5 ms·

What about the rest of us? Should we just be just be shunted to the second, third, and fourth rungs of society because we didn’t have the right extracurriculars

What about the rest of us? Should we just be just be shunted to the second, third, and fourth rungs of society because we didn’t have the right extracurriculars or only got a 1450 instead of a 1550? 99% of Americans have never attended and likely could not gain admittance to the top 20 schools, to paraphrase William Jennings Bryan the rest of us should not be crucified on a cross of Ivy.

navait 5y ago
Are the second, third and fourth rungs so horrible? The bottom of the ladder is pretty bad, but people going to uni are unlikely to be on the bottom. As far as computer science goes, you can be a total fuck up and still easily live an upper middle class life.
xvector 5y ago
You are not being “crucified” in any sense of the word. I guarantee you that there are still incredible opportunities available for second, third, etc place. The current system encourages high levels of academic performance, which is precisely what our species needs to advance. There must be some sort of incentive.
- rejectedandsad 5y ago
  It's abundantly clear that there aren't incredible opportunities on the second, third, fourth rung of society, speaking as someone that "lost" all of the meritocracy games. We get the message from everyone that we clearly do not matter. For the record, I don't know how the average Yale graduate is "advancing our species" more than the average UMBC or UNC Wilmington graduate.
the_only_law 5y ago
So funny thing. I was doing some research into the “non traditional” programs at the top schools. A handful have programs for people who have been outside of academic for some years, and allows them to earn the same undergrad degree. However the same gpa and test score requirements are all in place and you’re still being judged by who you were at 17/18. I suppose the main difference is instead of looking at involvement in things like sports, student organizations, volunteering, etc. it’s looking at work experience or membership in professional organizations. But at that point why not just have the apply as a normal undergrad?
- rejectedandsad 5y ago
  It's extremely depressing. I really don't feel like I have much hope knowing I'll never be able to achieve anything because of who I was when I was in high school - it's even worse because I knew what I wanted in high school (Siemens, high school research, etc), but had no idea how to accomplish it.

navait 5y ago

Are the second, third and fourth rungs so horrible? The bottom of the ladder is pretty bad, but people going to uni are unlikely to be on the bottom. As far as computer science goes, you can be a total fuck up and still easily live an upper middle class life.

xvector 5y ago

You are not being “crucified” in any sense of the word. I guarantee you that there are still incredible opportunities available for second, third, etc place. The current system encourages high levels of academic performance, which is precisely what our species needs to advance. There must be some sort of incentive.

rejectedandsad 5y ago
It's abundantly clear that there aren't incredible opportunities on the second, third, fourth rung of society, speaking as someone that "lost" all of the meritocracy games. We get the message from everyone that we clearly do not matter. For the record, I don't know how the average Yale graduate is "advancing our species" more than the average UMBC or UNC Wilmington graduate.

the_only_law 5y ago

So funny thing. I was doing some research into the “non traditional” programs at the top schools. A handful have programs for people who have been outside of academic for some years, and allows them to earn the same undergrad degree. However the same gpa and test score requirements are all in place and you’re still being judged by who you were at 17/18. I suppose the main difference is instead of looking at involvement in things like sports, student organizations, volunteering, etc. it’s looking at work experience or membership in professional organizations. But at that point why not just have the apply as a normal undergrad?

rejectedandsad 5y ago
It's extremely depressing. I really don't feel like I have much hope knowing I'll never be able to achieve anything because of who I was when I was in high school - it's even worse because I knew what I wanted in high school (Siemens, high school research, etc), but had no idea how to accomplish it.