6 ms·

The generalization is weird, but the odder part is that you know your co-worker's SAT scores. How does that even come up in conversation? It makes me miss the o

by rdouble 15y ago

The generalization is weird, but the odder part is that you know your co-worker's SAT scores. How does that even come up in conversation? It makes me miss the old silicon valley where every other person was a weirdo who never even went to college.

nostrademons 15y ago
These aren't Googlers I'm talking about, except the boyfriend. Most of them are friends from college, along with a few online friends and a family member mixed in. As for how it comes up in conversation - look at this thread, it's got 3 people's SAT scores already. It's not like it's particularly taboo. Usually it starts with somebody mentioning how much they hate/miss high school over dinner or a few drinks, and then soon everybody's offhandedly mentioning their numbers. (Edit: Also, I hope that everyone reading this understands that the numbers, while inspired by real people, are completely arbitrary. I don't really care if the general HN community dislikes, misunderstands, or downvotes the post. I care that the people who would see themselves in the 1590 category, whether or not they actually scored a 1590 on some standardized test several years ago, understand the point.)
- bane 15y ago
  No, it's really quite strange. This thread has got me thinking, until this thread, I can't even recall the last time somebody mentioned their SAT score. Probably more than 15 years ago? I've heard more IQ scores, GRE scores and even TOEFL scores than SAT scores. A fascinating circle you run in indeed.
  - count 15y ago
    You're probably significantly older, and have a ton of life experience and achievement under your belt. He's probably early-20s, fresh out of school, and that's still a huge part of his life experience.
    - nostrademons 15y ago
      I'm 30. Though remember that most of these conversations happened when I was actually in college (a few even before then, while applying to schools), and I just have a really long memory. (The conversation with the friend that sparked this musing was last night, but I've been friends with her since she was 14, and so our conversation topics include anything that was fair game back then, which is basically everything.)
      - bane 15y ago
        "conversations happened when I was actually in college" Oh then...that makes sense. From the sounds of it I thought you were talking about say...a month ago over lunch in the cafeteria. "Mmm...this Bruschetta is pretty good" "Could use more diced tomatoes. BTW, I got 1573 on my SATs, you?" "oh...1590, ain't that weird?" "pass the pepper please?"
matwood 15y ago
The generalization is weird, but the odder part is that you know your co-worker's SAT scores. That's what I was also thinking. I don't think I've talked about SAT scores since I was a sophomore/junior in HS and was taking the SAT. My friends and I have occasionally talked about GRE scores, but that's only because one of my friends tutors/preps people to take it.
kubrickslair 15y ago
I don't mean to cause offense, but I find people who never went to college or did not major or focus heavily on CS or engineering generally more interesting to both work with and as people. Somehow college grads (especially in math heavy fields) seem to believe that their scores or grades are a reflection of their intelligence, drive or even personality. Not to say there are huge exceptions; both among people I know, and among famous thinkers- I find Poincare, or Mandelbrot to be great 'broad' thinkers who totally understand the fallacy of such numbers in both life and science. -Said as someone who went to a big name CS place
- jes5199 15y ago
  Thanks!
- kafkaesque 15y ago
  Yes, I also thank you. A digression coming up! You've been warned! I have a BA from a pretty highly ranked university in Canada, and excelled in academics. However, I always thought it was a breeze for anybody to do really well in. I always thought the Arts were stupidly easy compared to the Sciences. So, I always down-played my performance, because I always knew that, in the end, I had accomplished something very insignificant, despite being in the top 5%; and even despite various professors suggesting I could do really great things and one going as far as telling me I shouldn't be in university "since I already knew all the material". Long story short, I graduated and, basically, failed in every other aspect of my life, including landing a good career and was getting paid minimum wage for the 2 years after graduating. I left the country, am doing OK now, but learning to program and interested in more of the sciences (lo and behold, right?). But it is funny how now that I am surrounding myself more with science people and CS/IT people, I feel I have strong proof of how excelling in one subject or area can get to someone's head. I'm glad I never let it get to me. And I think back at the times I wasn't humble when trying to explain some esoteric concept to someone, or when someone didn't explain something properly or simply did not have the knowledge to fully make an adequate generalization of a given concept, and I was very indifferent and critical; I think back and feel bad and hope never to be like that. I'm much more of a humanitarian now, though, and feel a lot more compassion for humanity; for those who act in both bad and good faith. I apologize for the long rambling post! Thank you, again.
temphn 15y ago
Your undergrad degree is just a noisy and expensive proxy for your SAT score anyway. And that's not taboo to discuss. Paradoxically, it's less declasse to mention the subjective measure that takes four years and costs a quarter million bucks than the objective measure which takes two hours and a number two pencil.
- lurker17 15y ago
  Less declasse to mention your degree? http://www.grumblemagazine.com/articles/crack/harvard/index.html http://www.grumblemagazine.com/articles/crack/harvard/index....

