Bribery, greed: All for a little bit of Ivy League

While we benefit from the prestige and the “their son goes to Cal” admiration, the decision to attend was all in on him. He wants the Berkeley education and what comes with it.

My wife and I are both state college grads and I told him he probably could have got a better financial package from other schools that wanted students with his record, but he wanted the big name school on his resume. He’ll pay for it with massive student loan debt when he graduates.

 

Even with the qualifier, I like what you've done there.

 

It is, but it's not supposed to be. That's why this is shocking people more than it might otherwise.

Even though colleges/universities are businesses in terms of it taking money to run/maintain them, they are supposed to be, and are perceived to be, places of development, preparation, enrichment, growth, etc., not the making/getting of money. In other words, it's a matter of this case following the letter of the "law," maybe, but not the spirit of it. The priority of college is not supposed to be the business of it, whereas the primary function of business is, and always will be, business/money, and no one is ever surprised when something untoward happens in the raising or earning of it.

 

We’re in that battle.

A school in Colorado that he loves but would give him 100k in loans at age 22.

Or... state schools that aren’t in the “public ivy echelon” where he could emerge with $0 debt and an engineering degree and, after graduation, be able to live in one of those trendy millennial cities and live well with little overhead.

For now... he’s leaning to the no debt option. For now.

 

Not only is this despicable on its face, it makes things harder for those who have legitimate disabilities.

 

Even if things are not pushed as far toward outright bribery and cheating, affluent kids have a lot of advantages. SAT courses and tutors, for example, are commonplace. I attended a prep school that *required* all students to take the PSAT in 9th and 10th grades, and the SAT in 11th and 12th. By the time seniors took it, they were very accustomed to how it worked, what to expect on test day, and they were completely unintimidated by the SAT process. Damn few other HS kids had that advantage.

I moved back to the public high school that had I started out in for my senior year. I promptly recorded the highest SAT on record there. I was called out of class to the office (What for!?! I didn't DO anything!) and was told that I was going to be this year's STAR student from my school. That was a program where each school picked one student, who competed against others state wide, and who also picked the school's STAR teacher. I got called back to the office a couple of days later and was told "You can't be STAR student! Your GPA is barely a B and besides, you've been suspended this quarter! I was like, "So? You didn't know that two days ago?" I mean, the guidance counselor and the Asst. Principal who suspended me were both in the room that day...

LOL. I was riding high with my outcast friends for a day or two there, though. Good times.

 

Smart move.

 

I went to such a great academic hotbed that when I got to college, I didn’t know what was an AP course; seriously. But the football uniforms were top notch. We would’ve killed my wife’s HS in DC burbs that started AP courses in 10th grade.

The disparities have been there throughout our history, it’s been better (in 90’s) but this just highlights how bad the disparity it can get.

My buddies and I were discussing and said how stupid this was; everyone knows who’s the fraud in the school eventually. I bet Loughlin’s daughter was already labeled a fraud.

 

and the damn schools knew what was going on or they willfully avoided knowing. or like USC, had a string of knuckleheads as ADs who couldn't care less. It was going on for over 20 years at USC, they all can't be stone stupid.

 

Well, it seems you did DO something.

 

yeah or rich people bought psychologists to find something in DSM V that allows a HS junior to get extra time on the SATs. Its been a while since my SATs, which I did shitty on because I didn't have to do well and the LSAT which I had to do well on. The SATs you lost points for a wrong answer. No more. In an untimed test where a right answer gets points and a wrong answer has no consequences, you can maximize your score by answering all the questions. If you don't have to rush and there's no pressure to get to the next question a certain level of stress dissipates. The bar exam is a timed test and not every one gets to every question because of time. And some people rush through the essays. Most people taking the bar finished in the top 15% of their college class and survived law school, which has a decent drop out rate (30%).

An untimed test for a well prepared student is a serious advantage

Different rules for privileged people, capitalism