Research

I have been reading the profiles of the people admitted into top research universities such as Caltech, and they are truly impressive. Quite a lot of them have been filing for papers since the age of 18, and would maintain a top standing in their rankings.

There are few things I can infer from this observation. There must be a difference for people’s ability to grasp abstract concepts. The mathematical systems such as integral transform are not easy to fully appreciate since it is far from our intuition. The way they perceive those concepts must be fundamentally different from that our others. I wonder what it is.

Second, the ability to implement is not the most important thing institutions are looking for. Apparently, when you are 18,19, you can’t implement on that much. Also, quite a lot of those people changed their field of study. I think what they are looking for is proven brain power. The clever bits that than derive more out of what other could have, the ability to figure things out. How to think, how to solve problems, how to tackle puzzles.

Can that ability be scribes somehow such that it can be accessible to more people? what it feels like to be able to see and analyze the structures hidden from an untrained eyes?