Not to disparage the amount of original research that the Straight Dope staff put in on the subject, but isn’t the answer sort of meaningless without context - i.e., a control group? Probably an even better answer could be made of separate control groups for the general population, and of Miss America losers, to best gauge the effect of winning the award vs having the qualities that make one part of the pool of potential winners.
Well, it may be a ‘scholarship program’, but it amused me that women would go to so much trouble being pretty as a route to education. I’m by no means pretty and I got two full scholarships for two master’s degrees. And I didn’t have to strut around in stripper heels and a bikini to get them.
When I was reading the column, I was wondering what my rating would have been. Probably no better than “meh”, since I don’t have a Wikipedia page, but hopefully not “dismal”.
Is there a place we can enter our life outcomes, and score ourselves?
It’s a conformity pageant. The ability to conform serves most people well.
Yeah, I’d have liked to have seen a comparison to the other 49 contestants from each year, to gain some clue as to cause and effect. Presumably, the other Miss States have very nearly the same charm, poise, self-confidence, etc. as the winner. So if they perform about as well as the winner, we could conclude that their successes are mostly a result of the same qualities as lead to success in the pageant. But if the winner performs significantly better on the measures of success, that’s an indicator that the title is itself a valuable asset.
+1
It’s about the shoes!
In Is being a beauty queen a route to success? - The Straight Dope, posted July 26, 2013, the question was “Does winning the Miss America title give the ladies a start on financial success?”
Cecil evaluated the winners, but there was no control group, so the question was not really answered. I would like to know how well the runners up did using the same criteria. That would be an excellent indication of how much winning helps compared with a control group that is the same in every other way.
You mean following the lives of miss runner up or miss congeniality? The women in these contests would probably receive preferred treatment regardless of what path life takes them. How though do you define a group of very attractive non-beauty queens. Follow the lives of the top 1% of females on Hot or Not? Most places that’ll get you arrested and a restraining order.
MODERATOR COMMENTS: bobv, since there was already a thread on this column that raised a similar point, I’ve merged your thread into that one. OK? I think it’s better to have all similar comments in the same thread.