I imagine some LW user have these questions, or can answer them. Sorry if this isn’t the right place (but point me to the right place please!).
I’m thinking of returning to university to study evolution/biology, the mind, IT, science-type stuff.
Are there any legitimate way (I mean actually achievable, you have first-hand experience, can point to concrete resources) to attend an adequate university for no or low-cost?
How can I measure my aptitude for various fields (for cheap/free)? (I did an undergrad degree in education which was so easy I don’t know if I could make the grades in a demanding field).
My first undergrad degree (education) was non-science, so should I go back for another undergrad degree, or try to fill gaps on my own and do a post-grad in something with science?
I’ve started investigating free online education (lesswrong, edx, coursera, etc) but I have concerns: don’t I need credentials? Don’t I need classmates/colleagues/collaborators to help teach me, motivate me, and supply me with equipment? How do I know if I really understand the material? How do I address these concerns?
p.s. – I’m all for “munchkin” style answers/solutions to these problems, so long as they are actually feasible
Do you care about the piece of paper? If not, you can likely attend courses in the literal sense—just show up for the lectures—without paying anything at all. Old textbooks are cheap, if you want problem sets, and you almost certainly do—I strongly opine that you cannot learn anything even remotely math-oriented without doing problems. But no rule says you have to do the same problems the others in the class are doing.
Clearly, this is not the method for you if you need a lot of feedback and guidance, nor if you want the credential in addition to the knowledge.
Mostly depends on what languages you speak fluently, what countries you can obtain visas for, your willingness to relocate to said countries and your plans on what you’ll do with the “science-type stuff”. If you want advice, edit your post accordingly. Most of the answers will come out to public colleges in your home state, or Europe. Or plumbing.
I do want advice… how would you suggest I edit the post?
I don’t know what I plan to do with what I study, I just know that it’s very interesting to me. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.
I’m a native English speaker, and I speak passable Spanish (I can read light novels, hold conversations, etc). I never really considered doing an undergrad degree abroad.
How can I measure my aptitude for various fields (for cheap/free)? (I did an undergrad degree in education which was so easy I don’t know if I could make the grades in a demanding field).
Get a textbook of the appropriate level on the subject that has exercises and the correct answers to them, read the book, then do the exercises and see what you come up with? If it’s math or physics, you should be able to tell by yourself whether your solutions resemble the example solutions in the text, seem to make sense and come up with the correct answers.
I don’t know how well this will work with evolutionary biology or cognitive science. If you want to include philosophy in the “mind” part, it’s my understanding that you need to be a trained academic philosopher to reliably tell fancy garbage and acceptable academic philosophy apart, so the approach probably won’t work there.
After reading a couple of introductory textbooks, try to find grad students in the field in online chats and ask them about the stuff to gauge how well you’ve understood it. You can probably find plenty of math and computer science literate people on Lesswrong to bounce stuff off of.
Also, do you actually know you need to attend lectures to learn things, or are you just planning to do this because attending lectures is what people who get educated are supposed to do in the standard narrative? I’m pretty much incapable of following spoken academic lectures myself, and basically learn most everything by reading. If I wanted to get an education, I’d just go for a big stack of textbooks and a good note-taking system and ignore live lectures entirely at least on the undergrad level.
If you want to include philosophy in the “mind” part, it’s my understanding that you need to be a trained academic philosopher to reliably tell fancy garbage and acceptable academic philosophy apart, so the approach probably won’t work there.
My understanding is that there is considerable overlap between these two categories.
That’s another problem. You might not be able to trust an academic philosopher’s judgment on whether a bit of philosophy is actually any good as much as, say, an academic mathematician’s judgment on whether a bit of mathematics is any good.
Are there any legitimate way (I mean actually achievable, you have first-hand experience, can point to concrete resources) to attend an adequate university for no or low-cost?
Of course, I just go to any university in my city and they don’t cost anything.
I’ve started investigating free online education (lesswrong, edx, coursera, etc) but I have concerns: don’t I need credentials?
Whether or not you need credentials depends on your goals.
Yudkowsky started SI/MIRI without any credentials.
Don’t I need classmates/colleagues/collaborators to help teach me,
When it comes to programming questions that I face as part of my university studies I go to StackOverflow.
motivate me,
Depends on your ability to self motivate.
and supply me with equipment?
