The look into the process was enjoyable and I love your psychoanalytical lens. I was an IB kid but with a mediocre (1350) SAT score. I have always had a slight chip on my shoulder about it. Is that sad? I know, it is. The edge given to high achievers who overcame adversity causes the already wealthy to become anxious about their position and deservingness. A book you may enjoy is The Tyranny of Merit, on this subject.
Not sad lol, I definitely still have chips on my shoulders from childhood achievement and lack thereof. I'm mostly mad at myself because I really didn't believe in studying until much later in life. Like I truly thought these tests were IQ tests and you can't improve your IQ so why study? Why did I think this...
Thank you for the book rec! So many recs are coming from you <3
I’m a perpetual book rec machine, thanks for tolerating it. I don’t think I understood, on that note, that I could have done better by working harder. I rested on the laurels of my natural intellect, and only now am I realizing the difference when I apply myself fully.
I'm most curious to know whether the kids you selected eventually got the scholarship (since you mentioned you are one of many reviewers). Did other reviewers share the same criteria as you? Or were they just going to just give it to the "elites"?
Winners won't be announced until much later, I might write a follow up post about that. My guess is I'll be hilarious wrong aka exactly 0 of the kids I picked ended up as scholars LOL
I can only guess at what the other reviewers looked at! There were many and we didn't know who the others were/didn't meet 99% of them.
"I preferred the pitter patter of raindrops in a still pond—actions spreading outward in ripples, touching families, friends, and communities with quiet but profound impact." Love this!
I’m kinda worried about what my kids are in for. Thanks for the detailed view of what’s on the horizon. It’s cool how seriously you took the responsibility. Thanks.
If I had kids I'd be worried too, I hear you. It's part of why I took it seriously...I want to do right by them while still remaining authentic to myself.
…criteria tracks…what a fun but unenviable position you had here…very much appreciate the bts of this process…i questioned which failure i would be every step of the way and landed on never had the guts to even apply…curious if there were any rule breakers interesting enough to still pass through…did anyone outright surprise you through creativity or other means?…also a sucker for the lows so would love to hear how bad the bottom of the bottom was…
Never had the guts to apply is a real one! I was thinking about that too, how self-confidence/self-image/mentality probably prevents a lot of kids and adults from even trying, it makes me sad.
No real rule breakers! I was also hoping to see some poetry or something but I didn't get any in my batch.
Even the bottom of the bottom in terms of scores were high achievers by any normal person's measurements, like easily top 10% if not top 5%. They just weren't top 1%. The actual worst submissions were in line with my Step 4 though, there was at least one kid who gave me psycho vibes.
Very cool you did this and I’m big-time impressed with your criteria and process. Major respect there. I’d like to think I would’ve been half this organized but more likely would’ve done 85% step 4 and some mashup of who knows what for the rest. In all seriousness, I very much appreciate your step 4. The enabling of BS has gotten pretty pervasive in work and school, for many reasons. Things like exaggeration of trauma can be damaging in many ways. It’s good to see inconsistencies in values (even if accidental) being filtered for awards like scholarships.
Hahaha I think I naturally would default to what you described, but since I felt very responsible for these kids' futures I told myself I needed some serious thinking.
I agree with you - one of the essays I proposed as a sketch in WOP was "politicization and weaponization of trauma" as there are very damaging effects personally and societally. Also, I think probably some kids hired coaches who teach them techniques like exaggerating trauma, because unfortunately there is a culture where perpetual victimhood is rewarded.
Some other reviewer might love the trauma stories, but the kiddos ended up with me and I think I have a pretty solid BS meter.
Good call on the essay coaches. I’m sure there was plenty of influence from well-compensated 3rd parties on various essay topics. I wrote b-school letters of rec for a few analysts I used to manage and the feedback they got from their application coaches was interesting, to say the least.
I’d def be very interested in reading that weaponization of trauma essay if you end up writing it, as beta reader or here.
Oh that's fascinating. I would totally read a piece by you about writing letters of recommendation and your reflection on expensive coaches. Wonder what kind of suggestions they gave lol.
I'll keep you posted. I think that one will be much later in the year. I have to work my way up to that one through other memoir type essays, because I think it needs both personal exp and solid research to boot.
Love that re: research and pulling thoughts together on it. I was thinking about it on my walk with the pup and my mind was all over the place on it, in a good way.
The essay feedback was a lot of things, mostly just made me feel old. And I was still in my 30s when I did it. I remember recommendations to remove names of colleagues the candidate learned from or was inspired by... I understood the note, but I remember thinking, is this what helps young people win now? Make everyone else nameless and keep the spotlight on you? Thematic trends like that which left me with the no country for old men feeling. By no means traumatic 😏 - just made me wonder for my daughters.
