As stated, it's not the high IQ that would possibly be held against a student, but rather presenting high IQ as a reason for admission. ... If I had two applications in front of me and one emphasized membership in a high IQ society and the other stressed more what a student had actually done and could actually do, I'd go for the latter every time. Pointing to membership in a high IQ society smacks of weakness and a sense of entitlement.
I disagree. If I had two applications with all else being equal or nearly so, I'd go for the high IQ.
Every time. If I had an application with DYS or 999 or Prometheus written on it, I'd give it and the applicant extra attention.
Yes, being able to get stuff done is hugely important. But so is IQ, and the two are not mutually exclusive. IMO, our society pretty much dismisses the importance of high IQ. IQ is real and has important real-world ramifications.
It's interesting to read your weakness/entitlement opinion. How is stating a fact about yourself elitist? And don't grade schools make that same assumption when we nervously say, "Err...my daughter learns very fast; can you accommodate this?" And don't we all complain about how wrong that attitude is? Is it elitist to say that a ten-year-old kid is very tall or is a naturally very fast runner? Fast or tall kids were just born that way, the same as smart kids.
Say an up-and-coming ice skater was applying to a prestigious skating school for super-talented athletes. Would you hold it against her to note her membership in a club that only admits people who, in a month or two, can improve their skills by an amount normally expected in a year? Is she being an elitist? Or did she just write a reasonable notation showing objective evidence for her claim of being a super-talented skater who is capable of keeping the pace at the school? If noting her membership is reasonable, how could being a DYS be any different when applying to a university that's supposedly composed of very smart people who have to be able to keep a rigorous pace? If it isn't reasonable, should she also keep the skating club membership off her Cornell application? Isn't it enough to say that she can do a triple axel? Somehow, I can't see this happening...which means that when you're applying to a place designed for smart people, you can brag about yourself in 20-point boldface red type, provided you don't actually mention that you're, ahem, kind of a little bit smart.
And finally, why is it okay to say
here that a very high IQ means that our kids have different learning needs than most, but it's not okay to say this idea applies to colleges as well, when places like MIT or CalTech may be environments where our kids will thrive
because of their IQs?
