This thread actually clarifies a lot about DC for me. It has the reputation for being a city full of really awful people. I've defended that more times than I can remember by telling people that it not that people from DC are awful. They are just busy and stressed because it's a tough place to live and work.

I was wrong. You people suck. I'm thankful I didn't raised my kids anywhere near DC. They were babies and preschoolers the first time. When we moved back they were grown. Seriously, go back and read this thread. If you are "grooming" your kids to be anything other than kind, loving, hard-working, compassionate people committed to finding their own path - you fail as a parent. If you are pushing them towards the college of your dreams, please seek therapy. I see the result in real life in DC and here on dcum and it's really, really ugly.

THIS is why we are choosing between a monster and a criminal for POTUS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, I guess it depends on how much you have had to put up with. Lots of parents have spent their kids elementary school years insisting that their snowflakes are such special outliners that they can't possibly be educated in the same classroom as the ordinary 115 IQ kids (in certain FCPS areas) It's annoying ... and then guess what? Turns out their special snowflakes go to large State U with the other kids anyway!

+100
I've seen this happen time after time with my kids' classmates. With the exception of a very few, they all wind up at the same state universities, regardless of what path they took to get there (or how much money was spent along the way).

Fallacy. There's a wide gap in talent at state schools. The top kids will be doctors and lawyers and execs... the bottom kids flunk out or major in a worthless social science. Everyone isn't on some equal playing field because they're at the same college.

I'm still working on this whole 'grooming' thing. I actually googled 'grooming children successful' and what comes up are these really heavy-handed parenting guides which emphasize how to be an extreme helicopter parent. A couple of blogs too.

A lot of the people who talk about grooming their kids seem to be narcissists who are overly enmeshed with their kids to the point that it's psychologically unhealthy. Personally, I wanted to raise kids who were fairly independent. I suspect that I was 'groomed' to be successful and I always felt like a race horse. I won lots of piano competitions and went to good schools but I wound up sitting in a therapists office in my twenties when I realized that I had no personal preferences of my own because I was merely an extension of my father's ego. I didn't even have a favorite flavor of ice cream or a favorite color. Don't do this to your kids. It doesn't end well.

Why are there so many a** holes in BigLaw? Judging from the posters to these fora who always gush about BigLaw it appears it if full of them. And no, before you trot out a narcissistic you're just jealous trope, no I am not. Never wanted to be a lawyer. Oh, and my HYP law grad friends re all doing God's as Federal public defenders, or working to aid those who lack representation in our system. They are doing the real work of justice, not just helping some corporation design the best warranty for their toaster!

My niece went to average U. She's a delightful person with a happy marriage and two beautiful kids. My nephew went to Harvard. He's a total jerk, though he's making millions in investment banking. He never visits his family and is completely obsessed with status (who makes his suits, shoes, his fancy BMW, his equally dismissive, breast enhanced GF).
You can have him.
By the way, didn't that guy who murdered his father go to Princeton, belong to Maidstone? Lots of them are still living off family in their 30s.

Anonymous wrote:Are you laughing that the PP is obviously ignorant, despite having an Ivy or equivalent education? And I'd like to know the definition of a "high status" job. BigLaw doesn't come readily to mind when I think of high status. According to the latest Harris Poll, these are the occupations held in high regard by most Americans:

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/niallmccarthy/files/2016/03/20160331_Prestige.jpg

$180K at age 27 in a top tier coastal city isn't high status? I'm sorry, but you're very stupid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, loving and supporting one's children is so embarrassing. Funny. I went to Harvard and I work with people who went to state schools as well as people who went to other Ivies. They're all smart and good at what we do. You find smart people everywhere. You find a higher proportion of them at higher ranked schools, sure, but so what. That tells you nothing about an individual who went to a non-top school. If my kids go to average schools and are happy and doing well and find something they like, are good at, and can support themselves with, you bet I'll be proud.

Sorry to hear that.

I'm sorry for whoever paid Harvard's bill.

Well part of it was a fellowship, but ok. And I'm doing very well, thanks. Are you an adult, or a teenager? Because I don't see how an adult could be so ignorant that you find people from state schools everywhere -- including Biglaw firms, right alongside ivy grads like me. Your desperation to feel superior is making you fact-resistant.

This is very true.

State school alums in high-status jobs are outliers (or attractive women).

What biglaw firm is PP working at where there are hordes of state school grads? Bc there are virtually none amongst the associates at my firm -- and no, not even along the lines of state school undergrad + top law school. Back in the day anything went. There are tons of partners who went to Fordham law or Brooklyn or Albany at my NYC biglaw firms. Now they won't touch a grad from those schools and it's all about the top 10 schools. And while there is no recruiting "rule" for where that top 10 law grad had to go to undergrad, invariably they always end up making offers to people who were ivy/top 10 undergrad followed by a top 10 law school so clearly someone is looking at it.

And since this cues up a - so what biglaw isn't prestigious - argument -- well it may not be, but it's a way to make money quick while you're young and set up your life financially; it's not the only way, but it is one of the ways and to some people that is important.

