Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Maybe the problem is that Harvard exists

dynomight.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–330 of 386 posts

Re: Maybe the problem is that Harvard exists

#321

Post by pseudalopex »

laidoffamazon wrote: post #305
ghaff wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea who is telling you that unless it's yourself. Contrary to the impression that some people here may give you, making millions a few (or even many) years out of school is not the norm wherever you went to school. And while connections do matter to some degree among Ivy and related grads I know (and those are mostly for what many here would consider low-paid jobs in the literary industry), connections fro…

There's lots of pedigree in working in software, even if it's not as obvious as law. Amazon does not have pedigree, but Google does, Stripe does etc. It's also not surprising that the people that graduate from MIT CS and Harvard CS go to Google and Stripe and Facebook as their "backups" and not Amazon or Capital One or Northrop Grumman.

You worked at Amazon seemingly. Your present pay implies a selective company. Your pedigree would satisfy Google or Facebook.

Re: Maybe the problem is that Harvard exists

#322

Post by lapcat »

squokko wrote: post #314

"We don’t need to sort and classify 18-year olds. It’s absurd. Stop trying to fix it and get rid of it." Would the OP make the same argument about athletics? That 18-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo and 18-year-old Frankie Fatass, instead of being sorted and classified, should be put into the same soccer program?

Which soccer program are you referring to? At age 18, Cristiano Ronaldo was not attending a nonprofit school, he was a member of a for-profit professional team.

Re: Maybe the problem is that Harvard exists

#323

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

beebmam wrote: post #224
whymauri wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not tackle inequality earlier in the funnel than college admissions? Better primary schooling and family resources? A college admission lottery doesn't seem to be a serious solution.

You can never make dysfunctional families with awful parents more equal unless you rip all children from families.

That's true. But dysfunctional families come at all income levels, and making sure kids have enough to eat and somewhere safe to do homework is 100% possible without fixing all of society's problems.

Re: Maybe the problem is that Harvard exists

#324

Post by laidoffamazon »

ghaff wrote: post #310
laidoffamazon wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's lots of pedigree in working in software, even if it's not as obvious as law. Amazon does not have pedigree, but Google does, Stripe does etc. It's also not surprising that the people that graduate from MIT CS and Harvard CS go to Google and Stripe and Facebook as their "backups" and not Amazon or Capital One or Northrop Grumman.

Honestly, you're way too obsessed with pedigree in terms of companies. I've probably never worked for (or even applied for what people here would consider) a "high pedigree" (though not necessarily unknown) company over a long (and I think pretty successful by my standards) career. I somewhat surprisingly got into a really good school undergrad and good ones grad. But got rejected by plenty too. You win some. You los…

I mean it feels like an affront - these people go to top schools because they want people like me out of eyesight because I don’t have “merit”. It does frankly feel personal.

I would have never gotten into a good school for undergrad and have no chance at a top grad school. It just feels like it’s all over for me.

Re: Maybe the problem is that Harvard exists

#325

Post by laidoffamazon »

pseudalopex wrote: post #321
laidoffamazon wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's lots of pedigree in working in software, even if it's not as obvious as law. Amazon does not have pedigree, but Google does, Stripe does etc. It's also not surprising that the people that graduate from MIT CS and Harvard CS go to Google and Stripe and Facebook as their "backups" and not Amazon or Capital One or Northrop Grumman.

You worked at Amazon seemingly. Your present pay implies a selective company. Your pedigree would satisfy Google or Facebook.

Sure, but not enough for Jane Street or Citadel Securities (not the hedge fund which did give me an offer) or DE Shaw or HRT. Aka, the firms actually offering $350k+ to new grads while I make far less.

Re: Maybe the problem is that Harvard exists

#326

Post by laidoffamazon »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #318
laidoffamazon wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the people that told me that aren't good enough are the admissions committees of the 2 elite schools I applied to that rejected me (I only applied to 4 schools in total). They've already decided that I have no "merit".

To put it in another way, if you genuinely expect to be one of the world's major decision makers, wealthiest, etc., then yes there's close to zero prospects, given the stated background and age. But if your expectation is to have a happy life, a nice house in a decent neighbourhood, etc., then there's no reason to listen to them and self-flagellate.

