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The Great College Hoax

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Re: The Great College Hoax

#131

Post by tptacek »

kragen wrote: post #128
tptacek wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is infinitely harder to find a tenable pediatric densist than it is to find someone to fix your own teeth. It's so far apart that they aren't even the same problem. And so, I suspect, childrens dental work costs quite a bit more.

If you have a pediatric dental bill that gets a little bit higher than that, it might be worthwhile flying the kid to Argentina to get the work done. The dentists here are, by and large, better than in the US, the culture in general is a lot more tolerant of kids, the prices are a lot lower, and you get to travel to Argentina. And some of the dentists speak English. I think Costa Rica is a more popular dental tourism…

Yeah, kragen. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to take a week off and fly my kid to Argentina for a filling.

All due respect to Argentina --- I've got team members from Argentina -- but come on.

Re: The Great College Hoax

#132

Post by tptacek »

thismat wrote: post #125
tptacek wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is infinitely harder to find a tenable pediatric densist than it is to find someone to fix your own teeth. It's so far apart that they aren't even the same problem. And so, I suspect, childrens dental work costs quite a bit more.

It's really not that bad if you pay for dental insurance. I do for both of my kids and it's not nearly that expensive. Plus you make a good point on why people should avoid junk food and exercise better hygiene, and teach they're children to do so as well (I know that's not always the case, but I bet studies show it is a huge majority of the time).

Dental insurance is a bad deal. It mostly involves paying in advance for dental work, at a premium. Note that routine dental work is not something that "insures" well; you can't buy cost-effective insurance for something everyone knows is going to happen.

Re: The Great College Hoax

#133

Post by tptacek »

kragen wrote: post #129
thismat wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really not that bad if you pay for dental insurance. I do for both of my kids and it's not nearly that expensive. Plus you make a good point on why people should avoid junk food and exercise better hygiene, and teach they're children to do so as well (I know that's not always the case, but I bet studies show it is a huge majority of the time).

A substantial fraction of the variation in dental caries is independent of behavioral risk factors.

2 kids, same diet, same hygiene regime; one flawless set of teeth, one mouth full of fillings. (In fact, the bad teeth get even more care than the good teeth).

Some people just have weak teeth.

Re: The Great College Hoax

#134

Post by kragen »

tptacek wrote: post #133
kragen wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A substantial fraction of the variation in dental caries is independent of behavioral risk factors.

2 kids, same diet, same hygiene regime; one flawless set of teeth, one mouth full of fillings. (In fact, the bad teeth get even more care than the good teeth). Some people just have weak teeth.

Yes, that's what I was saying.

Re: The Great College Hoax

#135

Post by kragen »

tptacek wrote: post #131
kragen wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a pediatric dental bill that gets a little bit higher than that, it might be worthwhile flying the kid to Argentina to get the work done. The dentists here are, by and large, better than in the US, the culture in general is a lot more tolerant of kids, the prices are a lot lower, and you get to travel to Argentina. And some of the dentists speak English. I think Costa Rica is a more popular dental tourism…

Yeah, kragen. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to take a week off and fly my kid to Argentina for a filling . All due respect to Argentina --- I've got team members from Argentina -- but come on.

You might already have some vacation time, it doesn't necessarily take a week, and it would be more worthwhile if you were talking about more than just a single filling.

Re: The Great College Hoax

#136

Post by kragen »

tptacek wrote: post #130
kragen wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, if you eat every meal at restaurants , you can spend $1000 a month on food. Even if it's McDonald's. That's why only extremely rich people eat every meal at restaurants. $1000 isn't $10/meal/person; it's $10/meal. If a family is concerned about the corn/beans/rice diet, which costs like US$40/month according to my "other end of the spectrum" figures, then maybe they could splurge and add some oatmeal, some green…

At $10/meal total, you're feeding 4 people for $2.50 each. A package of chicken breasts costs $9.00, kragen.

