Perspective on the Madness

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in terms of jobs but in terms of money Musk (UPenn), Bezos (Princeton), Larry Ellison (dropout UIUC), zuck & gates (dropout Harvard), Page (UMich), Brin (UMaryland), Dell (dropout UTA), Ballmer (Harvard), Bloomberg (JHU) have all the bananas.

Steve Jobs (dropout Reed College)
Mark Cuban (University of Pittsburgh college, Indiana University MBA)

Jobs' kids attended Stanford and Harvard. Cuban has a kid at Vanderbilt and a crew recruit daughter going to UCLA.

What does it matter where the kids go? They are nepo babies now. Ofc they'll inherit privilege. It's the schools the parent went to (Mark Cuban) who made the wealth that matters.

Because those same parents when wealthy want their kids to attend top schools...even though it doesn't matter at all where their kids attend college.

Also, as someone else rightly pointed out...it's like a 10-to-1 ratio of elite school grads to non-elite if you are looking at the wealthiest people.

It's more that they can afford to attend elite schools. Also, the ones you are listing have smart kids. Those kids are not Nepo kids just getting in on name alone.

Look at Gate's kids. Oldest went to Stanford and onto a top medical school in NYC. You don't get the 2nd part without being actually really smart. Son went to Chicago and is also smart (just out of spotlight). Those kids grew up with privilege but also had expectations to do well in school and forge a path for themselves in life. Sure they have all the privileges and stuff paid for, but they wouldn't get that if they just wanted to sit back and do nothing.

Tons of people can afford to attend elite schools...and they do.

I guess I am not understanding whey it's perfectly fine for a billionaire's kid to attend an elite school...but it's a sign of "madness" for a BigLaw partner's kid (or equivalent millionaire family) to attend.

It's not "madness". But nobody's kid, IMO, should be caught up in the craziness of striving for Elite Schools while missing out on actual learning and developing as a person. You can achieve a lot, strive to be the best but know that if you don't get into T20, you are likely going to a tT50 and that is excellent. Don't stress about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in terms of jobs but in terms of money Musk (UPenn), Bezos (Princeton), Larry Ellison (dropout UIUC), zuck & gates (dropout Harvard), Page (UMich), Brin (UMaryland), Dell (dropout UTA), Ballmer (Harvard), Bloomberg (JHU) have all the bananas.

Steve Jobs (dropout Reed College)
Mark Cuban (University of Pittsburgh college, Indiana University MBA)

Jobs' kids attended Stanford and Harvard. Cuban has a kid at Vanderbilt and a crew recruit daughter going to UCLA.

What does it matter where the kids go? They are nepo babies now. Ofc they'll inherit privilege. It's the schools the parent went to (Mark Cuban) who made the wealth that matters.

Because those same parents when wealthy want their kids to attend top schools...even though it doesn't matter at all where their kids attend college.

Also, as someone else rightly pointed out...it's like a 10-to-1 ratio of elite school grads to non-elite if you are looking at the wealthiest people.

Now do "economic background" for those wealthiest people.

The economic background skews UMC but not wealthy. Zuckerberg’s dad is a dentist…Bezos mom had him in HS and stepdad was a network engineer.

There is no doubt that being UMC or above is a huge leg up, but other than the Walton children that inherited Wal Mart stock (and BTW didn’t really attend elite schools for the most part), the families played little to no role in the ultimate success.

Bezos was given 245k to start Amazon by his stepdad. Zuckerberg's dad gave him 100k. Might seem like nothing to you but this much capital with zero pressure to reimburse it is a huge head start.

Both co-invested in larger funding rounds which is quite different than giving the only $$$s.

Bezos worked at DE Shaw (hedge fund) and had far more personal wealth than his parents at the time.

Once more…it is an advantage to be UMC, but the families played little in the scheme of things for ultimate success.

But the schools they attended did? Bezos didn’t start Amazon until nearly a decade after he graduated. Zuckerberg barely spent time at Harvard though it’s where he found the idea he stole, so that counts for something, I guess.

It's hard to not give credit to Harvard for assembling the group of people that became the FB founders. Literally, this is why elite school alums have such outlier massive outcomes.

I doubt FB would ever have happened if Zuckerberg had attended SUNY Binghamton (he is from Westchester...hence referencing a SUNY).

It would have happened in some form because it was someone else’s idea (at Harvard).

Smart people have smart ideas and come up with big things. They also attend top colleges. I’m not sure why you credit the school versus the people, or give more weight to the school than other factors around them. This is the lack of perspective mentioned.

