The outcomes are more mixed than you’re letting on. If you look at where House members did their undergrad, Yale doesn’t make the top ten list.
Actually, at Harvard where students can freely choose concentrations, CS concentrators outnumber those of government, which makes it more “tech leaning” than “political leaning”?
Probably not true, here is the ranking from ten years ago, still largely true today:
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/slideshows/the-top-10-colleges-for-members-of-congress?slide=2
Harvard University (15)
Stanford University (11)
Yale University (10)
University of California—Los Angeles (9)
Georgetown University (tie) (7)
University of Florida (tie) (7)
University of Georgia (tie) (7)
University of Wisconsin—Madison (tie) (7)
University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill (6)
Brigham Young University (tie)
George Washington University (tie)
Louisiana State University (tie)
University of California—Berkeley (tie)
University of Missouri (tie)
University of Tennessee (tie)
Again I’m not talking about majors or concentrations, CS majors can certainly be Senators (especially the ones who don’t do well in CS 
) The numbers above show 25 between HY, thats significant in my book. Stanford has 11 but I’ll bet they were all in the House as the come from the largest population state.
Your link is outdated. It’s from 2010.
“Probably not true, here is the ranking from ten years ago, still largely true today:”
@roethlisburger I think you missed something.
I didn’t miss anything. You seem to be treating the baseless assumption, the list has to be the same as it was 10 years ago, as a fact.
“Ok I’ll disagree with that based on the fact that HY have connections into politics that aren’t available elsewhere which would naturally attract those types of students.”
Ok but that’s not where they end up going. I don’t know where you get the politics from since HY have always been known for sending grads to consulting and finance. Yale’s report had 30% in those two, followed by education at 17, and then technology at 12.
True, @theloniusmonk, however there a 10000 times more jobs in consulting/finance then there are in the Senate/House. Again I am looking at national politics, DC based, not local politics (albeit that is where most get there start).
While each college does have some ‘flavor’ or reputation, I really don’t think most top colleges are actively seeking out significantly different types of student. Of course they all want to see academic vigor, passion, leadership, creativity, etc, etc. And some colleges have famously strong departments which sets up a bit of self-selection.
Absolutlely, flavors and tendencis are influenced by alumni, academic departments, etc., This isn’t something that top universities are actively looking for its a result of how they admit students.
435 members of Congress. 10 or 15 went to Harvard undergrad in 2010.
That’s 2.5 to 3.5 percent. Decent amount. However not indicative of a unique proclivity toward politics imho.
I do think there’s a lot more Ivy leaguers behind the scenes in DC though. Along with GW and Gtown.
Well percentage wise, and with approximately 5300 colleges, having 10-15 shows me a proclitivity but it’s still somewhat interpretive.
So, if there are no flavors or tendencies, and all of these schools are trying to create a well rounded class, how does that relate to all the advice on CC (for very selective schools) that applicants should spend a lot of time trying to understand what a school is looking for? These kids are supposed to be demonstrating fit through their essays without simply talking about the programs at that school in which they are interested. This can be very confusing to students and parents.
So Yale is predominantly searching for 18 year old Supreme Court justices? Am I doing this right?
I reject the initial premise because who these kids are at 17 and 18 (and presumably the ones admitted are who the schools are looking for) is not necessarily who they become 5 or 25 years later. It over-simplifies to make some glib point of no substance. I know tons of artistic high school kids who also study engineering or were “leaders in academics.” You know those links between music and math/CS? That’s a thing.
What the initial post seems to be conflating is graduate school reputations with freshmen class profiles. While it may be easier to become a senator as a graduate from Harvard, it’s also easier to do just about everything as a graduate from Harvard. There’s a tremendous alumni network, and the name recognition and reputation is very high among everyone else.
It’s a really good question @elena13 . I also see this advice given on CC (by one prolific poster, almost daily) and I am skeptical.
If anyone has examples of a top college looking for something different than other tops, and giving an admissions advantage to kids who demonstrate it, I’d like to hear it. (obviously excepting MIT looking for STEM, Wellesley looking for women, BYU looking for faith, etc.)
No, however Yale Law school is certainly looking for future Supreme Court Justices.
I opened this topic convinced that it was about the 1%…
The average age of a US Congressmen is around 60. At best knowing where they went to school tells you what flavor of students Harvard was looking for in the 70s and early 80s. I wouldn’t use that to draw conclusions about current admissions policies.
Let me tell you a story of two very bright kids. Princeton admitted them for their interest in Math & Physics.
Once kid A got stuck on a problem which kid B solved in a glance. Kid A decided, he isn’t as good as kid B for a career in theocratical physics so he transferred to electrical engineering but ended up working in finance and later went on to become an entrepreneur.
Kid B who was supposed to be a theoretical physicist, if you check his LinkedIn, you’ll find out what jobs he did along the way but didn’t end up where everyone thought he would. Kid A was Jeff Bezos and kid B was Yasantha Rajakarunanayake who works at MediaTek.
Moral of the story, no one can predict what any teen is going to do in professional life. Posters who give lectures here on CC for going to cheapest program in your intended major or keep eyes on easy GPA for medical school seems to have more faith in crystal balls and less focus on a good education than they should.
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