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Kids of parents making $158.2-222.4k/yr have worst odds of Ivy League acceptance

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Re: Kids of parents making $158.2-222.4k/yr have worst odds of Ivy League acceptance

#21
post #18

> Amanda’s daughter Marie attended private school, speaks Mandarin, had an unweighted GPA of 4.1, and earned a 1560 on the SAT… Marie currently attends a university that did not make the U.S. News & World Report list of top-50 public schools How is it possible not to get into a state flagship with a 1500+ SAT? If I was white or Asian with college aged kids I’d move to Texas or Georgia.

Texas and Georgia are states huge numbers of people would never consider moving too because of their horrific politics - a rather direct reflection of the average.

Texas and Georgia both have massive immigration from other states.

People vote with their feet.

Re: Kids of parents making $158.2-222.4k/yr have worst odds of Ivy League acceptance

#23
post #18

> Amanda’s daughter Marie attended private school, speaks Mandarin, had an unweighted GPA of 4.1, and earned a 1560 on the SAT… Marie currently attends a university that did not make the U.S. News & World Report list of top-50 public schools How is it possible not to get into a state flagship with a 1500+ SAT? If I was white or Asian with college aged kids I’d move to Texas or Georgia.

Texas and Georgia are states huge numbers of people would never consider moving too because of their horrific politics - a rather direct reflection of the average.

Yes, there are a handful of policy areas where the politics really do matter -- if you need it, did the state sign up for Medicaid expansion? If abortion may sadly be necessary, is it legal there? -- but I think in most areas, day to day life is no more oppressive in those states, and frequently the demographics are no less diverse (they are often more so).

We need to keep in mind the magnitude of coercion, or even of oppression, that arises simply from economic forces -- and these generally squeeze harder in the blue states. If the states with the "good politics" can't supply housing at a reasonable price, and if their affordable universities won't let your kids in, then what good are they? A red state with "bad politics" may be sufficiently cheap that the freedom it offers from wage-slavery may outweigh whatever oppressive laws are on the books there. The same goes for other countries. Suppose a country nominally has an authoritarian ruler, but he leaves ordinary apolitical people alone, and prices for medical care are reasonable. Maybe that's still a perfectly nice place to live? Maybe it's better than struggling to pay rent in the "good place"?

As for Texas and Georgia, local politics also matter. Some of the cities are blue islands. So you can't judge a county based only on what state it's in.

But if people are so blinkered that it's literally worth their entire life's wages just to own a house in the "good place", then I guess that's their problem.

That's my issue. The sheer amounts of money we're talking about are staggering. And you have to survive within an abusive corporate structure to get the money. Why tolerate that?

How can you have an emancipatory politics on the one hand, and sign up for lifelong debt on the other? It is good to try to free others, but if you can, shouldn't you try to free yourself first? Then, how can you free yourself in one of the places where money-power is strongest?

Re: Kids of parents making $158.2-222.4k/yr have worst odds of Ivy League acceptance

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Texas and Georgia are states huge numbers of people would never consider moving too because of their horrific politics - a rather direct reflection of the average.

Texas and Georgia both have massive immigration from other states. People vote with their feet.

[deleted]

Re: Kids of parents making $158.2-222.4k/yr have worst odds of Ivy League acceptance

#26

>Roughly a quarter of the admissions advantage stems from athlete recruitment: Other studies reveal that athletes tend to hail from high-income families. Years of access to private lessons, club sports, better facilities, and niche teams (water polo, golf, squash, fencing) make a bigger difference than most people realize. The final 31 percent of the very-rich advantage comes from colleges judging these children to b…

> The final 31 percent of the very-rich advantage comes from colleges judging these children to be stronger in nonacademic categories. That makes sense since they have greater access to extracurricular activities and leadership opportunities

This is very true imo. In my country medical school admissions are extremely competitive, and takes into account many of these factors, since there are many more ace students than slots. The results definitely favor wealthy students though, they're the ones with extra time for activities, or parents to fund groups for them to lead. Personally I think being a part-time burger flipper is better for your character than spending all your free time volunteering at a shelter to cynically maximize your resume.

Re: Kids of parents making $158.2-222.4k/yr have worst odds of Ivy League acceptance

#27
post #18

> Amanda’s daughter Marie attended private school, speaks Mandarin, had an unweighted GPA of 4.1, and earned a 1560 on the SAT… Marie currently attends a university that did not make the U.S. News & World Report list of top-50 public schools How is it possible not to get into a state flagship with a 1500+ SAT? If I was white or Asian with college aged kids I’d move to Texas or Georgia.

There are 50 states, and a lot of private universities are on the top 50 list, and several states have more than one state university on the list (hi, California), so most states have zero. University of Connecticut seems to be #58.

Not that the US News ranking is particularly meaningful.

Re: Kids of parents making $158.2-222.4k/yr have worst odds of Ivy League acceptance

#28

Ivy leagues have never been about finding the highest performers or potential; they’ve always been about giving rich kids the opportunity to network with other rich kids. The new twist is adding just enough diversity to make them feel better without being threatening. The sooner us normies stop playing their game and despise those institutions appropriately, the better off we’ll be.

The top schools see themselves as educating the next generation of the elite, whoever that is at the time.

Re: Kids of parents making $158.2-222.4k/yr have worst odds of Ivy League acceptance

#29
post #18

> Amanda’s daughter Marie attended private school, speaks Mandarin, had an unweighted GPA of 4.1, and earned a 1560 on the SAT… Marie currently attends a university that did not make the U.S. News & World Report list of top-50 public schools How is it possible not to get into a state flagship with a 1500+ SAT? If I was white or Asian with college aged kids I’d move to Texas or Georgia.

Probably because these colleges have 5,000 Maries to choose from. The article says Marie is perfect on paper and "checks all the boxes", but that's honestly not very inspiring and I'd guess that applicants/parents are optimizing for the wrong things.

> “She’s happy but often says, ‘Mom, I just wish I hadn’t studied. I would have gotten into the exact same schools.’” And Marie is probably right. Admissions scarcity is concentrated at the top of the rankings list; there are hundreds of four-year colleges that readily admit B and C students.

My experience is that they actually would have gotten into more / better schools

Re: Kids of parents making $158.2-222.4k/yr have worst odds of Ivy League acceptance

#30

Ivy leagues have never been about finding the highest performers or potential; they’ve always been about giving rich kids the opportunity to network with other rich kids. The new twist is adding just enough diversity to make them feel better without being threatening. The sooner us normies stop playing their game and despise those institutions appropriately, the better off we’ll be.

Ivy league schools need some high performers, in the sense that they mix admits for intelligence, wealth, diversity, athletic ability, and other factors. Clearly, many smart students attend Harvard. But so do donor kids. When you hire a Harvard grad, you can't tell which graduate you are hiring! That's a huge part of the value proposition for the wealthy. Harvard needs to admit enough truly smart students.
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