This was such a fascinating read! I'm kinda sad you signed the non-disclosure thing, i'd die to know how you got there 😂
For all your saying you're not competent to judge, i think you did an excellent job. Of course your rankings are going to be subjective, so it's nice that you were upfront about that. And honestly your criteria made a lot of sense.
I love that you gained from this experience. It must be such an interesting process to go through: to realize you're not just grading them, but finding in yourself what elements resonate with you <3
Dude honestly I was kinda mad I couldn't write the essay I wanted when I got reminded of the NDA! Part of the reason why I dragged my feet writing this one, I had to make shit up as I went smh.
Some of my editors were fighting me about my criteria and examples which was awesome lol, as much as I think I'm hot shit I also love it when people argue with me about what I think is right. It's awesome.
Now I really need to read those 300+ essays published in WOP!
Most of these Traci Flicks will be a massive net negative to the world. Trouble makers, girl bosses, moral scolds, angry nerds, lifeless grinds. The only one worth a damn was the one who said he’s in it for the money.
False. I didn't advance thoughtless ideologues or PMC types. One of my top choices reminded me of my friend who founded a billion dollar company.
There was no kid who was in it for the money. I made it up. And actually toned down the real line I saw by quite a bit. I would advance a real kid who wrote a thoughtful essay about going for the money. My point was you can't just throw in a random line like that and think it speaks for itself.
Thanks though for the Traci Flick reference, didn't know what that was.
I didn't mean to go after your methodology, which seems sensible. I mean this kind of student pool is filled with empty strivers, NPC parrots who always follow the latest thing. Very little original thinking, just blind following of whatever is perceived as the in-group, elite preference. As a group, they are hugely harmful to society. The kind of "intelligent" ghouls who end up working at McKinsey and pimping lies about climate change and DEI.
Yeah I know a lot of McKinsey types. And I would agree with your characterization that any competitive pool for elite schools, scholarships etc is full of them. Kind people one-on-one, but will absolutely enforce their in-group politics with a level of ruthlessness I can't help admire. They have power and they're not the right people to have power, but I admire what it takes to attain it.
The look into the process was enjoyable and I love your psychoanalytical lens. I was an IB kid but with a mediocre (1350) SAT score. I have always had a slight chip on my shoulder about it. Is that sad? I know, it is. The edge given to high achievers who overcame adversity causes the already wealthy to become anxious about their position and deservingness. A book you may enjoy is The Tyranny of Merit, on this subject.
Not sad lol, I definitely still have chips on my shoulders from childhood achievement and lack thereof. I'm mostly mad at myself because I really didn't believe in studying until much later in life. Like I truly thought these tests were IQ tests and you can't improve your IQ so why study? Why did I think this...
Thank you for the book rec! So many recs are coming from you <3
I’m a perpetual book rec machine, thanks for tolerating it. I don’t think I understood, on that note, that I could have done better by working harder. I rested on the laurels of my natural intellect, and only now am I realizing the difference when I apply myself fully.
I'm most curious to know whether the kids you selected eventually got the scholarship (since you mentioned you are one of many reviewers). Did other reviewers share the same criteria as you? Or were they just going to just give it to the "elites"?
Winners won't be announced until much later, I might write a follow up post about that. My guess is I'll be hilarious wrong aka exactly 0 of the kids I picked ended up as scholars LOL
I can only guess at what the other reviewers looked at! There were many and we didn't know who the others were/didn't meet 99% of them.
These graphs are *chefs kiss*
TY for appreciating the graphs, they were easily the most fun part of the essay! Also, thanks for being my first editor <3
Right?
"I preferred the pitter patter of raindrops in a still pond—actions spreading outward in ripples, touching families, friends, and communities with quiet but profound impact." Love this!
Much better than my "Insert conclusion here" draft ;D
I’m kinda worried about what my kids are in for. Thanks for the detailed view of what’s on the horizon. It’s cool how seriously you took the responsibility. Thanks.
If I had kids I'd be worried too, I hear you. It's part of why I took it seriously...I want to do right by them while still remaining authentic to myself.
…criteria tracks…what a fun but unenviable position you had here…very much appreciate the bts of this process…i questioned which failure i would be every step of the way and landed on never had the guts to even apply…curious if there were any rule breakers interesting enough to still pass through…did anyone outright surprise you through creativity or other means?…also a sucker for the lows so would love to hear how bad the bottom of the bottom was…
Never had the guts to apply is a real one! I was thinking about that too, how self-confidence/self-image/mentality probably prevents a lot of kids and adults from even trying, it makes me sad.
