MIT graduate student says income inequality is actually about housing

Re:MIT graduate student says income inequality is actually a... by humanrebar on Thursday November 19, 2015 @09:21PM (#10599199)

Poor kids don't make it to top tier schools. It's hard to have good "intangibles" when you have to work while going to high school to pay for your own room and board. Maybe you can get a 4.0 and good SAT scores, but so can a 50,000 other teenagers.

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Re:MIT graduate student says income inequality is actually a... by remarkEon on Friday November 20, 2015 @01:21AM (#10599916)

-> It's hard to have good "intangibles" when you have to work while going to high school to pay for your own room and board.

OTOH, that sounds like a pretty darn good "intangible" to me and would certainly warrant further consideration in my book.

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Re:MIT graduate student says income inequality is actually a... by humanrebar on Friday November 20, 2015 @07:06AM (#10600792)

I agree, but even if you considered that a good intangible, there are many students who have to work to support themselves and their families. By definition, the things the 1% do to be impressive will always be more unusual and stand out. You pilot your own hot air balloon, are fluent in Farsi, and put in 500 hours helping the underprivileged(a) write resumes? Impressive.

(a) If you are underprivileged, you might have time to volunteer somewhere, but typically supporting your family doesn't count as helping the underprivileged. Changing grandma's bedpans isn't volunteer work, and it's kind of exploitative to make that a major portion of your college application.

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