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It's not like the kids at Ivys or Stanford are really smarter than a random STEM student at the University of Texas, Iowa State or Georgia Tech anyway, the diff

It's not like the kids at Ivys or Stanford are really smarter than a random STEM student at the University of Texas, Iowa State or Georgia Tech anyway, the difference is mostly just privilege or luck. Did the kids parents live in the right school district or pay for the right private school? Did the kid play a sport well enough to play on the college team? Are they an underrepresented minority? Are they a legacy? Did they have adults in their lives that encouraged them to apply? That knew the secret do's and don'ts about how to write an essay or talk in an interview? Admissions to elite schools is based on several dozen variables, among which "smart" or "hard working" are not weighted any higher than the others. A student is probably not thriving at Stanford if they're actually "dumb", but the median computer science student at any of the schools I mentioned above could be swapped into a Stanford classroom and remain an average student.

musicale 2y ago
> It's not like the kids at Ivys or Stanford are really smarter than a random STEM student at the University of Texas, Iowa State or Georgia Tech anyway, the difference is mostly just privilege or luck. A privileged upbringing could very well benefit brain health, and intelligence: better nutrition, more exercise, lower stress, more stimulating environment, etc. If (elite school) students have higher SAT scores and better grades, does that actually correlate with "intelligence"[1] or college success[2]? Or are they just average students who got better coaching for tests or happened to get lucky? [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6963451/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6963451/ [2] https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-22/grades-vs-sat-scores-which-is-a-better-predictor-of-college-success https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-22/grades-v...

musicale 2y ago

> It's not like the kids at Ivys or Stanford are really smarter than a random STEM student at the University of Texas, Iowa State or Georgia Tech anyway, the difference is mostly just privilege or luck. A privileged upbringing could very well benefit brain health, and intelligence: better nutrition, more exercise, lower stress, more stimulating environment, etc. If (elite school) students have higher SAT scores and better grades, does that actually correlate with "intelligence"[1] or college success[2]? Or are they just average students who got better coaching for tests or happened to get lucky? [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6963451/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6963451/ [2] https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-22/grades-vs-sat-scores-which-is-a-better-predictor-of-college-success https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-22/grades-v...