What's with all of these private college "rich, snobby, elitist" comments?

Parents Forum
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<p>You don’t need “microwave popcorn.” Just get a bag or jar of ordinary popcorn kernels, put about 1/3 cup in a lunchbag-sized brown paper bag, close the top of the bag leaving plenty of room for the popcorn to expand, and put it in the microwave on “high” for about 2 minutes, or until the popping slows down. You’ll get perfect, fluffy popcorn every time. Just don’t leave it in after the popping slows, or it will scorch. Many microwaves have a pretty idiot-proof “popcorn” button, so you don’t even need to set the time manually. Add melted butter and/or salt if you like, or your favorite flavoring—Parmesan cheese, curry powder, and brewer’s yeast are 3 favorites in our household (separately, not together). It’s easier, faster, and more efficient than a hot-air popper, and much better than pre-packaged “microwave popcorn” which is just ordinary popcorn with some salt and chemical butter-substitute added.</p>

<p>Think I’ll do that now, and sit back and watch this slugfest.</p>

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<p>bclintonk, thanks for the recipe!</p>

<p>Can definitely vouch for the flagship > Ivy mentality among some folks. Have heard it from plenty of friends and family. Even in our SAT/AP obsessed community where graduate degrees are ubiquitous, there are a lot of top LACs that get a “huh?” out of folks. That would include Swat, Williams, Bowdoin, the excellent midwest LACs to which S2 applied, etc. </p>

<p>Then there is the contingent of our kids’ friends who took the full ride to the flagship (many turning down HPYSM for UG) and are off to MIT, Caltech, Duke, Harvard, Cambridge, etc. for grad school. The CS contingent among these folks are going to Google, FB, Microsoft, start-ups, et al before heading to grad school. </p>

<p>They and their parents are pretty darned pleased.</p>

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<p>Some schools like HYP (and the top 15 or so) are elite merely because of the incredible selectivity. Whether the filter that screens kids into those schools predicts lifelong success is something that people can debate (although I suspect that Dale and Kreuger’s findings suggest that the filter does predict something about success as measured by income). </p>

<p>I guess one question is whether being part of a group that knows it has surmounted a high bar makes the group elitist (placing great value on the selection criteria and their implications). I suspect that at most of the top 15, there is a strong element of elitism (this was true with the few that I know well, and still seems to be true at those schools).</p>

<p>The second question that people often conflate is whether the student bodies of these schools are made up of a collection of rich kids, kids of celebrities, entitled upper middle class kids who look down upon their classmates who are none of the above. That is, are they snobby. This was true at HYP 50 years ago. It was less true but there was still an element of truth 30+ years ago. I suspect that it is a lot less true now. I think the public face the the elite schools present is that they are trying to expand the pool as much as they can probably has pervaded the student body and there is much less snobbiness among the student bodies. My perception is that the admissions policies have probably changed less than the their public faces have changed in that the rich, the celebrities, etc. still have an easier pass route through admissions. But, my sense is that students are much more accepting of other kids regardless of socio-economic status than was the case 30+ years ago. So, I’d guess elitist but not snobby.</p>

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<p>I tend do agree with qdogpa. A lot of people that criticize prep schools/HYP/private LAC’s just flat out can’t afford them.</p>

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<p>Which brings us back to the original contention…</p>

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<p>Perhaps starting a new leg here, In my husbands industry, an ivy League diploma means nothing. Certain state schools and a few larger privates are respected. Every one of the multibillionaires who are the company owners are state school grads. Hmm. Not a Harvard grad there. Just hardworking smart people.</p>

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<p>H has hired engineers etc for many years now. When it comes down to the 3 or 4 people sitting around a conference table trying to decide which applicant to hire for the position, very rarely does the applicant’s college come under discussion! Usually he says it is a large public university, not a Top 20 School. The applicant’s experience, talents, internships & so on are taken into consideration, not where he/she got their degree.</p>

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<p>Juist got back from a wonderful evening out and was anticipationg that things were spicier here than they are. Who poured the water on the heated exchange?? </p>

<p>Thanks for the popcorn recipe , though :)</p>

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<p>The laugh from me is those that attend HYP type schools are likely not applying to jobs that your husband is hiring for…they already have jobs…kind of contradictory to the spiel of how the spoiled ricj kids attend these schools,though need to send an applaication for a job? Not likley…they have connections to avoid this process…fwiw, my D does not attend a HYP,but we are very familiar with ‘hires’ of these educated students…HYP or private schools have a significant more value then schleppy U…but i digress…</p>

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<p>And because i’ ve had my fill of nonsense about private schools by people who can’ t likley afford to go to one, attending a secondary or teritiary state school is a waste of money…the job u are likley to land can be had with a HS education and 2 years of service…i like mine grande with a touch of milk</p>

<p>To clarify my statement ,a college degree has been watered down,everyone now attends a college, though many don’t graduate…jobs that 20 years ago went to HS grads, now “require” a college degree…an example i can provide is a major money manager of your retirement funds now requires a college degree to answer the phomes and transfer the call to appropriate depts…now the talk is there is to look at the degree and wheee it came from, placing more importanceo the institution which granted it…They realize many degrees are not worth the money paid to get it</p>

