Anonymous
Post 04/01/2018 16:40     Subject: Stats it takes for a student to get into Stanford, Harvard, Princeton & Yale (2018)
Why is NYT and CNN promoting this? Just going to inspire more copy cat attention seeking narcissists who shotgun apps to 20 schools that don't plan to attend.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2018 16:38     Subject: Stats it takes for a student to get into Stanford, Harvard, Princeton & Yale (2018)
Anonymous wrote:New York Times has picked up the story of his higher achieving classmate who went 20 for 20:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/01/us/college-acceptance-micheal-brown.html

Their high school is shameless as hell. You know you're going to Stanford or Harvard, why shotgun 18 other apps and waste everyone's time? Then leak it to the media. Shameless.


NP. This story rubbed me the wrong way too. Interesting how the mother emphasized that he had "actually earned it". Uhhh, not really. Skin color isn't something you earn, whether it's white or black. I don't think that anyone anywhere is suggesting that the same kid would have got in to those places if he wasn't black.

It's terrible that he wasted everyone's time like that. And now some other kid misses out on hearing good news (maybe any good news) because he wanted a clean sweep. And is proud of it. He clearly lacks good judgement. The school should be embarrassed.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2018 16:24     Subject: Stats it takes for a student to get into Stanford, Harvard, Princeton & Yale (2018)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Almost every kid, no ALL kids, at a school like TJ will score higher than this kid on ALL fronts. But only a handful get these kind of offers. Shame! We are supposed to be a merit-based society. Wonder when that changed..


Saying you hit a home rung when you started on third is no achievement.


Systematically denigrating the achievements of white and Asian kids who work their butts off in order to benefit black and Hispanic kids from relatively privileged backgrounds elevates politics over merit.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2018 16:21     Subject: Stats it takes for a student to get into Stanford, Harvard, Princeton & Yale (2018)
Anonymous wrote:You get into HYP because you have something they want - and very rarely is that “something” your money or the fact you went to a big three private. Yes you need to be able to back that “something” up with good stats - but HYPS will take an interesting kid with unique skills over one with perfect stats 9/10. I don’t know how many times I heard from Harvard peeps that in an admissions pool where you can take anyone you want, you’re going to take the nice, altruistic kid with a particular strength over someone with perfect test scores and Machiavellian parents.


There’s something to this, but I think unique is beginning to take priority. I interview for Exeter and I notice that the incoming classes are starting to take on an element of almost freakishness. I guess it’s a way of distinguishing kids, but it’s turning the school into a very different kind of institution.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2018 16:11     Subject: Stats it takes for a student to get into Stanford, Harvard, Princeton & Yale (2018)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Almost every kid, no ALL kids, at a school like TJ will score higher than this kid on ALL fronts. But only a handful get these kind of offers. Shame! We are supposed to be a merit-based society. Wonder when that changed..


Saying you hit a home rung when you started on third is no achievement.


That’s some ridiculous BS right there.

And when it comes down to it in many things in life you have to hit the home run no matter where you started from.


Getting into TJ or acing standardized tests when parents have paid for years of test prep or cram schools is a minimal achievement.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2018 15:24     Subject: Stats it takes for a student to get into Stanford, Harvard, Princeton & Yale (2018)
New York Times has picked up the story of his higher achieving classmate who went 20 for 20:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/01/us/college-acceptance-micheal-brown.html

Their high school is shameless as hell. You know you're going to Stanford or Harvard, why shotgun 18 other apps and waste everyone's time? Then leak it to the media. Shameless.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2018 15:03     Subject: Stats it takes for a student to get into Stanford, Harvard, Princeton & Yale (2018)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Almost every kid, no ALL kids, at a school like TJ will score higher than this kid on ALL fronts. But only a handful get these kind of offers. Shame! We are supposed to be a merit-based society. Wonder when that changed..


Saying you hit a home rung when you started on third is no achievement.


That’s some ridiculous BS right there.

And when it comes down to it in many things in life you have to hit the home run no matter where you started from.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2018 14:26     Subject: Stats it takes for a student to get into Stanford, Harvard, Princeton & Yale (2018)
Anonymous wrote:Almost every kid, no ALL kids, at a school like TJ will score higher than this kid on ALL fronts. But only a handful get these kind of offers. Shame! We are supposed to be a merit-based society. Wonder when that changed..