Albertsons.com currently offers a "Beef Chuck Shoulder Steak Boneless USDA Select Max Pack" of 4 pounds at US$4.49 per pound: https://shop.albertsons.com/eCommerceWeb/ProductSearchAction...

US$2.50 of raw shoulder steak is therefore half a pound of steak; you'll be grossly obese and get gout by 35 if you eat that every meal. I don't know if that includes delivery, but it's on their delivery site. On the same site, boneless chicken breasts cost the same amount but drumsticks are a quarter of that, and that's before the discount for buying with your Albertson's Preferred Card, or buying on sale, or buying in bulk at Costco instead of Albertson's. I can't find any packages of chicken breasts there that cost $9.00 for a pound.

Where do you shop?

Re: The Great College Hoax

#137

Post by tptacek »

kragen wrote: post #136
tptacek wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At $10/meal total, you're feeding 4 people for $2.50 each. A package of chicken breasts costs $9.00, kragen.

Albertsons.com currently offers a "Beef Chuck Shoulder Steak Boneless USDA Select Max Pack" of 4 pounds at US$4.49 per pound: https://shop.albertsons.com/eCommerceWeb/ProductSearchAction... US$2.50 of raw shoulder steak is therefore half a pound of steak; you'll be grossly obese and get gout by 35 if you eat that every meal. I don't know if that includes delivery, but it's on their delivery site. On the same site, bo…

You live in Argentina and you don't know how to cook beef?

What can you do with chuck, kragen? You can, if you are among the 4% of people in the US with the means and expertise, grind it into hamburger or chili meat. You can, if you are among the 10% with a crock pot, make pot roast.

Otherwise, you can cube it and braise it for a stew, and that's about it. Most families can't do much with $20 worth of chuck.

A package of chicken breasts --- enough for 4 people (in my house, 3-4 breasts) is between 1.5 and 2 pounds.

I'm not sure your evidence is rebutting my argument.

Re: The Great College Hoax

#138

Post by kragen »

tptacek wrote: post #137
kragen wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Albertsons.com currently offers a "Beef Chuck Shoulder Steak Boneless USDA Select Max Pack" of 4 pounds at US$4.49 per pound: https://shop.albertsons.com/eCommerceWeb/ProductSearchAction... US$2.50 of raw shoulder steak is therefore half a pound of steak; you'll be grossly obese and get gout by 35 if you eat that every meal. I don't know if that includes delivery, but it's on their delivery site. On the same site, bo…

You live in Argentina and you don't know how to cook beef? What can you do with chuck, kragen? You can, if you are among the 4% of people in the US with the means and expertise, grind it into hamburger or chili meat. You can, if you are among the 10% with a crock pot, make pot roast. Otherwise, you can cube it and braise it for a stew, and that's about it. Most families can't do much with $20 worth of chuck. A packag…

Okay, so as not to be a jackass, I will stipulate:

- You can spend more than US$1000 a month feeding a family of four on 100% Safeway (or Albertsons) steak. I was wrong about that. It looks like your bill could go up to US$2000.

- I definitely don't know how to cook beef. In fact, I'm mostly vegetarian. I didn't move to Argentina for the steak. I'm surprised to learn that chuck steak is inedible without special equipment, except in a stew.

- Enough pre-deboned chicken breasts to feed four people for a meal also costs US$10, which is similarly US$1000 a month, if you eat something that pricey three meals a day.

I still want to know how you spend US$1000 a month on food without factoring in restaurants. Even approximately? I'm sure you're not eating a 100% meat diet, are you?

Re: The Great College Hoax

#139

Post by duhduhduhduhduh »

tokenadult wrote: post #2

"Accepted into the California Western School of Law, a private San Diego institution, Kellum couldn't swing the $36,000 in annual tuition with financial aid and part-time work." That choice of a law school was probably crucial in how the story unfolded. That's not a law school with a high return on investment in that local job market.

California Western's February 2008 bar exam passage rate was the second-highest of any law school in the state of California (behind only Stanford University Law School) and its July 2008 bar exam passage rate was approximately 85%.
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