Average kid in an Ivy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently a lot of people in these threads have never been to an ivy league school. I got a PhD in an ivy league school and taught classes to undergraduates there, as well as sat in some classes with graduate and undergraduate students (some large lectures are blended with a phd seminar component tacked on). I can assure you that there are MANY *average* students in the ivies, and that many of them are not rich or entitled. How did they get in? Well, I'm ballparking the ivies taking in 20k students per year and it just turns out that we don't have 20k stellar people in the united states each year. Go figure.

Apparently a lot of people don’t have to take statistics to get an Ivy League PhD.

20,000 students out of 3.7 million graduating each year... that’s a definition of “average” I was never taught.

Actually one of my phd concentrations was in statistics. I've taken seven probability and statistics courses. And I'm telling you that the ivy league is unable to recruit 20k stellar people in the united states each year. I saw it with my own eyes over and over again.

Lol. Sorry, I find this impossible to believe. Someone with a Ph D “concentration” in statistics would not use the word “average” in that cavalier and vernacular fashion.

I don't care if you believe I have a PhD with a concentration in statistics or not. You're just a housewife on a mom website

And you are a liar who doesn't know what "average" means. Tells are tells! That's why lying is hard and best left to the gifted.

Or those with money......

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'm the teacher who wrote about the student whose parents bribed and bullied to ensure their child got the grades and recs he needed (plus, they lied in the essay). 1. It was very easy for them to pay the teachers and counsellors to do this. This was an international school where the US/UK teachers received plus packages and the "local hires" received the equivalent of $500 per month, and local hires taught some core subject classes. I am sure there were some US/UK teachers who accepted the bribe money in that case as well, and I am sure there are also teachers in the US who would give grades or recs for enough money. 2. No, they didn't check to confirm the facts in the essay. I don't know how they could have done this, or what they might have expected for confirmation of this story. 3. The father was a high level diplomat, and I know he had his colleagues supplying reference as well.

The student was high average. He was also mean and disrespectful to teachers and peers, and participated in no extracurriculars in high school. His father got him one internship at the embassy during a summer, and he quit after a week. There were no hooks, and no, I don't think applying from overseas is a hook at all. I have been teaching in international schools for almost 15 years, and every year many students apply to US universities. Ivy acceptances seem to be rarer among these students than they were among the students I taught back when I lived in the US.

I'm sure this is probably true...but it seems like a pretty unusual situation that was facilitated by the kid's father's position. Hardly likely that it's super common.

[Anonymous]

I think it is unbelievably common for parents of all denominations to give new meaning to the vibe tiger parent. There is another thread about “my kid might not make it at an ivy”. You are correct, it might not be for them, and there is no shame in transferring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently a lot of people in these threads have never been to an ivy league school. I got a PhD in an ivy league school and taught classes to undergraduates there, as well as sat in some classes with graduate and undergraduate students (some large lectures are blended with a phd seminar component tacked on). I can assure you that there are MANY *average* students in the ivies, and that many of them are not rich or entitled. How did they get in? Well, I'm ballparking the ivies taking in 20k students per year and it just turns out that we don't have 20k stellar people in the united states each year. Go figure.

Apparently a lot of people don’t have to take statistics to get an Ivy League PhD.

20,000 students out of 3.7 million graduating each year... that’s a definition of “average” I was never taught.

Actually one of my phd concentrations was in statistics. I've taken seven probability and statistics courses. And I'm telling you that the ivy league is unable to recruit 20k stellar people in the united states each year. I saw it with my own eyes over and over again.

Lol. Sorry, I find this impossible to believe. Someone with a Ph D “concentration” in statistics would not use the word “average” in that cavalier and vernacular fashion.

I don't care if you believe I have a PhD with a concentration in statistics or not. You're just a housewife on a mom website

And you are a liar who doesn't know what "average" means. Tells are tells! That's why lying is hard and best left to the gifted.