No real rule breakers! I was also hoping to see some poetry or something but I didn't get any in my batch.
Even the bottom of the bottom in terms of scores were high achievers by any normal person's measurements, like easily top 10% if not top 5%. They just weren't top 1%. The actual worst submissions were in line with my Step 4 though, there was at least one kid who gave me psycho vibes.
Very cool you did this and I’m big-time impressed with your criteria and process. Major respect there. I’d like to think I would’ve been half this organized but more likely would’ve done 85% step 4 and some mashup of who knows what for the rest. In all seriousness, I very much appreciate your step 4. The enabling of BS has gotten pretty pervasive in work and school, for many reasons. Things like exaggeration of trauma can be damaging in many ways. It’s good to see inconsistencies in values (even if accidental) being filtered for awards like scholarships.
Hahaha I think I naturally would default to what you described, but since I felt very responsible for these kids' futures I told myself I needed some serious thinking.
I agree with you - one of the essays I proposed as a sketch in WOP was "politicization and weaponization of trauma" as there are very damaging effects personally and societally. Also, I think probably some kids hired coaches who teach them techniques like exaggerating trauma, because unfortunately there is a culture where perpetual victimhood is rewarded.
Some other reviewer might love the trauma stories, but the kiddos ended up with me and I think I have a pretty solid BS meter.
Good call on the essay coaches. I’m sure there was plenty of influence from well-compensated 3rd parties on various essay topics. I wrote b-school letters of rec for a few analysts I used to manage and the feedback they got from their application coaches was interesting, to say the least.
I’d def be very interested in reading that weaponization of trauma essay if you end up writing it, as beta reader or here.
Oh that's fascinating. I would totally read a piece by you about writing letters of recommendation and your reflection on expensive coaches. Wonder what kind of suggestions they gave lol.
I'll keep you posted. I think that one will be much later in the year. I have to work my way up to that one through other memoir type essays, because I think it needs both personal exp and solid research to boot.
Love that re: research and pulling thoughts together on it. I was thinking about it on my walk with the pup and my mind was all over the place on it, in a good way.
The essay feedback was a lot of things, mostly just made me feel old. And I was still in my 30s when I did it. I remember recommendations to remove names of colleagues the candidate learned from or was inspired by... I understood the note, but I remember thinking, is this what helps young people win now? Make everyone else nameless and keep the spotlight on you? Thematic trends like that which left me with the no country for old men feeling. By no means traumatic 😏 - just made me wonder for my daughters.
We should chat more about what came to mind while you walked your pup. I bet we both have interesting examples.
Hmm interesting...anonymizing/flattening the narrative so it's all about you.
This was such a fascinating read! I'm kinda sad you signed the non-disclosure thing, i'd die to know how you got there 😂
For all your saying you're not competent to judge, i think you did an excellent job. Of course your rankings are going to be subjective, so it's nice that you were upfront about that. And honestly your criteria made a lot of sense.
I love that you gained from this experience. It must be such an interesting process to go through: to realize you're not just grading them, but finding in yourself what elements resonate with you <3
Dude honestly I was kinda mad I couldn't write the essay I wanted when I got reminded of the NDA! Part of the reason why I dragged my feet writing this one, I had to make shit up as I went smh.
Some of my editors were fighting me about my criteria and examples which was awesome lol, as much as I think I'm hot shit I also love it when people argue with me about what I think is right. It's awesome.
Now I really need to read those 300+ essays published in WOP!
Most of these Traci Flicks will be a massive net negative to the world. Trouble makers, girl bosses, moral scolds, angry nerds, lifeless grinds. The only one worth a damn was the one who said he’s in it for the money.
False. I didn't advance thoughtless ideologues or PMC types. One of my top choices reminded me of my friend who founded a billion dollar company.
There was no kid who was in it for the money. I made it up. And actually toned down the real line I saw by quite a bit. I would advance a real kid who wrote a thoughtful essay about going for the money. My point was you can't just throw in a random line like that and think it speaks for itself.
Thanks though for the Traci Flick reference, didn't know what that was.
I didn't mean to go after your methodology, which seems sensible. I mean this kind of student pool is filled with empty strivers, NPC parrots who always follow the latest thing. Very little original thinking, just blind following of whatever is perceived as the in-group, elite preference. As a group, they are hugely harmful to society. The kind of "intelligent" ghouls who end up working at McKinsey and pimping lies about climate change and DEI.
Yeah I know a lot of McKinsey types. And I would agree with your characterization that any competitive pool for elite schools, scholarships etc is full of them. Kind people one-on-one, but will absolutely enforce their in-group politics with a level of ruthlessness I can't help admire. They have power and they're not the right people to have power, but I admire what it takes to attain it.