underpand (u/underpand)

underpand commented on MIT suspending SAT/ACT requirement for next application cycle mitadmissions.org/blogs/e... · Posted by u/jchernan

tzs · 5 years ago

MIT undergraduates in the class of 2024 are 42% Asian. White is 39%. What makes you think MIT discriminates against Asian students?

underpand · 5 years ago

It's low compared to some base rates.

60% of 750 - 800 math SAT scorers are Asian

https://i0.wp.com/www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/...

I looked through the list of USAMO finalists in recent years and > 80% have Asian surnames.

underpand commented on MIT suspending SAT/ACT requirement for next application cycle mitadmissions.org/blogs/e... · Posted by u/jchernan

helen___keller · 5 years ago

I would challenge if ACT/SAT is much about pure intellectual merit, considering how much one can boost their score with dedicated tutors and so on, but I digress. How to show intellectual merit other than standardized tests without relying on rich parents:

(a) Straight As

(b) (if applicable) Take all AP courses available at your high school

(c) (if applicable) Take additional college courses through community college dual enrollment or online school

(d) (if applicable) Join the math club, honors society, run for some kind of student council position, or other academics-oriented or leadership-oriented club role that doesn't require a hefty buy-in

b-d may or may not apply, depending on your school, school district, and state.

underpand · 5 years ago

> I would challenge if ACT/SAT is much about pure intellectual merit, considering how much one can boost their score with dedicated tutors and so on, but I digress. How to show intellectual merit other than standardized tests without relying on rich parents:

I don't think the difference between dedicated tutors and individual studying with Khan Academy is a large difference. The majority of low scorers score low because they're either lower on the intelligence scale or didn't spend time individually studying.

underpand commented on MIT suspending SAT/ACT requirement for next application cycle mitadmissions.org/blogs/e... · Posted by u/jchernan

whack · 5 years ago

On the one hand, it is ridiculous that one of the main metrics used in admissions is a glorified IQ test. On the other hand, it is ridiculous that we don't have a single commonly used standardized-exam that evaluates proficiency and expertise in the core curriculum.

I know America has a serious NIH syndrome, but the situation could be improved overnight if every single public school adopted the GCSE/A levels or IB curriculum and exams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GCE_Advanced_Level_(United_Kin...

https://www.ibo.org/about-the-ib/

underpand · 5 years ago

The Math SAT is mostly straight out of the standard math curriculum. The subject tests are similar.

underpand commented on MIT suspending SAT/ACT requirement for next application cycle mitadmissions.org/blogs/e... · Posted by u/jchernan

pmiller2 · 5 years ago

You know test prep courses are a thing, and that the wealthy are the primary consumers of them, right? Pretty much everything in the USA is pay to win.

underpand · 5 years ago

This was downvoted because it's a disingenuous reply. Obviously, OP was not arguing that SAT can't be gamed.

underpand commented on Female Founder Secrets: Fertility femfosec.com/fertility/... · Posted by u/femfosec

hinkley · 5 years ago

I don't want to blame this on 'toxic masculinity', but I think there are a lot of men who would make allies for this sort of work if they would stop for a moment and think about what's good for them instead of toeing the party line.

I am deeply convinced that I would be as productive at 32 hours a week as I am at 40, ±5%. And the +5% in particular interests me, because it would say a lot about how we are mishandling creative roles. 32 hours a week not only opens up more diversity in hiring, it also shifts the balance in co-parenting. Yes, I can take Billie to his eye appointment/drop him off at school/buy groceries for dinner on the way home.

underpand · 5 years ago

This is a baseless generalization of men. Men are not an obstacle to a 32 hour work week.

underpand commented on Female Founder Secrets: Fertility femfosec.com/fertility/... · Posted by u/femfosec

astan · 5 years ago

Your whole blog resonates deeply with me. All this corporate grifting and women's empowerment months will do jack shit until we figure out how to make workplaces and lives more equitable for mothers and allowing for gaps, breaks and destigmatizing time off for parents of both genders.

Instead, we talk about how sexism is the biggest problem. Sure, sexism might be annoying, but in the west, it is hardly something that creates a genuine barrier for women.

Startups have it worst, and everday I count the number of years I have to work in the high stress places I want or do a startup if I want to have two kids before 35. No one talks about planning around fertility. When I mention it to someone that I want to take time off for a couple years to have children in silicon valley, they look at me as if I'm an alien. As if wanting to be pregnant and not working at the same time as being sleep deprived and wanting to spend time with my own baby when they are at their youngest is some strange outlandish fantasy.

