Does anyone hate how competitive the world has become?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think most of the comments on this thread have missed the point. The reason that the schools in the DMV (and let’s face it we’re only talking about certain schools in particular neighborhoods) are so competitive is that the most competitive people come to this area. I have lived in NJ NY and Conn. I have friends in SF and LA and as far as I can tell they don’t hold a candle to dc. On my block there is not a single family where at least one of the parents don’t have an advanced degree. I have not met a single adult in my town that does not have a college degree. Other than than the SAHMs everyone I meet has a professional or management position. Competitive people have competitive kids which makes for a competitive community. When I lived in NJ there were lots of competive people but there were also people who had regular jobs who inherited their parents house or lived in low income apartments. But if you live in an area where the only housing is million plus single family homes you’re not going to get many people like that.

Yes that sounds stifling. The fact you are even aware of your neighbors’ jobs and professional degrees is telling.
I do think the best dynamics for kids are when there are a variety of income levels and family types. I live in CA, in a nice (although not fancy) neighborhood where the homes are 1.5-3m, and I have a variety of neighbors, including a few fireman. It’s pleasant. Certainly there isn’t any competition academically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most of the comments on this thread have missed the point. The reason that the schools in the DMV (and let’s face it we’re only talking about certain schools in particular neighborhoods) are so competitive is that the most competitive people come to this area. I have lived in NJ NY and Conn. I have friends in SF and LA and as far as I can tell they don’t hold a candle to dc. On my block there is not a single family where at least one of the parents don’t have an advanced degree. I have not met a single adult in my town that does not have a college degree. Other than than the SAHMs everyone I meet has a professional or management position. Competitive people have competitive kids which makes for a competitive community. When I lived in NJ there were lots of competive people but there were also people who had regular jobs who inherited their parents house or lived in low income apartments. But if you live in an area where the only housing is million plus single family homes you’re not going to get many people like that.

Yes that sounds stifling. The fact you are even aware of your neighbors’ jobs and professional degrees is telling.
I do think the best dynamics for kids are when there are a variety of income levels and family types. I live in CA, in a nice (although not fancy) neighborhood where the homes are 1.5-3m, and I have a variety of neighbors, including a few fireman. It’s pleasant. Certainly there isn’t any competition academically.

I posted above I also live in McLean in a similar neighborhood as pp. we probably know people in the their same neighborhood .25 miles from Langley high.

I guarantee you that there are equally competitive and rich streets and neighborhoods in NY, CT, NJ and CA.

Pp and I live in the $5m houses. Plenty of people in McLean live in modest 1.5m homes.

[Anonymous]

1.5 million for a home is not modest! Just have some perspective on it all - there are lots of kids who go to top schools and do not succeed there and there are lots who go to less sought after schools and do amazing. The things that matter in life, that make it rich and interesting and alive are not bought by travel sports and ivy diplomas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everything is so damn competitive now, and I don't know how people survive this world. It starts when someone is young with how competitive youth sports has become. It is extremely difficult to even make the JV team now. College admissions are more competitive and cutthroat than ever, and you have to be insanely lucky to get into a school like UVA, UMich, or UNC right now.

Even if you make it into a good college, the competition doesn't stop there. Most engineering, premed, and business clubs require applications and interviews to join. Greek life rejects most people who try to join. Getting research experience is extremely hard too.

And it is impossible to find a job now once you graduate.

How are kids supposed to survive now?

First off OP, T50 colleges have not added more seats over the century, yet population keeps going up.

Secondly, doing well in sports, or the arts, or some bespoke skilled club is a "hook" for college admissions, at a minimum, and a recruiting tool at the maximum.

Thirdly, there are non-American cultures with sayings like "Sit on your @$$ until you learn it" and their kids listen to them and sit on their @$$e$ for hours doing drills, homework, test prep.

Fourthly, despite the recent SCOTUS court cases, college Ad Coms still want to sprinkle around their admittances to different geographies, genders, races, nationalities, etc. to craft a cool, diverse learning environment.

Lastly, there's always grad school if you're hell-bent on a label. Easier to get in to T10 grad schools (still not super easy, and lots of clueless people still apply) than its undergrad.

One more thing, if you're really grooming your kid for college AdCom then do contrarian things like fencing, squash, crew, water polo, etc or big teams like LAX or football. Not small teams like basketball or golf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1.5 million for a home is not modest! Just have some perspective on it all - there are lots of kids who go to top schools and do not succeed there and there are lots who go to less sought after schools and do amazing. The things that matter in life, that make it rich and interesting and alive are not bought by travel sports and ivy diplomas.

This is what 1.5m gets you in McLean. I consider this a modest house.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8007-Lewinsville-Rd-Mc-Lean-VA-22102/51747862_zpid/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1.5 million for a home is not modest! Just have some perspective on it all - there are lots of kids who go to top schools and do not succeed there and there are lots who go to less sought after schools and do amazing. The things that matter in life, that make it rich and interesting and alive are not bought by travel sports and ivy diplomas.

