What a great series. If I still worked in academia, I'd be shoving it at the faculty, hard. (Whether they'd bother to read it is another story, of course.)
I wasn't a minority in any of the colleges I attended; in fact, I never even considered entering a program or applying to a college where I might have been an outsider. I definitely have felt the long-term effects of being labeled a "smart kid" (which you addressed so well in Part 2), which may help explain why I always took the easy road: if I attempt something I might not succeed at, that means I might fail, and that would be unthinkable.
So props to you for taking big risks, and for being bold enough to share what you learned from these experiences, both about yourself and about CS in academia.
no subject
I wasn't a minority in any of the colleges I attended; in fact, I never even considered entering a program or applying to a college where I might have been an outsider. I definitely have felt the long-term effects of being labeled a "smart kid" (which you addressed so well in Part 2), which may help explain why I always took the easy road: if I attempt something I might not succeed at, that means I might fail, and that would be unthinkable.
So props to you for taking big risks, and for being bold enough to share what you learned from these experiences, both about yourself and about CS in academia.