All careers are built this way. PhD to tenure, startups, generally high stress professions. I wish the world wasn't so male centric, that feminists actually cared about finding structural solutions instead of forcing women to become copies of men to achieve gender parity. But they care more about power than actual equality where we acknowledge that women have different needs and desires, that those needs and desires are equally valuable and not inferior to desires men have, that the two genders have different strengths and capabilities and it is equally important to reward both. And maybe not wanting to outsource your baby to a nanny during their most vulnerable years is not a heretical thought.

I wish we had more focus in allowing people to transition back from taking a few years off to raise young kids, and it wasn't automatically assumed that you would be a worse founder or professor or software engineer just because you have 2-4 years you didn't commercially work. Hell, I want to take that time to contribute to open source, something I don't get to do much usually and I'm looking forward to it because I am willing to face the consequences. But I wish more women could be less scared of their career prospects for choosing to have children.

underpand · 5 years ago

This conversation seems to be geared towards upper middle class, dual income professionals that usually have $150,000+ household income. It's difficult for me to sympathize and see these issues as more than entitlement.

First, since household income is a combination of the mother and father's incomes, women still have the same household income and spending power as men. The remaining complaint is worse work fulfillment for women. I don't think people are entitled to work fulfillment. It's a minor issue in my eyes. There are advantages and drawbacks to this issue. While mothers have a more difficult time with work fulfillment and climbing the corporate ladder, mothers also have an easier time avoiding the corporate environment and work pressure. Women who don't find fulfillment at work can more easily not work than the equivalent men.

Second, ignoring gender and seeing this from a gender-neutral parent perspective, many of these upper middle class parents are lamenting the tradeoff between living an upper middle class lifestyle and being parents. I don't think there is a problem when upper middle class parents have to downgrade their living standards when becoming parents. I don't think people are entitled to an upper middle class lifestyle.

underpand commented on Female Founder Secrets: Fertility femfosec.com/fertility/... · Posted by u/femfosec

elliekelly · 5 years ago

> I think women have largely been presented a false promise by progressives: value and purpose is derived from work, go do what men do to be their equal. It’s not necessarily anybody’s fault, we live in a society where money is valued. But I wish we could structure society in a way such that the value of raising children, homemaking, is clearly communicated and understood. Being a mother without a snazzy career is frowned upon by plenty of people these days. I don't think that stigma is healthy. Why do women have to emulate men to be valuable?

Why ask these questions only as they relate to women and motherhood? Why haven't men being presented a false promise that value and purpose is derived from work? Being a father without a snazzy career is equally (if not more so) frowned upon by plenty of people these days. I don't think that stigma is healthy, either. Why do men have to emulate other men to be "valuable"? Why do men have to avoid emulating women to be "valuable"?

> Couple that with the fact that depression is most prevalent among childless women in their 40s

I don't know your source for this but you should at least consider the possibility that women, particularly women with financial resources (childless women in their 40s, for example), are significantly more likely to seek mental health treatment compared to similarly situated men. Correlation is not causation and more women being treated for depression does not necessarily mean more women are depressed.

underpand · 5 years ago

> Why ask these questions only as they relate to women and motherhood? Why haven't men being presented a false promise that value and purpose is derived from work?

Men aren't presented with this false promise. Men are influenced to work through negative reinforcement. A man who doesn't have a career is judged harshly, much more so than women, by society and has a difficult time dating and finding a partner.

Men also have a higher economic need to work. Women have much higher social mobility, so women are less economically motivated to work. A low income man will stay poor unless he works himself out of his social class. A low income woman can much more easily marry a man with higher income than her to propel her social class and household income up.

Women are more often presented with the positive reinforcement of value and purpose from work because women deal with less negative reinforcement when not working.

underpand commented on Ordeal by Title IX quillette.com/2020/08/13/... · Posted by u/fortran77

treis · 5 years ago

This guys not wrong about Title IX being kangaroo courtish. But he also had a sexual relationship with a graduate student that he advised. The fact that it happened after he de facto stopped advising her doesn't help his case much. She's still very dependent on him for recommendations and his connections for her career growth. The potential for abuse there is very high and it's not a relationship he should have engaged in.

Was he railroaded? Hard to tell when it's just one side of the story. But he's not innocent.

underpand · 5 years ago

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underpand commented on Is insurance more expensive in Black neighborhoods? goodcover.com/blog/is-ins... · Posted by u/ddispaltro

underpand · 5 years ago

I'm disappointed that they didn't look at the very obvious input into insurance risk models: crime rate.

It's very dishonest since it's very obvious. Either complete incompetence or dishonesty.