> But
> many -- I'd venture to say most -- of the "smartest" people I met at
> Michigan [by smart here I mean creative, capable of saying something
> surprising or otherwise interesting, engaged with ideas outside the
> classroom, in short people you want to stay up late getting high with]
> weren't in this program. In fact, the program, vs. the many different kind
> of intelligence in the larger student population, was kind of a test tube
> display of how SAT/ACT scores do measure some things, but not others.
>
I'll say.
In terms of fun to get high with, it depends what you have in mind. Sometimes, just thinking about getting high makes me think "Oh my God I must do everything I can to distinguish myself from dysfunctional potheads around me." Sometimes I personally just fall asleep. Sometimes when I get high, yakking about the philosophy is definitely not the main thing on my mind.
So if consistently "fun to get high with" is a barometer of intelligence...
More interesting data points: my two freshman year roomies at Princeton listed in order lowest to highest of cumulative SAT scores, also in order we graduated. Data collection done in the first week or so when the topic was on everyone's mind.
Roomie # 1: SAT's a tad below the median I think, dad a coprate exec and PU alum, mom I am not sure, played lacrosse. Graduated with the class we all entered with. Majored in English or something, Took her pre-med prerequisites someplace besides Princeton and is now a practicing physician.
Incidentally, although a lot of medicine these days is sadly "buyer beware," partly because of her stody caution I would trust Roomie #1 a lot more for medical advice than some other ostensibly "smarter" pre-med specimens who I would not want anywhere near my body in a medical or other capacity.
Roomie #2: I do not remember her SAT's but close to the median. Dad a retired government official and mom I think a Beverly Hills socialite--roomie was pretty tight-lipped about these topics and only later did I figure out who her father probably was. Took one year off in the middle. Was always most interested in theater and now runs a theater program for gay youth in LA
Roomie #3 (me): highest SAT's in the room but not stratospheric. Father a professional musician; mother a non-management retail employee; into political activism, lots of opinions and to paraphrase Joanna not automatically enthused by all the different available jargon in technical fields, in the world manipulation sense, or even in arbitrary academic subcultures. Grades improved when I started picking classes where I could most freely call things as I saw them.
Note of course a whole bunch of social factors not directly measured by the SAT
Rooming with me and putting up with my radical posters on the wall was definitely about all the mind expansion Roomie #1 could handle; Roomie #2 probably would be a blast to get high with, but her worldview was pretty expanded even without getting high. And if I say even I wouldn't always want to get high with me, is that some kind of marker of poor self-image or just a tip for economizing on amusements with me?
On the other hand I met a few folk in grad school that made me realize for instance how much I take for granted some facility with math, physics, and numbers. Woman who I know does important research in several language and I once wound up directing traffic together for a volunteer task. After a few minutes I had to diplomatically chase her away because she was just NO HELP.
So put me in the camp of SAT's measure some valuable concepts but definitely do not cover it all...
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