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First and foremost, don't worry about not getting into <insert elite college or university>. The admissions process is not fair, and in fact, it's unfair is wel

by wespiser_2018 7y ago

First and foremost, don't worry about not getting into <insert elite college or university>. The admissions process is not fair, and in fact, it's unfair is well documented in a couple of court cases. (See Student's for Fair Admission court case docs [1] Your admissions decision is not a reflection of you as a person. Next, I wouldn't really draw comparisons between success and failure in starts ups and academic institutions, as success in getting into a school is really arbitrary, where the start up success is not some limited resource decided by a panel of admissions officers. In my experience, as an employee of multiple start up projects and companies, start ups are as much of a lottery game, and I've seen unfair and unjust things happen to other people, and experience them myself. On a personal note, you will deal with failure, and bad things will happen to you that make you feel bad. This is life. You can give up, or decide to keep pushing forward closer to your goals with minimal delay and resentment. There are a couple of useful philosophies for dealing with this, and I've found Stoicism very helpful for managing these situations. (See Marcus Aurelius's Mediations for a good intro [2]). [1] https://studentsforfairadmissions.org/sffa-files-motion-for-summary-judgment-against-harvard/ https://studentsforfairadmissions.org/sffa-files-motion-for-... [2] http://seinfeld.co/library/meditations.pdf http://seinfeld.co/library/meditations.pdf

akhilcacharya 7y ago
> First and foremost, don't worry about not getting into <insert elite college or university>. Potentially unpopular opinion - one thing I've noticed where you get in is a somewhat good indication of future success, whereas attending is far noisier. I know countless successful people who are included as examples of folks that "succeeded despite going to a non-competitive school" despite the fact that they got into significantly more competitive ones. (Disclaimer - I didn't get into any elite schools..)
- wespiser_2018 7y ago
  Yea, in general, to get into a competitive school, you already have a lot going for you: namely a stable enough home life, and supportive enough and enriching environment that you can dedicate yourself to applying your intelligence to creating a competitive application. It's kind of weird, the people that get into the schools are the ones that "need" them the least. Conversely, there is some evidence that less privileged students have worse outcomes if they attend an elite school (compared to lower tier schools) in a substantial amount of cases where these students have not prepared to the same level as peers that have undergone a more competitive selection criteria.
  - akhilcacharya 7y ago
    I’m not convinced about the latter, but I am convinced that it’s difficult to get out of the hole you’re in if you can’t get into an elite school at 17/18. I’ve basically given up.

akhilcacharya 7y ago

> First and foremost, don't worry about not getting into <insert elite college or university>. Potentially unpopular opinion - one thing I've noticed where you get in is a somewhat good indication of future success, whereas attending is far noisier. I know countless successful people who are included as examples of folks that "succeeded despite going to a non-competitive school" despite the fact that they got into significantly more competitive ones. (Disclaimer - I didn't get into any elite schools..)

wespiser_2018 7y ago
Yea, in general, to get into a competitive school, you already have a lot going for you: namely a stable enough home life, and supportive enough and enriching environment that you can dedicate yourself to applying your intelligence to creating a competitive application. It's kind of weird, the people that get into the schools are the ones that "need" them the least. Conversely, there is some evidence that less privileged students have worse outcomes if they attend an elite school (compared to lower tier schools) in a substantial amount of cases where these students have not prepared to the same level as peers that have undergone a more competitive selection criteria.
- akhilcacharya 7y ago
  I’m not convinced about the latter, but I am convinced that it’s difficult to get out of the hole you’re in if you can’t get into an elite school at 17/18. I’ve basically given up.