This is silly...I guess you get all your facts from the movies.

BTW, if smart people attend top colleges and that is where the big ideas are created...how is that not a reason why people are "caught up in the madness" to attend these schools?

Nobody is claiming that the institution of Harvard magically imbued a bunch of random kids with these talents...but they do assemble a class of kids that they hope/expect will do great things.

DP - This explains why it is madness. The 'elite' schools are great, of course, and are a great option for both wealthy and low-income families, who should benefit from them. The UMC needs to weigh all the options and avoid getting caught up in prestige or 'the possibility of their child becoming a billionaire' part of it. Most end up with huge debt and, if they are lucky, do only marginally better than their public school counterparts.

I completely agree...however, it makes perfect sense for an UMC kid to decide they want to work at a hedge fund, gets caught up in the "madness" to attend Wharton...attends Wharton...and then goes to work for Point72 or any number of other hedge funds founded by Wharton grads who disproportionally hire Wharton/Penn (STEM usually) grads.

Sometimes in fact there is a method to the madness...even though I know DCUM thinks it's all distasteful.

It'd make sense if your 17 year old is passionate about working at a hedge fund. Most kids get caught up in the perceived expectations from the parents.

Yup---unless your parents and all their friends work for hedge funds/on Wall Street, your typical 17 yo does not have striver goals of Working for a Hedge fund. A normal kid would just want to do data analytics or a finance degree and go from there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in terms of jobs but in terms of money Musk (UPenn), Bezos (Princeton), Larry Ellison (dropout UIUC), zuck & gates (dropout Harvard), Page (UMich), Brin (UMaryland), Dell (dropout UTA), Ballmer (Harvard), Bloomberg (JHU) have all the bananas.

Steve Jobs (dropout Reed College)
Mark Cuban (University of Pittsburgh college, Indiana University MBA)

Jobs' kids attended Stanford and Harvard. Cuban has a kid at Vanderbilt and a crew recruit daughter going to UCLA.

What does it matter where the kids go? They are nepo babies now. Ofc they'll inherit privilege. It's the schools the parent went to (Mark Cuban) who made the wealth that matters.

Because those same parents when wealthy want their kids to attend top schools...even though it doesn't matter at all where their kids attend college.

Also, as someone else rightly pointed out...it's like a 10-to-1 ratio of elite school grads to non-elite if you are looking at the wealthiest people.

Now do "economic background" for those wealthiest people.

The economic background skews UMC but not wealthy. Zuckerberg’s dad is a dentist…Bezos mom had him in HS and stepdad was a network engineer.

There is no doubt that being UMC or above is a huge leg up, but other than the Walton children that inherited Wal Mart stock (and BTW didn’t really attend elite schools for the most part), the families played little to no role in the ultimate success.

Bezos was given 245k to start Amazon by his stepdad. Zuckerberg's dad gave him 100k. Might seem like nothing to you but this much capital with zero pressure to reimburse it is a huge head start.

Both co-invested in larger funding rounds which is quite different than giving the only $$$s.

Bezos worked at DE Shaw (hedge fund) and had far more personal wealth than his parents at the time.

Once more…it is an advantage to be UMC, but the families played little in the scheme of things for ultimate success.

But the schools they attended did? Bezos didn’t start Amazon until nearly a decade after he graduated. Zuckerberg barely spent time at Harvard though it’s where he found the idea he stole, so that counts for something, I guess.

He didn't steal the idea.
The idea was already in the air; there were many competitors at the time.
Zuck was hired to build Facebook by a pair of dumb rich aholes (Winklevoss), decided he'd rather keep his work for himself and be the rich ahole too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in terms of jobs but in terms of money Musk (UPenn), Bezos (Princeton), Larry Ellison (dropout UIUC), zuck & gates (dropout Harvard), Page (UMich), Brin (UMaryland), Dell (dropout UTA), Ballmer (Harvard), Bloomberg (JHU) have all the bananas.

Steve Jobs (dropout Reed College)
Mark Cuban (University of Pittsburgh college, Indiana University MBA)

Jobs' kids attended Stanford and Harvard. Cuban has a kid at Vanderbilt and a crew recruit daughter going to UCLA.

What does it matter where the kids go? They are nepo babies now. Ofc they'll inherit privilege. It's the schools the parent went to (Mark Cuban) who made the wealth that matters.

Because those same parents when wealthy want their kids to attend top schools...even though it doesn't matter at all where their kids attend college.

