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Bribes to Get into Yale and Stanford? What Else Is New?

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Re: Bribes to Get into Yale and Stanford? What Else Is New?

#81

Post by adamnemecek »

bobthepanda wrote: post #38
jcadam wrote: post #18

Just reinforces my belief that an ivy league degree is much more an indicator of socioeconomic class than it is intelligence or aptitude.

As of 2013, the median grade at Harvard was an A-. The mode was an A. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/12/... Anecdotally, I have heard of places that refuse to hire Harvard grads for this reason.

> As of 2013, the median grade at Harvard was an A-.

What do you conclude from this?

> Anecdotally, I have heard of places that refuse to hire Harvard grads for this reason.

That does sound anecdotal.

Re: Bribes to Get into Yale and Stanford? What Else Is New?

#82

Post by yodon »

I used to have a lot of friends in the MIT admissions office. They felt tremendous pride working at a school that didn't give precedence to legacy admits or children of donors (the quote I remember was "if you give a building, when your son or daughter is turned down for admittance you get a phone call from a Vice President telling you the news" instead of just a form letter).

Re: Bribes to Get into Yale and Stanford? What Else Is New?

#83

Post by InitialLastName »

maxxxxx wrote: post #69
strikelaserclaw wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hell yea, look at our presidents, we got legacy admissions for the biggest job in America.

It would be nice if somebody like Truman got elected. Somebody who had real experience how the regular citizen lives.

You're right.

Now, if only we could agree on what the "regular citizen's" life looks like.

a) It's probably a woman, since they're the majority of the population and have a distinctly different life experience to men

b) It's probably someone who lives in a city, since that was 80% of Americans in the 2010 census.

Re: Bribes to Get into Yale and Stanford? What Else Is New?

#84

Post by mikemotherwell »

kasey_junk wrote: post #77
willart4food wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. You pay for the network, the education is free and optional. However: I have worked with a handful of Harvard MBA graduates and . . . they were the smartest people I have ever worked with, and I have worked with a lot of people.

If we are doing anecdotes the job I had that was predominantly sourced from Harvard was full of bad employees. I work hard at not trying to extrapolate from that small sample size.

MBAs or just grads?

Re: Bribes to Get into Yale and Stanford? What Else Is New?

#85

Post by lembandro »

The discussion about 'who deserves a spot at a prestigious university x' misses the issue. Acceptance at one of these universities is not based on who is the most intelligent, hardworking, or accomplished. These universities, just like any other institutions, have their own goals and agenda. They accept you not because you deserve it or you have earned it, but because accepting you promotes the kind of ideals that these institutions espouse (e.g. money, but could also be racial diversity). Inferring someone's intelligence based on their university, therefore, is highly unreliable at best.

Re: Bribes to Get into Yale and Stanford? What Else Is New?

#86

Post by brightball »

jonny_eh wrote: post #37
LanceH wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These universities don't have the prestige without the legacy admissions (and alumni donors). There are tons of universities, but it's hard to say anyone "deserves" a spot over someone's family who helped build it.

How is a school prestigious by allowing undeserving[1] rich kids in? [1] In the sense that they're not academically or athletically at the top of the heap.

FWIW, he did say legacy, specifically.

Re: Bribes to Get into Yale and Stanford? What Else Is New?

#87

Post by mikemotherwell »

jachee wrote: post #48
NavyNuke wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh...that wasn't antisemetic...when talking about Ivy league representation, Jews are disproportionately represented which is why I distinguished between "Jewish Whites" and Non-Jewish Whites...

Bigger question: Why bring race up at all, then? Class has demonstrably larger effect. The 1% are very disproportionately represented in the Ivy League, too.

Is that how the system works? I'm not American, but it seems like race does get factored in. Or am I just sorely mistaken?

Re: Bribes to Get into Yale and Stanford? What Else Is New?

#88

Post by sverige »

jonny_eh wrote: post #37
LanceH wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These universities don't have the prestige without the legacy admissions (and alumni donors). There are tons of universities, but it's hard to say anyone "deserves" a spot over someone's family who helped build it.

How is a school prestigious by allowing undeserving[1] rich kids in? [1] In the sense that they're not academically or athletically at the top of the heap.

I have to confess that I have never understood why athletics is considered necessary at academic institutions, so it is even less understandable why athletics is considered during admissions.

Re: Bribes to Get into Yale and Stanford? What Else Is New?

#89

Post by ohyes »

lcuff wrote: post #74
bobthepanda wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As of 2013, the median grade at Harvard was an A-. The mode was an A. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/12/... Anecdotally, I have heard of places that refuse to hire Harvard grads for this reason.

It's a bizarre situation. In grad school, at least where I went (no place elite), a 'C' was a failing grade, because we were supposed to be doing outstanding work by virtue of being in grad school. I suppose elite schools could argue analogously. "Being here means your work is top drawer". Personally I'd solve the problem by giving written evaluations, which is what my undergrad school did. Useful, nuanced informatio…

Similar situation for me, if you were getting anything lower than a B you probably couldn’t hack the coursework.

Re: Bribes to Get into Yale and Stanford? What Else Is New?

#90

Post by kasey_junk »

mikemotherwell wrote: post #84
kasey_junk wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we are doing anecdotes the job I had that was predominantly sourced from Harvard was full of bad employees. I work hard at not trying to extrapolate from that small sample size.

MBAs or just grads?

MBAs. Though to be fair there was nothing about that gig that made sense for a business degree. It was a cs research position. [edited]
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