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Alonzo HighSmith Joining Staff [Old thread, Rad says “not imminent”]

Rellyrell said:
These r two very different situations. There’s athletic scholarship & academic scholarships, both are earned. I’m not seeing how that relates to a kid who gets in to a prestigious school w/o the academic or athletic prerequisite to earn them an entrance. Furthermore, many are not legacy; they are kids born w/ a silver spoon in their mouths & the parents bribed the University via auxiliary “donations” to get their kid in.
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Oh that does not happen, we have a poster that thinks Harvard is purely need based and when wealthy folks get in it is because they have hidden their assets just for college admissions.
 
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txcanes said:
There is more to the world than Harvard, I was talking about the larger landscape. If you really think families like mine, top 2% with significantl assets are hiding these for college admissions, smdh.
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I'm not taking about hiding assets for admissions, I'm talking about hiding assets in regards to being able to get financial aid. It doesn't make sense that a school where only 20% of the student body are first and second generation college kids, yet 50%+ are getting financial aid, despite the school not offering merit aid, and it's all based on income as a result. Something isn't right, especially when you look at the zip codes these kids come from.

One of the best quotes I've ever heard came from a client of mine "Wealthy people don't get that way by paying for things they don't have to" He's right on that front.
 
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Canedude08 said:
Harvard is one of the most overrated places on planet earth. The challenge is getting in, once you are in it's no better nor worse than peer institutions. Plenty of mediocre grade grubbers manage to get accepted to that place and I've worked with some.

Frankly, the getting in is less about being intelligent than it is about having a way to stand out. Whether it is having famous/ wealthy parents(Being famous yourself) being a legacy or in some select cases, having a compelling background story, the key is to get in. Once you are in, the coursework isn't significantly different than what you'd get at UMiami or any other private liberal arts school.
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Being famous yourself is a big accomplishment though same with compelling background story. Also, those cases are such a small percentage of the kids. How many celebs/kids of celebs are in harvards current student body? Less than 1% most likely. You are correct though, the course load is not much harder than what you get at Miami.

The main benefit of going to harvard is you get ridiculous connections. Almost everyone you are friends with is going to be successful and most have very sucessful parents(like you mentioned). So when you are 22 with a great idea, you may be able to get some funding from your roomates parents, where as if you went to FIU, you wouldn't have that option.
 
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OriginalGatorHater said:
Being famous yourself is a big accomplishment though same with compelling background story. Also, those cases are such a small percentage of the kids. How many celebs/kids of celebs are in harvards current student body? Less than 1% most likely. You are correct though, the course load is not much harder than what you get at Miami.

The main benefit of going to harvard is you get ridiculous connections. Almost everyone you are friends with is going to be successful and most have very sucessful parents(like you mentioned). So when you are 22 with a great idea, you may be able to get some funding from your roomates parents, where as if you went to FIU, you wouldn't have that option.
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When everyone has similar academic profiles(Outside of the kids that are obviously in because of things outside of merit), you need a hook. That was my point. Whether it's being from a part of the country that historically doesn't send kids to the Ivies, or being from a group that is underrepresented in the student body, having something, anything that helps you stand out is the difference. Keep in mind, Harvard could randomly take applications and not read them and end up with a class of high end kids. That's how insane it is in regards to the applicants they receive.

The connections is the big advantage of the Ivies, mostly because you are around elite kids, who mostly come from elite backgrounds. When you are attending a state school, you are with kids who may come from nothing, who are grinding their way through. When you are in classes with the children of former Presidents, Wall Street CEOs and the like, it helps you when you walk out the door. As has been said many times over the years "It's not what you know, it's who you know". You attend an Ivy, you will end up knowing a lot of people that you can leverage later on, provided you aren't a total spaz socially.
 
Canedude08 said:
When everyone has similar academic profiles(Outside of the kids that are obviously in because of things outside of merit), you need a hook. That was my point. Whether it's being from a part of the country that historically doesn't send kids to the Ivies, or being from a group that is underrepresented in the student body, having something, anything that helps you stand out is the difference. Keep in mind, Harvard could randomly take applications and not read them and end up with a class of high end kids. That's how insane it is in regards to the applicants they receive.

The connections is the big advantage of the Ivies, mostly because you are around elite kids, who mostly come from elite backgrounds. When you are attending a state school, you are with kids who may come from nothing, who are grinding their way through. When you are in classes with the children of former Presidents, Wall Street CEOs and the like, it helps you when you walk out the door. As has been said many times over the years "It's not what you know, it's who you know". You attend an Ivy, you will end up knowing a lot of people that you can leverage later on, provided you aren't a total spaz socially.
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100%. That is why I will do anything I can to get my kid into an Ivy. It is the single biggest springboard you can give your kid(besides leaving them a billion dollar company lol).

but ya you are correct. pretty much every Ivy kid was top of their class, with tons of extracurriculars. Its the kids who have all that, plus have their own small business or have some crazy very competitive internship, or had a parent who donated 40 million to the school lol. But the kid who has a dad who donated 40 mil to the school, odds are is a very smart kid with great genetics. And being friends with that kid is a HUGE advantage since his dad will certainly be able to help you get a great job.
 
