The value of friendships in academic success

In almost every college course I was in, there was a clique of students that shared homework answers and copies of tests from previous semesters. I had access to these if i was lucky enough to know someone in the clique.

College is a lot easier for those who cheat. I remember courses where the class average was in the 40s before it’s curved. A slight advantage could be the difference between an A and a C.

But those who cheat might not be the ones who will achieve great things.

I think a certain amount of cheater mentality is important, perhaps even necessary, for outsized success.

Not very surprising, right?

Do they separate causation from correlation, or is that not the point?

Citation and nomination circles are the whole game in any mature academic field. One problem (of many) is universities and funding orgs. don't downsize mature fields.

The circular logic of scientific merit is insane. Often those who get ahead most rapidly are those who reinforce and build these circles (organizing workshops etc)

Simple things like double blind review would help this a lot and there's data to back that up, but the foundation in the US is deeply rotten.

How is this related to the article, which talks about first-year students?