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<p>qdog, my daughter happens to be attending a private university, but whether she were attending public or private I would certainly hope she wouldn’t graduate with an attitude like yours.</p>

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<p>Debbie, you have no clue to my beliefs…i am tired of the constant bashing of those who attend so called pricey schools…rich,snobby,elitest…have you ever seen a post/thread belittling lousy stae schools,or such…never…one mig call it jealousy or envy,but i won’t stoop that low…though i will no longer stand by and not reply…the biggest fleecing of stduents is those that attend mediocre state schools…ultimately,you get what you pay for,sorry…that said, you can get a good educqtion from flagships and good state schools</p>

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<p>Apologize for spellimg issues, IPAD is tough to type on. ;)</p>

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<p>A post? You’re serious?</p>

<p>Plenty of them, qdog.</p>

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<p>Debbie, have yet to see one knocking lousy schools,as a thread…many knocking privates,etc…show me one thread started about crummy schools,and knocking those that attend one…this thread has comments about elitism,snobby,etc…show me one about lower class ,no class, u won’t find one</p>

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<p>Have a good evening, qdog.</p>

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<p>You also…</p>

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<p>Not to dragonmom in particular, but when was the last time you checked who’s the founder of Facebook and others ;)? Honestly, just what is this thing people have on CollegeConfidential against people from Harvard? Do you actually know current students attending the school and you find them elitist, rich, and snobbish, or is this just your impression from reading an anonymous online forum that always seems to bring out the worst in people? </p>

<p>As a Harvard undergrad, the last time I checked, the friends at school were still down to earth, hard working smart people from across the economic spectrum who deserve none of this elitist label.</p>

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<p>America’s richest people according to Forbes, and undergraduate alma mater:</p>

<ol>
<li>Bill Gates, Harvard dropout</li>
<li>Warren Buffett, University of Nebraska-Lincoln</li>
<li>Larry Ellison, University of Illinois and University of Chicago dropout</li>
<li>Christy Walton (WalMart heir), educational pedigree unknown</li>
<li>Charles Koch, MIT</li>
<li>David Koch, MIT</li>
<li>Jim Walton, U of Arkansas</li>
<li>Alice Walton, Trinity U (TX)</li>
<li>S. Robson Walton, U of Arkansas</li>
<li>Michael Bloomberg, Johns Hopkins</li>
<li>Larry Page, University of Michigan</li>
<li>Sergey Brin, U Maryland</li>
<li>Sheldon Adelson, City College of New York dropout</li>
<li>George Soros, London School of Economics</li>
<li>Michael Dell, University of Texas</li>
<li>Steve Ballmer, Harvard</li>
<li>Paul Allen, Washington State U dropout</li>
<li>Jeff Bezos, Princeton</li>
<li>Ann Cox Chambers, Finch College (NY)</li>
<li>John Paulson, NYU</li>
<li>Donald Bren, U Washington</li>
<li>Abigail Johnson, William Smith College (NY)</li>
<li>Phil Knight, U Oregon</li>
<li>Carl Icahn, Princeton</li>
<li>Ronald Perelman, U Penn (Wharton)</li>
<li>John F. Mars, Yale</li>
<li>Jacqueline Mars, Bryn Mawr</li>
<li>Forrest Mars, Jr., Yale</li>
<li>George Kaiser, Harvard</li>
<li>James Simons, MIT</li>
<li>Len Blavatnik, U Moscow (Russia)</li>
<li>Stephen A. Cohen, U Penn (Wharton)</li>
<li>Edward Johnson, Harvard</li>
<li>Philip Anschutz, U Kansas</li>
<li>James Goodnight, NC State</li>
<li>Mark Zuckerberg, Harvard dropout</li>
<li>Jack Taylor, WUSTL dropout</li>
<li>Rupert Murdoch, Oxford (UK)</li>
<li>Samuel Newhouse, high school</li>
<li>Jim Kennedy, U Denver </li>
</ol>

<p>I’d say it’s a mixed decision. Elite colleges, especially HYPM and Wharton, are well represented on this list. On the other hand, a considerable fraction of the Ivy representation is from inherited wealth, and there are plenty of self-made public university and less-selective private school alums on the list. Also, some with Ivy or other elite school credentials were dropouts, suggesting it probably wasn’t the school that made them so much as they were just smart people with great money-making ideas who were selected into elite colleges but soon decided they had better things to do.</p>

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Many of those are self-made, a type of rich people less inclined towards snobbery (old money vs. new money). For that, you should look at the schools that rich people send their kids to.</p>

<p>Jaime Johnson did documentaries like [Born</a> Rich](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_Rich]Born”>Born Rich - Wikipedia) and [The</a> One Percent](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_Percent]The”>One percent - Wikipedia) on the culture of the super-rich. There was one interview with the kid of a billionaire who said that he realized that his school (Brown?) couldn’t fail/expel him, even when he never went to class, because of who his father was. He didn’t go at all for several semesters, and all they did was send him letters and pass him.</p>

<p>Of course, the traditional rich people schools aren’t just rich people anymore, the traditional WASP schools aren’t just WASP anymore, and policies against Blacks, Hispanics, Natives, Ethnic Whites, and the poor are pretty much gone.</p>