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OriginalGatorHater said:
100%. That is why I will do anything I can to get my kid into an Ivy. It is the single biggest springboard you can give your kid(besides leaving them a billion dollar company lol).

but ya you are correct. pretty much every Ivy kid was top of their class, with tons of extracurriculars. Its the kids who have all that, plus have their own small business or have some crazy very competitive internship, or had a parent who donated 40 million to the school lol. But the kid who has a dad who donated 40 mil to the school, odds are is a very smart kid with great genetics. And being friends with that kid is a HUGE advantage since his dad will certainly be able to help you get a great job.
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Please ignore Canedude. He has great confidence and little credibility. Rather, he has stereotypes and anecdotes…nothing more.

Some facts:

*it is an incredible accomplishment to be admitted to Harvard. 3.9% admission rate in 2022.
*18% are first in their families to go to any college. (not first and second generations quoted by Canedude, just first). Harvard is offering those students social mobility at the highest levels.
*26% of freshman are Asian. True, if grades and SAT scores were the only criteria for admission (they aren’t), Asian student might be 40% +. That’s where the lawsuit comes in. Does Harvard have the right to consider race (Black and Hispanic) among other factors in selecting students? If, so does that discriminate against Asians? Very tough issue.
*Harvard admission policies help Blacks and Hispanics. No doubt. Is this a good thing or an unfair thing?

The idea that Harvard is a finishing school for elite white kids is absurd. It’s a multi ethnic, multi class institution.
 
Cortez55403 said:
Please ignore Canedude. He has great confidence and little credibility. Rather, he has stereotypes and anecdotes…nothing more.

Some facts:

*it is an incredible accomplishment to be admitted to Harvard. 3.9% admission rate in 2022.
*18% are first in their families to go to any college. (not first and second generations quoted by Canedude, just first). Harvard is offering those students social mobility at the highest levels.
*26% of freshman are Asian. True, if grades and SAT scores were the only criteria for admission (they aren’t), Asian student might be 40% +. That’s where the lawsuit comes in. Does Harvard have the right to consider race (Black and Hispanic) among other factors in selecting students? If, so does that discriminate against Asians? Very tough issue.
*Harvard admission policies help Blacks and Hispanics. No doubt. Is this a good thing or an unfair thing?

The idea that Harvard is a finishing school for elite white kids is absurd. It’s a multi ethnic, multi class institution.
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The idea is not at all absurd, it’s 100% truth. It’s just not the whole truth. Letting in some brown kids doesn’t change the fact their primary demographic is rich white kids. That’s not a value judgement, just a fact.
 
Cortez55403 said:
Please ignore Canedude. He has great confidence and little credibility. Rather, he has stereotypes and anecdotes…nothing more.

Some facts:

*it is an incredible accomplishment to be admitted to Harvard. 3.9% admission rate in 2022.
*18% are first in their families to go to any college. (not first and second generations quoted by Canedude, just first). Harvard is offering those students social mobility at the highest levels.
*26% of freshman are Asian. True, if grades and SAT scores were the only criteria for admission (they aren’t), Asian student might be 40% +. That’s where the lawsuit comes in. Does Harvard have the right to consider race (Black and Hispanic) among other factors in selecting students? If, so does that discriminate against Asians? Very tough issue.
*Harvard admission policies help Blacks and Hispanics. No doubt. Is this a good thing or an unfair thing?

The idea that Harvard is a finishing school for elite white kids is absurd. It’s a multi ethnic, multi class institution.
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I disagree with your first 3 sentences since i think @Canedude08 is a great poster and doesn't generally post stereotypes or anecdotes. however, I do agree with the rest of your post.

In regards to black/hispanics though. I do think accepting them, even if lower grades, is beneficial to the institution. It isn't fair, but a lot of black and hispanics, the ones that grow up poor, don't have access to all the advantages other races have when going to school. They go to schitty schools, don't get tutors, don't have parents that understand how to have kids do well in school, don't have crew teams they can join to boost their chances of acceptance, don't have SAT prep, don't have parents that can help them get internships, etc.

So if you take the chance with those black and hispanic kids, a lot of them will end up doing better in life, and in turn can give back more to the shool, than the kids who had every advantage growing up.

Its like in football, you have the rich kids that get personal trainer at the age of 10, elite coaching from childhood, went to all the elite camps, went to the best catholic schools to play. Then when they get to college, some raw 3 star kid with nothing but better genetics takes their starting spot.

Same situation here. A lot of those black and hispanic kids, if they went to Horace Mann, had SAT Prep, were on the crew team, etc. they would have made it into Harvard without the assistance of race.
 
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Y'all having philosophical and intelligent conversations at 2 am....
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kryptonite said:
Huh. And all this time I thought they were trying to keep out black people.
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"If Harvard were to abandon race-conscious admissions, African-American and Hispanic representation would decline by nearly half," the school told the court in urging it to stay out of the case.

This was a direct quote from the school when the lawsuit was brought. If it was an actual meritocracy, it would be 70% Asian.
 
There are 26,000 valedictorians each year. Just valedictorians.

I know of a Yale (white, male, non legacy, middle class, active CiS user) alum who didn’t get into Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, and Vanderbilt.

These top universities bring 1-4K students every year. A true “meritocracy” for college admissions is impossible. With that said, i agree, our Asian brothers and sisters have been negatively affected by this current system.

However, my belief is third generation legacy students from private boarding schools do more harm than the young black brother and sisters (re Asian lawsuit). These elite secondary schools have countless advantages.

A black student who played two sports, helped with community service for hundreds of hours, ran the chess club as president, but since he had a 34 ACT instead of a 36 ACT, or was ranked fifth (GPA) in his class and not first, he didn’t deserve a spot at Harvard? He can’t keep up? That’s nonsense.
 
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