Is the allure of (American) elite universities just an excellent marketing scheme?

dandsed · 2013-04-19T08:47:55+00:00

Hmm, I thought this was well known knowledge. The ultimate goal of private universities is to make money. They've created a mutually beneficial relationship where they recruit impressive students (as you said) who, over time, bring publicity and money back to the college. As the reputation of the university improves, the privilege of putting that university's name on one's resume also becomes more valuable. This allows the university to become even more selective, allowing them to pick even more impressive students. Repeat ad nauseam. It's win-win scenario for both the students and the university. Obviously it gets more complicated than that (having a diverse student population prevents alienation of potential new students of different ethnicity).

2013-04-19T15:41:06+00:00

[permanently deleted]

2013-04-19T12:26:51+00:00

Education mostly functions as a signaling mechanism.

quiet_wish · 2013-04-19T09:14:13+00:00

Back when I browsed MFA, people were constantly amazed that somebody sold t-shirts for $600. No way a t-shirt is worth that much money! The point is, if you want the absolute best of something, be ready to pay a premium.

Some people with an overabundance of money want the absolute best possible education for their kids. For that, they pay a premium.

TehGinjaNinja · 2013-04-19T17:40:34+00:00

What I am arguing for is whether what they sell is just a shiny product without as much of the substance they claim it has, and whether it's all worth the trouble

Over the past few decades we have watched the elites of our society make blunder after blunder. Those occupying the highest offices of business and government have been, almost without exception, either the products of these 'top schools' or have been advised by such individuals. Despite this (or perhaps because of it) their decisions have proven short sighted, and destructive to the common good.

There is every reason to doubt that the expense of attending such a university is not worth while for most individuals. Just as important a question though is, "is it worth it for society to hold the graduates of these intitutions up as 'the best and the brightest'?" When comes to decision making in business and government it seems the answer is a resounding 'NO'.

2013-04-19T15:02:12+00:00

It's not impossible to work for McKinsey or JP Morgan coming from SUNY Platz

Yes it is. Unfortunately for some.

2013-04-19T15:45:59+00:00

But if that is true..... How should we really study? I mean, if they only want money, what is the quality of education?

RedditBlueit · 2013-04-19T19:59:54+00:00

Except that too much diversity is bad - there was a secret quota on Jews in the 20s - 60s, and there is a secret quota on Asians today.

chickenbreast2 · 2013-04-20T00:59:07+00:00

It's a mixed bag, and although I certainly see where you are coming from, there are couple important things.

Education is the red pill, and places like my own school, are the only place where you are given time to study things that are normally pushed out of the spectrum of education while being near people who have the fire to burn away all this bullshit. Highly technical majors? Smart people but limited spectrum of thought, and limited time in which to think for yourself, and yes it takes a huge amount of time and energy. Noob tier liberal arts colleges? Lots of time and diversity in your education, but the people don't have the tenacity to do anything great.

Although there are a ton of bullshit activists/diversity sluts at these places, they only appear well respected because the world outside smiles on their views. Everyone, especially any boy, but many girls as well, who are of high intelligence immediately recognize that these people are just weak and insecure, and we let them scream on, occasionally trolling, preparing for real life.

The truth is that many students leave these places with a tremendous understanding of human nature. You get to watch your friends who get involved in these things, and you get to be surrounded by people making mistakes. On top of this, you are surrounded by people who can think quickly and see behind the veil like many of the smarter posters here do, if you should so desire, and if you are ready.

It's certainly true that there are a ton of stupid people at these places, like my own school, but there are geniuses here, working quietly.

When my school had another incident where X minority made graffiti threatening to kill X minority, got school cancelled, and a a false rape accuser (got caught cheating, got the boy temporarily expelled) spoke in front of the entire school when classes were cancelled, defaming him openly, I could see immediately see what was going on and it wasn't long before I found other people investigating it as well. Within days, all behind closed doors, we assembled evidence. We called the bluff of the Black Student Union which, in the wake of the events, had quickly demanded their own house, more professors, and more funding because of a crime that one of their members had hoaxed. We had conversations (recorded secretly) with administrators at the school who had helped cover up the fact that they had kicked someone out of the school because of word of mouth. We talked to her classmates, her friends, her professors. We talked to the deans, we talked to the president of the school. All separately, but together, and away from the public eye. I even talked to an FBI agent that was called in to investigate the so called "hate crime." Based off of some good intuition we searched for, and found evidence that revealed who had hoaxed the graffiti, and we informed most people in our class of it.

That story is long and complicated, and I've worded it poorly here, and I'd be happy to give it in full if anyone is interested, crazy red pill material.

Where I'm going with this is: We need schools that bring intelligent people together, and although the internet is great, school is much better. If you want to figure out how to defeat someone, or something, be it a dumb whiny slut an ideology that venerates weakness and stupidity, you have libraries, professors, and people who are interested in destroying bullshit as well. You need person to person training, because the deadliest warriors today know how to cold read, and know how to manipulate. You just need to know how to recognize them. Don't judge these institutions for their marketing campaigns, your conclusions about them are based on their marketing. There is a tremendous amount that goes on below the surface at these places that makes them extremely valuable and important for our society. This continues afterwards with alumni networks, which are less nepotistic than you might think.

...Imagine if you only wanted to hire people who are red-pillers by nature, how would you do that? Could you tell be a job application? All of the alumni networks between the top schools are unified. When I was doing interviews, I would get a bunch of leads across all these schools from an alumni in my school's network. Why? Because they know each-other, they know you're smart, and they know you had a private conversation with someone who is like them. The internet is changing things, and people can "escape" in other ways using things like the red-pill and the unlimited access to whatever reading you like, particularly with iPads etc, so these schools, as well are employers will adapt. But think of the dilemma this way: elite liberal arts universities were once the place you went to take the red pill, and to an extent, they still are.

TL;DR If you escaped on your own, it just means that you are that much more badass than everyone else. If you have the courage to see what is really there, you have achieved the greater version of yourself that these places promise, but more and more, are failing to deliver.

2013-04-20T03:59:57+00:00

Intellegence by itself means absolutley nothing. If you don't have the worth ethic to use it, you will never get anywhere.

In my opinion the primary goal of elite universities is to influence the world. Or at least have their teachings influence the world. So, when they pick perspective students they look for people who have the highest chance to rise to a position to influence the world.

Yes, impressiveness is one of the traits that can help you to rise to such a position. But so is coming from a powerful family with a big fortune. If you are a heir to some large corporation you are getting in even if your achievements are average, because those universities definity want to leave the mark of their influence when you rise to a position of power. You should look at how many kids of world leaders and high level american politicians end up in elite American universities. Its a large number. Also, ivies and older colleges in general are big on tradition. If your family attended that college for several generations, even if you are just average, you are probably getting in just because of tradition. Then again, if a family had people attend an elite college for several generations, chances are its a powerful family, who's heir they would want anyway.

Title	Is the allure of (American) elite universities just an excellent marketing scheme?
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	6
Comments	21
Date	April 19, 2013 8:23 AM UTC (13 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/TheRedPill
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/1co3em/is_the_allure_of_american_elite_universities_just/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/TheRedPill/is-the-allure-of-american-elite-universities-just.4022 https://theredarchive.com/post/4022

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