Lady, I'm 99.9% IQ and I make high six figures doing a job that requires high intellect. I know it's hard to understand for someone searching Rachel Ray recipes and venturing into a random thread trying to bring up her freshman statistics knowledge. "But muh friends whose educated doesn't USE the word 'average'". It's in the thread title, genius.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently a lot of people in these threads have never been to an ivy league school. I got a PhD in an ivy league school and taught classes to undergraduates there, as well as sat in some classes with graduate and undergraduate students (some large lectures are blended with a phd seminar component tacked on). I can assure you that there are MANY *average* students in the ivies, and that many of them are not rich or entitled. How did they get in? Well, I'm ballparking the ivies taking in 20k students per year and it just turns out that we don't have 20k stellar people in the united states each year. Go figure.

Apparently a lot of people don’t have to take statistics to get an Ivy League PhD.

20,000 students out of 3.7 million graduating each year... that’s a definition of “average” I was never taught.

Actually one of my phd concentrations was in statistics. I've taken seven probability and statistics courses. And I'm telling you that the ivy league is unable to recruit 20k stellar people in the united states each year. I saw it with my own eyes over and over again.

Lol. Sorry, I find this impossible to believe. Someone with a Ph D “concentration” in statistics would not use the word “average” in that cavalier and vernacular fashion.

I don't care if you believe I have a PhD with a concentration in statistics or not. You're just a housewife on a mom website

And you are a liar who doesn't know what "average" means. Tells are tells! That's why lying is hard and best left to the gifted.

Lady, I'm 99.9% IQ and I make high six figures doing a job that requires high intellect. I know it's hard to understand for someone searching Rachel Ray recipes and venturing into a random thread trying to bring up her freshman statistics knowledge. "But muh friends whose educated doesn't USE the word 'average'". It's in the thread title, genius.

Just to clarify, because I feel we may be debating definitions of words, which was not my attention: I'm not saying that many students in the ivy league are technically around the 50th percentile. What I'm saying is that the 85th percentile is practically indistinguishable from the 50th percentile and the ivy league has plenty, PLENTY of 85th percentile students. I think you just don't understand what it means to be in the top 1% or top .01%.

[Anonymous]

The reason we don’t hear about non famous people bribing their way into ivies is because - wait for it - they are not famous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like folks in these threads have never been around very many Ivy alums. Many (most?) Ivy alums are relatively unimpressive and often live very average lives. And unless you're in the rich "in" crowd before college, you're not likely to penetrate it on campus. Your dorky overachiever middle class kid will very likely fall in with the dorky overachiever middle class nobodies. Then your kid will very likely marry a state schooler. Stop trying to live through your kids--this creepy obsession with Ivies and how they're THE ticket to mobility, a path high status and decadence, is not only delusional, it's sad.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently a lot of people in these threads have never been to an ivy league school. I got a PhD in an ivy league school and taught classes to undergraduates there, as well as sat in some classes with graduate and undergraduate students (some large lectures are blended with a phd seminar component tacked on). I can assure you that there are MANY *average* students in the ivies, and that many of them are not rich or entitled. How did they get in? Well, I'm ballparking the ivies taking in 20k students per year and it just turns out that we don't have 20k stellar people in the united states each year. Go figure.

Apparently a lot of people don’t have to take statistics to get an Ivy League PhD.

20,000 students out of 3.7 million graduating each year... that’s a definition of “average” I was never taught.

Actually one of my phd concentrations was in statistics. I've taken seven probability and statistics courses. And I'm telling you that the ivy league is unable to recruit 20k stellar people in the united states each year. I saw it with my own eyes over and over again.

Lol. Sorry, I find this impossible to believe. Someone with a Ph D “concentration” in statistics would not use the word “average” in that cavalier and vernacular fashion.

I don't care if you believe I have a PhD with a concentration in statistics or not. You're just a housewife on a mom website

And you are a liar who doesn't know what "average" means. Tells are tells! That's why lying is hard and best left to the gifted.

Lady, I'm 99.9% IQ and I make high six figures doing a job that requires high intellect. I know it's hard to understand for someone searching Rachel Ray recipes and venturing into a random thread trying to bring up her freshman statistics knowledge. "But muh friends whose educated doesn't USE the word 'average'". It's in the thread title, genius.

DP. Bro this is so cringe. Everyone who read this is dying from second hand embarrassment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t David Hogg attend Harvard after being rejected by San Diego State University? What does that tell you?

It tells you once you deduct student-athlete recruits, URMs, and rich and/or hyper-connected applicants like David Hogg, there are probably less than 1,000 total seats avail at the eight Ivies each year.

