Another applicant rejected from all Ivies.

[owlice]

Sorry; literalist here. I'll go back to my corner now, and pick up a dunce cap on the way!

[BunsenBurner]

I dunno about tubas of bassoons. The sound of my kid practicing would have driven us nuts. Adcoms shoud give those kids an extra point or two may be just for the parental suffering!

[curmudgeon]

This said, playing the tuba under the bright lights of Friday Night Football in central Texas, that is sumthing! Ask Cur!

In a precision military marching band, no less. In a uniform clearly designed for fall in the mountains of far North Texas or as some call it "Colorado". When she'd snap a step turn people would duck. The second time.

[Northstarmom]

The irony is that I suspect that what Nirmalendu Ghosh did in terms of quitting his job to help his son get into top colleges is probably something that would be greatly admired in Indian culture.

A few months ago, I met a computer scientist, who had immigrated to the U.S. from India. He told me that his daughter has a learning disability, and he had quit his job a couple of years ago to help her get through a college prep program at a regular public high school.

He said that he'd read and interpret her text books to her, show her how to do her homework, etc.

With tears in his eyes, he said that she had been accepted to a college that was in another state, and didn't want to go to the college in their town that he wanted her to go to. The only way that his daughter was getting her high school diploma was due to his help, he said, and he felt that there was no way that she would be able to graduate from college without it.

He wanted have her live on campus in their current city so she could have her dream of living on campus. He planned to take courses at the college -- not the same courses she was taking (so she wouldn't stand out as having Dad with her all of the time). Then, he planned to meet with her every day at the library to help her with her homework.

He wasn't trying to get his daughter to go to Harvard or to be a biochemist, just a college graduate in any field she could get a degree in. The colleges that had accepted her were second tier colleges.

When we first started talking, I thought that he might be one of those parents who thought that their kid wasn't too bright because they "only" got a 2100 on the SAT, and "only" had a 3.5. This wasn't the case. The dad said that despite his spending lots of time helping his D prepare for the SAT, she pulled less than a 1500 (on all 3 parts) on it.

Anyway, he clearly loved his D just as the dad we've been discussing here, Nirmalendu Ghosh, clearly loves his son and wants the best for him. It's just that when it comes to parents doing everything possible including leaving their jobs to get their students accepted to places like Harvard, that kind of behavior is not what opens doors or leads to admiration in this country. i suspect that his son, who obviously is very smart and talented, would have achieved just as much without his dad's making such plans and sacrifices for him.

[collegealum314]

"that kind of behavior is not what opens doors or leads to admiration in this country."

...except of course, when they leave their jobs so that a kid can get better athletic training so that they can get to the olympics...

[VeryHappy]

BTW, it isn't oboe or tuba or bagpipes or bassoons. My kid played (and still plays) the banjo, and got into a great school.

Top that, you CC parents!!

[TimeCruncher]

I am one of those dinosaurs who still thinks that school is supposed to be about education, and that high academic achievement is to be commended, not criticized. I commend young Mr. Ghosh, and I also commend his devoted and self-sacrificing father. I commend Lyndon B. Johnson High School’s Liberal Arts and Science Academy, as well. As for the colleges which absurdly chose to reject this academically well-focused young man--it’s their loss. Someday, when society starts to benefit from the future Dr. Ghosh’s scientific research, those short-sighted adcoms will hang their fuzzy heads in shame. Savvy University of Chicago, my similarly “hardworking, serious student” daughter’s “dream school” (for which she is presently waitlisted), wisely chose to admit the academically and personally exemplary Mr. Ghosh. My daughter would be honored to have Mr. Ghosh as a college classmate, but if that is not to be, then she fully expects to encounter similar “hardworking, serious” students wherever else she attends college. In my opinion, society needs to encourage, support, and reward students such as Navonil Ghosh, because society will be the ultimate benefactor of such students’ commitment to excellence.

[collegealum314]

"The irony is that I suspect that what the dad did in terms of quitting his job to help his son get into top colleges is probably something that would be greatly admired in Indian culture."

No, the irony is that having a parent that is incarcerated is a hook while having a parent who made sacrifices to drive his kid to his medical research job is a dealbreaker. And Asian parents are warped and have bizarre expectations because they don't immediately understand how this makes sense.

