Teen who got accepted into all 8 Ivy League schools rejects them all! (Missouri, how much)

[flashes1]

Originally Posted by dsjj251

How should I respond to this.

Back when the SEC first started dominating the BCS era, this debate would come up all the time, and it baffled me in multiple ways.

the first one being the clear lack of understand of what a ATHLETIC conference is by people like you. These arent academic creations, they were created for the purpose of sports and that is it(with the exception of the Big 10 which does have academic cooperation among its member schools in the CIC which was created after the athletic conference).

the second being the fact that you are down right wrong about them being academically better. maybe its possible that you meant the academic prowless of the conferences on average, but thats still subjective to the specific ranking you are using and leaves out the fact that Stanford being a great school doesnt make Oregon State a great school
I have a site saved in my favorites, it says these ranking are from 2012, so thats new enough.

Alabama ranks as the 77th best overall University in the nation

Here are a list of Pac 12, ACC and Big 10 schools that rank below it

97. Colorado
115. Oregon
120. Arizona
125. Utah
125. Washington State
139. Arizona State
139. Oregon State
83. Indiana
101. Nebraska
97. Florida State
106. North Carolina State

as you can also see, there are teams tied for specific numbers, so the difference between certain ranks isnt as big as they look( in fact, if i remember correctly,Alabama would be like 25th if you went in numerical order by ties) , so I will also post a list of schools ranked just ahead of Alabama in those conferences

56. Ohio State
65. Purdue
68. Minnesota
72. Michigan State
72. Iowa
58. Syracuse
58. Maryland
58. Pittsburgh
68. Clemson
72. Virginia Tech

in short, your premise was based on a gross over exaggeration



you keep talking about Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and yet your default response to any successful black person is that Affirmative action is the only reason they got to where they are.

You are no better than the 2 of them in that respect.

So Bama is only ranked higher than the few schools you listed out of those three conferences? Thanks for proving my point The whole of the SEC is a mediocre academic conference. Auburn? Mississippi State? Ole Miss? South Carolina? LSU? Pretty poor schools-----but it's a historical problem----The South has always been poorer than the North and West....before 1970 there was NO industry---just farms and beaches. Kids had to join the military to escape the poverty which continues to this day in Miss. Louisiana, South Carolina and Alabama. The Southerners simply didn't have the money to build the top academic institutions that the North and West did. But they're catching up----it will take awhile to build the research facilities of the Big 10 and Pac 12 though----but they're trying hard. The South is still trying to overcome what General Sherman did to them.

[flashes1]

Originally Posted by Chuckity

Someone sold you a line of bull.

Only a very small percentage of Princeton's classes have a size of over 100 students. VERY SMALL.

And fyi, the average freshman financial aid package was over $40k. So it's not all rich kids.

Yea, I was going to say the same thing. You can criticize the Ivy League for producing greedy liberals that dominate Wall Street which almost cratered the global economy in 2008, but you can't criticize them for big class sizes and bad professors. Funny stuff.

[dsjj251]

Originally Posted by flashes1

And I specifically mentioned the entire SEC----not just Bama. The whole of the SEC is an inferior academic conference. Auburn? Mississippi State? Ole Miss? South Carolina? LSU? Pretty poor schools-----but it's a historical problem----The South has always been poorer than the North and West....before 1970 there was NO industry---just farms and beaches. The Southerners simply didn't have the money to build the top academic institutions that the North and West did. But they're catching up----it will take awhile to build the research facilities of the Big 10 and Pac 12 though----but they're trying hard.

You still dont get it, they arent academic Conferences, they are athletic conferences. The Big 10 is the only conference that has academic ties to every school, the ACC has groups of schools that work together because of state laws and shared grants and research parks but thats it and those ties were there before the academic conference formed, your premise is wrong by a mile

further more the SEC and ACC even overlap, they are both Southern. Did you forget Georgia Tech(which shares its state with an SEC school) was originally an SEC school? Miami and FSU are technically South of Gainsville and all in the State of Florida( and that Miami didnt even join the ACC until 2004). That Uni. of South Carolina(in the same state as Clemson mind you) used to be in the ACC and moved to the SEC. And The ACC on average ranks higher than both the Big 10 and Pac 12. Your Premise isnt even right geographically. HA HA HA HA

And 7 of the 12 Pac 12 schools rank lower than the Alabama and they rank lower on average than the SEC, USC, Stanford and UCLA, Cal Berkley are all that holds those schools average above the SEC.

