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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

That's exactly right.  I think there's a misconception here about ivy kids.  Most valedictorians never get admitted to Harvard or Stanford--they have their pick of them.  They are looking for either the next Nobel prize winner, the next world leader, the next mega billionaire, etc.  They typically admit kids with worldclass skills (such as one of the most promising musicians in the world, one of the best athletes in their sport, someone doing groundbreaking academic research, etc), kids of world leaders or mega billionaires (think Obama, Clinton, foreign leaders, etc), and then fill the rest of the class based on optimizing for geographic & ethnic diversity while picking people who are basically BOTH valedictorian & class president types.

[b]Again, probably something like 50% of the people (and I can easily be convinced it's closer to 80%) in wall street went to top schools.  Every year Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, etc recruit new undergrads and grad students to join and they are only recruiting from certain schools--it's certainly possible for someone not from one of those schools to get a job there--it's just much more difficult and unlikely.  If you think an alpha investment banker is a former quiet, studious valedictorian then I can't help you. [/b] A lot of them were valedictorians who were captain of a varsity sport or class president.[/quote]

One of my goals for my kids is for them to NOT become "alpha investment bankers" at Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, etc. My kids don't necessarily have to make the world a better place, but I would like for them to not make it a worse one.[/quote]

That's certainly admirable.  Some people want to make money--e.g. Wall Street, Silicon Valley, real estate.  The world certainly needs more care workers, social workers, non-profit volunteers, etc.  Hopefully you raise your kids in a lifestyle consistent with that ethos.  The point some of the PP were making is that those who have been highly successful academically, make good money, and live a certain lifestyle typically associated with making good money face a problem:  raising your kids accustomed to a nice lifestyle without any expectation of academic success is potentially setting your children up for future unhappiness as well (whereas it seems some posters seem to think expecting any academic success is the only problem).[/quote]

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