Also, as someone else rightly pointed out...it's like a 10-to-1 ratio of elite school grads to non-elite if you are looking at the wealthiest people.

Now do "economic background" for those wealthiest people.

The economic background skews UMC but not wealthy. Zuckerberg’s dad is a dentist…Bezos mom had him in HS and stepdad was a network engineer.

There is no doubt that being UMC or above is a huge leg up, but other than the Walton children that inherited Wal Mart stock (and BTW didn’t really attend elite schools for the most part), the families played little to no role in the ultimate success.

Bezos was given 245k to start Amazon by his stepdad. Zuckerberg's dad gave him 100k. Might seem like nothing to you but this much capital with zero pressure to reimburse it is a huge head start.

Both co-invested in larger funding rounds which is quite different than giving the only $$$s.

Bezos worked at DE Shaw (hedge fund) and had far more personal wealth than his parents at the time.

Once more…it is an advantage to be UMC, but the families played little in the scheme of things for ultimate success.

But the schools they attended did? Bezos didn’t start Amazon until nearly a decade after he graduated. Zuckerberg barely spent time at Harvard though it’s where he found the idea he stole, so that counts for something, I guess.

It's hard to not give credit to Harvard for assembling the group of people that became the FB founders. Literally, this is why elite school alums have such outlier massive outcomes.

I doubt FB would ever have happened if Zuckerberg had attended SUNY Binghamton (he is from Westchester...hence referencing a SUNY).

It would have happened in some form because it was someone else’s idea (at Harvard).

Smart people have smart ideas and come up with big things. They also attend top colleges. I’m not sure why you credit the school versus the people, or give more weight to the school than other factors around them. This is the lack of perspective mentioned.

This is silly...I guess you get all your facts from the movies.

BTW, if smart people attend top colleges and that is where the big ideas are created...how is that not a reason why people are "caught up in the madness" to attend these schools?

Nobody is claiming that the institution of Harvard magically imbued a bunch of random kids with these talents...but they do assemble a class of kids that they hope/expect will do great things.

DP - This explains why it is madness. The 'elite' schools are great, of course, and are a great option for both wealthy and low-income families, who should benefit from them. The UMC needs to weigh all the options and avoid getting caught up in prestige or 'the possibility of their child becoming a billionaire' part of it. Most end up with huge debt and, if they are lucky, do only marginally better than their public school counterparts.

I completely agree...however, it makes perfect sense for an UMC kid to decide they want to work at a hedge fund, gets caught up in the "madness" to attend Wharton...attends Wharton...and then goes to work for Point72 or any number of other hedge funds founded by Wharton grads who disproportionally hire Wharton/Penn (STEM usually) grads.

Sometimes in fact there is a method to the madness...even though I know DCUM thinks it's all distasteful.

It'd make sense if your 17 year old is passionate about working at a hedge fund. Most kids get caught up in the perceived expectations from the parents.

Yup---unless your parents and all their friends work for hedge funds/on Wall Street, your typical 17 yo does not have striver goals of Working for a Hedge fund. A normal kid would just want to do data analytics or a finance degree and go from there

I guarantee you that a 17 year old is more likely to have heard of a hedge fund and know that you can make huge $$$s (though not understanding how they make the gazillion $$$s) vs. "want to do data analytics".

I also pretty much guarantee you that nearly 100% of all kids at Wharton know about hedge funds the day they walk in the door freshman year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in terms of jobs but in terms of money Musk (UPenn), Bezos (Princeton), Larry Ellison (dropout UIUC), zuck & gates (dropout Harvard), Page (UMich), Brin (UMaryland), Dell (dropout UTA), Ballmer (Harvard), Bloomberg (JHU) have all the bananas.

Steve Jobs (dropout Reed College)
Mark Cuban (University of Pittsburgh college, Indiana University MBA)

Jobs' kids attended Stanford and Harvard. Cuban has a kid at Vanderbilt and a crew recruit daughter going to UCLA.

What does it matter where the kids go? They are nepo babies now. Ofc they'll inherit privilege. It's the schools the parent went to (Mark Cuban) who made the wealth that matters.

Because those same parents when wealthy want their kids to attend top schools...even though it doesn't matter at all where their kids attend college.

Also, as someone else rightly pointed out...it's like a 10-to-1 ratio of elite school grads to non-elite if you are looking at the wealthiest people.

Now do "economic background" for those wealthiest people.

The economic background skews UMC but not wealthy. Zuckerberg’s dad is a dentist…Bezos mom had him in HS and stepdad was a network engineer.

