Are IMers smarter than Harvard, MIT graduates?

24 replies
Do you consider yourself smarter then those geeks from the top colleges of engineering? IM sounds so easy when you explain to anyone else. People often consider that you are earning from easy way or you are lucky enough ... (My experience)...

What's your point on this...How do you compare yourselves to those smarter kiddos
#graduates #harvard #imers #mit #smarter
  • Profile picture of the author TheArticlePros
    I went to Georgia Tech, so I know I'm just as smart as people who went to the universities that you mentioned. That type of education has very little to do with Internet Marketing, though. Who cares if you have a degree in aeronautical engineering, architecture, or game theory when you are trying to write an article or build a site about weight loss products?

    Formal degrees have nothing to do with 99% of what we do here. Being able to talk to other humans in a language they understand and provide the information that they're looking for is one of the most important skills we can have, and that's not normally obtained via a college education.

    -- j
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  • Profile picture of the author mjs
    Maybe in some cases but I would say more "street wise" than "smarter" you have to be pretty smart to get into Harvard!

    I have noticed that a lot of people who have a higher degree education are so focused on their specific area that when it comes to anything else they are useless...When I worked as an IT contractor you would see people coming straight out of university but they didn't have a clue.
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    • Profile picture of the author unclepennybags
      Obviously not when it comes to the subjects they learned about. Anyone who went to an Ivy league school is IMO VERY accomplished. They have done something that lots of people only dream about. Then again I don't know what it is like to go to college let alone a prestigious school like Harvard.

      However being the loser I am I probably know more about failure than them.
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  • Profile picture of the author RichBeck
    I went to top tier universities like you mentioned.... for both my ungrad at Duquesne University and grad school University of Denver... Oddly enough, I finished with a 3.9 GPA at both.....

    I have to be honest... The smartest people go into a field where they are paid VERY well for performance.... Not paid a salary or by the hour....

    The engineers make...... $60,000 - $120,000 USD per year...... Unless they own their own business, they have a definite ceiling as to how much they can earn.... They can also be outsourced with increasing ease....

    The top sales people make $200,000 - $500,000 USD per year... Working for others... You need someone who is good on the phone AND in person... It is difficult to outsource at the high end......

    You decide who is smarter.....

    God Bless,

    Rich
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  • Profile picture of the author Tevis Verrett
    Booyah! And adding to what Rich said.

    I went to medical skool! And even as a physician, I was a well paid wage slave!

    We have had the courage, or stupidity, or balls, or moxy (circle one) to step out on our own and carve out our piece of the pie on this www!

    A humble congratulations to my IM bretheren and sistren!

    You are firmly in the drivers seat of your destiny, and not driving a cab with a degree from Haavard!

    Be Well,

    Tevis
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    • Profile picture of the author fin
      I'm going to come out and say it's a stupid question.

      Am I smarter in an academic sense? Obviously not.

      Am I smarter than them in choosing not to cross the road when a car is driving towards me? Who knows, along with every single other question that doesn't include academics.
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  • Profile picture of the author salegurus
    Who is smarter? i can't answer that one, we are all talented in one way or another.
    I would not call someone stupid because they are making a 5, 6 or 7 figure salary by
    working for someone else.

    It's also not realistic to compare proven salaries to what people say that make online.
    So the WF has about 500,000 members, what percentage of those are making five
    figures online yearly?

    Not easy to answer because unless you have access to financial statements you can only guess...
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  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    Originally Posted by Just4Kix View Post

    Do you consider yourself smarter then those geeks from the top colleges of engineering? IM sounds so easy when you explain to anyone else. People often consider that you are earning from easy way or you are lucky enough ... (My experience)...

    What's your point on this...How do you compare yourselves to those smarter kiddos
    It's a different kind of smarts. And learning about how to run and grow an online business is an apples to oranges comparison to someone who is studying engineering. One is book smarts, the other is business smarts.

    So I don't compare myself to those people, it's a totally different animal, not even in the same ball park. I compare myself to the competition, that's all. And am I smarter then THEM? Sometimes I am, sometimes not. Though I think I pound more tequila shots and coffee then they do.

    RoD
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  • Profile picture of the author Tad 100
    There is no correlation between money and being smart. You can sell drugs and have a lot of money. There are more qualities than smart and dump and it can take weeks to talk about each one.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Keith
    in short, i will say yes.

    I dropped out my first semester in college. People told me what a fool i was. Now i spend as much time on vacation as they spend working. It also goes even deep than that.

    I learned to control my own destiny. Most college grads are never taught to do that. If they get laid off, they see few options other than finding another job.

    Basically if you take the job away from a college grad, their options are much more limited than if you take my IM income away from me.

    Oh, and i have college grads that work for me today. They build my fortune not theirs. Who is smarter?
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  • Profile picture of the author newbizideas312
    There is nothing easy about making money. It takes a lot of knowledge, and you usually have to figure out your own system to make anything really work. Most reports leave out a huge part.. Experience.

