a final warning to high school students in the college admissions game

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh Please. There is no way I would take one kids opinion and make that the rule. All the other very happy, successful students aren't whining on social media for clicks. They are living their best lives. Get out of your dorm and join a club.

How do you explain the rash of suicides by Princeton students?

Current Princeton students have had to deal with iPads in their strollers, peak bad reading instruction, peak Common Core testing lunacy, the college application consulting culture, lunatic parents who think it’s easy for ordinary bright kids to get A’s in Ivy League STEM classes, and being locked in their homes for about a year due to COVID.

And they’re living in a world destroyed by global warming where the government lets people with guns come shoot them in school.

And, on top of that, Princeton is probably full of mean girls and mean guys.

What’s amazing is that most of the kids keep going, not that some give up.

[Anonymous]

Princeton undertook the most shameful and unjust actions towards a young man I know. Awful people, awful place. I feel sorry for this kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh Please. There is no way I would take one kids opinion and make that the rule. All the other very happy, successful students aren't whining on social media for clicks. They are living their best lives. Get out of your dorm and join a club.

How do you explain the rash of suicides by Princeton students?

Current Princeton students have had to deal with iPads in their strollers, peak bad reading instruction, peak Common Core testing lunacy, the college application consulting culture, lunatic parents who think it’s easy for ordinary bright kids to get A’s in Ivy League STEM classes, and being locked in their homes for about a year due to COVID.

And they’re living in a world destroyed by global warming where the government lets people with guns come shoot them in school.

And, on top of that, Princeton is probably full of mean girls and mean guys.

What’s amazing is that most of the kids keep going, not that some give up.

You should be in an ER, not posting here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh Please. There is no way I would take one kids opinion and make that the rule. All the other very happy, successful students aren't whining on social media for clicks. They are living their best lives. Get out of your dorm and join a club.

How do you explain the rash of suicides by Princeton students?

Current Princeton students have had to deal with iPads in their strollers, peak bad reading instruction, peak Common Core testing lunacy, the college application consulting culture, lunatic parents who think it’s easy for ordinary bright kids to get A’s in Ivy League STEM classes, and being locked in their homes for about a year due to COVID.

And they’re living in a world destroyed by global warming where the government lets people with guns come shoot them in school.

And, on top of that, Princeton is probably full of mean girls and mean guys.

What’s amazing is that most of the kids keep going, not that some give up.

The despair about these two things alone is astronomical.

[Anonymous]

Best damn place of all.

[Anonymous]

Take his video with a grain of salt.

In four years, he graduates, gets his Princeton degree, and goes on a gets a good job, brags about his degree, and makes good money. He will look back and say it was tough and it sucked sometimes but it was worth it.

[Anonymous]

I graduated from Princeton years ago and had a similarly bleak, lonely experience, despite having come from a well-off background (and majoring in English, not computer science). My DDs chose Yale and Rice and each had a fantastic time and made lifelong friends. “The best damn place of all?” They’ve got some work to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from Princeton years ago and had a similarly bleak, lonely experience, despite having come from a well-off background (and majoring in English, not computer science). My DDs chose Yale and Rice and each had a fantastic time and made lifelong friends. “The best damn place of all?” They’ve got some work to do.

Says more about you than Yale and Rice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from Princeton years ago and had a similarly bleak, lonely experience, despite having come from a well-off background (and majoring in English, not computer science). My DDs chose Yale and Rice and each had a fantastic time and made lifelong friends. “The best damn place of all?” They’ve got some work to do.

Your kids are obviously their own people.

I am struggling to understand why you might think you would have a magical college experience at Yale, but Princeton was terrible for you. Seems like maybe the entire group of top schools were/would have been a bad fit for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from Princeton years ago and had a similarly bleak, lonely experience, despite having come from a well-off background (and majoring in English, not computer science). My DDs chose Yale and Rice and each had a fantastic time and made lifelong friends. “The best damn place of all?” They’ve got some work to do.

Your kids are obviously their own people.

I am struggling to understand why you might think you would have a magical college experience at Yale, but Princeton was terrible for you. Seems like maybe the entire group of top schools were/would have been a bad fit for you.

