Article from Columbia student paper:
http://columbiaspectator.com/spectrum/2015/11/10/are-you-special-going-ivy-league
“Most people . . . attend the most prestigious school they can get into.”
The writer (who appears to believe in the application of psychological principles) doesn’t understand that she herself has projected her own conditioning onto the goals of others.
…
I thought it was rather courageous, generous, and refreshing for the author to acknowledge–especially so publicly–that people who didn’t go to an Ivy have the right to breathe the same air that she and her Ivy classmates breathe. And not just those who have endured the disgrace of attending schools like MIT or Stanford; no, even those who went to state schools!! This article is sort of the Magna Carta of our time.
Actually, the entire quote is even more telling:
The author is already limiting the pool significantly by talking about students with adequate financial means to attend a reach school.
I did appreciate this perspective:
Some people at Ivies are truly brilliant and competitive and strategic and really nice people besides. Of course that goes for virtually any other school, too. One issue for undergraduate Ivy students, though, is how many are molded into great test-taking, info regurgitators who have never said no to anything in their lives? I don’t know the answer to that question, but I suspect that probably there are a larger number of them now than there were, say, 25 years ago when college admissions were more haphazard. And mom and dad weren’t staking their Family Self-Esteem for the past 200 Generations on the stickers on the car windows. Like, today, students prob got on the treadmill in pre-K and by virtue of never really saying no to anything of any importance ended up in an Ivy. Test scores-check! GPA–Check! Mom-hovering-to-ensure-I-never-get-off-treadmill Check! Courage to explore and invent something truly new . . . . uh, will it get me a good grade?
People go to selective schools for reasons that have nothing to do with simple prestige. For a student that found high school easy, even after taking the most challenging courses offered, going to a rigorous school with similar peers might finally offer them an intellectual challenge. From my experience at Emory, most students are very aware that there are plenty of extremely intelligent people at most public colleges.
Some kids put themselves on that treadmill without parents hovering over them.
Agree @twogirls , probably best for people not to stereotype.
I think if you take a step back, and remember this is written by an 18 year old, the overall message is good and helpful, even if it seems self-evident to the rest of us outside the bubble.
What about g-d forbid a kid gets into Columbia and turns it down for for gasp a non-Ivy?
Writer wouldn’t think that could possibly happen.
@inn0v8r yes you are right!
That relates to the bubble I am referring to. She is around only people who chose Columbia, which likely warped her perspective materially.
At least she is trying to be introspective about it, especially in the 2nd half… And realize she doesn’t have the full picture.
Innov is right in post #8…the author means well, and doesn’t deserve the sort of sarcasm and snark I spewed in post #3.
@inn0v8r "She is around only people who chose Columbia, which likely warped her perspective materially.
Agreed. She should realize that there are thousands perhaps 10s of thousands of students just as qualified as she is that chose NOT to apply to an elite private institution let alone and Ivy League school. 90+% of a students success in life is going to be due what the student does and not the institution they attended.
From the article: “Most people . . . attend the most prestigious school they can get into.”
It’s funny that most of the young people I know did not end up attending the most prestigious university they were accepted to. Some granted because of money but not most. They just felt the school they attended met their needs the best.
I think it’s important to remember that this happens on all levels, not just with Ivy-hopefuls. My s was just accepted to 3 ivies, but my 2 older Ds both attend Alabama. You would be surprised by the outright snobbery that some of the UA students exhibit towards CC kids. The admit rate is fairly high, yet some kids are really snooty about it all.
The writer is 20-21 years old most likely. A college Junior.
I think the piece was pretty balanced, even if you have to wonder why she ever felt the need to write it.
And while this part is pretty silly (LOTS of people choose the less prestigious option, even when money isn’t a factor), apparently this is a commonly held belief among Columbia students (the intended audience):
I guess the level of snobbery she’s witnessing from her classmates is pretty surprising. (“But just because you’re here doesn’t mean someone else couldn’t be in your place—someone who might be at a state school.”) If that kind of arrogance is truly reflective of her classmates (and I’m not saying it is; I have no idea), then the school’s adcoms are not very good at their jobs IMHO.
That she even felt the need to put that in writing is a little scary.
The author will be mortified of this piece in 5-10 years when she has been out of the Ivy bubble for awhile and been in the real-world where most smart and ambitious people did NOT go to an Ivy. I mean even if everyone wanted to go, there are only so many spots. But I understand the snobbishness she is writing about. They ( Ivies ) really lay it on thick that you are special and going to change the world. I went to Stanford not an Ivy, but I’m sure Stanford lays it on just as thick. You hear it so much that it is easy to believe. I still remember listening to the university president giving us freshman a stirring welcome speech (think I kept some quotes on my wall in my dorm; I was so moved by the awesomeness around me. lol, ah to be 18…). Then you head out into the real world and realize what a load of bs that is. I get a kick out of reading the tome the alumni association sends out every 10 years with write-ups alumni have sent on what they did. For a class that was going to ‘change the world’, there sure are a lot of doctors and lawyers. Nothing wrong with that, but um, not quite ‘world changing’.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved my Stanford years. I loved the challenge and I was probably a bit full of myself to be honest. I got that beaten out of me in grad school.