The College Don't Make the Man

Applying to College
1

<p>Anyone accepted into an Ivy is a) lucky b) should be proud! </p>

<p>We all know that you can get a good education most anywhere, and the same philosophy holds true for a bad education. Yet what I am always suprised by is learning who got in where. It's not that I doubt the succcess or intelligence of my classmates, but some of them never struck me as "Ivy material"</p>

<p>This made me think...if you can't judge someone's suitability to the Ivies, you can't judge someone's intelligence for getting in. This means...not everyone into the Ivies or any other prestigious school is nessecarily intelligent.</p>

<p>Point --> I've seen girls that don't strike me as intelligent get into Dartmouth, and guys that strike me as brilliant get rejected from all their reaches.</p>

<p>Of course I'm judging on a superficial level...that's what made me think. These kids may have talents and ideas I'm not aware of. Or connections. They may not. Many people judge others based on where they're going. And maybe we shouldn't.</p>

<p>I always become annoyed when someone asks "Where are YOU GOING?!" to the reply of "[Prestigious School X]", which results in "WOW you must be the SMARTEST person EVER". Because the flipside is just as irritating: "She's going to community college? Did she fail everything? I thought she was smart."</p>

<p>Smart, smart, smart. What does it really mean? Is it a test score? Of course not. The standardized tests are largely innacurate measures of ability, they're just aides to admissions commitees. Does it mean good grades? Perhaps, but some kids simply "don't care" and hide their brilliance deep down. Others have issues at home or outside of the little bubble we call School and can't keep up with work.</p>

<p>I realized that while it's easy to judge someone, it's ultimately pointless. Whether they're going to Brown or community college, what do we really know about who they are and what they know?</p>

2

<p>This is probably one of the greatest threads I have seen in a long, long time. Thank you for your sanity.</p>

3

<p>efreakingxactly, society needs all kinds of people, and unfortunately the only people who are regarded as worthy/"smart" are the ones who goto the good colleges. If your read this article: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/world/asia/27seoul.html?_r=1&em&ex=1209441600&en=6b2231730731aba4&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/world/asia/27seoul.html?_r=1&em&ex=1209441600&en=6b2231730731aba4&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin&lt;/a>, you will understand that the U.S. isn't actually bad in its judgement of people. I could not imagine living in Korea, where going to a community college would be considered a COMPLETE failure yet going to an ivy is a guaranteed success.</p>

<p>I have known many people throughout my life, and most of them went to a quality state university or community college. I have also known people who have attended top quality institutions, such as Standford, Harvard, MIT, etc. While most of them are successful, they do not seem to be exponentially more successful than the other people I know. Seeing college as the end of the road is extremely short sided in my opinion but unfortunately is what our society has come to use as a judging stick.</p>

4

<p>bleed: It is also short sighted... :)</p>