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Text Your Way to College

nytimes.com

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Re: Text Your Way to College

#71

Post by bpchaps »

danielford wrote: post #68
blooooo wrote: post #43

I'm from a family in the bottom income bracket, and I went to Stanford. It's as alien and daunting as the article makes it sound. I would never have thought to apply if it weren't for a suggestion from my aunt who married rich. My high school guidance counselor was completely unhelpful, and she actively discouraged all of my peers who I wanted to apply with me (because "Stanford wants 1s and 2s," not people ranked 5t…

> We didn't know how to talk or study or dress or think the way our peers did. It took me years to learn. Please tell me everything about this. I teach at a community college and my students come from the middle class, the working class, and the place I can't see.

Not OP, but I'm not sure I follow your question. Are you asking to learn context about problems outside of your own class?

I was raised in a lower/middle/working class area and went to its local community college and could probably comment. Much of what OP described matches very closely to my own experiences.

Re: Text Your Way to College

#72

Post by gumby »

IslaDeEncanta wrote: post #28
gumby wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suggest reading Hillbilly Elegy (J.D. Vance) which offers a counterexample. It was cheaper for him to go to Yale law school than to Ohio State.

Law is a different story altogether though. I was talking about undergrad.

He notes this would have been true for his undergraduate education too, but he wouldn't have considered it for social/psychological reasons. He notes that his friends are stuck in the same bind, and it was a shock for him to even consider applying to Yale.

Re: Text Your Way to College

#73

Post by drewg123 »

akhilcacharya wrote: post #20

On one hand, I hear breathless reassurances from people like Frank Bruni (also at the Times) that "school doesn't matter" and "college is what you make it". At the same time, we get articles like these. Now, as someone pursuing CS at a second or maybe even third tier institution - which is it?

The "tier" thing pisses me off. Lots of "top tier" people go to "third tier" universities for various reasons. Eg, financial, family commitments, non-traditional circumstances, etc.

I was accepted to a top tier CS uni, but did not get financial aid. I came from a blue collar family with parents born in the depression era. So we saved every penny. Every dime my parents had went into paying off their (tiny) mortgage on their (equally tiny) house. Yet, back in the 80s, that was counted as an asset in the financial aid process. So I ended up going to a 2nd/3rd tier local state university on an academic scholarship, then a top tier place for grad school (fully funded).

It all worked out in the end, and I wound up at Google. While there, they tried to get me to go on a recruiting trip to my grad school. I demurred, and said I'd prefer to go to my undergrad school. So they signed me up to do outreach to long tail universities. Rather than sending people on site, like for Stanford, MIT, etc, this turned out to be a Google hangouts chat with multiple different state universities. It was better than nothing, but it was nothing like the effort they put into recruiting from the "top tier" places. I think they may be missing a lot of good people.

Re: Text Your Way to College

#74

Post by dikdik »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #47
hrehhf wrote: post #25

Going to an Ivy League school does not help the student earn more money compared to going to a non-Ivy, except for students from certain disadvantaged backgrounds. "students, who were accepted into elite schools, but went to less selective institutions, earned salaries just as high as Ivy League grads." http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/the-college-solution/2...

There's also the argument that especially as a physician you have the obligation to your patients to do the best job you can. It's true for any profession but for physicians it's hard to see why anyone would object the reasoning. The difference between a top-25 school and anything else is like day and night, the students, the faculty, the equipment, the exposure to current research, and it's still true even though it…

I'm not too sure about that. I spent several years working closely with a massive group of physicians (40+ in the same specialty), where I routinely had to check medical reports before they went to clients.

While all very bright people, many of the physicians that attended middle-of-the-road medical schools and even one that went to a Caribbean medical school were much better than the couple Harvard trained docs we had.