[Anonymous]

Even if a crazy striver Tiger Mom shoehorns their kid in, if they don't have the internal drive the experience is squandered. You can't control your kid at college, your future Goldman banker or surgeon will do their own thing and there's nothing you can do about it. So you'll brag they got in, but four years later when they land some average career or can only get into a mediocre law school, you'll realize it was all pretty pointless. Meanwhile your Facebook timeline will be full of normal state university kids they went to high school with going to medical school and making big bucks in random paths from pharmaceutical sales to software engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently a lot of people in these threads have never been to an ivy league school. I got a PhD in an ivy league school and taught classes to undergraduates there, as well as sat in some classes with graduate and undergraduate students (some large lectures are blended with a phd seminar component tacked on). I can assure you that there are MANY *average* students in the ivies, and that many of them are not rich or entitled. How did they get in? Well, I'm ballparking the ivies taking in 20k students per year and it just turns out that we don't have 20k stellar people in the united states each year. Go figure.

Apparently a lot of people don’t have to take statistics to get an Ivy League PhD.

20,000 students out of 3.7 million graduating each year... that’s a definition of “average” I was never taught.

Actually one of my phd concentrations was in statistics. I've taken seven probability and statistics courses. And I'm telling you that the ivy league is unable to recruit 20k stellar people in the united states each year. I saw it with my own eyes over and over again.

Lol. Sorry, I find this impossible to believe. Someone with a Ph D “concentration” in statistics would not use the word “average” in that cavalier and vernacular fashion.

I don't care if you believe I have a PhD with a concentration in statistics or not. You're just a housewife on a mom website

And you are a liar who doesn't know what "average" means. Tells are tells! That's why lying is hard and best left to the gifted.

Lady, I'm 99.9% IQ and I make high six figures doing a job that requires high intellect. I know it's hard to understand for someone searching Rachel Ray recipes and venturing into a random thread trying to bring up her freshman statistics knowledge. "But muh friends whose educated doesn't USE the word 'average'". It's in the thread title, genius.

Ha ha ha! You can throw in all the ad-hominems you like, it does not bother me. The fact is I know what "average" means, and you do not!

But thanks for this post that genuinely made me laugh, and now I know I have been taken by a troll, because nobody says "I'm 99.9% IQ ". Pretty good line there, I give you credit for it. Ya got me. I been got.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just to clarify, because I feel we may be debating definitions of words, which was not my attention: I'm not saying that many students in the ivy league are technically around the 50th percentile. What I'm saying is that the 85th percentile is practically indistinguishable from the 50th percentile and the ivy league has plenty, PLENTY of 85th percentile students. I think you just don't understand what it means to be in the top 1% or top .01%.

Ha again! This gets better. 85=50! Statistics Ph. D.! And I do think that was exactly your "attention".

I genuinely admire your troll skills. Really, I do. As a troll, you are in fact a genius.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even if a crazy striver Tiger Mom shoehorns their kid in, if they don't have the internal drive the experience is squandered. You can't control your kid at college, your future Goldman banker or surgeon will do their own thing and there's nothing you can do about it. So you'll brag they got in, but four years later when they land some average career or can only get into a mediocre law school, you'll realize it was all pretty pointless. Meanwhile your Facebook timeline will be full of normal state university kids they went to high school with going to medical school and making big bucks in random paths from pharmaceutical sales to software engineering.

It would seem that you're projecting your own sad mediocrity on others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the bottom line is people are likely to hype up their own kid in their minds (his grades aren't perfect, but look at those extracurriculars!!) and dismiss the achievements of kids not their own (assuming every URM would not have gotten in without that "hook," calling a kid average when you don't actually know their scores/GPA/essays). It's much more likely that the kid is actually an exceptional candidate in a way that is not on your radar than that the parents have bribed the kid's way in.

+1,000
I find that the parents who constantly brag about their kids’ accomplishments - on social media and/or in person - are always the ones who are shocked to find out that other kids are extremely bright or accomplished. They simply don’t talk about it or have obnoxious parents who do. It’s pretty delicious when the first kind of parent finds out that the kid they always assumed was “average” because they kept a low profile, is actually headed to an Ivy or equivalent.

[Anonymous]

There are some real muppets on this thread.