Yeah, but it’s still within the realm of possibility for anyone that got into Penn or Brown or Columbia or Princeton or MIT because they are just inherently better.

For the record I doubt I can have a happy life or a house in a decent neighborhood too.

Re: Maybe the problem is that Harvard exists

#327

Post by sixstringtheory »

pseudalopex wrote: post #313
sixstringtheory wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the current purpose or intent … is to make society less meritocratic? Where’s the evidence that this is what the institution is currently driving at as its mission? Versus this being an emergent effect, subjectively?

"The purpose of a system is what it does"

OK. But the problem here is that people disagree on what Harvard does. That has to be established before we can even work backwards to a purpose, assuming this framework you suggest is even valid, which I separately doubt.

My a priori assumption of the purpose of a car is to transport people. Cars kill thousands of people each year. Is the purpose of a car then to kill people?

Re: Maybe the problem is that Harvard exists

#328

Post by toastercat »

sixstringtheory wrote: post #306
toastercat wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That’s right. I live my life only, and will never live another life. My energy is applied to my life, family, friends, community in the present and the fact someone else’s life is easier than mine doesn’t bother me much. Yes, ignorance is bliss. > There are plenty of things I think are unfair or unjust, and the existence of Harvard is so far down that list it’s not even funny. War, poverty, the destruction of the e…

> ignorance is bliss Sounds more like acceptance of something they are not ignorant of. > What if the same mechanisms Ok but are they? This hypothetical isn’t useful if they aren’t, and I’m not convinced they are.

> Sounds more like acceptance of something they are not ignorant of.

I can see it both ways, but OP basically said "I'm sure it happens to others, but it doesn't happen to me, so I don't care" which is fine, but also not helpful and is also missing the point of the article.

It's like reading an article about the water crisis in Flint and saying "water quality is great here in Miami, so doesn't bother me"

> Ok but are they? This hypothetical isn’t useful if they aren’t, and I’m not convinced they are.

I think it is worth considering. I won't force you to consider it if you don't want to, though.

Re: Maybe the problem is that Harvard exists

#329

Post by a2xd94 »

PAPPPmAc wrote: post #272
a2xd94 wrote: post #15

The thing that gets me is that nearly every single podcast or article that talks about admissions and how fair/unfair they are focuses almost solely on Ivy League schools and leaves out the state and local colleges/universities that actually churn out 99% of college graduates in the US. Maybe we tax payers need to do better about steering the conversation towards those institutions that we fund as opposed to those th…

Many (most?) state schools don't do significantly competitive admissions, and many have state mandates in the vein of "Anyone who graduated in the top half of their in-state high school gets admitted with the following terms." For most students and employers, they are largely interchangeable except for in-state tuition being cheaper (and to be clear, I think that is a good thing). It's actually a bit of a problem in…

Agreed, the lack of respect for yet another thing that we all pay into (Community Colleges) is appalling. I remember that in high school, if you said you were going to Community College, you would be looked at as some kind of failure when in reality it was a great way to sober up and ease into adult life after high school, at a tiny fraction of the price of 4-year university...truly shameful that the majority of us willingly ignore one of the solutions to the whole issue with college degrees sometimes being viewed as not being useful, as well as the issue with excessive student loans.

Re: Maybe the problem is that Harvard exists

#330

Post by ghaff »

laidoffamazon wrote: post #324
ghaff wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, you're way too obsessed with pedigree in terms of companies. I've probably never worked for (or even applied for what people here would consider) a "high pedigree" (though not necessarily unknown) company over a long (and I think pretty successful by my standards) career. I somewhat surprisingly got into a really good school undergrad and good ones grad. But got rejected by plenty too. You win some. You los…

I mean it feels like an affront - these people go to top schools because they want people like me out of eyesight because I don’t have “merit”. It does frankly feel personal. I would have never gotten into a good school for undergrad and have no chance at a top grad school. It just feels like it’s all over for me.

Trust me. I have educational credentials that would be considered immaculate. I've done fine. But then I've never had an obsession with earning millions a year because some people are. You probably make more at 27 than I have much later. Which is fine. You'd be much happier if you stopped obsessing about how someone else may be making more money than you.
Post reply on HN