Re: Text Your Way to College

#75

Post by echo419 »

It's always interesting watching discussions of class come up on HN. As someone who comes from a working class background/family, it astounds me how often people will respond with the idea that the tech industry/any kind of(generally college) education is some kind of meritocracy, or that the solution is to simply 'work harder'. Those are certainly nice sentiments, but far from reality(See, the Myth of Meritocracy[0]), and I'm overjoyed to see that others in this thread are providing other narratives and social situations.

[0]: http://www.ncsociology.org/sociationtoday/v21/merit.htm

Re: Text Your Way to College

#76

Post by akhilcacharya »

stale2002 wrote: post #69
akhilcacharya wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest concern is salary trajectory. For instance, a converting intern at FB gets $75-125K signing over a normal new grad hire (just an example, less applicable to me specifically).

O.o Are the numbers really that high? Boy have I been in the startup industry for way too long....

That's not including RSUs too, just cash.

Re: Text Your Way to College

#77

Post by Cd00d »

sjg007 wrote: post #62
blooooo wrote: post #43

I'm from a family in the bottom income bracket, and I went to Stanford. It's as alien and daunting as the article makes it sound. I would never have thought to apply if it weren't for a suggestion from my aunt who married rich. My high school guidance counselor was completely unhelpful, and she actively discouraged all of my peers who I wanted to apply with me (because "Stanford wants 1s and 2s," not people ranked 5t…

SAT tutors are huge.. wished I'd had one.

I have to disagree. I feel very strongly that SAT tutors and training systems completely undermine the value of the test. The test is supposed to find students with a comprehensive knowledge and problem solving base, but instead, through the corruption of expensive tutors and programs is largely a test of how much money and time was spent preparing. Wealth buys you a higher score, and that is shameful considering how heavily that score is utilized in selection.

Re: Text Your Way to College

#78

Post by daveFNbuck »

akhilcacharya wrote: post #37
macobo wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can always reach out to companies yourself. I graduated from a second-tier university in a small eastern-european university and did find internship opportunities in SV so I can assert with confidence: your options are what you make of them with your own skills, aptitude and attitude.

I accepted an offer for the summer from a company that doesn't recruit at my school anymore. But my options still pale in comparison to what people at top tier schools have. Sad to say my overall salary trajectory is probably going to suffer because of it when I look fulltime.

If you're doing an internship, you already have a leg up on a lot of the people at top tier schools.

Re: Text Your Way to College

#79

Post by user837387 »

Cd00d wrote: post #77
sjg007 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SAT tutors are huge.. wished I'd had one.

I have to disagree. I feel very strongly that SAT tutors and training systems completely undermine the value of the test. The test is supposed to find students with a comprehensive knowledge and problem solving base, but instead, through the corruption of expensive tutors and programs is largely a test of how much money and time was spent preparing. Wealth buys you a higher score, and that is shameful considering how…

I'm really missing the point you are trying to make. People prepare for the SAT to get a better grade and you think it is unfair. WTF? Actually, I do get it I just think it is insane that you think it is a reasonable point, as if it were a moral imperative.

What I do not get is why you think this way. People are simply trying to improve their chances by studying and trying to get a better SAT. It baffles me that you think this is somehow corrupt.

Your point seems to be that poor people cannot prepare for the SAT because they do not have the resources. I agree, but I think you should instead focus on fixing poverty. How? I have no idea.

You cannot stop people from studying or preparing themselves to have an advantage over everybody else, that is just crazy thinking.

Re: Text Your Way to College

#80

Post by akhilcacharya »

daveFNbuck wrote: post #78
akhilcacharya wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I accepted an offer for the summer from a company that doesn't recruit at my school anymore. But my options still pale in comparison to what people at top tier schools have. Sad to say my overall salary trajectory is probably going to suffer because of it when I look fulltime.

If you're doing an internship, you already have a leg up on a lot of the people at top tier schools.

I mean, I'd wager most of them intern at top tier places multiple years, whereas I'm only going to intern in a big company for one summer. I'd be surprised if they didn't at all, honestly.
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