Saying you hit a home rung when you started on third is no achievement.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2018 14:15     Subject: Stats it takes for a student to get into Stanford, Harvard, Princeton & Yale (2018)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Almost every kid, no ALL kids, at a school like TJ will score higher than this kid on ALL fronts. But only a handful get these kind of offers. Shame! We are supposed to be a merit-based society. Wonder when that changed..


But many of those kids would get those scores because they went to TJ, the scores are more impressive when someone achieves them coming from a school with less access to higher level courses... merit is also more than just numbers.. some kids have had many benefits- tutors, access to the best curriculum and teachers, an/or supportive, well educated families. Others are working a part time job to contribute to food costs, sharing a bedroom with multiple siblings and have parents who don't understand the system. They are working at least as hard or harder than the kids with the advantages. Imagine what they could do IF they had some of the advantages!?!?!

I do not know about the kid in this article and am certainly not saying every minority student has come from disadvantage or that those from TJ or elite schools haven't had disadvantages, just pointing out that scores alone do not prove how hard a kid has worked or what their potential is. There is more to every student than a list of scores.



TJ kids are not necessarily rich. Neither is my kid who goes to a local private school - she also has a job to pay for expenses, but she is assumed to be rich based on where she is going to school. She also has no tutors. It’s a very simplistic ideal to label huge groups of people with such a broad brush.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2018 14:08     Subject: Stats it takes for a student to get into Stanford, Harvard, Princeton & Yale (2018)
You get into HYP because you have something they want - and very rarely is that “something” your money or the fact you went to a big three private. Yes you need to be able to back that “something” up with good stats - but HYPS will take an interesting kid with unique skills over one with perfect stats 9/10. I don’t know how many times I heard from Harvard peeps that in an admissions pool where you can take anyone you want, you’re going to take the nice, altruistic kid with a particular strength over someone with perfect test scores and Machiavellian parents.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2018 14:05     Subject: Stats it takes for a student to get into Stanford, Harvard, Princeton & Yale (2018)
Anonymous wrote:Almost every kid, no ALL kids, at a school like TJ will score higher than this kid on ALL fronts. But only a handful get these kind of offers. Shame! We are supposed to be a merit-based society. Wonder when that changed..


But many of those kids would get those scores because they went to TJ, the scores are more impressive when someone achieves them coming from a school with less access to higher level courses... merit is also more than just numbers.. some kids have had many benefits- tutors, access to the best curriculum and teachers, an/or supportive, well educated families. Others are working a part time job to contribute to food costs, sharing a bedroom with multiple siblings and have parents who don't understand the system. They are working at least as hard or harder than the kids with the advantages. Imagine what they could do IF they had some of the advantages!?!?!

I do not know about the kid in this article and am certainly not saying every minority student has come from disadvantage or that those from TJ or elite schools haven't had disadvantages, just pointing out that scores alone do not prove how hard a kid has worked or what their potential is. There is more to every student than a list of scores.

Anonymous
Post 04/01/2018 13:59     Subject: Stats it takes for a student to get into Stanford, Harvard, Princeton & Yale (2018)
“Stats” don't get anyone into HYPS.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2018 13:56     Subject: Stats it takes for a student to get into Stanford, Harvard, Princeton & Yale (2018)
Anonymous wrote:Almost every kid, no ALL kids, at a school like TJ will score higher than this kid on ALL fronts. But only a handful get these kind of offers. Shame! We are supposed to be a merit-based society. Wonder when that changed..


Psst we’re a capitalist society which explains why affluent families are over-represented in elite universities, why private schools get a lot of discretion wrt their admissions criteria, and why people with more $ get pissed off when they see others with less $ getting things they thought only they were entitled to.

Meritocracy is a fairy tale that only affluent white males (and those who identify with them) can believe in in this society.

And if we did want a truly meritocratic system, we’d start by radically restructuring pre-collegiate education.

Anonymous
Post 04/01/2018 13:47     Subject: Stats it takes for a student to get into Stanford, Harvard, Princeton & Yale (2018)
Seeking Gates
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2018 13:47     Subject: Stats it takes for a student to get into Stanford, Harvard, Princeton & Yale (2018)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Almost every kid, no ALL kids, at a school like TJ will score higher than this kid on ALL fronts. But only a handful get these kind of offers. Shame! We are supposed to be a merit-based society. Wonder when that changed..


but USA is not a merit based society... like, at all.


lol, I just posted the same thing on another thread. I didn't realize how many people drank the cool aid. It must be shocking to come to the US and realize the American Dream based on meritocracy is a fraud.