<p>Dstark: Worked with a guy who used to bring up in almost every meeting his schooling:" When I was doing my undergrad at Cambridge or maybe it was my PhD at Edinbugh…"
One day I started a presentation " When I was doing my BS at an obscure third rate school in the western US…". Well at least some people at the time chuckled. He didn’t–they made me his boss!</p>
<p>oldolddad,</p>
<p>lol.</p>
<p>cheers,</p>
<p>Good questions about pride. My kids attend a school which has a strong sense of its excellence and that of its students. Is that necessarily wrong? Ours is an elite school and we send about a third of our grads to Ivy/S/M. The kids get a superior education and are exceedingly well prepared for college and life after graduation. I’m proud of my kids for taking advantage of the education they’re getting and the opportunities they have. Again, is that wrong? I guess the difference is between believing yourself to be superior because of your “elite” status and believing yourself to be superior due to some superior achievement (which I hope would be allowed). Is it okay for a superior math student, athlete or artist to consider themselves as such? Or must they express humility to avoid contempt?</p>
<p>Dstark: Had a brilliant, Princeton grad I think, senior manager who went on a business trip to Europe. He took quite a spill on an office stairway. Buddy of mine was with him sent us a telex (yes, I am really old). It said : Took John to hospital. X-rayed head. Found nothing. Stop.</p>
<p>toneranger, as I said I was just being provocative! Seriously, I understand very well why it is important to be able to register courses early at Penn State. On the other hand it is a grossly unfair practice that students at the honor college are given this “privilege”. I know many students who have to sweat through registration to make sure that they have their requirement fulfilled to graduate on time. I’ll be surprised if this practice will be permitted “legally” to continue much longer.</p>
<p>padad - yeah, I know about the whole change at UVA with respect to early registration. The athletes at PSU also register early from what I understand.
It does seem to be unfair. But it’s also seems unfair that my son was rejected at UVA. Unlike PSU - they hold their OOS students to MUCH higher standards. And it’s unfair that PSU charges triple what UNC does for it’s instate students. Life is unfair - but we work with what we have. Here’s a question. Would you refuse early registration at PSU if it was given to you??</p>
<p>Well all,this has been fun. Off to the races or whatever you call college visits- after my kid does his Ben Folds impression at a talent show. Hope you can manage without me. (Ha) Curmudgeon/Dstark–You started this but as I always said to students when I handed out a tough test “No matter what, I still love you guys”. I know, just like them your saying “Boo! Hiss!,Yuck!” Keep the thread going. What’s that record? Like the mexican one animal celled to his to his pals, “adios ameobas”</p>
<p>Oh binx, I’m sorry if my post implied that the real life decision angst posted by so many parents wasn’t helpful. It certainly has been, yours included. Yours is particularly interesting in that you and vig180 are talking the same merit school I think or at least one very similar! On another thread he has included all the oppotunities he has had in 2 years of school. Simply amazing. But your post shows your son has also had amazing opportunities that fit him at his 'higher end" school that, given what he was looking for, he wouldn’t have found at the school attended by vig180. Wonderful comparision - 2 students, 2 different personalities, 2 very thorough thought processes, similar opportunities and two decisions that have turned out equally well for both. I particularly like that the decisions, as posted, didn’t emphasize a heavy dose of “anti-elitism” or “elite schools best for elite students”. </p>
<p>It’s just that, for my student and a couple others I am working with, parents relating stories about their kids cause their eyes to glaze over and thoughts such as “I wonder if we have any potato chips, Hey, that coke stain on that chair looks like Jesus, I hope I can get tickets for the midnight showing” to fill their head. Student posts tend to be more believable and more relevant for them. </p>
<p>So to all who have been willing to share your families personal stories, thanks.</p>
<p>padad and toneranger, re: UVA and priority registration</p>
<p>"The priority registration granted to incoming athletes, Echols, Rodman and Casteen Scholars will change starting with the Class of 2011. Under the new policy, students in these programs will only be able to sign up for courses before members of their respective classes. Previously, students with registration advantages were allowed to register before all others in the undergraduate student body. </p>
<p>These changes will not affect anyone who is currently receiving some kind of priority registration…"
<a href=“http://www.cavalierdaily.com/CVArticle.asp?ID=28955&pid=1532[/url]”>http://www.cavalierdaily.com/CVArticle.asp?ID=28955&pid=1532</a></p>
<p>toneranger, I honestly can’t say whether I, if I were the person I were at college age, would take the privilege. I do know that the person that I am today would object to it.</p>
<p>I am sorry to hear of your experience with Virginia. Students from PA and Northern Va have a hard time getting in due to highly competitive pool. After my D applied there last year, I was appalled to be told that my next door neighbor’s D was waitlisted just a few years before that although she was admitted to a number of “elite” schools, including Princeton and Amherst, where she graduated last year. As Virginia was the safety school that I unwisely urged my D to apply, I felt like I was the most inept father.</p>
<p>toneranger, it’s so hard to figure out college admissions! Why some kids get in and others don’t - who knows???</p>
<p>LBP - PADad - yeah - UVA is NOT a safety school for anyone outside of VA (and perhaps for those NOVA kids too). We also know of Ivy admits who were rejected there. Crazy. They have an excellent UG business school - which is why my son was attracted. We thought it was a long-shot but were still a bit surprised when we got that ugly “waitlist” envelope. Essays not good enough? Not enough unique ECs? Who knows? Well, he’s was over it pretty quickly - but I can tell you he won’t be rooting for their teams!</p>
<p>oldolddad, have a great time. Enjoy the college visits. I’m looking forward to reading about them. (Maybe another thread :)). </p>
<p>This is one of the longer threads, but no record. That sinners alley thread in the parents cafe has been running for years.</p>
<p>IMO, as a state school, UVA has to balance out its freshman class in the name of “diversity.” Nevertheless, to get back to the topic of this thread, the final decision rests with the student and family. If he/she can get merit $ to a good school which really wants the student and the student can do well there - take the $.</p>
<p>The record is a moot point. An old thread about the unspeakable <em>lacrosse</em> alleged incident in the Parent Cafe was over 11,000 posts. (Bigger than Sinner’s Alley , but not as <em>civil</em> at times. 
