Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Blake
Jeff... "misleading" is a negatively-loaded word that I HAVE NOT used.
Representations are made in writing and verbally at the Champs ceremony, WHERE'S the substantial evidence to support those representations?
IF you listen to the video carefully, NOBODY say's Dean's List will only "improve your chances of attending", there's NO DISCLAIMERS or warnings... here's a direct Dean Kamen quote right after M.I.T. and Yale folks finished speaking:
"As I said, the colleges get-it, they want to get YOU (pointing to the entire D/L audience)..."
That's _powerful_ stuff for a 17 year old and his parents to hear for the first time. The credibility factor was _VERY_ high, now not so much...
My OP premise is that my experience is that this award MAY BE overstated and over-sold as it relates to getting into M.I.T. and Yale. Though, data (results) might prove me wrong...
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Don't confound "data" and "results". Reasonable "substantial evidence" here can just as easily--in fact,
more accurately--be from Dean talking to admissions officers. The stories he and the other speakers tell are no doubt completely accurate and therefore entirely credible.
The real inaccuracy is in linking those stories with the
result of getting into a specific school. Far from a disclaimer, the program isn't old enough to statistically substantiate claims like "improve your chances of attending"--it's good they avoid it. Even if you imposed an inaccurate quantitative view, for instance, that MIT "bumps" every winner 1000 spots, we'd need a much larger sample size to see the correlation from selection reports. What Dean's doing is marketing the award and FIRST based on his good faith conversations with many, many university officials. Over advertising? Maybe. Misrepresenting? No.