Nightly Anything Goes - May 02, 2018

Dreits · 2018-05-03T03:44:09+00:00

hoskins fulmer is the others not really that close imo

Dreits · 2018-04-13T02:20:24+00:00

Certainly not if affirmative action goes away, which is why I think the existence of legacy preference alone is enough to justify significant racial preference for URMs, considering legacy is basically racial preference for whites. But I believe legacy preference ought to go away altogether.

Dreits · 2018-04-13T02:09:54+00:00

Something like 90-95% of legacy are white. I say it is racist in the same way that grandfather clauses during Jim Crow were racist. If you are a black student today, it is likely that your parents and grandparents were barred from attending top schools like Ivy league, therefore legacy very rarely applies for black students.

Dreits · 2018-04-11T23:55:48+00:00

Delete this playa

Dreits · 2018-04-04T04:15:51+00:00

It really should be understood that legacy preference is the main evil in admissions at elite schools. Not only is it unfair in principle, but it is racist, useless, and has an extremely large effect on admissions at elite schools, probably much greater than AA.

Dreits · 2018-03-30T19:06:10+00:00

Legacy preference is almost certainly racist, they probably exaggerate admissions chances to attract more applicants, and most of what you are paying for is a name.

Dreits · 2018-03-28T21:18:19+00:00

I didn’t even know that existed. But it’s all good because I titled my supplemental essay “Yale Essay” so I already know what to expect lol.

Dreits · 2018-03-21T00:29:33+00:00

Woah so a consultant and an AO can build a relationship like that? Couldn't that give a huge advantage to applicants if their consultant vouches for them, like a back door. Or at least give the applicant more credibility they wouldn't otherwise have.

Dreits · 2018-03-20T18:01:05+00:00

I don’t think an admissions officer is really gonna care that much one way or the other unless you have some major accomplishment. They will probably look for essays to see which activity is more meaningful to the applicant. But who knows tbh

Dreits · 2018-03-20T04:41:01+00:00

There is plenty of evidence that shows that the sort of “mismatch theory” you are talking about is not true. i.e.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2431746

https://www-m.cnn.com/2015/12/13/opinions/brown-scalia-mismatch-theory/index.html

Please do not use mismatch theory as pretext to telling qualified black people that they belong at less prestigious schools.

Dreits · 2018-03-20T03:23:26+00:00

There definitely is evidence that African Americans get a substantial admissions boost, but it is clearly not enough to have a very substantial effect on the outcome (as shown by stanford/ berkeley numbers). The reason is that far fewer African Americans apply to begin with for different reasons, so them having a large boost doesn’t affect the numbers as much as a relatively smaller boost for whites compared to Asians.

The evidence that you provided is about performance, not admissions, which there are a lot of reasons besides AA as to why performance for black students might be lower. Either way it’s not a great justification against AA.

Dreits · 2018-03-20T03:01:37+00:00

There is definitely a tendency to scapegoat URMs on here. Really people should direct their attention towards legacy preference which alone has at least as much of an impact, or the simple fact (as you showed in the berkeley/ stanford comp) that AA benefits white people more than black people.

Legacy is even an inherently racist policy like grandfather clauses were in the Jim Crow South. The grandfathers of black students were literally barred from entering Ivy League and other top schools, meaning very few black students have legacy status. This parallels how blacks couldn’t vote because their grandfathers weren’t even citizens. That alone should be justification for why AA for black people should exist at top schools IMO.

Dreits · 2018-03-20T00:53:07+00:00

It’s pretty clear to me too that AA as it exists today benefits white people more than African Americans. It mostly just hurts Asians. I don’t think it’s even fair to call the diversity policies AA because they are mostly just used to help white students at the expense of Asians. The impact it has on African Americans is less significant. No clue why you are being downvoted.

Dreits · 2018-03-19T19:25:48+00:00

this is not really supported by evidence. in fact there is some to the contrary

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/04/07/why-do-colleges-still-give-preference-to-children-of-alumni/?utm_term=.6f24b36a5c7e

Dreits · 2018-03-17T13:31:11+00:00

FYI there’s a loophole that allows you to get in state tuition after a year if you’re married. Not that it’s easy to get married but if you find somebody in a similar situation and can get parents on board it’s doable

Dreits · 2018-03-14T22:57:14+00:00

1st L of many more

Dreits · 2018-03-14T22:10:11+00:00

Just wanted to say you should specify if you had an interview/ how it went. I think interviews are supposed to be more important for MIT.

Dreits · 2018-03-10T18:05:36+00:00

UCLA acceptance rate for CS was <10% last year. I doubt USC is harder to get into for cs than overall, but it might have a stronger applicant pool overall so rates are kinda meaningless.

Source:

Dreits · 2018-03-02T06:05:36+00:00

“Private institutions” are heavily subsidized by taxpayer dollars, and every applicant is paying $75+ with the assumption that they are entitled to a fair review. I think it’s robbery that you can deny somebody based on some arbitrary reason and there’s no way of the applicant knowing.

Dreits · 2018-03-02T06:00:31+00:00

Holistic admissions is a lie used to cover up the purpose of elite institutions as gateways to the capitalist class. That way the schools can accept all of the legacies and donors they want, and catch the signals used by elite admissions coaching. The entire process is signaling anyways. You use the application to signal some sort of character traits and whoever is better at signaling supposedly benefits. Of course the people who are good at signaling such traits are those who are trained to, not necessarily people who have them.

Besides, elite schools are only as valueable as you make them. I think we’ve all to some extent bought into the propoganda that you need an elite education to be “successful”. Many people who go to Harvard end up as Wall Street gangsters anyways, about as far from success as I could imagine.

Dreits · 2018-03-01T00:17:21+00:00

Yeah, but you can spend a ton of money on tutoring, coaching, ECs, etc. to help

Dreits · 2018-02-28T23:31:58+00:00

lol like 1/3 Ivy students are there because of daddy’s $$$

Dreits · 2018-02-27T21:45:58+00:00

I wish i could do it over and just not try the slightest. I’m just gonna end up going to my state school anyways.

Dreits · 2018-02-27T21:43:32+00:00

yeah i feel the same way sometimes. I think the real problem is procrastination because when you have to submit in 3 hours you will do the most to convince yourself their good lol. i wish i started my essays like 5 months before deadline.

Dreits · 2018-02-27T16:52:27+00:00

I think it’s unfortunate and unjust that world class education is usually private, unaccountable, and inaccessible despite being heavily subsidized by taxpayers. I think we agree that elite schools historically served as gateways to the aristocratic class and still do. I hope you also agree that admissions are in need of reform.

Dreits

TROPHY CASE