| I doubt that a GC would include such info. I do think, however, that the info could come out via a recommendation or during the interview.
I can imagine that the student and his family would have thought that colleges would be impressed by the extent that the student's parents were willing to sacrifice their lives to give the student every opportunity to shine. That, however, wouldn't impress places like Harvard, which are far more interested in the sacrifices that students do on their own to pursue their passions.
Obviously, the student is smart enough to do the work at any college in the country, so I don't think the student's capabilities were an issue with any college.
I think, however, that places like H place much more emphasis on intellectual passion and self motivation than do most other universities in the country. That's because places like H want to have campuses that are vibrant including in terms of student-directed ECs. A student who appears to have been pushed into ECs or greatly enabled in ECs by their parents, may not be an active campus participant once away from their parent's control, even though the student may still get excellent grades.
Since the majority of students applying to H have the ability to graduate from H, whether a student is smart enough for H isn't typically an admissions consideration. What is important, though, is whether the student is self motivated to be a very active participant in campus ECs, and whether the student's EC interests are likely to help maintain a campus with a diverse group of ECs, not just ECs related to medicine. |