[BedHead]

"Navonil is a really great, hardworking, serious student," said Jason Flowers, who was Ghosh's history teacher last year. "He does kind of stand out. I think we were all surprised he didn't get into any of the Ivys ... But one thing we've learned is that the admissions game can be very unpredictable."

I do think his test scores to a great extent indicate he's got to be pretty damned good. However, did you notice how "damning with faint praise" this paragraph seemed. 'Kind of stand out'? The people getting perfect SAT scores in high school not only stood out, they tended to blow doors. Maybe this guy didn't get tremendous recs from his teachers. This is all speculation, but the thing that says most to me is that picture of him standing there with his father right off to the right.

[mom99]

"The irony is that I suspect that what Nirmalendu Ghosh did in terms of quitting his job to help his son get into top colleges is probably something that would be greatly admired in Indian culture."

I don't think that is true at all, quitting ones job is not admired in any culture, even to help your child, there are other ways to help a child.

[Consolation]

re #218: DadII, avert your eyes. You will NOT, I repeat, NOT rob a convenience store!

[xiggi]

In my opinion, society needs to encourage, support, and reward students such as Navonil Ghosh, because society will be the ultimate benefactor of such students’ commitment to excellence.

Why is the yardstick with which we measure "commitment to excellence" or "reward students for high academic achievement" solely defined by an acceptance to HYPS?

The absurdity of the college decisions depends from one's point of view. Since we are allowed to offer different opinions here, I'd say that Ghosh's quitting a job to hire himself as Chief Strategist in College Applications was a study in absurdity. And it would have been even with 100% acceptance rates.

The only difference is that the results not only indicate how absurd it was but also how irrational it was. This story was not about the student but about his father. Staying out of the limelight seemed too darn hard, even in the article linked by the OP. Why was the father "contribution" ever mentioned? Afraid we would miss the puppeteers' act?

[Northstarmom]

"No, the irony is that people who are trashing Ghosh's father have said nothing about the dad who is incarcerated (on another thread on the Parents Forum). In fact, the kid whose father is incarcerated considers it a hook."

What would you want people to say about the dad who is incarcerated? Assuming he did whatever he was convicted of, his incarceration speaks for itself.

As for his incarceration being a hook for the student -- why not? If the student managed to academically achieve despite having a dad who is in prison, that student has done an excellent job of overcoming some odds that would defeat most people. And it's ridiculous to imply that the father committed a crime to give his offspring an admission hook. More than likely, the dad has never been an involved father at all to his offspring.

On another thread, there's an Ivy admitted student whose worried that because his grades dropped to Bs and Cs this semester due to his having to work 30 hours a week after his dad was laid off, he may be rescinded.

On still another thread, there's a post by a high achieving, low income girl who's struggling to go off to college even though her entire family wants her to stay home and not go to college. She had to take a gap year because the colleges that accepted her didn't give her enough money to attend.

Meanwhile, Ghosh, through an accident of birth, has a(n apparently well educated father) who was able to afford to quit his job to devote 3 years of his life to helping Ghosh get into colleges like Harvard.

While Ghosh must be very intelligent and hard working to have made the achievements that he did, he had far more help in doing so than most people do, and colleges would take that into account.

The top colleges evaluate students in the context of their resources, not just by what they have achieved. If the CC poster with the incarcerated parent, the girl whose family is against her college plans, and the Yale admittee who is having to work 30 hours a week had had the advantages that Ghosh had, for all we know, they may have matched or exceeded his accomplishments.

[mom99]

"The top colleges evaluate students in the context of their resources, not just by what they have achieved. "

And I know of any Indian girl who got into Yale EA and Harvard RD. Her parents have no clue of the college process and have never been to college and not very well off. She received 2400 on SAT without prepping and is a Presidential scholar. Everything that she did was on her own.

[Columbia_Student]

As for his incarceration being a hook for the student -- why not? If the student managed to academically achieve despite having a dad who is in prison, that student has done an excellent job of overcoming some odds that would defeat most people. And it's ridiculous to imply that the father committed a crime to give his offspring an admission hook. More than likely, the dad has never been an involved father at all to his offspring.

I agree with the above. This is the kind of kid that should be accepted everywhere. I think judging from his acceptances he did get into a lot of excellent schools.