Ever since the college admissions bribery scandal in 2019, I’ve been patiently waiting for society to start viewing public schools in a higher light. I postulated that some public schools will eventually be viewed as more prestigious than many private schools since it’s harder to bribe your way in.

According to the FBI, the universities involved in the admission scandals between 2011 and 2018 were Georgetown, Stanford, UCLA, University of San Diego, USC, Wake Forest University, and Yale.

In other words, only one of the schools involved in Operation Varsity Blues was a public school, UCLA. University Of Texas El Paso men’s assistant basketball coach was also caught accepting a bribe. However, UTEP’s acceptance rate is literally 100%, so that school doesn’t count.

When already wealthy families are spending between $250,000 – $6 million on bribes, you’ve got to wonder how rigged the college admission system really is. The people caught are likely only the tip of the iceberg.

Meanwhile, extremely wealthy families are donating hundreds of millions through the front door. These funds aren’t legally considered bribes, but donations. However, we all know the quid pro quo assumption is that all of the children and grandchildren of those families will be admitted in the future.

As part of my sabbatical, I’ve convinced my wife to write more posts. Yes! My master plan is working. Here is Sydney discussing money lessons for college students. – Sam

Even though I haven’t been in school for over twenty years, I always get excited during back to school season. I think back to the days of Trapper Keepers (I hear they’re back by the way) and pencil boxes.

And, I still remember the giddiness I felt flipping through the class registration guide in college. It was like a puzzle figuring out how I could max out my credits each semester. But, I also like to reminisce about the money lessons I learned while I was a college student.

College wasn’t that fun for me in the grand scheme of things. But it was something I was determined to do. You see, neither of my parents nor any of my grandparents went to college.

My dad went to vocational school and my mom only went to a few secretarial training classes. This really limited their career options. As a result, they had money struggles their whole lives.

I cheated on my dentist and I will never do it again. This is a story about the importance of trust if you want to build a great business. It is also a story about not taking your business for granted if you’ve been at it for a while.

During regular times, I’d see the dentist every six months to get my teeth cleaned. Once a year, I’d get some x-rays and go from there. However, due to the pandemic, I skipped out on seeing the dentist for 18 months.

Getting breathed on with my mouth open in an indoor space for over an hour didn’t seem prudent. So I waited until I got fully vaccinated before going.

In the meantime, I flossed, brushed, and rinsed religiously. I even bought a metal plaque scraper and pick to help remove any buildup. In essence, I became my own dental hygienist.

Right before negotiating my severance in 2012, I wondered whether I should get a Ph.D. After 13 years in the private sector, I thought it would be nice to switch things up. Besides, if I got my Ph.D., I could demand people call me doctor, just like how our incoming First Lady demands to be called Dr. Jill Biden!

It is absolutely fine to request people address you as doctor if you have a Ph.D. or Ed.D.. Whether people comply with your request is another matter. Only around four percent of Americans have obtained a Ph.D. Therefore, people who have gone through the rigorous process of getting a Ph.D. deserve respect.

I’d like to think that if I got a Ph.D., I would play it cool and tell people, “Just call me Sam.” After all, I’m not only a believer in stealth wealth, but stealth education as well.

For a better life, it’s better to pretend you are dumber than you really are. Otherwise, people are going to expect a lot from you. They may ask you a lot of questions and constantly challenge you as well.

Time is our most precious asset. The dumber you appear, the more time you will have to do as you wish. Trust me on this. I have all the time in the world and it still doesn’t feel like enough!

Here was my thought process about getting a Ph.D. way back when. I’ll go through the pros and cons of getting a Ph.D. From there, you can make your own decision on whether it’s worth getting this degree or not.

If you’re thinking about applying to Harvard or the likes, don’t. There’s a rapid depreciation of a Harvard education that is going on right now. The people are revolting against the rich and connecting, especially when so many people are suffering during the pandemic.

When I was applying to colleges in 1994, I thought only extremely smart or talented people attended Harvard. I had heard stories about the rich buying their kids’ ways into Harvard, but I was unaware of the details until the bribery scandal.

As a public school kid with an OK SAT score, a 3.6 GPA, and unspectacular extracurricular activities (tennis team captain vs. eradicating malaria in a small village in West Africa), I decided to save myself hundreds of dollars in application fees and apply to mostly local state schools like UVA, Mary Washington, and William & Mary instead. Paying less than $3,000 a year in in-state tuition even back then felt like a steal.

Life After Public School

After graduating from William & Mary, I got a job in the international equities department at Goldman Sachs in NYC. That’s where I got to interview hundreds of Ivy League and other elite private institution graduates as part of Goldman’s consensus-driven interview process where even grunts get to interview candidates.

We ended up rejecting over 95% of the candidates due to poor fit. It wasn’t that they were not smart, because they were. We only wanted people we could sit next to for 12-14 hours a day. It obviously helped if they had an international background, spoke multiple languages, and had a passion for equities. But we were mostly looking for great teammates.

Rejecting the majority of elite private college graduates made me realize they are no different from you and me. For the next 13 years, I’d compete with these folks on the ruthless battlegrounds of finance and smash them to bits most of the time because of my hunger. 

Coming from a non-target public school background with middle-class parents, I wasn’t going to squander my opportunity for financial independence.

Today, I am a small business owner with business owning friends. Recently, some of us have noted a growing negativity towards alumni of elite private schools. This is a problem (or a solution) for parents who plan to spend lots of money starting in grade school in the hopes their kid will attend a school like Harvard. This is also a potential problem for private university alumni who might unfairly be judged by the masses.

If you are one of these alumni, don’t be upset about the trend against the 1%. Instead, read with an open mind and pay attention as your future or your kids’ future might depend on it.

This article will address:

1) Why there is a growing negative perception about private university graduates

2) What we’ve learned from the Harvard / Asian-American discrimination lawsuit

3) What you can do to fight back against the negative perception