By the way, Auburn Ranks 89th on that list, that means they pretty much sit at the same position as Alabama, meaning they still rank better than half the Pac 12.

[Govie]

Originally Posted by desertdetroiter

No offense taken, but Cornell's Hospitality Program is the best in the world on a perennial basis. There's Cornell, and then there's everyone else. If you want to go into the Hotel and Restaurant business, you WILL NOT be selected for a job over a Cornell grad. That's how good they are.

My son still went to one of the best hospitality schools in the world...very few can beat the Franke School.

But then, he decided to get a master's in education instead of pursuing his MBA. So Cornell would've been a waste of my money anyway.

LOL...make wine. Won't be sweet, but that's a better use of those grapes.

I wouldn't say that they're overrated per se. Going to an Ivy is about more than an education. Actually, the education is just the beginning. Ivy League grads are frighteningly well connected, and that fraternity is undoubtedly well worth the dough. I think it goes far deeper than you or I can imagine.

These elite schools have Mafias (i don't mean violent or crime related...but i think you understand).

Not really. Doesn't work that way.

Besides, this is all 8 schools. They saw something special about this kid beyond race.

I think he's from Germantown which is affluent, but his sister is about to graduate from college which means his parents can no longer claim to support two children. I don't think they considered that as a factor when he applied. They likely just overlooked it. So he's gonna have to come up with significantly more money than he previously thought he'd have to spend.

Conservative Republicans....pay'em no mind.

Oh, so you're confessing that WASP's were huge beneficiaries of their own brand of AA, huh?

Bout time.


Correct. My son was offered a partial and it was a significant amount of money. I could've paid the remaining expenses, but he could forget grad school coming out of my pocket. Nevermind the car and any stipend money.

since when have Jews been WASPs?

[dsjj251]

Originally Posted by flashes1

So Bama is only ranked higher than the few schools you listed out of those three conferences? Thanks for proving my point The whole of the SEC is a mediocre academic conference.

So Vandy ranks 17th in the Nation, that puts only Stanford(6), Duke(8) and Northwestern(12) ahead of them. If we were talking about Vandy and not Bama, by your logic it would make all the other conferences mediocre.

Since 7 of the Pac 12 ranks lower than the top 7 in the SEC, does that not make the Pac 12 mediocre by your logic ???????

[flashes1]

Originally Posted by Govie

since when have Jews been WASPs?

I deeply admire what the Jews have accomplished in this country, but this WASP categorically denies Jews entry into my club.

[desertdetroiter]

Originally Posted by flashes1

I deeply admire what the Jews have accomplished in this country, but this WASP categorically denies Jews entry into my club.

*SIGH*

I swear man, you can't make this **** up.

[flashes1]

Originally Posted by dsjj251

So Vandy ranks 17th in the Nation, that puts only Stanford(6), Duke(8) and Northwestern(12) ahead of them. If we were talking about Vandy and not Bama, by your logic it would make all the other conferences mediocre.

Since 7 of the Pac 12 ranks lower than the top 7 in the SEC, does that not make the Pac 12 mediocre by your logic ???????

Vandy, UF, and aTm are the only really good SEC schools. Big MO is probably there, too. The SEC has great difficulties raising funds for their endowments due to the relative lack of wealth held by their alumni base. Again, it's a historical problem....stemming from the same reasons why they got their butt kicked when they tried to secede. It's been tough for them to compete with the industrial power and ingenuity of the North.

The B1G has been very close academically---they aren't just an athletic conference that everyone gets together to play football against (this is how the SEC has acted for a very long time---and their academic achievements sadly reflect this).....MSU and the recently added Nebby are the two little sisters of the poor. Everyone else is pretty top notch....with world class research facilities, big endowments, big student bodies, and great history.

