Hacker News Reader

Comment by fvgvkujdfbllo | Hacker News Reader

This is very eye opening. As a geek with strong academic background always felt cheated by the system.

My professor explained that academics alone is not enough for success in life. He explained that some of the smartest engineers report to average business majors in companies. And he explained that that I cannot get any scholarships with perfect GPA while my roommate, a B student, has scholarships because he plays basketball and will likely get in leadership role in early on. That is good for the university as their graduates are seen as more successful.

It was a hard thing to listen to but I accepted it. I wish he told me the truth though.

View on HN

This only seems confusing to people who valorize intelligence as the most valuable trait one can have. What really matters is the impact you can have on others lives: making them a lot of money, saving them a lot of time, making them happy, etc contributing to them or addressing their needs

Being smart is valuable, but it’s only one ingredient among many. You need to be able to communicate with others, take risks, work hard, have empathy, be a creative problem solver, etc

Being a brain with a body attached is not enough and that’s good

This reminds me of a documentary I watched some time ago, I wish I could remember its name. This is what I remember about it:

The entire premise was following 2 people, one guy barely graduated community college, the other was incredibly intelligent. Went to an elite university, got a masters really young, and I believe was a member of Mensa.

The difference was in other areas. The first guy had a lot of persistence and didn’t stop when things got hard. Ended up becoming a very successful person, married with kids, had their own business.

By contrast the other guy despite being legitimately one of the smartest people in the world, simply withered into obscurity, had trouble maintaining gainful employment, relationships etc. A very stark contrast to the first person.

I realize the point of a documentary is to highlight extremes but I think it does say something about the relative value of intelligence as it correlates to successful outcomes

I’d be interested if you can remember this documentary’s name. I want to show it to my kids.

Certain types of management and leadership skills are learned more effectively in an elite sports team than in any engineering coursework. I think a lot of people who conceptualize the world in very rigid, rules-oriented ways fail to appreciate that.

Suuure, but in my experience you get the meathead who makes a sports analogy every time something needs to be done.

Had to listen to someone talking about "humping it across the line" this week.

The problem I have (full disclosure: I'm a professor) is that those things have nothing to do with a university. If they're doing non-academic things, the elite academics of the university are irrelevant.

But then that raises the question of why they want to go to an elite university. Well, obviously, because being able to pass as a good student does matter.

Just being smart won't get you anywhere.

It will get you into Mensa.

Aside from "success", it is very reasonable to want to admit "well-rounded" or "balanced" individuals as net pluses to society.

I heard the lack of balance in the Bay Area: "wierdos, tech bros, etc.". A geek can contribute either very positively or very negatively to society (ex: tech CEOs, unabomber, etc.),

Maybe too young to judge at university admissions, but still a reasonable proxy (another topic).

But a massive number of the bay area "weirdos" seem to come from elite schools; or is my frame of reference not representative?

Maybe is just the concentration of technical talent (usually introverts, home buddies), whom put less emphasis on social skills.

He told you the truth

Reply on news.ycombinator.com