3 ms·
> he got lucky to get accepted to Stuyvesant high school in NYC ... Where would he be in life if the coinflip in the Stuy admission office went the other way an
by losvedir 5y ago
> he got lucky to get accepted to Stuyvesant high school in NYC ... Where would he be in life if the coinflip in the Stuy admission office went the other way and he ended up going to a more normal public school
I'm pretty sure "got lucky" here is kind of a humble brag, like "I'm so lucky to be smart". Stuyvesant admissions are straightforwardly and deterministically based on a test, with spots going to the highest scores. There's no admissions officers considering extracurriculars, or interview or anything like that.
- oh_sigh 5y agoThe luck could come into play by getting questions on the test that he was prepared to answer. For example, in 2014 I worked at a FAANG, and was applying to another FAANG. I had a co-worker who was the same level as me who also applied to the same company, and bombed the interview. However, I knew from extreme first-hand experience that this coworker was a better engineer than I was by far. But it just so happened that I got lucky with the questions I got, where they all fell into my wheelhouse, and he got unlucky. I got the job - he didn't. I consider that luck on my part. In retrospect, maybe he did get lucky and I got unlucky, since his stock has outperformed my stock by 3x over that time range.