[dsjj251]

Originally Posted by flashes1

Vandy, UF, and aTm are the only really good SEC schools. Big MO is probably there, too. The SEC has great difficulties raising funds for their endowments due to the relative lack of wealth held by their alumni base. Again, it's a historical problem....stemming from the same reasons why they got their butt kicked when they tried to secede. It's been tough for them to compete with the industrial power and ingenuity of the North.

The B1G has been very close academically---they aren't just an athletic conference that everyone gets together to play football against (this is how the SEC has acted for a very long time---and their academic achievements sadly reflect this).....MSU and the recently added Nebby are the two little sisters of the poor. Everyone else is pretty top notch....with world class research facilities, big endowments, big student bodies, and great history.

You obviously missed my other post that debunks this argument so im just going to repost it.

Originally Posted by dsjj251

You still dont get it, they arent academic Conferences, they are athletic conferences. The Big 10 is the only conference that has academic ties to every school, the ACC has groups of schools that work together because of state laws and shared grants and research parks but thats it and those ties were there before the academic conference formed, your premise is wrong by a mile

further more the SEC and ACC even overlap, they are both Southern. Did you forget Georgia Tech(which shares its state with an SEC school) was originally an SEC school? Miami and FSU are technically South of Gainsville and all in the State of Florida( and that Miami didnt even join the ACC until 2004). That Uni. of South Carolina(in the same state as Clemson mind you) used to be in the ACC and moved to the SEC. And The ACC on average ranks higher than both the Big 10 and Pac 12. Your Premise isnt even right geographically. HA HA HA HA

And 7 of the 12 Pac 12 schools rank lower than the Alabama and they rank lower on average than the SEC, USC, Stanford and UCLA, Cal Berkley are all that holds those schools average above the SEC.

By the way, Auburn Ranks 89th on that list, that means they pretty much sit at the same position as Alabama, meaning they still rank better than half the Pac 12.

Or maybe you didnt miss it since the Pac 12 has now disappeared from your argument, but the whole Southern argument still doesnt work since the ACC and SEC not only have swapped schools, but share Geographical area and 3 states

And in Case I didnt mention it, the ACC, which is in the South, has better schools on Average than the Big 10.


ACC -- Average of 51.2
8. Duke
24. Virginia
27. Wake Forest
30. North Carolina
31. Boston College
36. Georgia Tech
44. Miami
58. Syracuse
58. Maryland
58. Pittsburgh
68. Clemson
72. Virginia Tech
97. Florida State
106. North Carolina State

Big Ten: Average of 57.5
12. Northwestern
29. Michigan
41. Wisconsin
46. Penn State
46. Illinois
56. Ohio State
65. Purdue
68. Minnesota
72. Michigan State
72. Iowa
83. Indiana
101. Nebraska

[ChrisFromChicago]

yeah, didn't see much in the way of reasons is cost. Cost isn't why college. College is an ROI decision, not cost.

Full List of Schools - PayScale College Salary Report 2012-13

i'm sure if he is smart, he will do well. Though these schools open up networks and companies not available to schools like University of Alabama. You don't go to school X or Y for the education (duh) you go for the companies that hire from that school. That the school looks good on a resume.

Without the full cost of his school (with subsidies) I can't say the decision he made was valid. I didn't get any help for my MBA but the MBA from a top consumer goods school has helped me double my salary in a pretty short amount of time.


Too often I see people getting confused about why you go to school. Mostly its to get a job. Cornel opens up Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc. U of Alabama does not.

Originally Posted by desertdetroiter

I thought this was quite interesting. This kid from Tennessee (Memphis area) ends up rejecting all the Ivies because of financial concerns.

This story is a lot like my son's own situation back in 2007 when he was accepted into Cornell, but the out of pocket costs meant that I wouldn't have had enough leftover for his grad school...not to mention his car and stipend. I would've had to use all of the money on partial tuition, board and meals. So he chose another school instead offering the same program.

Anyway, this kid chose Alabama, and if you read the link, his reasons are pretty solid.

http://m.nydailynews.com/news/nation...icle-1.2226678