There is no doubt that being UMC or above is a huge leg up, but other than the Walton children that inherited Wal Mart stock (and BTW didn’t really attend elite schools for the most part), the families played little to no role in the ultimate success.

Bezos was given 245k to start Amazon by his stepdad. Zuckerberg's dad gave him 100k. Might seem like nothing to you but this much capital with zero pressure to reimburse it is a huge head start.

Both co-invested in larger funding rounds which is quite different than giving the only $$$s.

Bezos worked at DE Shaw (hedge fund) and had far more personal wealth than his parents at the time.

Once more…it is an advantage to be UMC, but the families played little in the scheme of things for ultimate success.

But the schools they attended did? Bezos didn’t start Amazon until nearly a decade after he graduated. Zuckerberg barely spent time at Harvard though it’s where he found the idea he stole, so that counts for something, I guess.

It's hard to not give credit to Harvard for assembling the group of people that became the FB founders. Literally, this is why elite school alums have such outlier massive outcomes.

I doubt FB would ever have happened if Zuckerberg had attended SUNY Binghamton (he is from Westchester...hence referencing a SUNY).

It would have happened in some form because it was someone else’s idea (at Harvard).

Smart people have smart ideas and come up with big things. They also attend top colleges. I’m not sure why you credit the school versus the people, or give more weight to the school than other factors around them. This is the lack of perspective mentioned.

This is silly...I guess you get all your facts from the movies.

BTW, if smart people attend top colleges and that is where the big ideas are created...how is that not a reason why people are "caught up in the madness" to attend these schools?

Nobody is claiming that the institution of Harvard magically imbued a bunch of random kids with these talents...but they do assemble a class of kids that they hope/expect will do great things.

DP - This explains why it is madness. The 'elite' schools are great, of course, and are a great option for both wealthy and low-income families, who should benefit from them. The UMC needs to weigh all the options and avoid getting caught up in prestige or 'the possibility of their child becoming a billionaire' part of it. Most end up with huge debt and, if they are lucky, do only marginally better than their public school counterparts.

I completely agree...however, it makes perfect sense for an UMC kid to decide they want to work at a hedge fund, gets caught up in the "madness" to attend Wharton...attends Wharton...and then goes to work for Point72 or any number of other hedge funds founded by Wharton grads who disproportionally hire Wharton/Penn (STEM usually) grads.

Sometimes in fact there is a method to the madness...even though I know DCUM thinks it's all distasteful.

It'd make sense if your 17 year old is passionate about working at a hedge fund. Most kids get caught up in the perceived expectations from the parents.

Yup---unless your parents and all their friends work for hedge funds/on Wall Street, your typical 17 yo does not have striver goals of Working for a Hedge fund. A normal kid would just want to do data analytics or a finance degree and go from there

Or they watch movies like The Big Short (my kid has probably watched 3+ times) or Dumb Money which both heavily involve hedge funds in the plots. The moral of Dumb Money is even though retail investors managed to crater Melvin Capital, Citadel made out like a bandit...and the Melvin Capital guy just founded another hedge fund.

I suppose Moneyball could be considered a data analytics movie...but not exactly fodder for pop culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in terms of jobs but in terms of money Musk (UPenn), Bezos (Princeton), Larry Ellison (dropout UIUC), zuck & gates (dropout Harvard), Page (UMich), Brin (UMaryland), Dell (dropout UTA), Ballmer (Harvard), Bloomberg (JHU) have all the bananas.

Steve Jobs (dropout Reed College)
Mark Cuban (University of Pittsburgh college, Indiana University MBA)

Jobs' kids attended Stanford and Harvard. Cuban has a kid at Vanderbilt and a crew recruit daughter going to UCLA.

What does it matter where the kids go? They are nepo babies now. Ofc they'll inherit privilege. It's the schools the parent went to (Mark Cuban) who made the wealth that matters.

Because those same parents when wealthy want their kids to attend top schools...even though it doesn't matter at all where their kids attend college.

Also, as someone else rightly pointed out...it's like a 10-to-1 ratio of elite school grads to non-elite if you are looking at the wealthiest people.

Now do "economic background" for those wealthiest people.

The economic background skews UMC but not wealthy. Zuckerberg’s dad is a dentist…Bezos mom had him in HS and stepdad was a network engineer.

There is no doubt that being UMC or above is a huge leg up, but other than the Walton children that inherited Wal Mart stock (and BTW didn’t really attend elite schools for the most part), the families played little to no role in the ultimate success.

