Are There Dumb Kids at Target Schools?
I'd guess most of you guys on here have - at some point in your academic careers - been the smartest guy in the room. Especially in high-school, or even gen-ed classes, and most definitely at lower-tier state schools, etc. We've all looked at certain people and asked ourselves "how did this person get this far in life" lol. Do these kids exist at top targets? Like, are there people in these big-name Ivy schools that just slack and get 5%'s on test (no lie, I've seen this done a lot in school), and do nothing of value?
Legacy admits....heard of those?
majority of legacy admits are better candidates at top schools than non-legacy admits to be honest.. usually come from families that stress education, oftentimes went to the best high schools, etc.
Legacy admit detected.
Some of the worst admits are legacy, but we can’t forget athletes. Would you believe that the kids on the Duke basketball team aren’t the best students.
Wow I can't believe I got this many downvotes when it's based in objective fact. Also, I said that the majority of the time, legacies are better candidates. Not always..
There is a pool of generally poor admits at top schools. Of that pool, a few are legacy, but most are athletes and affirmative action cases. Of the legacy admits that aren't really deserving of their acceptance, it's usually something else that justified their admittance, like their family donated millions of dollars or it's a generational legacy. That's not that many kids, compared to the number of dumb athletes and affirmative action cases.
The number of dumb legacies that are accepted to top schools is such an infinitesimally small number.. It's very ignorable compared to these other cases.
Unless in these exceptions, schools usually have a policy that legacy candidates have to meet the average grade point average and standardized test scores, whereas athletes and affirmative action cases have a lot more leeway.
Absolutely. I get that
there are always someone athletes that don't give a fuck, that are just content with passing. for the vast majority of the campus, everybody puts in some effort. and there are some kids that might seem dumb by the way they talk or act, but in the classroom they're actually pretty bright. like some people will surprise you.
out of the kids that come from tons of money, most are pretty smart, went to the best prep schools, et cetera. there are always one maybe two in every grade that are just huge fucks though, and barely pass their classes, end up becoming course deficient and take summer classes, etc.
Can confirm this
Of course their are tons of fucking idiots at targets. Just not nearly as many as you might find elsewhere.
There*
Non-target detected.
The worst part is you're right
Sure, but the exceptions don't disprove the rule
100%. I hire out of some and a lot of them are really just lucky to have grown up in a better environment. Smarter in general yes but not as smart as people think. We shifted to hiring based on journey as opposed to destination now and it's worked way better.
What’s your firm and how do I work there because I love this philosophy
Yes. There are many. And once you get into PE and deal with management teams you see it all over again - ivy educated/top school grads who are fucking idiots and running co’s into the ground.
I would be ok posting it publicly but made a lot of (IMO) hilarious but non PC jokes I don't want coming back to me.
Tis true
I’ve seen this too in school and throughout life. There are plenty of book smart people who have no common sense whatsoever and/or can’t deal with a situation they haven’t seen in a textbook before.
I’ve worked with people from targets both dumb and smart, but the two worst co-workers I’ve ever had went to targets. They were both bottom-bucket performers who got into really good schools because they went to elite high schools and had their hands held all the way through. I’m sure it happens all the time.
Watch the UC Berkley riots over Milo and then ask yourself
lmfaooo +1
Dorsia?--Nobody goes there anymore.
I feel like, for getting a job, it's a lot more about what you really know. Whereas for top college admissions, once you have the grades and test scores, it's a lot more bullshitting, and spinning yourself as something that you're not, in a way that sounds impressive to the admissions committee.
It should be mentioned that Ivy League schools were much easier to get into 40-50 years ago, and you had much more legacy people back then. Those grads would today be in their 60's - 70's, and have probably worked as C-level executives for 10-15 years now, and many still do. And many of them absolutely suck at it.
I honestly think that the current generation of Ivy League / OxBridge / etc. grads are going to be much better leaders in the future, than those from 40-50 years ago.
These days, it's so incredibly hard to get accepted, that you absolutely need to be either very smart, very hard-working, or both. It's getting harder to just "coast" your way into top schools, by simply coming from the right family, or going to the right prep-school.
The days of Wharton accepting Donald Trump-like candidates are hopefully starting to end, even though they do value financial "potential" to some degree, at least Business Schools.
Yeah but all those minority kids are ruining it for the rich kids and the rich Asians
Of course there are dumb kids, just incredibly hard working. Do you think the measure of a target school is IQ, if it were they would give an IQ test. One of the dumbest people I know(pure intelligence), went to an ELITE private school worked her ass off and then went to Harvard. Corporations love dumb kids who work hard cause they don't ask questions, they just do what they are told. I know plenty of brilliant people who went to Harvard too, but it is not a prerequisite. Hard work trumps a lot in this world.
Definitely dumb kids at elite schools. They tend to be book smart but have ZERO and I mean ZERO common sense. IMO common sense takes you further in life than being book smart with a few career path exceptions
I actually think the dumb kids at the elite schools are dumber than the dumb ones at non-targets. If education can smarten you up to a degree and you are still dumb after that, then you are hopeless.
I went to a non-target Italian uni and to a target top 5 UK one, there was basically no difference in the distribution of idiots. Both had plenty. Also the new generations get worse by the day and I'm a millennial.
That's actually a really good point. To be exposed to the prep schools and then to an elite university and still be an idiot is incredible. I feel like you'd have to fall ass backwards into at least a few cogent thoughts with all that experience.
There are dumb kids everywhere. Smartest people I know didn't even finish college; Some very book smart people I know that attended Ivy league schools ended up dead because of drug overdose. I also know very smart people who don't do anything and just like to talk about philosophy and life but are just idealist.
Life is more than school name and job.
Yes
Having been to an Ivy, yes there are. Not failing, because everyone at a top Ivy has a certain level of motivation and tenacity, but there is certainly a grade distribution at every school, and some of the people on the bottom half are pretty outclassed by the majority of their peers. I don't want to sound like an asshole, but there are more than a few idiots. Mostly diversity kids and athletes to be honest (again, not trying to be an asshole - just what I saw as a peer tutor for four years), who just got in for different reasons. AdComs (at the UG level) are pretty concerned with creating a diverse and holistic class, so there are a few people slacking on the intellectual side. I was always happy for them though. When you have a good GPA, who wants to be in a class with all of the magna +summa kids, struggling to beat the curve.
Dumb people can be found anywhere.
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