What's Your American Dream Score?

Parents Forum Parent Cafe
21

It took me a bit to understand that higher score means less support. Seems like it should be the other way around.

I got 67%, because , I think, some economic instability growing up. Some questions were tough to answer. Like, my parents were together, till one died, but that didn’t seem to fit the way the questions were worded. I figure it factored into the economic instability and adverse life events.

22

Clearly you are female.

The birth years are a mixed bag. I was born in the 50’s which likely raised my score, but being born in the '50’s was not an advantage for a female. At least not in my small midwestern home town.

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23

46 - ouch.

I get why based on the question they asked, but I also know that it’s only half the picture.

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24

67 which I think is fairly accurate. I grew up in a poor town in a poor state, had poor and poorly educated family, did not even attend kindergarten much less preschool and my education was subpar until college.

I’m part Native American and that most likely would have raised my score if I had selected it, but interestingly, I was able to have the successful career I had due to working for a government agency that has Native American preference in hiring.

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25

Very interesting idea though I am not sure that I understand the methodology. I got a 67 “Your score of 67 means you’ve had just about as many things working in your favor as factors you’ve had to work to overcome.” That seems reasonable. I think that I’ve had a both advantages that worked in my favor and some bumps along the road. I’ve made my happy life despite some difficulties that I’ve encountered, but I’ve been fortunate enough to have some help and support along the way.

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26

I got a 67 too. There are a few of us that ended up with 67’s here!

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27
  1. Which I think is pretty accurate.

I grew up lower middle class, but my father was able to raise our standard of living through the course of his career and put both my brother and me through college. Mom was stay-at-home and provided a lot of support to my brother and me. I moved far away from home after college and went into a career that my family knew nothing about and could provide no support or connections. So I’ve built my life and career on my own but I did have family support growing up, which did help.

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28

I also noticed that 67 seems like the most frequent number posted here so far. Anyway, I think it is a good score, though obviously the whole thing is so subjective that anyone who is content with their current life could potentially see their score as a good one. Even those who have faced greater adversities and obstacles than me can still be content with their lives. Basically, I think if 30 years from now, my kids end up answering such a quiz and they get around 67, I’ll be pretty satisfied that I have been a reasonably good parent (maybe not perfect) and provided a reasonably good childhood for them (maybe not perfect).

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29
  1. I was fortunate to be born into a family who had a stable marriage and were able to afford a house in a good school district. My dad enlisted without finishing high school but after the service was accepted provisionally at a good state university on the GI bill. Graduated in engineering. Growing up most of my friends had dads with college degrees and stay at home moms.
    Both my husband and I only had to work for spending money during the summers so we were able to concentrate on school and graduate with good grades and no debt. However once we graduated there was no hand-up. No connections to help get that first job. No down payment gift $. No inherited wealth but we always had enough.
    I found the questions about health didn’t cover our situation. My husband is in a wheelchair and I have recently had surgery for a second type of aggressive cancer. We both have Medicare and before that had good insurance through employers. We have no medical debt so the quiz didn’t seem to consider our health to be much of a factor.
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30

This was the same for me - I’m not sure why mine wasn’t lower. I can only think of one thing that would be consider a disadvantage from that questionnaire.

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31

I ended up at 67. I guess I agree.

32

Score was 77. Interesting to see the range of scores thus far.

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33

77 here as well. I want to retake it for my parents.

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34

Yes female and born in the late 60’s.

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35

I was surprised by my 74, as I thought it would be lower. There were definite advantages in terms of my parents’ education and their focus on it, etc, but some things that I don’t usually think about (but remain true nonetheless) did cause some negative impacts.

One question I found interesting was whether there were any random friendships/meetings/connections made. And I think that it can be very perspective driven. If someone is reaching out to all the alums from their school who are in a particular field or at a particular company, is it random luck that they make a connection? Or was it particular effort? I’m inclined to think it’s the latter than the former, but it’s definitely an area that could be up to interpretation (among other questions posed).

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36

I thought the same thing regarding that “connections” question. I think for immigrant families like mine, it was a hindrance vs the type of stereotypical “frat boy” getting an internship from daddy’s connections. (I know I oversimplify, but that’s how I did sometimes feel growing up).

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37
  1. Makes sense. I’ve been fortunate in my life in many ways, and I’m aware of that.
38

Add me to Club 67.

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39

There is a lot of room for variation due to how we view our own situations. For example, my brother & I look at things very differently, and he might not answer questions about our shared childhood home the same way I would. There are several questions that are kind of hard to answer. I don’t consider myself to have experienced any health hardships in my family, but maybe I did … my brother was an addict, another was profoundly depressed, a niece has a son who has multiple disabilities. But I don’t feel that any of this was “my family” for purposes of the survey - I considered that to be my immediate adult life family -but maybe others might. And my family didn’t have a lot of money, but I always felt that we had everything we needed … maybe someone else would view what we didn’t have as being something that they needed. So I kind of think that the fact that I think I was fortunate skewed my responses that way - and someone else who lived a very similar life might answer the questions differently & get a different score.

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40

I got a 56.

Parents are both doctors but I’ve had a fairly middle-class life so far.

The score roughly matches what I’d expect.

I’ve never really had to worry about things and although I didn’t go to a prep school, my parents always gave me the option if I wanted it.