January 29, 2011

A Students = Academics; C Students = Billionaires?

Posted by Usha Rodrigues

So apparently there was a session at Davos' World Economic Forum that pitted Larry Summers against Amy Chua, Tiger Mom. No, I am not making this up.

Summers remarked: “It is not entirely clear that your veneration of traditional academic achievement is exactly well placed. Which two freshmen at Harvard have arguably been most transformative of the world in the last 25 years? You can make a reasonable case for Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, neither of whom graduated.”

From the WSJ: "The A, B and C alums at Harvard in fact could be broadly characterized thus, [Summers] said: The A students became academics, B students spent their time trying to get their children into the university as legacies, and the C students—the ones who had made the money—sat on the fund-raising committee."

This split may be true at Harvard. Do you, dear readers, think it's true for law school? My gut says no. Clearly the A students are more likely to choose the ivory tower, but my sense is that many of them go on to make the big bucks in law firms, investment banks, etc. The B students also often end up with large paychecks, but the C students are not as prosperous. Am I wrong?

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