Bezos was given 245k to start Amazon by his stepdad. Zuckerberg's dad gave him 100k. Might seem like nothing to you but this much capital with zero pressure to reimburse it is a huge head start.

Both co-invested in larger funding rounds which is quite different than giving the only $$$s.

Bezos worked at DE Shaw (hedge fund) and had far more personal wealth than his parents at the time.

Once more…it is an advantage to be UMC, but the families played little in the scheme of things for ultimate success.

But the schools they attended did? Bezos didn’t start Amazon until nearly a decade after he graduated. Zuckerberg barely spent time at Harvard though it’s where he found the idea he stole, so that counts for something, I guess.

It's hard to not give credit to Harvard for assembling the group of people that became the FB founders. Literally, this is why elite school alums have such outlier massive outcomes.

I doubt FB would ever have happened if Zuckerberg had attended SUNY Binghamton (he is from Westchester...hence referencing a SUNY).

It would have happened in some form because it was someone else’s idea (at Harvard).

Smart people have smart ideas and come up with big things. They also attend top colleges. I’m not sure why you credit the school versus the people, or give more weight to the school than other factors around them. This is the lack of perspective mentioned.

This is silly...I guess you get all your facts from the movies.

BTW, if smart people attend top colleges and that is where the big ideas are created...how is that not a reason why people are "caught up in the madness" to attend these schools?

Nobody is claiming that the institution of Harvard magically imbued a bunch of random kids with these talents...but they do assemble a class of kids that they hope/expect will do great things.

It’s not silly at all, I’m just explaining simplistically why there is a correlation between the most successful people and the top schools they went to. That isn’t causal. It’s the same reason you see top undergraduate schools well represented in top grad programs.

It’s why Buffett transferred from Wharton to Nebraska and still became the richest person alive (at one point) and one of the most successful investors of all time. It wasn’t because he spent two years at Penn. That’s perspective. But you would want to cite this as a reason to obsess about your kid going to Penn.

Warren Buffett went to Columbia Business School where Benjamin Graham taught, and then went to work at Graham's firm where Graham mentored him

Yes, so what you’re saying is that the more important thing is grad school and having good mentors and on the job training. Hence, perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in terms of jobs but in terms of money Musk (UPenn), Bezos (Princeton), Larry Ellison (dropout UIUC), zuck & gates (dropout Harvard), Page (UMich), Brin (UMaryland), Dell (dropout UTA), Ballmer (Harvard), Bloomberg (JHU) have all the bananas.

Steve Jobs (dropout Reed College)
Mark Cuban (University of Pittsburgh college, Indiana University MBA)

Jobs' kids attended Stanford and Harvard. Cuban has a kid at Vanderbilt and a crew recruit daughter going to UCLA.

What does it matter where the kids go? They are nepo babies now. Ofc they'll inherit privilege. It's the schools the parent went to (Mark Cuban) who made the wealth that matters.

Because those same parents when wealthy want their kids to attend top schools...even though it doesn't matter at all where their kids attend college.

Also, as someone else rightly pointed out...it's like a 10-to-1 ratio of elite school grads to non-elite if you are looking at the wealthiest people.

Now do "economic background" for those wealthiest people.

The economic background skews UMC but not wealthy. Zuckerberg’s dad is a dentist…Bezos mom had him in HS and stepdad was a network engineer.

There is no doubt that being UMC or above is a huge leg up, but other than the Walton children that inherited Wal Mart stock (and BTW didn’t really attend elite schools for the most part), the families played little to no role in the ultimate success.

Bezos was given 245k to start Amazon by his stepdad. Zuckerberg's dad gave him 100k. Might seem like nothing to you but this much capital with zero pressure to reimburse it is a huge head start.

Both co-invested in larger funding rounds which is quite different than giving the only $$$s.

Bezos worked at DE Shaw (hedge fund) and had far more personal wealth than his parents at the time.

Once more…it is an advantage to be UMC, but the families played little in the scheme of things for ultimate success.

But the schools they attended did? Bezos didn’t start Amazon until nearly a decade after he graduated. Zuckerberg barely spent time at Harvard though it’s where he found the idea he stole, so that counts for something, I guess.

He didn't steal the idea.
The idea was already in the air; there were many competitors at the time.
Zuck was hired to build Facebook by a pair of dumb rich aholes (Winklevoss), decided he'd rather keep his work for himself and be the rich ahole too.

Hint: if you’re hired to do work for a company and then take that work, it’s stealing.

There’s a reason the Winklevii still got super rich off Facebook.