far. If I was going to fail, I was going to fail with dignity. I decided to take the final."
DIGNITY? PLEASE STOP FLAUNTING BROWN'S MOST EMBARRASSING (AND PROBABLY PRIVATE FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE CAREER COUNSELORS) ACADEMIC POLICIES.
"I thought about the students who felt their entire future relied on the outcome of this test, and I hoped that if I bombed I would at least bring down the average and help someone else pass the course."
HOW SELLLLLFLESSSSSS!!! O BABY, YOU'RE THE JESUS OF ACADEMIA.
"After about 15 minutes, I stood up and walked over to the T.A. at the front of the room. I said, “Thanks, I’m all set,” and handed him my exam.
Then 400 eyes turned to follow me as I walked out the door — and into the bright sunshine."
WHEREUPON HE IMMEDIATELY GOT STONED AND FELL INTO AN ORGIASTIC PILE OF BODIES RHYTHMICALLY WRITHING ON SOME GREEN, GRASSY, GODLESS LAWN BECAUSE THIS IS HOW "STUDENTS" "STUDY" AT BROWN, AT LEAST AS FAR AS WE KNOW FROM FAMILY GUY . . . AND WHINY LOSERS LIKE THIS RISING SENIOR (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) WHO THINKS HE'S HOT SHIT BECAUSE HE TAKES A HARD CLASS, [UPCOMING SHOCKER, BRACE YOURSELF] FINDS IT HARD, AND THEN OVERCOMES SAID CLASS BY FUCKING EVERYTHING UP AND LEAVING IT TO BROWN TO WIPE AND POLISH HIS TRANSCRIPT.
Scult's mention of M.I.T. in his Times submission was removed yesterday as M.I.T. doesn't offer orgo in the summer. Even so, this Yalie clearly has way too much time, personal issues, or stress on his hands. If anything, I'd bet he'd love to deal with his anger by writhing rhythmically in an orgiastic pile of bodies on a godless lawn. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't go to Brown.
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July 28th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I’m tiring of HYP students attempting to justify their misery in the face of their respective “prestigious university”-turned-diploma-mills by constantly questioning the academic rigor of the so-called “lesser” Ivies.
July 28th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Heh, and you think that this fellow was the paragon of academic rigor? He failed a fairly difficult class; no shame in that. However he was self-absorbed enough to think other people cared about his little “life experiment.”
July 28th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Apparently, the NYT felt that people would care about it. As a paper, it’s truly the perfect venue for self-absorbed tripe. Just look at Maureen Dowd.
July 28th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Sure, D’07, because we’re certainly all miserable at H, Y or P. Naturally. Everyone knows it’s impossible to be prestigious AND enjoyable. And while we’re stereotyping, I myself am tiring of Dartmouth and Brown students attempting to justify their misery in the face of inferior reputations and abridged campuses by constantly talking about how much pong they play (and therefore how much fun they have) and brushing off their elders as mere “diploma mills.” Grow up.
July 28th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
1Y1, don’t get me wrong, I like Yale very much. They pay me handsomely here to read books and teach remedial classes to hungover undergrads. I also think that Yalies are generally happier than their elit(ist) counterparts. I mean, unlike Harvard students, you guys actually get to talk to professors, and, unlike Princeton students, your campus is only half as racist.
July 28th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
I’m not sure what’s more embarrassing– that someone from Brown feels the need to bitch this much about orgo, that the NYT thought this article was worth publishing, or that a student at Yale still feels the need to assert his superiority to his friend at Brown.
Every time I read something like this in the NYT I think to myself, “This is really the newspaper of the ‘intellectual elite’. Really?”
July 28th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
It is in the sense that there is no intellectual elite in the U.S.
July 28th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Although I’m of the artsy-fartsy persuasion, I’ve heard that some of the more prestigious schools actually have (relatively speaking) embarassingly easy Orgo courses– the specific example cited to me was that some Tufts students refuse to take it at home, and instead cruise through it over the summer at Harvard.
July 28th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
To be fair, there were columns that were (just slightly) more trivial than the Brown student’s in the NYT.