    As far as Ivy league.. These are great institutions that work great for resumes. However no matter what, all the theory in the world can't teach you what the real world can.

    Even if you're the smartest person in the world, it has little bearing on being able to "make money". This comes from experience.

    -Adam
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  • Profile picture of the author David Keith
    I will also be quick to point out that my longtime girlfriend is a Harvard med school graduate. She is definitely smarter than me in some areas.

    She works in the pediatric neurosurgery field. Trust me guys. If you ever need a brain surgeon, you want her not me.

    and I don't ever play words with friends or Sudoku with her. But when it comes to making strategic business or life decisions, I am much more qualified in almost every instance.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex The Lion
    This question is a little unrealistic because IM is an industry like Engineering, Biology or Accountancy. Harvard is a place of education where you can learn these topics/industries. You are not comparing the same thing.

    If there was a qualification in IM and your question asked whether a Harvard graduate with a qualification in IM was smarter than a self/community taught IMer, then you would have a question that was more definite.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Douglas
    Intellectual capacity is not measured by your bank account. Making money has a lot to do with your risk tolerance, your mindset, and the opportunities you pursue.

    Fortunately for me and 99% of business owners, I don't have to be as smart as they are.
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  • Profile picture of the author the goat
    Claiming to be any more anything than any group of people instead of basing your judgments on individuality is a dangerous game. Anyone who would ever claim that they are smarter than every person in any group of 20,000 people they don't know personally, (Harvard's app. enrollment) is just immediately proving themselves to be very wrong.
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    Tony Robbins OWNS the personal development market. He's got a high school education. Go figure, huh?
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan David
    Yeah, I've never really thought to compare myself to those people. I don't consider myself smarter than them, even in a business sense or street smarts. After all, how can you really compare yourself to "them" when you have no idea who you're comparing yourself too.

    Besides, if someone wants to go into $100K/year engineer job, who am I to say anything? Maybe they like the work?

    Besides, the way most people run their business, I don't see how it's any different from being a wage slave.
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  • Profile picture of the author HenryABranch
    What an open question....

    How do you define smart really? We are all "Smart" in our own way in our own field.

    But I do know we IMers require an unique set of skills different from the main stream.

    We need to endure long hours of loneliness working in front of the PC.

    We need strong faith to believe that someone is going to buy from you or click on your affiliate link to make a purchase. And you can't see that coming from anywhere ! It can happen while you sleep...while you bathe...while you are away from pc.

    We need that stubbornness to stick to a "strange" job where people will keep persuading you to go and work on a "proper" job.

    We need that acute sense of direction to manage each and every component of our life and work.

    We are such a SPECIAL BREED !! Smart alone is NOT enough to describe us
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Sorry, but another description of "special" comes to mind

      Harvard and MIT grads are not "average college students" - and not everyone is only looking for the most money they can make.

      The average person with a little to invest and a lick of common sense - can be a profitable IMer. Would you want to drive across a bridge where the stress calculations were done by an IMer? I doubt it.

      Focus on your own work and your competition - and let others choose their own career path. Unless you know enough to step into someone else's job and do it well - the "IM is better" attitude is just....attitude.

      people will keep persuading you to go and work on a "proper" job.
      That usually only happens when parents or a spouse are paying your bills.:p
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  • Profile picture of the author timmylang
    I dont have a degree and I know the knowledge I have from IM, 99% of people wouldn't be able to learn in 10 years.

    IM is a science. Being smart, it all depends. Know I cant help build a space shuttle, or do reliable aids research. But I do know how to make money without anyone elses help.

    Depends on how you look at as smart. I know I'm just as intelligent as anyone on earth. But everybody has their niche of expertise.
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    • Profile picture of the author rhealy29
      What a ridiculous question.

      1) A person's intelligence is not tied to the school they went to. There are plenty of brilliant people who for one reason or another did not go to Ivy League schools and there are plenty of people that did go to Ivy League schools on merits very different from their level of intelligence.

      2) A person's intelligence is not indicated by the amount of money they make. There are plenty of brilliant people who make average salaries for a number of reasons, and plenty of people who roll in money but might not be the sharpest tools in the shed.

      3) Intelligence is incredibly hard to define. If I like math and went to school and got a math degree and you like art and went to school and got an art degree, which one of us is more intelligent?
      Impossible to say because what you choose to do is not a reflection of your intelligence.

      4) Most importantly, who cares? No one should be trying to measure themselves up against the intelligence of person A, B or C. You've got what you've got. Work with it and get the most out of it. If someone thinks Person A is smarter than you because they went to Harvard and are a VP and you went to a state school and are a marketer, just nod your head, laugh to yourself and move on.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brian Tayler
    I could show you people who work at McDonalds who are 10 times smarter than some kid working at a Wall Street law firm. Intelligence is irrelevant most of the time.
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