How good do you have to be so that boarding school will accept u?

<p>Na, she was being really insulting to FA applicants…</p>

<p>No offense, Izzy, but you sounded as bad as the rich kids at my school when they are at a local country club. </p>

<p>FA applicants are just as good as FP applicants… In terms of a admission process FA>FP because they have a larger pool to chose from… </p>

<p>I second Tom there, no need to be elitist…</p>

<p>Chill out Tom, jeez… :)</p>

<p>That’s funny. Michael Jordan was born in Brooklyn, NY, to middle class parents and went to public school. Money may buy opportunities, but it doesn’t buy talent. Sorry to disappoint you.</p>

<p>^</p>

<p>Paris Hilton turned out real good…</p>

<p>Haha, NICE. Couldn’t have put it better myself.</p>

<p>I don’t get your point…</p>

<p>It’s obvious if you are wealthy you may have more opportunities… In spite of that we live in a, for the most part, an egalitarian society (equal opportunity, NOT equality)…</p>

<p>Plus infinite opportunity + 0 talent translates to = absolutely nothing…</p>

<p>Jasmyn… Principalviola was being sarcastic about Paris Hilton turning out well</p>

<p>And my point about Michael Jordan was that he didn’t start out rich, but it’s still generally accepted that he was the best basketball player of all time</p>

<p>Uhmmm no…</p>

<p>Again Paris Hilton… Real successful, right?</p>

<p>Steve Jobs, was born poor… More successful than anything Paris could become…</p>

<p>I could go on and on and on and on and on and on… There is no way what you say translates into success… Jasmyn I read that article a while back, or one of similar creed… As a society, there is no way it can be equal. Hence, egalitarian societies such as America help give equal opportunities. </p>

<p>Tell me this… Was Obama a rich kid?</p>

<p>Yeah - Steve Jobs didn’t even graduate from college. But the iPod is still a hell of a lot more successful than the Zune.</p>

<p>Hence he has TALENT as opposed to rich kid opportunity. </p>

<p>:)</p>

<p>Which MONEY didn’t have anything to do with…</p>

<p>Because he DIDN’T HAVE ANY</p>

<p>The day money can buy talent we are royally ****ed…</p>

<p>You guys. cool it. No one was saying that people who were born without privilege were not talented or anything, or that kids with privilege necessarily were. Of course if someone has had years of SAT prep, and was given the opportunity to attend a school intended to send kids off to boarding school, and lots of expensive extracurriculars and whatnot, they’ll have a better chance of getting in. What do you think things like affirmative action are for? You can’t ignore the fact that some people born in poverty just aren’t given the chance to thrive as richer kids are. No one was saying that all rich kids were smarter and better or anything, just that one must take into account the opportunities given to them.</p>

<p>Wow you really do have a chip on your shoulder. I grew up in a very poor urban area and attended very weak public schools. Neither of my parents finished high school but they drove home the importance of education. I went to a top ten university (not Ivy) for both undergrad and Masters with scholarships, loans, work study, grants, and whatever else it took to pay the bills. I didn’t have any “connections” when I graduated from college. Now I make a very good living. Will my son have to work as hard as I did? Absolutely not. Will I apologize because it is easier for him to get into one of the top prep schools with no FA? Absolutely not. Does he have a better educational foundation because we live in an afluent town with a high quality school system. Absolutely. Was I qualified to attend one of the top prep schools as an 8th grader, but out of the running because of my parents’ finances? Absolutely not. I wasn’t even remotely academically qualified. No class warfare here – I just wasn’t qualified. Not a reflection of my desire or my ultimate capabilities. Just a reflection of the poor school system I attended from K-8. If you think high quality K-8 school systems are the norm, you should take a better look at the world around you. Right or wrong, the quality of public school systems is highly correlated with the income levels of the families in the community. If you find financial success someday, will you deny your son the advantages of a top prep school education just because the admission odds are slanted in his favor? My guess is no. Will you go on the internet chat boards denouncing the unfair advantage the “rich kids” have in the admissions process? My quess is no. There are quite a few kids that come from afluent families at Andover. Suggest you change your attitude and stop looking down your nose at “rich kids”, or you’ll have a very humbling experience over the next 4 years.</p>

<p>And seriously. Of course there are talented people from all social classes and economic levels. But things like SSAT scores can be easily improved with lessons that are bought with money.</p>

<p>Yeah but some people were making posts that made no sense whatsoever.</p>

<p>When you are 30 if you did your best and you had talent, I highly doubt it will matter if your dad was a janitor or an ibanker. We already accepted John iBanker has more opportunities than Joe McDonalder…</p>

<p>Edit: SSAT scores DO NOT go up with expensive tutoring classes… The things on there can be taught in an inner city school… haha… It goes up if you study hard enough, tutoring classes are NOT catalysts.</p>

<p>Edit2: Hockeydad - Your qualification, or lack thereof, had nothing to do with the fact that you were not wealthy…
Plenty of rich idiots (I know more rich idiots than I do non wealthy ones) out there…</p>

<p>Edit3: Nvm who am I to speak about your childhood situation.</p>

<p>I’ll be on a full scholarship at Andover next year. I scored 99th percentile on the SSAT.</p>

<p>Perfectly said, Hockeydad!</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>And for some reason I doubt you took extremely expensive classes on the SSAT… :)</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>More drug overuse in opulence than in poverty, btw… </p>

<p>Just thought I would let you know… Are you HONESTLY gonna play the “poor kid drug addict” card…?</p>

<p>Oh yeah? My Dad was born in a family making sub 1000 dollar per month (of course with purchasing power parity it was more like 1200 a month where he lived)… This was to a family who had a lot of debt, and a lot of things to pay for… He would be one of those people you describe, economically. And my Mom? Go to Mumbai and go outside the Vinayak temple, you will see what I am talking about… </p>

<p>No he NEVER got anywhere…</p>