Depends on whether you want to do something that needs equipment.
How do I know if I really understand the material?
If you can remember the Anki cards about a topic it’s likely that you understand the topic.
But more importantly, what’s your goal?
What do you want to be able to do with your “understanding of the material”?
Apparently you’re from Berlin, (I’m sure this is google-able)--are foreign (US in my case) students able to enroll in classes without fees, difficult to obtain visas, etc? Are many courses offered in English?
I’m not really sure what I want to do with my “understanding of the material,” which is largely why I’m not sure if credentials/access to equipment are important to me.
It’s hard to measure, but I think I’m pretty motivated. Unsurprisingly, I don’t have the raw intelligence of Yudkowsky, so I have doubts about how well someone with my skill set will be able to make progress without support/credentials.
Apparently you’re from Berlin, (I’m sure this is google-able)--are foreign (US in my case) students able to enroll in classes without fees, difficult to obtain visas, etc? Are many courses offered in English?
As far as I know there are no additional fees for foreign students.
A lot of Master courses get offered in English. I think it should be easy for US citizens to get a visa.
But I’m a German citzens so I don’t know the details from the perspective of being an US citizen well.
I’m not really sure what I want to do with my “understanding of the material,”
How about spending a gap year to think about what you want to do with your life before starting a new degree at university?
Unsurprisingly, I don’t have the raw intelligence of Yudkowsky, so I have doubts about how well someone with my skill set will be able to make progress without support/credentials.
I don’t think that raw intelligence is the most important thing. The important thing is to be willing to do work in a way without a clear path.
Having social skills is also important. If you have marketable skills and network well, credentials aren’t important.
If you are truly interested in biology and science I would suggest that you do quantified self style self experiments. Start a blog about them.
I went to a college in the United States where admissions are need-blind (they don’t consider how much financial aid you’ll need in their decision to admit you) and that offers full-need aid (once admitted, they will meet any financial need you demonstrate). I was an international student, so the aid was not in the form of a loan, but a straight-up grant. I basically ended up paying nothing to go to a college that normally charges $60k+ a year. So if you’re not American, this is a possibility. If you are American, I understand that most (all?) of the financial aid is in the form of federal loans, which you may or may not want to incur.
Wikipedia says there are only seven US universities that offer full need-blind aid to international students. There are many more that are need-blind and full-need for US students, although this will probably involve loans. That Wikipedia page also lists four non-US universities that offer need-blind and full-need aid to all applicants. If you are American, applying to one of those may be a better bet, because you might get a grant instead of a loan. I’ve heard good things about the National University of Singapore.
Seeking Educational Advice…
I imagine some LW user have these questions, or can answer them. Sorry if this isn’t the right place (but point me to the right place please!).
I’m thinking of returning to university to study evolution/biology, the mind, IT, science-type stuff.
Are there any legitimate way (I mean actually achievable, you have first-hand experience, can point to concrete resources) to attend an adequate university for no or low-cost?
How can I measure my aptitude for various fields (for cheap/free)? (I did an undergrad degree in education which was so easy I don’t know if I could make the grades in a demanding field).
My first undergrad degree (education) was non-science, so should I go back for another undergrad degree, or try to fill gaps on my own and do a post-grad in something with science?
I’ve started investigating free online education (lesswrong, edx, coursera, etc) but I have concerns: don’t I need credentials? Don’t I need classmates/colleagues/collaborators to help teach me, motivate me, and supply me with equipment? How do I know if I really understand the material? How do I address these concerns?
p.s. – I’m all for “munchkin” style answers/solutions to these problems, so long as they are actually feasible
Do you care about the piece of paper? If not, you can likely attend courses in the literal sense—just show up for the lectures—without paying anything at all. Old textbooks are cheap, if you want problem sets, and you almost certainly do—I strongly opine that you cannot learn anything even remotely math-oriented without doing problems. But no rule says you have to do the same problems the others in the class are doing.
Clearly, this is not the method for you if you need a lot of feedback and guidance, nor if you want the credential in addition to the knowledge.
Mostly depends on what languages you speak fluently, what countries you can obtain visas for, your willingness to relocate to said countries and your plans on what you’ll do with the “science-type stuff”. If you want advice, edit your post accordingly. Most of the answers will come out to public colleges in your home state, or Europe. Or plumbing.