This is what 1.5m gets you in McLean. I consider this a modest house.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8007-Lewinsville-Rd-Mc-Lean-VA-22102/51747862_zpid/

This looks like a 600k max house. Idk why people are willing to pay those prices. I'd move further out and buy something that looks the price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1.5 million for a home is not modest! Just have some perspective on it all - there are lots of kids who go to top schools and do not succeed there and there are lots who go to less sought after schools and do amazing. The things that matter in life, that make it rich and interesting and alive are not bought by travel sports and ivy diplomas.

This is what 1.5m gets you in McLean. I consider this a modest house.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8007-Lewinsville-Rd-Mc-Lean-VA-22102/51747862_zpid/

This looks like a 600k max house. Idk why people are willing to pay those prices. I'd move further out and buy something that looks the price.

Asians buy these ramblers all the time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1.5 million for a home is not modest! Just have some perspective on it all - there are lots of kids who go to top schools and do not succeed there and there are lots who go to less sought after schools and do amazing. The things that matter in life, that make it rich and interesting and alive are not bought by travel sports and ivy diplomas.

This is what 1.5m gets you in McLean. I consider this a modest house.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8007-Lewinsville-Rd-Mc-Lean-VA-22102/51747862_zpid/

This looks like a 600k max house. Idk why people are willing to pay those prices. I'd move further out and buy something that looks the price.

Asians buy these ramblers all the time

In my expensive neighborhood in McLean, the most expensive houses are also bought by Asians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1.5 million for a home is not modest! Just have some perspective on it all - there are lots of kids who go to top schools and do not succeed there and there are lots who go to less sought after schools and do amazing. The things that matter in life, that make it rich and interesting and alive are not bought by travel sports and ivy diplomas.

This is what 1.5m gets you in McLean. I consider this a modest house.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8007-Lewinsville-Rd-Mc-Lean-VA-22102/51747862_zpid/

This would be one of the nicest houses in the town in which I grew up. I’m sure I’m not the only one who could say that. 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 3K+ square feet is not “modest” by any reasonable understanding of the word.

[Anonymous]

No one cares about home values. Half the world pays cash, other quarter gets subsidies (and soon more w Kamala) and remainder put 20% down and big mortgage.

[Anonymous]

I said this before, and I'll say this again. In order to make a varsity team in expensive neighborhoods such as Langley, McLean, Potomac, kids, on average, are from either UMC or UC families, with extensive training when they were young.

You can, of course, point out a few exceptions here and there, but exceptions are not the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1.5 million for a home is not modest! Just have some perspective on it all - there are lots of kids who go to top schools and do not succeed there and there are lots who go to less sought after schools and do amazing. The things that matter in life, that make it rich and interesting and alive are not bought by travel sports and ivy diplomas.

This is what 1.5m gets you in McLean. I consider this a modest house.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8007-Lewinsville-Rd-Mc-Lean-VA-22102/51747862_zpid/

This would be one of the nicest houses in the town in which I grew up. I’m sure I’m not the only one who could say that. 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 3K+ square feet is not “modest” by any reasonable understanding of the word.

+1! It even has a pool! How is this a modest house??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I said this before, and I'll say this again. In order to make a varsity team in expensive neighborhoods such as Langley, McLean, Potomac, kids, on average, are from either UMC or UC families, with extensive training when they were young.

You can, of course, point out a few exceptions here and there, but exceptions are not the norm.

So wealthier kids are more likely to make the teams at wealthier schools in wealthier neighborhoods than poor kids who can’t afford to live in those neighborhoods and therefore don’t attend those schools? Shut the front door! What an amazing insight!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This is not true at all. There are tons of sports that require wealth. Sure it helps if kids have an athletic physique once they go through puberty; however, wealth makes quite a difference in a lot of sports.

Downhill skiing, squash, tennis, golf, hockey, equestrian sports, fencing, ice skating are some examples of sports that require tons of money. My friend taught at a private school in Florida where it accommodated students' sports schedules which included swimming, tennis, equestrian sports, fencing and car racing. All of those kids were super wealthy.

Yes they may require money but it doesn’t necessarily mean the kids will be good. Are you seriously debating this

Are you kidding? You need money to get good in tennis or golf. Even Francis Tiafoe needs serious training that JTCC provided him for FREE due to his family situation. Scott Scheffler wouldn't be the best golfer in the world had his family was poor.

If you have kid A and B with the same athletic ability, but kid A has wealth and kid B is poor, kid A will come out ahead in athletic because kid A gets the best training money can buy.

You’re forgetting about the genetics that are needed to create an elite athlete. You can bring the kid to reach his full potential by hard work, good nutrition and training but without certain genetics his full potential won’t be good enough.

