Letters to the Editor
received a copy of the following letter addressed to President Charles M. Vest.In 1984, I graduated from MIT. Since then, I have been working in the financial industry. Every year I return to MIT to recruit graduates to join us on Wall Street.
One candidate that I interviewed this year completely shocked me. After 10 minutes of discussing his background, I asked some common sense questions. The following conversation ensued:
Q: How many people live in the United States?
A: 1 million.
Q: Are you sure? How many people live in the Boston area?
A: 50,000.
Q: How many people go to MIT?
A: 10,000.
Q: Then 1 out of 5 people in Boston attend MIT?
A: Yeah, I think that's right.
As the world becomes more dependent on technology, technologists need to become more aware of the world.
Sara J. Sprung '84


