4 ms·

This story makes no sense to me. Why would someone who has all the money in the world to prepare their kid to get into the best schools pay $180k to get their k

This story makes no sense to me. Why would someone who has all the money in the world to prepare their kid to get into the best schools pay $180k to get their kid in a mid-ranked public school with a 40% admissions rate? Like how badly unqualified could his son be to require that kind of assistance to get into UT Austin (no offense, but this is not Harvard or Stanford we’re taking about here..)

bredren 8y ago
If you're coming in from out of state, (presumably the family is based in CA), public school admissions can be more difficult than for in-state applicants. From what I remember even for in-state applicants, when admissions years are big meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee matriculation. So it could be that the child had halfway decent scores but for a variety of reasons wasn't likely to make it in on a straight application. 40% admission means a most people are still getting rejected. Or it could be otherwise.
- gretch 8y ago
  Exactly I enrolled at UT in 2008 and back then there was a state wide policy where if you were in the top 10% of high school class, you were automatically accepted into any state public school (including UT). This meant that any kid who is 5th in their class of 50 somewhere in west texas was going to take a spot from someone who might have been extremely capable from out of state. Also, it sounds like the deal was not just to be admitted to the school, but also to be a manager in the athletics program. Imo, that's a pretty cool life experience and maybe worth 180k for a rich person
  - ghaff 8y ago
    >also to be a manager in the athletics program Really? Does anyone really go to college with the dream of being a manager of a sports team? I was actually co-manager for a year or two but that's because the coach sought me out to do public relations stuff. It was an interesting diversion but not the sort of thing I had ever thought about on my own and (I'm guessing) probably not that hard to get a coach to take you on so long as it wasn't something like the football team.
    - bredren 8y ago
      I'd say yes. Sports can be a big deal and people who love sports but aren't gifted athletically sometimes do pick an angle to be aligned with it early on for their career. There are even sports-focused MBA programs out there. University of Oregon MBA offers a "First in the nation sports business program" [1] where an undergraduate team manager position might not hurt to have on your application and in your application letters. [1] https://business.uoregon.edu/mba https://business.uoregon.edu/mba
      - ghaff 8y ago
        Fair enough. And given that I also ended up as sports editor of my college paper for a year and had a sports column at another student paper, I'm one to talk :-)
- ghaff 8y ago
  Possibly. But then there are schools of similar quality and prestige within the University of California system as well as no shortage of Tier 2-ish private liberal arts colleges throughout the country.
- dawhizkid 8y ago
  I’m saying there’s no reason why the son of a wealthy VC should even remotely need help gaming the admissions game of a public college with a 40% admissions rate given the vast resources you should have had since your birth. The fact that there was even a chance he could have not gotten in (which should be difficult to do if you got above average SAT scores even from out of state) is quite frankly shocking. This must have been more than an “insurance plan” to ensure getting in. Completely seriously his son must have been a legitimately terrible student or actually not very bright at all.
  - bredren 8y ago
    I think that is a little unfair to the kid, really. I know a person who came from by all appearances a great background who made poor decisions as a young adult and failed to achieve a lot. But then their sibling went on to a top tier college, enter NY finance and marry the child of a nobel laureate. I also know someone who was raised by a single father who was abusive, but went on to put themselves through a BS in engineering and has done well for themselves at least professionally. Origins do not dictate futures, and just because you don't get good grades early on doesn't mean you aren't a promising person.
    - dawhizkid 8y ago
      It’s more an indictment on the kid’s parents than the kid himself. No idea what the VC was like as a dad, but what if he worked all the time and never saw his kid growing up and come year 17 just try to buy his kid into school to make up for not actually parenting...
      - bredren 8y ago
        That's a lot of presumptions. It also could have been largely "normal" but the kid wasn't exceptional, and they just wanted to make sure this happened.
flexbuiii666 8y ago
I knew kids in high school that evaluated colleges based on membership in the big 12 and partying. It’s quite possible the kid said no to ivies etc for that reason
bachmeier 8y ago
> a mid-ranked public school I suppose you can use any definition of "mid-ranked" you choose, but I'm not aware of any standard definition by which Texas would be in the middle among public universities. It's number 49 among national universities and number 15 among public universities in the US News ranking, and if you're from the state of Texas, it's a big deal to graduate from UT.
- dawhizkid 8y ago
  Rankings are pretty bunk...more important stat is the 40% admissions rate. That is on high side for large national public universities. Compare this to Cal and UCLA which are both around 17%. Again, if you had all the resources in the world to prepare for the SATs because from birth you went to the best school, had private tutors, SAT prep, etc. there is almost no reason why you shouldn’t be able to get above the median score for SATs for UT Austin, which should be enough (save a few edge cases) for getting in.
  - bachmeier 8y ago
    > Rankings are pretty bunk...more important stat is the 40% admissions rate. It doesn't seem that you're familiar with the public university system in the US. I work at an R1 public university with an admissions rate over 90%. "Compare with Cal and UCLA" is not how you determine if a school is "mid ranked". Texas is not first tier for sure, but that's not what I was responding to.

