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> dominated by students from wealthy families. SAT prep might be correlated, but I suspect there’s more to it than that. I grew up in the poor suburbs of Detr

> dominated by students from wealthy families. SAT prep might be correlated, but I suspect there’s more to it than that. I grew up in the poor suburbs of Detroit, and nobody was talking about college when I was a kid. I’d say 3/4 of the kids I went to primary school with didn’t even apply to college. Now that I’m in the “wealthy” suburbs of Dallas, though, the kids that my kids go to school (and my kids) have been talking about college admissions since they were in elementary. If you grow up with parents who went to college and who can probably afford to send you to one, it’s just part of the atmosphere.

TrackerFF 7y ago
Absolutely, this is something I've been saying for ages. People from upper middle and upper-class families know what it takes to land a prestigious job at the banks / law firms / consulting firms / etc. Chances are they themselves work at such firms, or that family members / friends do. Kids naturally want to do what their parents or other mentors do, so they get exposure to those professions early on, just by association. The parents will start investing early on, and depending on where you live, it can start already at pre-school age. Sounds ridiculous, but that's how it is in some circles. So by the time they're 13, they know how important grades are, along with the correct extracurricular activities. Everything is laid out for the kids to succeed and maximize their chance at top schools - which in turn feeds them into the professional world. I'm from a very rural place myself, where like 5% of my HS class went college or university - and it could go years between students that went to prestigious schools, and even less that joined the ranks of investment banks, HF, PE, management consulting firms, biglaw or boutiques, etc. By luck I got in touch with a good mentor that had worked in high-finance for years, and had the same type of background as me. His advice was for me to play the "country boy from nowhere, trying to make it big in the city" image, because it was so removed from the homogeneous mass you'd see in the financial district. Firms love to prop up people like that for PR and hiring. "Look at us, our hiring is so diverse and inclusive - here's our analyst form a third-world country, here's our minority, here's our first gen college grad! ...But never mind that 80% of our hires share the same socio-economic background..." When I got accepted into a top school which feeds students into finance and consulting, I immediately noticed that the majority of kids came from the same wealthy areas. Had to forego a ton of off-campus student activities, because I couldn't cough up hundreds to thousands of bucks for skiing trips at luxury resorts, sailing events, etc.
voxl 7y ago
Rich kids are connected. How many poor kids get personally tutored by someone gifted in math? Rich parents can not only afford it, but have the network to convey the demand in the first place. It's not just a test score thing, parents legitimately want their kids to be better than them, to not be an embarrassment, to live a good life, take your pick. A rich person knows this means education as much as it means test scores.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  Rich kids get fancy tutoring for free from highly educated family and friends.

TrackerFF 7y ago

Absolutely, this is something I've been saying for ages. People from upper middle and upper-class families know what it takes to land a prestigious job at the banks / law firms / consulting firms / etc. Chances are they themselves work at such firms, or that family members / friends do. Kids naturally want to do what their parents or other mentors do, so they get exposure to those professions early on, just by association. The parents will start investing early on, and depending on where you live, it can start already at pre-school age. Sounds ridiculous, but that's how it is in some circles. So by the time they're 13, they know how important grades are, along with the correct extracurricular activities. Everything is laid out for the kids to succeed and maximize their chance at top schools - which in turn feeds them into the professional world. I'm from a very rural place myself, where like 5% of my HS class went college or university - and it could go years between students that went to prestigious schools, and even less that joined the ranks of investment banks, HF, PE, management consulting firms, biglaw or boutiques, etc. By luck I got in touch with a good mentor that had worked in high-finance for years, and had the same type of background as me. His advice was for me to play the "country boy from nowhere, trying to make it big in the city" image, because it was so removed from the homogeneous mass you'd see in the financial district. Firms love to prop up people like that for PR and hiring. "Look at us, our hiring is so diverse and inclusive - here's our analyst form a third-world country, here's our minority, here's our first gen college grad! ...But never mind that 80% of our hires share the same socio-economic background..." When I got accepted into a top school which feeds students into finance and consulting, I immediately noticed that the majority of kids came from the same wealthy areas. Had to forego a ton of off-campus student activities, because I couldn't cough up hundreds to thousands of bucks for skiing trips at luxury resorts, sailing events, etc.

voxl 7y ago

Rich kids are connected. How many poor kids get personally tutored by someone gifted in math? Rich parents can not only afford it, but have the network to convey the demand in the first place. It's not just a test score thing, parents legitimately want their kids to be better than them, to not be an embarrassment, to live a good life, take your pick. A rich person knows this means education as much as it means test scores.

lonelappde 7y ago
Rich kids get fancy tutoring for free from highly educated family and friends.