<p>^I think the part that got left out is that she attended public middle and high schools from where it is very rare for students to score 2240 on the SAT. </p>
<p>Laxripper, it is understandable that you are missing some finer points, including the fact that some of us are eminently aware of the plight of lower income students in getting accepted at Stanford. And very involved in making sure more students are made aware that it is a distinct possibility that Stanford is … not only paying attention but also relying on organizations and private donors are making the dreams possible. Your “envious” line could not be more inappropriate. But again, your inexperience is understandable. </p>
<p>Fluffy, the girl is registered at Stanford for the Class of 2018. </p>
<p>She should be proud of her accomplishments, but honestly these stories are beginning to border on the mundane. In a funny way it is starting to look like an arms race between newsrooms to hunt down such successful college admissions candidates. Or maybe the high schools are sending out press releases unsolicited. Well, another way to look at it is that if a 17-year old athlete with ho-hum grades and a bucket-full of hubris can hold a “media event” to announce that he’s going to enroll at Basketball Power U, then an academic star like this young woman and her school should feel free to do the same.</p>
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<p>Yes!<br>
The upside of the athlete doing well is that the school wins some more games.<br>
The upside of the smart student doing well is that we get that cure for cancer, or a transformative politician, or…</p>
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<p>Most reporters are not very bright. Add to that that some of them are in the business because they “want to make a difference” (read: they are advocates for something), and you get everything but the facts and the truth. If those are necessary to help people, you’re not going to get them in the newspaper that often these days. There are some exceptions, but not many. </p>
<p>In any case, good for the girl. It sounds like she deserves her success. </p>
<p>“Most reporters are not very bright.”</p>
<p>Thanks Dadx for giving me the laugh of the day. I’ve said the same thing to myself at least once a week!!!</p>
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<p>Kinda harsh, IMO. Methinks the issue with reporters/journalists is that they are writing generalists in a specialists’ world. Thus, they tend to be ignorant on whatever topic they are writing about. Add in the fact that they tend to be math-stem-challenged…</p>
<p>Perhaps local reporters are not too diligent about fact-checking softball local human interest stories like this.</p>
<p>Ergo, dim intellectuality and laziness to boot.</p>
<p>In defense of the article, if it gets parents of other kids in the same or similar schools to apply to top universities, then it will have done its job. </p>
<p>In fairness to the reporter, if they fact-checked by calling the school guidance counselor…</p>
<p>The real difference for this candidate is not her school or even her impressive test scores. Her hook is that her family circumstances appear to be quite stark. Lots of kids with great scores and even ones at ‘lesser’ schools. The key is that she has a great story. Not taking anything away from her. She did awesome and successfully navigated a tough childhood and learned about hardship first hand. This is the sort of uniqueness that separates candidates at this level. Schools get thousands of highly qualified applicants. The ones that get accepted most often have something special that sets them apart from the crowd. Congrats to her.</p>
<p>I don’t know that the goal is to get more people to apply to top schools. Hopefully it will be to get more kids to apply themselves in school to do their very best.</p>
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<p>I would go even further to say that she traveled a greater distance to acquire stats that are in the range than a more typical candidate…and that’s what many of these discussions miss. Her family situation is not an arbitrary hook. She has achieved more than a candidate with similar achievements and no hardships. </p>
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<p>As my dad was fond of saying, ‘that is like the blind leading the blind’… :)</p>
<p>These days people who write copy for the online version of a tv news channel are unlikely to be actual journalists - they might even be the camera person or possibly the news reader</p>
<p>Someone not knowing English at age 10 and scoring 2240 in SAT to me is a major achievement even if they went to the best boarding schools in the world.</p>
<p>Ill informed guidance counselors all over the country steer kids away from top colleges because they think they are too expensive. In our hometown, this means that most talented students end up at state colleges or, if ambitious, the state university. An article like this could help a lot by explaining that top colleges have such excellent financial aid that anyone who is qualified, regardless of income, should go ahead and apply. If an article gives the idea that the “full ride” is merit-based, that is more discouraging for students in communities where the true facts are less known.</p>
<p>“These days people who write copy for the online version of a tv news channel are unlikely to be actual journalists - they might even be the camera person or possibly the news reader”</p>
<p>Exactly. This was meant to be a “feel good” piece, and yes a misstatement was made, but I don’t think anyone was expected to spend hours researching the intricacies of merit vs need based aid. The article was simply intended to recognize this young woman, not to serve a factual guide to financial aid.</p>
<p>I figure if colleges and the government can represent loans and jobs as “financial aid,” someone doing a bit piece can be excused for an incorrect term.</p>
<p>LOL planner03.</p>
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<p>I think there is something to that, but there are so many instances of exposed ignorance. In covering a lab accident at Yale some years back, the reporting took pains to explain (not all that well) what a lathe was. My conclusion was that it was because the reporter or editor had never seen one. </p>