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> for purely economic reasons, got into Stanford or Harvard.

Can you elaborate on this? I assume Stanford and Harvard had higher admissions requirements (grades, test scores) than my state university? Or is the comparison relative to other elite educational institutions?

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Stanford and Harvard do have higher admissions standards, though they also take legacy status and donations into account, which might be what staunch is referring to.

However, they also practice affirmative action, which means some VCs who have a bias towards these institutions may consider minorities who they never otherwise would.

So it's not nearly as unfair as staunch is describing.

Legacy, or, as I like to call it: affirmative action for rich people :)

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