3 ms·

I'd treat the 3.5 from UCF, Maryland and UNC as roughly the same, but think MIT probably was slightly harder to achieve. Maybe UNC I'd view with a bit more susp

by Siddarth1977 4y ago

I'd treat the 3.5 from UCF, Maryland and UNC as roughly the same, but think MIT probably was slightly harder to achieve. Maybe UNC I'd view with a bit more suspicion since it's more likely that someone got by there due to one form of privilege or another, whereas the Central Florida student I can feel more confident they probably survived only by merit. One funny aspect of the very phenomena that this article is about, is that it highlights how little difference where you go to school matters. Whether you go to "super prestigious Ivy league school" or "non-prestigious flyover country state school" you're probably using the exact same textbook, syllabus and have a professors who were classmates and peers at the same "prestigious" university. Basically, the difference between a student at a midwestern public school and an Ivy league is about 99.999% how privileged they were in terms of either having rich, well-connected parents or matching a diversity criteria the school was seeking and at most, a 0.001% difference in merit.

lapcat 4y ago
> Basically, the difference between a student at a midwestern public school and an Ivy league is about 99.999% how privileged they were in terms of either having rich, well-connected parents Coincidentally, I was accepted to an Ivy League school but had to attend a Midwestern public school instead because my parents couldn't afford to send me to the Ivy League school. So my pedigree was entirely based on money.
master_crab 4y ago
“I'd treat the 3.5 from UCF, Maryland and UNC as roughly the same, but think MIT probably was slightly harder to achieve.” Are you sure about that? Private, prestigious institutions have a habit of grade inflation beyond those of the nation’s reputable state schools (although all of the schools have inflated grades compared to previous decades) I would probably view an equal or higher GPA from a top tier state school as a better distinguisher than one from an Ivy. https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/04/brown-grade-inflation-continues-to-soar-data-shows https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/04/brown-grade... https://www.gradeinflation.com/ https://www.gradeinflation.com/

lapcat 4y ago

> Basically, the difference between a student at a midwestern public school and an Ivy league is about 99.999% how privileged they were in terms of either having rich, well-connected parents Coincidentally, I was accepted to an Ivy League school but had to attend a Midwestern public school instead because my parents couldn't afford to send me to the Ivy League school. So my pedigree was entirely based on money.

master_crab 4y ago

“I'd treat the 3.5 from UCF, Maryland and UNC as roughly the same, but think MIT probably was slightly harder to achieve.” Are you sure about that? Private, prestigious institutions have a habit of grade inflation beyond those of the nation’s reputable state schools (although all of the schools have inflated grades compared to previous decades) I would probably view an equal or higher GPA from a top tier state school as a better distinguisher than one from an Ivy. https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/04/brown-grade-inflation-continues-to-soar-data-shows https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/04/brown-grade... https://www.gradeinflation.com/ https://www.gradeinflation.com/