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About the video games. My kids never played them, but not because we didn't let them but because they were overly busy with extracurriculars that interested them more. They didn't have time to hang out. While I am not against video games, I don't consider this an EC in the sense that that term is usually used. I don't think colleges consider video games as ECs either. I think of video games as something someone does in their free time. I don't think too many kids get into elite colleges whose only EC is video games.
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<p>But ask yourself - why not? After all, why are video games inherently less valuable than, say, football? Or any other sport? </p>
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You mention flunking out....well if you are flunking out, one must examine why. You either are not working hard enough or maybe the field doesn't interest you enough to pursue it....time to make some sort of change
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<p>Or the field is simply too hard for you. Either way, I agree, time to make a change. </p>
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hat I was saying before is that my children would not change majors just because another major was easier just so they could graduate.
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<p>So they would actually prefer to flunk out? If so, they are clearly in the distinct minority. </p>
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I would not even want to spend money (let alone have them spend time on) studying something deeply that they had NO interest in. By the way, my kids are interested in MORE than one thing. But they would never major in something they are not passionate about.
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<p>And, again, I would argue endogeneity. It's pretty darn hard to be passionate about a subject in which you are constantly getting F's. After all, nobody enjoys doing poorly. </p>
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I have one kid in a liberal arts degree program. She is the epitome of "well rounded" as you can get. Even one of her college app essays focused on being well rounded and having a myriad of interests. She doesn't like only one top and hates everything else. She'd be the first to tell you that she likes many things. Even her major and intended graduate field of study is a very interdisciplinary field and that is one thing she likes about it. She highly valued a liberal arts education and in fact, in her field, she could have done a professional degree program as an undergraduate but didn't want to commit to or be limited to focus primarily on one thing for undergrad school. My other kid is in a highly focused program that is a specialized professional degree program for undergrads. She has known her passion from a very very young age. However, she is also interested in the liberal arts subjects she takes. But she has a deep seated passion in her field of study and I can't imagine her majoring in anything else. This field required a commitment to the major at the time of application. Her field of study is her life. But she is interested in other things.
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<p>Speaking specifically about Sloan, I would argue that Sloan is a highly wide-ranging and holistic, almost interdisciplinary major. After all, you can go pure 'quant' and be an operations research guy, almost like a math major. You can go 'soft' and specialize in topics like leadership or communications. You can do grand strategy. You can do marketing. You can do finance. You can do information technology. You can do a wide variety of things.</p>
<p>Hence, it's hard for me to come up with a scenario in which somebody at MIT would hate everything that Sloan has to offer. There are not that many requirements, you are largely free to piece together your own curricula, and the courses generally give you the freedom to work on projects that you like. Plus, like I said, you don't have to really worry about flunking out, the way you do in the hard-core tech majors. What's not to like? </p>
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I care about my kids having a bright future full of happiness and opportunities that they may seek. I don't care what field they go into and I don't care how much money they earn.
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<p>Come now. You would care if they couldn't even afford food to eat. You would care if they were in true poverty. And certainly you would care if they just moved back home and couldn't or didn't want to get a job and decided to sponge off you for the rest of their lives. No parent wants that. </p>
<p>That's the point I've been making. Sure, you don't really care about getting absolutely every single last dollar. But you care about your kids at least reaching some basic threshold of financial self-sufficiency. </p>
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She is not going to be a ski racer for her career. I can tell you that she drew parallels (no pun intended) to her life in ski racing to her graduate field/pursuit on her statement of purpose to get into grad schools (she got into many top ones in her field). I think there is a lot to be gained by immersion in many EC pursuits, even if the actual activity is not one that is in itself useful later on.
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<p>Then maybe you could have told my parents to lay off me if I felt I wanted to play video games for 24 hours straight. Of course, I shudder to think of where I would be if that happened. {Then again, maybe I'd be a millionaire pro video game player.}</p>
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Um....SOME parents feel that way....I see it on CC with lots of folks. But I do not agree that MOST feel that way.
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<p>Oh, I disagree. It's clearly MOST. Look at the craze of rich parents to get their kids into even private kindergartens as a way to get their kids a leg up in the college race. Heck, look at how many copies the USNews ranking sells - it is by far the top selling USNews issue every year, in fact, I think by an order of magnitude. </p>
<p>But what you are talking about is a 'frenzy'. I never stated it that way, and certainly not to the point where it overrides everything else. I simply said that it was a simple preference even if a small one. For example, given the choice between sending their kid to Harvard and some no-name school, all else equal, including the price and the preferences of the kid himself, the parents are almost certainly going to prefer Harvard, even if by just a little bit.</p>