Look at the Olympic sprinters. Do you think money would allow your child to be that fast? The ACTN3 gene, is sometimes referred to as the “athlete gene”. In our muscles, the two main types of muscle fibres are slow-twitch and fast-twitch fibres. These are the easily identified genes that can found on a DNA saliva test.

My family is middle class with a lot of athletes including pro athletes. Nobody needed crazy excessive training, no private coaches.

Both your lies about your family and your lack of understanding about how much training even the kid with great genetics undergo are comical.

Caleb Williams had a QB coach starting in 8th grade, Quincy Wilson has had professional coaching since 6th grade…the list goes on and on…

I don’t know, I think you have a pretty compelling list there of (let me count again) TWO examples of athletes who has professional coaching as kids. I think two gets you fully out of the realm of “anecdote” doesn’t it?

It’s everyone…considering you didnt even list your fake family pro athletes that’s infinitely more than your zero.

Name me one recent pro athlete that fits your description.

DP but are you asking for someone to name a professional athlete who got there not due to expensive private coaching but rather due to having superior genetics even though they were only middle class growing up?

You can’t be serious.

How can you possibly separate the two..even the ones with superior genetics all have private coaching. Everyone…they may get it for free or low cost…but they all get it.

So, yes name one that had no private coaching and turned pro.

I mean… I would think technically anyone who is on a high school team gets some form of private coaching (professional high school coaches are only going to coach the kids they personally select for their team, right?).

Maybe you need to define your terms here.

And if they’re getting extra private coaching for free, that’s because they have superior athletic ability and has nothing whatsoever to do with their family’s wealth or resources, so you are basically proving a PP’s point that if you’re athletic you don’t need money to make it…

I certainly don’t think some random Joe who has literally never been coached before is going to walk onto an NFL team.

I am uncertain as to the point you think you are making.

You don’t think there are kids blessed with great genetics that go nowhere in sports because they didn’t have money or connections to people that could help them? That’s most of them.

One of the best AAU travel teams in the DMV is Team Durant. Every kid on the team has multiple D1 offers. Every kid is actually UMC including the JR kid…and yes the Sidwell, O’Connell and other players.

Go look at the best NHL stars…outside of the Canadians they all come from elite boarding and private schools.

The best HS baseball players are primarily UMC including Ethan Holliday and basically every player on the U18 team that just won the international baseball championship in Panama. SJC has a kid that may go high in the 2026 draft and he is from Great Falls…who BTW has been getting training since a middle schooler. Bryce Eldridge trained at R&D privately for years even though he also had great coaches at Madison.

Once more…just name one player that fits your profile…you can’t even do that. That’s not how things work anymore.

You’re out of your mind. Seriously. Also, LOL to the “outside of the Canadians” comment re: the NHL (and you mean “outside of the Canadians… and the Europeans” anyway, so you know, most of the players in the NHL) but sure, I think ice hockey *in the US* is more of a rich kid sport. Happy?

So…you come back with nothing…other than I am out of my mind because I gave several specific examples across multiple sports.

That’s literally all you have. I thought so.

You can’t give one example. BTW, the European hockey players are all plucked for National Academies at a young age. Same for basketball and soccer…for soccer, you have kids as young as 5 getting tagged for talent.

Ignorance is bliss.

What you are failing to understand is the talented kids *aren’t paying* for their “elite” training. Parents like you, with no athletic ability and no size and no skill but with plenty of money, are paying to “train” your kids at these facilities… because they need your money to train the kids who actually have potential.

IMG academy costs 90K a year. You know who’s not paying that? Most of the kids who are going to turn pro. But the academy (which ultimately is only interested in training those kids) needs funding, and that’s where rich parents like you come in. Then they can lure in the next generation of suckers by touting how many of their alumni turned pro! But that’s not going to be your kid, Dude. If you’re the one seeking out the opportunities, and you’re the one paying for the training, your kid probably doesn’t have it. Sorry.

IMG Academy gives very few scholarships.

James Triantos paid 100% to attend for several years and was a 2nd round draft pick by the Cubs.

Fairly certain James Wood also paid nearly 100%…he wasn’t on any scholarship at SJC before he left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1.5 million for a home is not modest! Just have some perspective on it all - there are lots of kids who go to top schools and do not succeed there and there are lots who go to less sought after schools and do amazing. The things that matter in life, that make it rich and interesting and alive are not bought by travel sports and ivy diplomas.

This is what 1.5m gets you in McLean. I consider this a modest house.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8007-Lewinsville-Rd-Mc-Lean-VA-22102/51747862_zpid/

This would be one of the nicest houses in the town in which I grew up. I’m sure I’m not the only one who could say that. 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 3K+ square feet is not “modest” by any reasonable understanding of the word.

It was built 60 years ago and doesn’t look very updated. It’s definitely modest for McLean.