DP here. Do you really not get that the overall personality/culture/vibe at these "top schools" is quite different?

Yes, there are kids who could transfer from one T-10 school to another and have the exact same experience, good or bad. But I think that's rare.

Most people are affected by the environments in which we live, work, and play. I'm the same person, but I had very different experiences at one BigLaw firm vs. another. Peers on paper and in so many other ways, but with a completely different organizational personality/culture/vibe. Same with when I lived in NYC vs. DC vs. a smaller city. I'm the same person in all of these settings, but my experiences (and my feelings about them) were very different.

Finally, I'm someone who went to a T-10 school that's known for the "work hard / play hard" thing. Was that true all of the time? Of course not. But that was the unstated but well-understood personality of the place. Great if you want a more campus-focused, social college experience with the rigor of a top-notch school (including all the effort that requires in between being social.)

The school I chose was perfect for me, but it most certainly would not be for all T-10 applicants. Just the same way a more "grindy" school or a more urban school wouldn't be for me either. Top colleges are not fungible commodities.

[Anonymous]

I would have made a video exactly like this one my junior year at Stanford. Being nearly two decades out I'm now really glad that I attended. As a result of the academic rigor I'm now capable of churning out massive amounts of work over a short period of time, without panicking. But yes, it was a very stressful environment.

One thing to consider is that this guy might just be in the wrong program. I really struggled in my hard science major, but absolutely loved senior year once I'd finished up nearly all my science credits and was able to complete a humanities/social sciences minor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why on earth doesn't this student transfer?

His parents will kill him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from Princeton years ago and had a similarly bleak, lonely experience, despite having come from a well-off background (and majoring in English, not computer science). My DDs chose Yale and Rice and each had a fantastic time and made lifelong friends. “The best damn place of all?” They’ve got some work to do.

Your kids are obviously their own people.

I am struggling to understand why you might think you would have a magical college experience at Yale, but Princeton was terrible for you. Seems like maybe the entire group of top schools were/would have been a bad fit for you.

My Yale friends tell me they are envious of how Princeton alumni seem to be a tighter group who are more loyal to their school and have more fun at reunions. But of course alumni had a different experience than current undergraduates. Grading is tougher at Princeton and it's become more STEM-oriented, and that translates into more stressed-out kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh Please. There is no way I would take one kids opinion and make that the rule. All the other very happy, successful students aren't whining on social media for clicks. They are living their best lives. Get out of your dorm and join a club.

How do you explain the rash of suicides by Princeton students?

Current Princeton students have had to deal with iPads in their strollers, peak bad reading instruction, peak Common Core testing lunacy, the college application consulting culture, lunatic parents who think it’s easy for ordinary bright kids to get A’s in Ivy League STEM classes, and being locked in their homes for about a year due to COVID.

And they’re living in a world destroyed by global warming where the government lets people with guns come shoot them in school.

And, on top of that, Princeton is probably full of mean girls and mean guys.

What’s amazing is that most of the kids keep going, not that some give up.

Exactly. My father, who went through the Great Depression & then fought his way across Europe as an infantry soldier, always told me how grateful he was that he didn’t have to endure Common Core testing & college consultants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh Please. There is no way I would take one kids opinion and make that the rule. All the other very happy, successful students aren't whining on social media for clicks. They are living their best lives. Get out of your dorm and join a club.

How do you explain the rash of suicides by Princeton students?

Current Princeton students have had to deal with iPads in their strollers, peak bad reading instruction, peak Common Core testing lunacy, the college application consulting culture, lunatic parents who think it’s easy for ordinary bright kids to get A’s in Ivy League STEM classes, and being locked in their homes for about a year due to COVID.

And they’re living in a world destroyed by global warming where the government lets people with guns come shoot them in school.

And, on top of that, Princeton is probably full of mean girls and mean guys.

What’s amazing is that most of the kids keep going, not that some give up.

Exactly. My father, who went through the Great Depression & then fought his way across Europe as an infantry soldier, always told me how grateful he was that he didn’t have to endure Common Core testing & college consultants.