Highest prestige occupations ... and most have nothing to do with money. Hmmm, I guess lawyers are not really held in such high esteem. OP must be a legend in her own mind.

http://blogs.voanews.com/all-about-america/2016/04/01/what-most-prestigious-us-jobs-have-in-common-and-its-not-money/

Are you laughing that the PP is obviously ignorant, despite having an Ivy or equivalent education? And I'd like to know the definition of a "high status" job. BigLaw doesn't come readily to mind when I think of high status. According to the latest Harris Poll, these are the occupations held in high regard by most Americans:

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/niallmccarthy/files/2016/03/20160331_Prestige.jpg

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, loving and supporting one's children is so embarrassing. Funny. I went to Harvard and I work with people who went to state schools as well as people who went to other Ivies. They're all smart and good at what we do. You find smart people everywhere. You find a higher proportion of them at higher ranked schools, sure, but so what. That tells you nothing about an individual who went to a non-top school. If my kids go to average schools and are happy and doing well and find something they like, are good at, and can support themselves with, you bet I'll be proud.

Sorry to hear that.

I'm sorry for whoever paid Harvard's bill.

Well part of it was a fellowship, but ok. And I'm doing very well, thanks. Are you an adult, or a teenager? Because I don't see how an adult could be so ignorant that you find people from state schools everywhere -- including Biglaw firms, right alongside ivy grads like me. Your desperation to feel superior is making you fact-resistant.

This is very true.

State school alums in high-status jobs are outliers (or attractive women).

LMAO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, loving and supporting one's children is so embarrassing. Funny. I went to Harvard and I work with people who went to state schools as well as people who went to other Ivies. They're all smart and good at what we do. You find smart people everywhere. You find a higher proportion of them at higher ranked schools, sure, but so what. That tells you nothing about an individual who went to a non-top school. If my kids go to average schools and are happy and doing well and find something they like, are good at, and can support themselves with, you bet I'll be proud.

Sorry to hear that.

I'm sorry for whoever paid Harvard's bill.

Well part of it was a fellowship, but ok. And I'm doing very well, thanks. Are you an adult, or a teenager? Because I don't see how an adult could be so ignorant that you find people from state schools everywhere -- including Biglaw firms, right alongside ivy grads like me. Your desperation to feel superior is making you fact-resistant.

This is very true.

State school alums in high-status jobs are outliers (or attractive women).

Anonymous wrote:Op, I guess it depends on how much you have had to put up with. Lots of parents have spent their kids elementary school years insisting that their snowflakes are such special outliners that they can't possibly be educated in the same classroom as the ordinary 115 IQ kids (in certain FCPS areas) It's annoying ... and then guess what? Turns out their special snowflakes go to large State U with the other kids anyway!

Who are these people? I don't know anyone like this. None of the parents we socialize with talk like this about their children, even though some of their kids are tremendously bright and /or talented. You must be running with the wrong crowd.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, loving and supporting one's children is so embarrassing. Funny. I went to Harvard and I work with people who went to state schools as well as people who went to other Ivies. They're all smart and good at what we do. You find smart people everywhere. You find a higher proportion of them at higher ranked schools, sure, but so what. That tells you nothing about an individual who went to a non-top school. If my kids go to average schools and are happy and doing well and find something they like, are good at, and can support themselves with, you bet I'll be proud.

Sorry to hear that.

I'm sorry for whoever paid Harvard's bill.

Well part of it was a fellowship, but ok. And I'm doing very well, thanks. Are you an adult, or a teenager? Because I don't see how an adult could be so ignorant that you find people from state schools everywhere -- including Biglaw firms, right alongside ivy grads like me. Your desperation to feel superior is making you fact-resistant.

Not the PP, but wanted to point something out that seems to have gone over your head. No one is suggesting that their children are superior (unlike you, of course) when they attend state schools. We're simply stating is that the schools our kids have chosen are superior - for THEM. But you clearly don't get that concept.

Sorry, I'm the PP and I was responding to the wrong person. Clearly, that average college I attended didn't prepare me well enough to quote on DCUM!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, loving and supporting one's children is so embarrassing. Funny. I went to Harvard and I work with people who went to state schools as well as people who went to other Ivies. They're all smart and good at what we do. You find smart people everywhere. You find a higher proportion of them at higher ranked schools, sure, but so what. That tells you nothing about an individual who went to a non-top school. If my kids go to average schools and are happy and doing well and find something they like, are good at, and can support themselves with, you bet I'll be proud.

Sorry to hear that.

I'm sorry for whoever paid Harvard's bill.

Well part of it was a fellowship, but ok. And I'm doing very well, thanks. Are you an adult, or a teenager? Because I don't see how an adult could be so ignorant that you find people from state schools everywhere -- including Biglaw firms, right alongside ivy grads like me. Your desperation to feel superior is making you fact-resistant.

Not the PP, but wanted to point something out that seems to have gone over your head. No one is suggesting that their children are superior (unlike you, of course) when they attend state schools. We're simply stating is that the schools our kids have chosen are superior - for THEM. But you clearly don't get that concept.

Anonymous wrote:Op, I guess it depends on how much you have had to put up with. Lots of parents have spent their kids elementary school years insisting that their snowflakes are such special outliners that they can't possibly be educated in the same classroom as the ordinary 115 IQ kids (in certain FCPS areas) It's annoying ... and then guess what? Turns out their special snowflakes go to large State U with the other kids anyway!

+100
I've seen this happen time after time with my kids' classmates. With the exception of a very few, they all wind up at the same state universities, regardless of what path they took to get there (or how much money was spent along the way).