by rdouble 15y ago

nostrademons 15y ago

These aren't Googlers I'm talking about, except the boyfriend. Most of them are friends from college, along with a few online friends and a family member mixed in. As for how it comes up in conversation - look at this thread, it's got 3 people's SAT scores already. It's not like it's particularly taboo. Usually it starts with somebody mentioning how much they hate/miss high school over dinner or a few drinks, and then soon everybody's offhandedly mentioning their numbers. (Edit: Also, I hope that everyone reading this understands that the numbers, while inspired by real people, are completely arbitrary. I don't really care if the general HN community dislikes, misunderstands, or downvotes the post. I care that the people who would see themselves in the 1590 category, whether or not they actually scored a 1590 on some standardized test several years ago, understand the point.)

bane 15y ago
No, it's really quite strange. This thread has got me thinking, until this thread, I can't even recall the last time somebody mentioned their SAT score. Probably more than 15 years ago? I've heard more IQ scores, GRE scores and even TOEFL scores than SAT scores. A fascinating circle you run in indeed.
- count 15y ago
  You're probably significantly older, and have a ton of life experience and achievement under your belt. He's probably early-20s, fresh out of school, and that's still a huge part of his life experience.
  - nostrademons 15y ago
    I'm 30. Though remember that most of these conversations happened when I was actually in college (a few even before then, while applying to schools), and I just have a really long memory. (The conversation with the friend that sparked this musing was last night, but I've been friends with her since she was 14, and so our conversation topics include anything that was fair game back then, which is basically everything.)
    - bane 15y ago
      "conversations happened when I was actually in college" Oh then...that makes sense. From the sounds of it I thought you were talking about say...a month ago over lunch in the cafeteria. "Mmm...this Bruschetta is pretty good" "Could use more diced tomatoes. BTW, I got 1573 on my SATs, you?" "oh...1590, ain't that weird?" "pass the pepper please?"

matwood 15y ago

The generalization is weird, but the odder part is that you know your co-worker's SAT scores. That's what I was also thinking. I don't think I've talked about SAT scores since I was a sophomore/junior in HS and was taking the SAT. My friends and I have occasionally talked about GRE scores, but that's only because one of my friends tutors/preps people to take it.

kubrickslair 15y ago

I don't mean to cause offense, but I find people who never went to college or did not major or focus heavily on CS or engineering generally more interesting to both work with and as people. Somehow college grads (especially in math heavy fields) seem to believe that their scores or grades are a reflection of their intelligence, drive or even personality. Not to say there are huge exceptions; both among people I know, and among famous thinkers- I find Poincare, or Mandelbrot to be great 'broad' thinkers who totally understand the fallacy of such numbers in both life and science. -Said as someone who went to a big name CS place

jes5199 15y ago
Thanks!
kafkaesque 15y ago
Yes, I also thank you. A digression coming up! You've been warned! I have a BA from a pretty highly ranked university in Canada, and excelled in academics. However, I always thought it was a breeze for anybody to do really well in. I always thought the Arts were stupidly easy compared to the Sciences. So, I always down-played my performance, because I always knew that, in the end, I had accomplished something very insignificant, despite being in the top 5%; and even despite various professors suggesting I could do really great things and one going as far as telling me I shouldn't be in university "since I already knew all the material". Long story short, I graduated and, basically, failed in every other aspect of my life, including landing a good career and was getting paid minimum wage for the 2 years after graduating. I left the country, am doing OK now, but learning to program and interested in more of the sciences (lo and behold, right?). But it is funny how now that I am surrounding myself more with science people and CS/IT people, I feel I have strong proof of how excelling in one subject or area can get to someone's head. I'm glad I never let it get to me. And I think back at the times I wasn't humble when trying to explain some esoteric concept to someone, or when someone didn't explain something properly or simply did not have the knowledge to fully make an adequate generalization of a given concept, and I was very indifferent and critical; I think back and feel bad and hope never to be like that. I'm much more of a humanitarian now, though, and feel a lot more compassion for humanity; for those who act in both bad and good faith. I apologize for the long rambling post! Thank you, again.

temphn 15y ago

Your undergrad degree is just a noisy and expensive proxy for your SAT score anyway. And that's not taboo to discuss. Paradoxically, it's less declasse to mention the subjective measure that takes four years and costs a quarter million bucks than the objective measure which takes two hours and a number two pencil.

lurker17 15y ago
Less declasse to mention your degree? http://www.grumblemagazine.com/articles/crack/harvard/index.html http://www.grumblemagazine.com/articles/crack/harvard/index....