Reply to Is it better to be a "Big Fish in a Small Pond" - Gladwell's Elite Cognitive Disorder

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I like MG's talk and heard it years ago. It has been discussed ad nauseum on here and CC and reddit. It has truth to it. However as always the real world data are not as black and white.

There is data on law, med, and phD acceptance at kid's ivy (a T10)and there is also data that our professor relative has shared with us from his non-ivy T10 elite. 
We have data from our other kid at one of the top two public unis. 
The ivy does not grade inflate as much as the non-ivy (median graduating 3.75 vs 3.83); the public has a median GPA of 3.72. 
The above-average but not phi beta kappa/top 10% from the ivy and from the T10, in other words GPA 3.75-3.90, get in to top phd, med, law. The LSATs are 170, MCATs 518. Sure you can say LSAT for law and MCAT but for PhD the GRE is rarely accepted anymore.  These kids go to ivies/T25 for phD and MD, and they get in to T14 law. Very few kids from the state school get into these places and they are all 3.98-4.0 types with HIGHER MCAT and LSAT at the very top than the above average ivy-type kids. 
It is in fact better to be an above-average but not top 10% kid at an ivy versus a top10% kid at the public. 
The top10% kids at the ivy get in to multiple top places: already DC's senior friends who are the known starts have admission to T5 MD and phd, and some full rides to the T15 MD programs. The cycle is not even complete yet and they are sitting on many top acceptances. 
Their 3.90 and 3.88 friends have T10 and ivy acceptances already.

The below average 25%ile range 3.5-3.6 students from the two elite schools get into MD programs and tier 2 law, over 50% of the time.

The below average from the state school do not get in to MD programs or law school much at all and it likely needs hooks. The charts show less than 10% acceptance below 3.6 at the state school.  Of course the MCAT and LSAT ranges are higher from the students at the elites, and that likely accounts for much of the difference for the below average students.

Does it mean all elite students are successful over non-elite, of course not! For some, they likely do not function well emotionally being average and would be better off being close to the top at a lesser school. 
However if they want law, MD, or Phd and they can emotionally handle not being top 5-10%, it is much better for them to go to the best school they can get into provided they will be average or better, and if they want T14/T25 law/md/phd, they need to merely pick a school where they are likely to be around top quarter and they will have more success than they would being the top 5-10% at a state school.

The best option is of course have the kid who can be 3.95+ at the ivy/T10. All doors open for that type of student in an elite setting. [/quote]

Observation bias. Confirmation bias. [/quote]

Other than the anecdotes it is data from the schools themselves. Students (and professors, and parents through their student)have access. Almost all schools have tables on GPA v LSAT or MCAT, and many departments share GPA ranges that have garnered acceptance to different phD programs. [/quote]

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