Hey, thanks for your reply.
I do want advice… how would you suggest I edit the post?
I don’t know what I plan to do with what I study, I just know that it’s very interesting to me. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.
I’m a native English speaker, and I speak passable Spanish (I can read light novels, hold conversations, etc). I never really considered doing an undergrad degree abroad.
I just realized I probably totally misunderstood what was being asked. Never mind.
Get a textbook of the appropriate level on the subject that has exercises and the correct answers to them, read the book, then do the exercises and see what you come up with? If it’s math or physics, you should be able to tell by yourself whether your solutions resemble the example solutions in the text, seem to make sense and come up with the correct answers.
I don’t know how well this will work with evolutionary biology or cognitive science. If you want to include philosophy in the “mind” part, it’s my understanding that you need to be a trained academic philosopher to reliably tell fancy garbage and acceptable academic philosophy apart, so the approach probably won’t work there.
After reading a couple of introductory textbooks, try to find grad students in the field in online chats and ask them about the stuff to gauge how well you’ve understood it. You can probably find plenty of math and computer science literate people on Lesswrong to bounce stuff off of.
Also, do you actually know you need to attend lectures to learn things, or are you just planning to do this because attending lectures is what people who get educated are supposed to do in the standard narrative? I’m pretty much incapable of following spoken academic lectures myself, and basically learn most everything by reading. If I wanted to get an education, I’d just go for a big stack of textbooks and a good note-taking system and ignore live lectures entirely at least on the undergrad level.
My understanding is that there is considerable overlap between these two categories.
That’s another problem. You might not be able to trust an academic philosopher’s judgment on whether a bit of philosophy is actually any good as much as, say, an academic mathematician’s judgment on whether a bit of mathematics is any good.
Are you wanting a degree, or are you wanting education?
If you’re just wanting the information, the university in question may permit low-cost auditing
Of course, I just go to any university in my city and they don’t cost anything.
Whether or not you need credentials depends on your goals. Yudkowsky started SI/MIRI without any credentials.
When it comes to programming questions that I face as part of my university studies I go to StackOverflow.
Depends on your ability to self motivate.
Depends on whether you want to do something that needs equipment.
If you can remember the Anki cards about a topic it’s likely that you understand the topic. But more importantly, what’s your goal? What do you want to be able to do with your “understanding of the material”?
Thanks very much for your reply,
Apparently you’re from Berlin, (I’m sure this is google-able)--are foreign (US in my case) students able to enroll in classes without fees, difficult to obtain visas, etc? Are many courses offered in English?
I’m not really sure what I want to do with my “understanding of the material,” which is largely why I’m not sure if credentials/access to equipment are important to me.
It’s hard to measure, but I think I’m pretty motivated. Unsurprisingly, I don’t have the raw intelligence of Yudkowsky, so I have doubts about how well someone with my skill set will be able to make progress without support/credentials.
Again, thanks for the reply.
As far as I know there are no additional fees for foreign students. A lot of Master courses get offered in English. I think it should be easy for US citizens to get a visa.
But I’m a German citzens so I don’t know the details from the perspective of being an US citizen well.
How about spending a gap year to think about what you want to do with your life before starting a new degree at university?
I don’t think that raw intelligence is the most important thing. The important thing is to be willing to do work in a way without a clear path.
Having social skills is also important. If you have marketable skills and network well, credentials aren’t important.
If you are truly interested in biology and science I would suggest that you do quantified self style self experiments. Start a blog about them.
I went to a college in the United States where admissions are need-blind (they don’t consider how much financial aid you’ll need in their decision to admit you) and that offers full-need aid (once admitted, they will meet any financial need you demonstrate). I was an international student, so the aid was not in the form of a loan, but a straight-up grant. I basically ended up paying nothing to go to a college that normally charges $60k+ a year. So if you’re not American, this is a possibility. If you are American, I understand that most (all?) of the financial aid is in the form of federal loans, which you may or may not want to incur.
Wikipedia says there are only seven US universities that offer full need-blind aid to international students. There are many more that are need-blind and full-need for US students, although this will probably involve loans. That Wikipedia page also lists four non-US universities that offer need-blind and full-need aid to all applicants. If you are American, applying to one of those may be a better bet, because you might get a grant instead of a loan. I’ve heard good things about the National University of Singapore.