But then again, what can you expect from a U of Texas, Austin student preoccupied with pigeons and sex?
July 28th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
He does have a point about those pushover schools; every summer there are a handful of pre-med Dartmouth students taking orgo at Harvard because it sure beats taking it at Dartmouth.
July 28th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
dartmouth and brown suck almost as much as cornell
July 28th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Haha,
Between those two one is a virgin and the other one knows it. I couldn’t care less that someone took a class just for material for personal experience (that’s what we all do, theoretically).
The all-caps reply however is just embarrassing. We sure are a pathetic bunch at times.
July 28th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
It’s impossible to truly compare the difficulty of a class across universities unless you’ve taken both. But aside from that debate, I think the only obvious conclusion thus far is that the Brown student is a self-absorbed idiot (I mean this in the most literal sense), and the Yale student is, in fact, way too pissed off.
But come on. I’m sure half of you had the same, or close to the same PRIVATE reaction after reading the article. Especially if you’re from MIT or Stanford (but why would you be reading IvyGate then?!). The email was meant to be private, and it should be regarded form that point-of-view.
In fact, a friend of mine from Brown actually sent me this article before I saw it on IvyGate. Both of us have taken Orgo. After I told him that I honestly did not find the course bone-crushingly difficult, he proceeded to call Yale a “weak” school. He claimed he was joking. I told him that maybe it was Brown’s students who were “weak.” I claimed I was joking.
Who’s the elitist there? =P
July 28th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
That has got to be one of the funniest angry letters I’ve ever read. I think that it’s sad that a Yale student can’t express his anger in any other form than cap letters, I think it’s funny that a Brown student just took Orgo just for kicks and giggles, and I love all the comments above, especially D’07, an Ivy is pretty much an Ivy (so what if some school have a 1% lower acceptance rate). And just talking as a Brown student, I love the grass and I love not having a grade point average; it’s pretty liberating.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Excess of grass and lack of GPA aside, Brown still manages to produce truly smart people and clever thinkers. (The current president of Dartmouth, for instance.) I do imagine, however, that it terribly reduces the amount of smarmy ass-kissing for which other Ivies are so esteemed. I mean, with nothing to brag about, what’s the meaning of existence? There’s a question for the U.S. “intellectual elite.” I’ve a better one: How many Ivy Leaguers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? The question is impossible in our modern world, for the incessant, mindless circle-jerk would be forced to cease for a free hand.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Who criticize’s his friend’s school like that? Sorry your school isn’t flexible about grades, that must suck. This Yalie is clearly just hungering for a classic HYP ego-boost by putting down Brown. Yeah, maybe the kid who wrote the column is apparently whiny and more than a little self-important, but the fault has to go to the NYT for publishing the article. Why blame someone for trying to get a few laughs and some cash to boot?
July 29th, 2009 at 12:26 am
Speaking from experience, Harvard’s summer program is a complete joke, so I don’t blame orgo-ers for studying there. I can only assume its entire undergraduate program, from an academic standpoint, is the same way.
July 29th, 2009 at 1:32 am
Unfortunately for Harvard kids, med schools know their shit.
July 29th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
some of you people have serious inferiority complexes
July 29th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
and huge chips on your shoulders
July 29th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
At a certain point, inferiority and superiority complexes are indistinguishable.
July 29th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
As unimportant as I believe the article was in the first place, I also believe the writer’s comments about M.I.T. and Stanford were CLEARLY facetious. For the Eli to take the “jab” seriously highlights his ignorance.
July 29th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Strayer, bitch!
July 29th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
I think a lot of you are missing the point. Every Ivy has those obnoxious, super anal pre-meds who just HAVE to get a 100 on every single exam. They’re not actually smart, they just study 20 hours a day while fueled by Adderall and stress. To make matters worse, many refuse to help classmates (some go as far as sabotage) for fear of the slipping that mean up .1 points. I think the Brown student was mocking them more than feeling self-important. He didn’t do a great job, but it certainly made the Yalie, who has shown himself to be the perfect target, very angry.