bredren 8y ago

If you're coming in from out of state, (presumably the family is based in CA), public school admissions can be more difficult than for in-state applicants. From what I remember even for in-state applicants, when admissions years are big meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee matriculation. So it could be that the child had halfway decent scores but for a variety of reasons wasn't likely to make it in on a straight application. 40% admission means a most people are still getting rejected. Or it could be otherwise.

gretch 8y ago
Exactly I enrolled at UT in 2008 and back then there was a state wide policy where if you were in the top 10% of high school class, you were automatically accepted into any state public school (including UT). This meant that any kid who is 5th in their class of 50 somewhere in west texas was going to take a spot from someone who might have been extremely capable from out of state. Also, it sounds like the deal was not just to be admitted to the school, but also to be a manager in the athletics program. Imo, that's a pretty cool life experience and maybe worth 180k for a rich person
- ghaff 8y ago
  >also to be a manager in the athletics program Really? Does anyone really go to college with the dream of being a manager of a sports team? I was actually co-manager for a year or two but that's because the coach sought me out to do public relations stuff. It was an interesting diversion but not the sort of thing I had ever thought about on my own and (I'm guessing) probably not that hard to get a coach to take you on so long as it wasn't something like the football team.
  - bredren 8y ago
    I'd say yes. Sports can be a big deal and people who love sports but aren't gifted athletically sometimes do pick an angle to be aligned with it early on for their career. There are even sports-focused MBA programs out there. University of Oregon MBA offers a "First in the nation sports business program" [1] where an undergraduate team manager position might not hurt to have on your application and in your application letters. [1] https://business.uoregon.edu/mba https://business.uoregon.edu/mba
    - ghaff 8y ago
      Fair enough. And given that I also ended up as sports editor of my college paper for a year and had a sports column at another student paper, I'm one to talk :-)
ghaff 8y ago
Possibly. But then there are schools of similar quality and prestige within the University of California system as well as no shortage of Tier 2-ish private liberal arts colleges throughout the country.
dawhizkid 8y ago
I’m saying there’s no reason why the son of a wealthy VC should even remotely need help gaming the admissions game of a public college with a 40% admissions rate given the vast resources you should have had since your birth. The fact that there was even a chance he could have not gotten in (which should be difficult to do if you got above average SAT scores even from out of state) is quite frankly shocking. This must have been more than an “insurance plan” to ensure getting in. Completely seriously his son must have been a legitimately terrible student or actually not very bright at all.
- bredren 8y ago
  I think that is a little unfair to the kid, really. I know a person who came from by all appearances a great background who made poor decisions as a young adult and failed to achieve a lot. But then their sibling went on to a top tier college, enter NY finance and marry the child of a nobel laureate. I also know someone who was raised by a single father who was abusive, but went on to put themselves through a BS in engineering and has done well for themselves at least professionally. Origins do not dictate futures, and just because you don't get good grades early on doesn't mean you aren't a promising person.
  - dawhizkid 8y ago
    It’s more an indictment on the kid’s parents than the kid himself. No idea what the VC was like as a dad, but what if he worked all the time and never saw his kid growing up and come year 17 just try to buy his kid into school to make up for not actually parenting...
    - bredren 8y ago
      That's a lot of presumptions. It also could have been largely "normal" but the kid wasn't exceptional, and they just wanted to make sure this happened.

flexbuiii666 8y ago

I knew kids in high school that evaluated colleges based on membership in the big 12 and partying. It’s quite possible the kid said no to ivies etc for that reason

bachmeier 8y ago

> a mid-ranked public school I suppose you can use any definition of "mid-ranked" you choose, but I'm not aware of any standard definition by which Texas would be in the middle among public universities. It's number 49 among national universities and number 15 among public universities in the US News ranking, and if you're from the state of Texas, it's a big deal to graduate from UT.

dawhizkid 8y ago
Rankings are pretty bunk...more important stat is the 40% admissions rate. That is on high side for large national public universities. Compare this to Cal and UCLA which are both around 17%. Again, if you had all the resources in the world to prepare for the SATs because from birth you went to the best school, had private tutors, SAT prep, etc. there is almost no reason why you shouldn’t be able to get above the median score for SATs for UT Austin, which should be enough (save a few edge cases) for getting in.
- bachmeier 8y ago
  > Rankings are pretty bunk...more important stat is the 40% admissions rate. It doesn't seem that you're familiar with the public university system in the US. I work at an R1 public university with an admissions rate over 90%. "Compare with Cal and UCLA" is not how you determine if a school is "mid ranked". Texas is not first tier for sure, but that's not what I was responding to.