<story><title>What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school?</title><url>http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/04/09/what-like-poor-ivy-league-school/xPtql5uzDb6r9AUFER8R0O/story.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>stegosaurus</author><text>I attended an elite UK university having had a poor upbringing. This article reads painfully to me. I don&amp;#x27;t have the words to describe why, but I can try.&lt;p&gt;The closest I can come is to say that this idea of inclusiveness is terminally broken. It&amp;#x27;s a sort of bandage over a huge chasm of differences.&lt;p&gt;For a poor person to become wealthy requires them to discard their baggage. Change the accent, the clothes, the pop culture references, the &amp;#x27;back home...&amp;#x27; stories. Avoid the discussions about parents. The list goes on.&lt;p&gt;My transition into adulthood at present is essentially a game of throwing away my connections to that past. Not intentionally, but because living a double life is just too difficult. Visiting my hometown I feel like more of a tourist each time.&lt;p&gt;Money is a huge divider, the gulf between the working class and middle classes in this regard is enormous.&lt;p&gt;I am hardwired to assume that people cannot afford anything. My basic instinct is to design activities that are free.&lt;p&gt;Wealthier people do not always appreciate this. They might want to go and do something more expensive - and why not? They can.&lt;p&gt;Friendship groups.&lt;p&gt;I could waffle on seemingly forever but words can&amp;#x27;t really express how odd I find all of this.&lt;p&gt;Different species...</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>vcxzxcv</author><text>Thanks for this post. I&amp;#x27;m debating applying to a state University right now. Coming from a poor background (and still being poor) I find it hard to relate to a lot of my peers. You speak of &amp;quot;dropping baggage&amp;quot;, and for me, this is next to impossible because of my poor dental health. As soon as I open my mouth people assume I must be some meth head. My mom has dementia and can barely take care of her self and my dad is struggling with COPD. I&amp;#x27;m not going to go further into my home life because I&amp;#x27;m not looking for pity.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m one the best math students at my current school and calculus is fun for me. I&amp;#x27;m the only person I know that knows how to program, none of the other students I&amp;#x27;ve met are interested in computers at all.&lt;p&gt;The students that are performing at the same level as I am seem (to me)  to be &amp;quot;elites&amp;quot;. I find my self becoming more and more cynical each day listening to complaints about having an old model of iPhone or &amp;quot;having to go to Paris with dad&amp;quot; (someone really said this), when all I have is a flip phone and I&amp;#x27;ve never ridden on a plane.&lt;p&gt;I told my self a few years ago I was going to learn to program because it seemed to be something that anyone could do (as long as you have a computer and internet access), seemed to be growing, and seemed to be high paying. I&amp;#x27;ve gotten pretty good, but I still have a ways to go.&lt;p&gt;Now I&amp;#x27;m at the point where I can leave my disabled parents for school and let my teeth continue to decay and deal with that social stigma, or I can get a job doing tech support and hopefully help my situation a little faster.&lt;p&gt;We&amp;#x27;ll see..</text></comment>
<story><title>What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school?</title><url>http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/04/09/what-like-poor-ivy-league-school/xPtql5uzDb6r9AUFER8R0O/story.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>stegosaurus</author><text>I attended an elite UK university having had a poor upbringing. This article reads painfully to me. I don&amp;#x27;t have the words to describe why, but I can try.&lt;p&gt;The closest I can come is to say that this idea of inclusiveness is terminally broken. It&amp;#x27;s a sort of bandage over a huge chasm of differences.&lt;p&gt;For a poor person to become wealthy requires them to discard their baggage. Change the accent, the clothes, the pop culture references, the &amp;#x27;back home...&amp;#x27; stories. Avoid the discussions about parents. The list goes on.&lt;p&gt;My transition into adulthood at present is essentially a game of throwing away my connections to that past. Not intentionally, but because living a double life is just too difficult. Visiting my hometown I feel like more of a tourist each time.&lt;p&gt;Money is a huge divider, the gulf between the working class and middle classes in this regard is enormous.&lt;p&gt;I am hardwired to assume that people cannot afford anything. My basic instinct is to design activities that are free.&lt;p&gt;Wealthier people do not always appreciate this. They might want to go and do something more expensive - and why not? They can.&lt;p&gt;Friendship groups.&lt;p&gt;I could waffle on seemingly forever but words can&amp;#x27;t really express how odd I find all of this.&lt;p&gt;Different species...</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jheriko</author><text>Its hard to take the article very seriously from the title, but it does make for a slightly cringeworthy read.&lt;p&gt;As someone from a very poor background (actual poor - starving in africa poor, not US overprivileged &amp;#x27;I can eat for free out of bins&amp;#x27; poor, but this is all relative...) I can sympathise somewhat too.&lt;p&gt;I agree with the point made here in this comment- personally, I never felt like I had the kind of disadvantages described in this article, and I&amp;#x27;m sure its partly because I pass very well for an upper middle-class man thanks to a spiffing british accent I inherited from my mother - and partly down to a tremendous effort socially. I&amp;#x27;ve always presented my background as exotic and interesting rather than woeful and sympathy-worthy.&lt;p&gt;All that being said, I am now doing quite well and earn a considerable amount of money, but still always find myself broke at the end of the month... its shameful.&lt;p&gt;A very rich man once said to me that if you act like a rich person eventually you would find yourself to be rich... I think there is an element of truth in that.</text></comment>