[moleperson]

> Applying in the hope they mess up and admit you when they're really better off rejecting you is so antisocial.

What? That's not what I'm suggesting at all. I just found the post to be a helpful reminder of how to have a healthy mindset towards some uncertainties in life, but it seems like you took away something completely different.

[programjames]

What do you mean by "a healthy mindset"? It isn't healthy for society. It isn't healthy in the world where everyone has this mindset. It isn't healthy to treat your life as a lottery, hoping for a winning ticket instead of creating that ticket yourself. The fact that you consider applications to be uncertainties in life is very telling. You can make them much less uncertain, if you stop thinking of them like a lottery and start doing the things that prove you are valuable to others.

Did you know that USAMO qualifiers have >50% rate of admission to MIT? IMO gold medalists have >80% acceptance rate, and it's only so low because international admissions is limited to 10% of the student body. Life is only a lottery if you have an unhealthy mindset holding you back from improving yourself. Just because university admissions involve a lot of luck at the bottom does not mean you have to limit yourself to a bottom feeder spraying and praying to get in.

[moleperson]

Again, I think you've completely misinterpreted the post as well as what I'm trying to say. A "healthy mindset" is simply one that gives you a framework to navigate the world without falling into despair when things don't go your way. Learning to accept that things won't always go your way, and that in some cases they might not go your way the majority of the time, but that they don't have to, is one component of that.

I'm not making any recommendations on how people should actually go about finding wealth, or success, or happiness, or whatever it is you're looking for in life; only how to deal with it when they don't get those things immediately.