Hacker News Reader

Comment by onos | Hacker News Reader

I think I read somewhere that people who apply to Harvard and don’t get in end up having similar incomes to those who did get in. So I at least think elite schools often are “taking credit” for the pre-existing high quality of their admits, and they often don’t provide much value add these kids couldn’t get elsewhere.

View on HN

I mean, it is clearly the case that ultra-selective schools are benefiting a lot from the preexisting quality of their students, and they wouldn't obtain the same outcomes by taking a random high school senior.

But the students who apply to Harvard and fail to get in probably go to schools that are only a little less prestigious than Harvard, instead. Like, I didn't apply to Harvard, but I did apply to Princeton -- and got rejected. I went to Williams College instead. If my income is similar to a Princeton's student's post-graduation, is that because I did it all on my own, or is it because Williams is also a highly prestigious school that provides similar benefits to Princeton, albeit perhaps a bit less?

Williamstown is disproportionally represented on HN comapered to its populous. None of of us townies worry about the future of Williams grads.

Steve Case and George Steinbrenner both managed.

I don’t know, have you seen the Yankees this year?

It killed George.

Also, without context, the smartest people at Harvard could end up being career poets, while the rejected applicants could all end up as MIT engineers and Wharton business majors. While an extreme example, even the elite universities have academic focuses, attract students interested those, and accept students based on how strongly they want those interests represented in the student body.

You're getting it wrong, it's that people who get in, but don't go, have similar outcomes. That suggests that a lot of the value of the signal is in the inital filter, which seems like what you're saying.

>> people who apply to Harvard and don’t get in end up having similar incomes to those who did get in

No. People who apply to Harvard and do get in, but decide to go to some other college do as well as those apply to Harvard and do get in and go to Harvard.

The ability to get in to Harvard predicts outcomes, actually going there does not predict outcomes.

I think that's the human capital mentioned in the article.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com