As you can tell, I am no fan of these overachievers who can get a 90 on a test but couldn’t talk about Orgo or any other class topic in a non-question format.
July 29th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Mostly, I’m blushing about the quality of writing in Scult’s article. (Dear Rising Seniors, please consider the English composition sequence.) As I recall, it was fashionable c. 2001 to list your concentration as Cognitive Neuro-Something-or-other Engineering, to sit for the first few weeks of orgo/neuro/cog/psych and then go do something useful for the rest of the semester. It seems bad form to carry the joke all the way to the NYTimes.
July 30th, 2009 at 2:33 am
I mean, I enjoyed the article. Does that make me a d-bag?
July 30th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Pfft. Orgo? Take Electromagnetic waves or something if you want a real challenge. Pre-meds complain way too much about not-that-difficult classes. Then again, pre-meds are dumb enough that schools are compelled to offer watered down physics/math courses just to suit them, so I’m not that surprised.
July 31st, 2009 at 1:14 pm
I enjoyed the article too… but I mean I have taken Orgo at Brown and it did suck–but I guess that just makes me a whiny pre-med student? It’s funny because this Yale kid is the epitome of what everyone thinks a Yale kid is… a pretentious, rude, overly judgmental jackass. Ha ha. And that’s exactly why I chose to go to Brown– to avoid the angry email type.
August 1st, 2009 at 4:33 pm
ok i read like 5 comments and then realized they were all “MY SCHOOL IS BETTER / YOUR SCHOOL SUCKS / I CANT BELIEVE YOU THINK MY SCHOOL SUCKS, YOUR SCHOOL SUCKS / NO WAY / YES WAY.”
whether or not this kid goes to brown: he sucks. there are yalies who suck just as much. there is no gettin’ around the fact that this kid is a total dbag.
August 1st, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Seriously, at Brown if you fail a class, it doesn’t appear on your transcript? How? Why? Is this true at other schools? Is it just Yale that leaves you marked forever…?
August 2nd, 2009 at 6:38 pm
First of all, everyone here saying one school is better than another is ridiculously stupid. Come on, don’t ya’ll have anything better to do? All Ivy League schools have their pros and cons.
The Yale kid’s response is moronic as well. It’s this kind of attitude that reflects why so many people are jaded toward Ivy League universities. Anyone with some common sense and ability to read between the lines should have been able to tell that the Brown student’s mocking other schools was sarcastic and facetious, as mentioned above.
Second of all, a comment about Brown’s curriculum and grading; Brown is no less easy because you don’t have core requirements. This type of curriculum is designed to draw the go-getters of the world, the students who actively seek out challenges and material they’re not necessarily comfortable with. As far as the “not showing up on transcript” thing or “no D’s” or whatever, these are true – but grad schools and hiring managers don’t just see a higher GPA, they compare your GPA to the average GPA of the school. Because of this and the fact that Brown’s average GPA is higher than most schools, it evens itself in the long run, so Brown students aren’t actually getting an unfair advantage or a license to slack off.
August 2nd, 2009 at 10:36 pm
I have a feeling that this is meant to be entirely sardonic. Even the most serious Yalies are not like this…
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:55 pm
One might even say it is “sardonculous”. I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist…
August 4th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
SHOCKER:
There are huge tools at Yale. Guess what? There are huge tools at every school in the ivy league.
The Brown guy’s piece was a total piece. This Yalie’s response was pretty fucking lame. But I don’t think he meant for it to be public.
Anyways, why is this news? The Ivies will always be full of dbags.
August 8th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
uh, i think everyone’s missing the humor in this. i’m friends with the person who received this e-mail (who forwarded it to me by permission from the author because it was funny), and the way it was edited by ivygate, you can’t tell that the yalie is actually hyping his anger for effect to jokingly make fun of his friend’s school. it was all in jest, and the anger was really just a matter of theatrics… he actually says at the bottom of the original e-mail that, just in case it’s not clear, he doesn’t actually mean what he wrote… lol i think everyone just needs to chill outtt