Comments on: How to Stay in an Ivy League School: Breezing Through, Crazying Out, and Everything in Between

By: P11

P11 — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:01:56 +0000

Grade deflation Grade deflation Grade deflation sucks….(seriously. B’s started at 96% in a class I had last semester. Talk about not-worth-your-time)

By: lawman

lawman — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:58:34 +0000

Don’t foget to mention vital importance of avoiding any and all majors/programs which even begin to demand rigor – that means you, Wharton, Cornell engineering, etc.

By: Y11

Y11 — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:45:14 +0000

Class Day speaker has been leaked at Yale and elsewhere. Get on this shit.

By: LD Fakery is Real

LD Fakery is Real — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:41:48 +0000

Followup to my post, it’s the people who pull those types of stunts in high school that are able to artificially inflate their GPA / SAT scores to help them get into Ivies. And then, especially because they have a long-established record of receiving accommodation, they can push the envelope much easier in advocating for unneeded accommodations once they get to college — since when you apply for most ODS services, you’re asked for a record of previous accommodations you’ve received, etc.

Also, the LSAT, GRE, GMAT, etc. test-taking points I made above still apply to students in college as well. Yes, I’ll admit LD abuse isn’t as flagrant in college as it is in high school, but it’s still there, especially for sake of grad / law, etc. admissions tests.

By: LD Fakery is Real

LD Fakery is Real — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:29:52 +0000

CC ‘10, no one is denigrating those who have legitimate learning disabilities — they have every right to the accommodation that they receive. However, the operative word is LEGITIMATE. While you may not know people who have gamed the system by going through batteries of tests, I definitely know many people in that category.

It’s especially prevalent in the northeast private school environments where kids who just aren’t that smart suddenly are revealed to have learning disabilities which require that they receive unlimited time on tests in honors classes that were designed with time pressure and strenuous pacing in mind. There’s something very funny going on where upward of 30% of the students in a given high school year (and no, not a special class) apparently have learning disabilities serious enough to warrant extra / unlimited time on exams.

Moreover standardized tests like the SAT, LSAT, etc. are also designed with major time pressure in mind (especially the latter). Having double the amount of time to take those tests would give most an edge, if nothing else, so they could double, triple, etc. check their answers. In extreme cases, it might mean that the LD-faking student who simply isn’t at the intellectual level where they would get a chance to answer all the questions is able to make themselves look much more talented than they actually are.

And lastly, it’s unfair to people like you, because your situation is unfairly questioned because there are others taking advantage of the system. If anything, you should offended at those gaming the system and using pretend learning disabilities to make themselves seem better than they actually are. You’ll have to take my word that LD abuse really does happen (again, especially with the northeast, private school crowd) and it’s becoming more of a problem these days with more selective admissions and people looking for any edge that they can get.

By: CC'10

CC'10 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 08:31:51 +0000

this post is in poor taste & is just generally untrue, at least according to my experiences. I have a genuine learning disability, I worked my ass off to get here, and I’m working my ass off to stay here, to do well, and to graduate. I’ve never heard of anyone who’s “gamed” the system to abuse testing accommodations here or elsewhere, and even if they did, beyond slightly extended exam time there is really very little that ODS does that would benefit an ordinary student who got into this, or any other ivy.
You want my textbooks on tape? Great, I’ll trade you my books on tape for your 20/20 vision, you fucking prick.

By: double Ivy

double Ivy — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 07:31:10 +0000

Having attended two – count ‘em! – Ivy League schools, one of which was known for a very difficult grading system, I can tell you that it’s somewhat hard to do well, but not really.
If you were smart enough to get in, and you are capable of time management, you WILL graduate cum laude +.
If you were smart enough to get in, and you suck at time management, you probably won’t get Latin honors… but you’ll probably have a B average at the very least.
And if you didn’t deserve it, you’ll find it very difficult, because as Whartonite said, you’re graded against a bell curve. And that bell curve is made of people who are ALL smarter than you. So good fucking luck.

By: princeton '09

princeton '09 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:59:34 +0000

princeton DOES have grades and hard classes and with grade deflation, princeton is not just a brand but rather a very difficult academic institution

By: Penn @ above poster

Penn @ above poster — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:50:35 +0000

^Agreed

By: Seriously?

Seriously? — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:14:18 +0000

Classes are not that fucking hard. Do the homework, study for the exams, and (here’s the secret!) if you don’t feel like you understand a topic, don’t wait until exam-time to go to office hours to get help.

It doesn’t take a 100 hour week to do all this. Instead of playing Snood during the day, get some shit done and then you can go out pretty much every night. Stop complaining about how much reading you have on Twitter and just fucking do it.

School is not as hard as you cry babies make it out to be. Put in a little effort, learn to manage your time, and you can be partying 4-5 nights a week with a sweet 3.7+ in any major.