Uncomfortable truth: non-partiers wind up working for the partiers

[Anonymous]

My kids dominated both, rolled through Princeton, HBS and the New York social scene on their way to hundreds of millions and the ability to quit it all and get into what they really wanted (teaching and coaching for one, wine for the other). People should be their best in all facets of life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Naive students and parents, usually middle class and below, disdain the Greek system and talk about how they don't want to participate. They claim they're more serious students and aren't into that scene.

What these people don't understand is that the Greek social scene actually trains you to operate in the business world. You learn the importance of socializing, sizing people up at a glance, social drinking, and how to present yourself so that you're accepted and click with the executive class. Most importantly, you learn that you need to be extroverted and to cultivate connections to succeed in your career.

The nose to the grindstone "strivers" don't learn these things. They think the real world is like the classroom, when in fact it's much like a fraternity social. They dress the wrong way, say the wrong things, and clumsily offer opinions that might be true but are socially awkward. So they get pigeonholed as drones. They don't get the promotions, and they don't get the hot spouses.

I've advised my kids to scout out the best Greek orgs, and they've turned out great. They're not brilliant intellectuals, but their superstars socially and interpersonally. They know how to size up a crowd and maximize the benefit to themselves, to capitalize on opportunities to engage with people who can help them. They also know how to avoid people who will damage their reputations, and they don't hold one ounce of guilt for being what some would say is "mean". They know you can't please everyone, so connect with the important people and be the one who others try to please.

Define “turned out great”.

OP here. One is a very successful pharma rep and engaged to a surgeon she met on one of her stops. The other is in a management trainee program at a Fortune 100 company. To reply to another poster, I had been referring to strivers in the classroom, the brown-nose types. But yes they are strivers where it counts, in climbing the latter and engaging people.

I’m sorry for your loss. Thoughts and prayers.

[Anonymous]

"Naive parents and students, usually from the middle class and below"

OMG, this is pathetic and so freaking middle class.

[Anonymous]

We really should stop wasting our breath on this idiot.

Very tiresome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol, no y'all are working for the athletes.

What kinds of athletes were Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Gates, Pichai, Jensen Huang, Jobs, etc. etc.?

95% of Fortune 500 CEOs played college sports. Former Whole Foods CEO Walter Robb was the captain of the Stanford Soccer Team. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan played rugby at Brown University. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was captain of his high school fencing team.

'college sports'?
Nope, that was very misleading stupid article.
Show real sources.

So companies love to see applicants that have played college sports. BIL is at GS and they are always looking for those types of ppl bc they have discipline, know how to put up with pain, and are used to working hard. D1 athletes have a definite advantage but also need some brains to back it up. Unless you are related to someone

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Naive students and parents, usually middle class and below, disdain the Greek system and talk about how they don't want to participate. They claim they're more serious students and aren't into that scene.

What these people don't understand is that the Greek social scene actually trains you to operate in the business world. You learn the importance of socializing, sizing people up at a glance, social drinking, and how to present yourself so that you're accepted and click with the executive class. Most importantly, you learn that you need to be extroverted and to cultivate connections to succeed in your career.

The nose to the grindstone "strivers" don't learn these things. They think the real world is like the classroom, when in fact it's much like a fraternity social. They dress the wrong way, say the wrong things, and clumsily offer opinions that might be true but are socially awkward. So they get pigeonholed as drones. They don't get the promotions, and they don't get the hot spouses.

I've advised my kids to scout out the best Greek orgs, and they've turned out great. They're not brilliant intellectuals, but their superstars socially and interpersonally. They know how to size up a crowd and maximize the benefit to themselves, to capitalize on opportunities to engage with people who can help them. They also know how to avoid people who will damage their reputations, and they don't hold one ounce of guilt for being what some would say is "mean". They know you can't please everyone, so connect with the important people and be the one who others try to please.

This cracks me up! So, I did not go Greek in college, yet I somehow managed to make my way up to the senior ranks of my company and am doing just fine, thank you! Several years ago, I joined a charity organization that I later learned was basically a continuation of sorority life. Nice women, but — interestingly enough — none of them were working outside the home, so your idea that you need to be Greek to succeed in your career is off base. Lol.

[Anonymous]

Op, my daughter is already married to a surgeon and my son is a CEO, and they didn't have greek life

[Anonymous]

You know when even Jeff thinks that your post is "one of the most obnoxious posts I've read in ages" that you're severely off base and lacking in self awareness. 🤣

"Next was a thread posted in the "College and University Discussion" titled, "Uncomfortable truth: non-partiers wind up working for the partiers". What the original poster means by "partiers" are fraternity members. In a full throated defence and promotion of the Greek system, the original poster has composed one of the most obnoxious posts I've read in ages. In the original poster's world, women exist only to be "hot" and men exist only to be useful for her sons' advancement. The poster contends that the Greek system is terrific because it teaches "the importance of socializing, sizing people up at a glance, social drinking, and how to present yourself so that you're accepted and click with the executive class." The fraternity brothers learn to engage with people that can help them and avoid those who can't. There is no indication that the system teaches its members how to contribute to society or to help others. Rather, this poster views everything through a lense of self-benefit. I've said before that the one sure way to ensure that your post gets a lot of response is to get everything wrong. Viewed that way, it is understandable that this thread was among yesterday's most active. Suffice it to say that posters voiced lots of objections. But, I think one poster summed things up best by simply writing that the thread was the "Awful post of the day".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids dominated both, rolled through Princeton, HBS and the New York social scene on their way to hundreds of millions and the ability to quit it all and get into what they really wanted (teaching and coaching for one, wine for the other). People should be their best in all facets of life.

I know many people like this. The rest of the country would probably be appalled at the sheer number of Ivy grads who have amassed this level of wealth without really having invented or created anything. Hedge funds, private equity, etc.