Perspective on the Madness

[Anonymous]

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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).

Large, successful companies were founded at all sorts of schools. Dell at the University of Texas, Reddit at UVA. But most college kids are not going to go on and create these sorts of companies. That's true for any school.

Those are both top schools. The top schools for starting companies definitely includes UT, Michigan, UCB, UCLA, and UVA.

If you look at the largest market cap companies founded in the US since 1990 it skews dramatically towards graduates of top 30 national universities.

[Anonymous]

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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).

Large, successful companies were founded at all sorts of schools. Dell at the University of Texas, Reddit at UVA. But most college kids are not going to go on and create these sorts of companies. That's true for any school.

Those are both top schools. The top schools for starting companies definitely includes UT, Michigan, UCB, UCLA, and UVA.

If you look at the largest market cap companies founded in the US since 1990 it skews dramatically towards graduates of top 30 national universities.

It's a cheap education in-state. A better plan for most families than Ivies.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We're in the midwest- at my DS's private HS there are kids with 1530-1600 SAT scores, grades, etc. (I know this because it's a small school, kids talk, parents talk, etc). If the parents don't have money, the kids go in-state, honors or out of state on schools that offer a lot of merit and financial aid.
A lot of talent doesn't go to the Ivy League or T20- it's too expensive for most families, especially if there are multiple bright siblings.

Ivy League/T20 are need blind.

The top schools may be need-blind, but there are also a lot of affluent UMC families who love their state flagship and aren’t hung up on brand name schools. I noticed that at my kid’s non-DMV private. Plenty of academic stars who opted for our excellent in-state publics.

Plenty of those that opted didn’t get into any Ivies/T10s so there’s that too.

+100

[Anonymous]

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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).

Lol. Zuck probably would have built something meaningful and not ruined the world with the echo chamber.

The examples given in this thread don't make any sense. Those folks would have met equally smart people anywhere and would have been successful regardless.

[Anonymous]

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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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people outside DCUM don’t buy into the hype. The “Disappointment” thread is already 19 pages long….

The hype exists in most large metropolitan areas, especially those with highly educated parents.

However, while I attended a T10 and a T20 (undergrad and grad), I typically work alongside people and report to people who attended whatever university was affordable/nearby for them. As one would expect because the "elite schools" have about 40-50K students graduating each year and most states have 30K+ students graduating from their State Universities each year, and thousands more from private schools in the state.

I'm smart enough to know it's what you do on the job that matters most, not where you went.
Education is education. I didn't get "a better education" over people at a school ranked 250+. Yes, I had a few more opportunities and smaller class sizes, but if I didn't take advantage of my educational experiences, I wouldn't be where I am today.

Also spouse is a CEO since 40, and nobody else in the C Suites (at 2 companies) has attended T25. Most are from schools ranked 150+ or schools you've never heard of (they went to a state I'm not familiar with and didn't attend a flagship there). Yet their team is amazing, because of what the people do daily and through their career....not because of where they went to college.

[Anonymous]

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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.

Because they can afford it. Also, rich parents tend to encourage their kids to do well in school---it's expected. And yes, when your parents are well know, it's easier to get into a T25 school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're in the midwest- at my DS's private HS there are kids with 1530-1600 SAT scores, grades, etc. (I know this because it's a small school, kids talk, parents talk, etc). If the parents don't have money, the kids go in-state, honors or out of state on schools that offer a lot of merit and financial aid.
A lot of talent doesn't go to the Ivy League or T20- it's too expensive for most families, especially if there are multiple bright siblings.

This is correct. I’ve been saying this for the past couple years. The top talent is going to public flagship universities. Employers would be smart to do their heavy recruiting from these schools.

[Anonymous]

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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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in the midwest- at my DS's private HS there are kids with 1530-1600 SAT scores, grades, etc. (I know this because it's a small school, kids talk, parents talk, etc). If the parents don't have money, the kids go in-state, honors or out of state on schools that offer a lot of merit and financial aid.
A lot of talent doesn't go to the Ivy League or T20- it's too expensive for most families, especially if there are multiple bright siblings.

Ivy League/T20 are need blind.

The top schools may be need-blind, but there are also a lot of affluent UMC families who love their state flagship and aren’t hung up on brand name schools. I noticed that at my kid’s non-DMV private. Plenty of academic stars who opted for our excellent in-state publics.

Plenty of those that opted didn’t get into any Ivies/T10s so there’s that too.

+100

We know many like that: brag about choosing the in-state option, UVA, don't need a brand name, who wants to pay for all that....then they send their second one to an ivy/elite.

[Anonymous]

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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.

[Anonymous]

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.

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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.

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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.

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.

[Anonymous]

The vast majority of UMC kids won’t end up like Mark Zuckerberg. That’s the problem - creating this ridiculous overinflated expectation that these kids (including mine) will lead extraordinary lives. If they’re happy, self-sufficient and balanced adults who have enough funds/resources to live the life they want, what’s wrong if they’re an unknown doctor or lawyer in a mid-size town in flyover country? Why do they have to be “extraordinary”?