The Story Behind Jared Kushner’s Curious Acceptance into Harvard | Hacker News Reader

The Story Behind Jared Kushner’s Curious Acceptance into Harvard

propublica.org

42 pointsda0210 comments

The thing I found most surprisingl about this article, is that Harvard won't admit it. I had always assumed you could go there if you paid enough. As with all Ivy League colleges. Do they really try to pretend otherwise? Who are they fooling?

The value of attending Harvard comes not from the education itself, but the signalling which indicates that you had the abilities or achievements to get accepted in the first place.

If Harvard or Yale start publicly accepting that a proportion of their students simply paid their way in, then this knowledge shifts from being an implicit understanding/public secret to one that is publicly acknowledged and widely publicized.

If the names of those who bought places are publicly announced, then this dries up the pool of future 'donors' because the signalling effect disappears when everyone knows how you got in. Conversely, if they keep the names anonymous, this demeans the value of the degree for everyone, because people will then cast their aspersions on all future ivy league grads.

Isn't it more likely Harvard threatens to reject applicants with wealthy parents if they don't make a contribution. It's the way the rest of the world works.

because that would be soliciting a bribe and extortion.

> I phoned a Harvard official, with whom I was on friendly terms. First I asked whether the gift played any role in Jared’s admission. “You know we don’t comment on individual applicants,” he said. When I pressed further, he hung up. We haven’t spoken since.

Were they actually on "friendly-terms"? How did he "press further"?

I have to doubt the premise of this article:

> I also quoted administrators at Jared’s high school, who described him as a less than stellar student and expressed dismay at Harvard’s decision.

Why would an an administrator comment on an individual student? What reason do we have to trust such an individual?

Nowadays I try to reduce what I infer from someone's having graduated from Harvard (and most major universities). I know people cite it as a signal, but it's like the big-O notation we know and love: you often lose so much relevant detail that the exercise is of limited value. And the whole shebang is pretty much outweighed by the elephant-in-the-room that is the nasty moral environment so widespread in colleges.

> About 90 percent of Jared’s 2003 class at Harvard also graduated with honors

Harvard honors is a system where all students, being above average, can maintain that above average feeling.

Affirmative action by another name.

A rich white person being given preferential treatment = affirmative action?

Hottest take of all time

don't get sloppy about how you name things. this isn't "another name" for affirmation action. the correct name for it is patronage. Charles Kushner is a patron of Harvard and they gave his family a favor in exchange.

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