I’m waiting for some snarky comment dismissing Malia’s getting into Harvard because of affirmative action… no doubt the way her dad’s and mom’s academic accomplishments were dismissed as well. What a world…
Pretty much.
@katliamom unfortunately, more than one poster has already alluded to that.
Ugh. 
8-|
yea… ugh indeed…
I can’t even look but can only imagine. So sad.
This thread has been incredibly civil and kind, unlike the hateful remarks in the link above to the news article. The fact that any sitting presidents child has INCREDIBLE opportunities when it comes to college admissions, doesn’t change the fact ** this ** President’s daughter is well deserving of her success. She’s extremely bright and hard working and deserves to go wherever she wants to after being in the public eye for the past 8 years and working hard at a very competitive school.
They are a lovely family and whoever comes after them in the next election (from either party) will not even be 10% as classy and down to earth as they are.
Sometimes the internet makes me sad.
Couldn’t agree more, @suzyQ7. I love this first family and will miss them terribly!
^^ this. Obama is the first president I feel a personal AFFECTION for. Ditto his classy wife & lovely daughters.
We will all be pleased if the Obamas decide to make HI at least one of their homes, as rumor says they are.
Good for Malia. She’s a poised, accomplished (for a young person) and intelligent young woman. I’m sure part of the decision included security. Some universities are more used to catering to the needs of those students who require protection, which she certainly will.
ETA: Those horrible comments on the Fox News site illuminate the real need for continued security. What is wrong with people?
The First Daughters get Secret Service protection. I don’t think they expect the university to provide it.
The University of Pennsylvania graduation will have two guests who will get Secret Service protection. Joe Biden, whose grandaughter is graduating and Donald Trump, whose daughter, Tiffany, is graduating. The news reports tell graduates and guests to arrive two hours early due to the delays of the added security.
Just imagine if we had Palin’s girls in White House instead of Obama’s girls. Tabloid owners would be trillionaires by now.
^^We need a new button for this. “Like” is not what I want to click on.
@TatinG Universities are prepared for this. When I graduated from Harvard, Chancellor Kohl of Germany’s son was in our graduating class. It’s really nothing unusual these days.
I clicked on the Fox link and it was just vile. It sickens me that people actually think this way.
The Obama family is classy and have been lovely role models. In any event these types of remarks should never be directed at anyone.
The Fox link is disgusting but is par for the course. I really didn’t expect much better.
It is funny when people rant and rave because Malia Obama got into Harvard, yet the same people when people question the scions of the rich and famous (also known as the dumb and rich when my cousin went to Dartmouth) have preferential admissions to the top schools. Anyone remember when people brought up the fact that George W Bush got into Yale with a C average in prep school, then got into Harvard Business school with a C average in college, and all those dumping on Malia, that she only got in because she is black and the daughter of the president, went around saying that was class warfare and jealousy and so forth? Bush went to a prestigious prep school (and got in because his family had a legacy there, not because of outstanding achievement in school), got mediocre grades, got into Yale, Got into Harvard Business with mediocre grades, meanwhile Malia apparently did very well all along, did great at one of the most prestigious schools around, a very competitive one, yet she doesn’t deserve to be there or must have gotten in under “affirmative action?”. Colin Powell once commented on that, he said that many of those who railed against affirmative action as being unfair got into top schools because they were legacy/connected students…
There was an article not long ago about how the kids of the entrepeneur class are getting into top schools with less than stellar grades,yet where are the hateful comments?.. I also wonder if those ranting about Malia wondered why Donald Trump’s kids got into U of P, that given his status as an alumnus, having given money to the place and being very, very well off, how they got in unfairly to an ivy league school, when they may not have been stellar (ivanka is supposed to be very bright, the other Trump kids by reputation aren’t exactly brilliant).
As far as the gap year goes, I think she was really smart to do it. There are a variety of reasons to do it, but getting out in the world and seeing and doing things makes sense to me. My son went to a prep school for several years that turned out kids who got into the top level schools, but also was very different in some ways, and they encouraged kids to take the time to find themselves and what the world is before going to school, and more than a few did, and I remember talking to one of the English teachers, really amazing woman, and she said that one of the things that made teaching worthwhile was when kids got what she said when she encouraged them to experience things, rather than go on the academic treadmill rat race, and they did it and came back and said what a difference it made. It does make a difference, I saw that in grad school in my management program, the kids coming right out of the academic track in some ways were so clueless, didn’t know the reality of how things work, and kept proposing these things right out of the management book as if it was reality…
@soccerguy315:
“I am, however, somewhat offended by the stuff the Washington Post keeps writing about how “every child should take a gap year” and then quoting Harvard’s own admissions people who say that kids are getting burnt out and no longer allowed to fail, when Harvard (and others) are the ones driving that!!!”
I totally agree, a lot of these elite colleges are playing a cutesy game IMO, on the one hand they nod gravely at the pressure being put on kids, talk about the rat race of college admissions, how the pressure to be perfect may be creating kids afraid to take risks, afraid to try something different, or who all want to major in a relatively few fields and so forth and form committees and such to study the problem…yet the same school prominently displays the stats for their incoming classes, the high gpas, the academic achievement, the test scores, and of course, the acceptance rate. Yeah, I read the PR piece put out by the Stanford Dean saying a low acceptance rate was nothing to be proud of, but it is the classic case of “I am shocked, shocked to find out there was gambling going on here”…“Your winnings, sir”…the Onion (least I think it was the Onion) had this headline about how Stanford’s acceptance rate was 0%, and some donor gave them 500 million dollars to celebrate that accomplishment. I’ll believe that when I see the elite colleges A)not publish their stats the way they do and B)when they come up with admissions that aren’t entirely based on numbers, which when you cut through the fog they create, is the baseline of it all IMO. The reality is that the idiots on Fox News can rant and rave about Malia, but she is no different than a lot of the kids who get into elite schools, many of them come from families with the income and resources, school districts and the like, that give them the edge they need to get in… (well, it is a numbers race even with the scions of the rich who aren’t so smart, they get in for another number, $$$$$$).