) It disappeared. There is a new thread that keeps on going with the same topic, but it is missing over 11,000 posts and much of the original spirit. That record will be tough to beat!</p>
<p>Now we can get back to the topic, whatever it was…</p>
<p>
This is from about FOUR pages back (it’s hard to keep up with this thread!), but I wanted to comment on it.</p>
<p>I think that kids who attend an elite school may actually be LESS conceited in some cases. They aren’t necessarily the top of the heap anymore, and – at least in my son’s case – have to really work for good grades. EVERYONE there is just plain smart. They aren’t that special anymore. If he’d taken one of the seriously wonderul scholarships he was offered, I wonder if he’d still be as modest as he is? As it is, he is surrounded by really bright kids who work hard to get decent grades. I think it’s been a humbling experience for him, and just what we’d hoped for.</p>
<p>“I think that kids who attend an elite school may actually be LESS conceited in some cases.”</p>
<p>I am absolutely sure this is true.</p>
<p><a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070322/ap_on_re_us/chess_final_four[/url]”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070322/ap_on_re_us/chess_final_four</a></p>
<p>MIAMI - Don’t underestimate the grocery store deli worker, the security alarm salesman or the 34-year-old computer science student who anchor the Miami Dade College chess team. The community college undergrads have already faced Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, Northwestern and beaten them all.</p>
<p>By finishing fourth in that Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Tournament, Miami Dade qualified for this weekend’s finals of collegiate chess, facing powerhouses University of Texas-Dallas, Duke University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.</p>
<p>“They’re formidable players,” said Jim Stallings, University of Texas-Dallas’ director for chess and education. “You can’t just take anybody for granted in this tournament, because they are the top four U.S. teams.”</p>
<p>Miami Dade, with 160,000 students, may have few admission requirements, but it has made the Final Four five consecutive years. It is seeking its first title, after finishing third in each previous try.</p>
<p>Five years ago, no one was watching the Miami Dade team, mainly because it didn’t exist.</p>
<p>Professor Rene Garcia says a group of students wandered into his office, said they had formed a team and informed him he was their new adviser.</p>
<p>“Not only was it a surprise to me that apparently we had a team, but their performance in the tournament was remarkable,” said Garcia, who teaches statistics and psychology at the college.</p>
<p>Garcia begged the college for uniforms ? first T-shirts, now blazers ? so players didn’t have to compete in their flip-flops and unmatching shirts. The team had to tell him to keep his emotions in check during competitions because he was just too excited.</p>
<p>“I think the one advantage that we’ve had is that these are players who have a real love for the game and they’ve played since they were very little,” Garcia said.</p>
<p>From the NY Times Dear diary section…</p>
<p>"I boarded the 57th Street crosstown bus at York Avenue and, as usual, inserted my senior citizen transit card incorrectly. The driver very kindly took it out of the fare box slot and reversed it before handing it back to me to reinsert. I sat down wondering why I could not master this simple procedure. True, I didn’t use city buses regularly, but still …</p>
<p>My seat overlooked the bus entrance, where I could observe boarders doing it right the first time without assistance. The large black bar went on the right, the cutoff corner on the upper left. I told the driver (we?d been talking) that I’d just completed the short course on card insertion. </p>
<p>He laughed. “Listen to this,” he said. "I’ve been on this route so long that I’ve gotten to know all the early morning regulars. One of them, an older guy, just couldn’t get the card thing right. I always had to help him; not that I minded, but he took some kidding. So one day after he got on, people were applauding and congratulating him, and I couldn?t figure out why.?</p>
<p>“Because he’d finally put the card in the right way”, I asked.</p>
<p>“Nope. It was just announced the night before that he’d won the Nobel Prize. Someone told me it was for some kind of scientific work at Sloan-Kettering or the Rockefeller Institute. How about that? The Nobel Prize.”</p>
<p>We were silent for a moment. “That’s a good story,” I said, realizing my downtown bus was just pulling into its Second Avenue stop and I’d have to leave before I could find out more. But boarding my bus, I did insert my card correctly with no fumbling whatsoever."</p>
<p>sjmom, a friend of mine recalled his experience at Yale, saying he thought he was a big shot – straight As, class president, great SATs, impressive ec’s etc – until he actually got to Yale. He said EVERYONE on his floor was a straight A class president with great SATs - at Yale, he was merely average. And lived in fear of math.</p>
<p>Further demosntrating the point that those at state U honor programs are the elitists. LoL.</p>