While true, POTUS and FLOTUS pronounce it as Mah-LEE-ah.
K–I admit I’ve never paid attention one way or another.
Isn’t the most typical gap year (or semester) just getting a job and working for pay, sometimes done to earn money to pay for college?
Some of the people I know who went to college but not immediately after high school enlisted into military service first and went to college after several years of service, with more maturity and motivation for school work than they had as high school graduates.
Well, I think there is taking a gap between high school and college, as you’ve described above, and a Gap Year (captial G, capital Y) which has come to mean something a little different and more exploratory. Yes, a lot of people work for all or part of that time. Some people, however think “Gap Year” and think of some expensive travel program but it doesn’t have to be that at all. In fact, you can do the exploring and travel experience without an expensive program.
Harvard’s film program is world renowned and has produced many talented directors. In the case of Harvard, however, you are not admitted to a program or school but to the College
@coolweather I don’t think we can call Occidental his “alma mater” since he transferred to Columbia and graduated from there. Alma Mater generally refers to the university you graduated from.
@Hanna @dyiu13 In the guidance given to alumni interviewers this year, the Harvard Admissions Office instructed that all Harvard affiliations be indicated and we were told that Harvard “affiliates” (which is the term generally used at Harvard) would get a “second look”. That said, Obama’s daughter is reputed to be an outstanding student at one of the country’s finest high schools, has had some exceptional experiences (!) and certainly would have been admitted without much debate.
I find it interesting that according to Harvard, she was admitted EA back in December. It would be funny if she hadn’t even applied to all these other universities.
Malia Obama is a hooked ( celebrity parents) full pay URM with ( let’s assume) decent score and grades ( and assume no more than that though probably it is more). The admission rates for someone in that position has to be I’m guessing around 90 percent. I wish that stories discussing Malia in the same breath as Harvards less than 5 percent admission rate would point that out.
@exlibris97 Harvard has not been on a single list of top film programs and has never been mentioned in the press for even having a film program when Malia was doing her seach. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t come up on ay film related searches on college search websites. The concentration has only been an official concentration since 2005.
http://harvardmagazine.com/2005/11/cinema-veritas.html
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2005/12/8/no-easy-riding-for-film-studies/
Harvard produces world renowned everything because they accept the best and the brightest, but no, their film program is far from world renowned.
Again, doesn’t really matter… Malia will have excellent opportunities wherever she goes and whatever she majors in.
I’m sure just as Michelle/Barack expressed that you don’t have to go to a prestigious college to get a good education, they also expressed (and this is good advice) that you don’t have to go the most prestigious/#1 rated “film school” to be successful in film.
Basic principles all college students and parents should adhere to. The school alone doesn’t make you successful, your work does.
@suzyQ7 Don’t really see the relevance of whether Harvard is on a list of “top” film programs and her family has not disclosed the criteria they were using. All of this talk about film programs, NYU, Barnard etc., is pure speculation based on where she has visited.
These are after all private matters. I frankly like the fact that they have wrong footed all those who claimed to be in the know. I guess they weren’t.
@maya54 I couldn’t help but laugh when you listed the various ways in which Malia was “hooked”. Why the conscious effort to deprecate this young woman’s achievements. Yes, her father is President of the United States, and yes she is the member of a minority group. But she is reported to have done outstandingly well at one of the best private schools in the country. Harvard routinely admits a significant number of students from this school.
As Harvard previously stated, it would feel honoured to welcome her as a member of the student body. Those of us who are alumni feel the same way. She is an exceptional young woman.
Hi @exlibris97,
the relevance of pointing out that out was in response to your comment “Harvard’s film program is world renowned and has produced many talented directors”. For others who may be reading this thread later, Harvard’s program is not particularly world renowned- its new. Yes, of course, Harvard is a world renowned university, but even top schools have stronger programs than others.
Clearly, this ENTIRE thread is speculation and its obviously a private matter for all parents/students applying to college. Luckily, we live in country where people can comment and speculate to their hearts content.
Good grief, Maya. There is NO ONE whose admit rate is 90% at Harvard.
This young woman has clearly developed into a poised, intelligent, and cultured young woman. Yes, she is clearly an asset to any college- being the child of the president has, I’m sure, lead to incredibly enriching experiences and I’m sure that she will bring that unique perspective to her courses.
Yes, she had hooks, but so do many others. Let her have her accomplishment without tearing her down.
Why do people feel the need to tear down 17 year olds? Goodness…
I have no idea why pointing out the facts is tearing Malia down. I think she’s adorable and likely smart hard working. But it’s silly to talk about the 5 percent admission rate when dealing any full pay URM. My guess is yes any child of celebrities who is also a URM would have a very high rate of admission with only " meets minimum Harvard standards" . My guess is Malia far surpasses those standards. She has developed a passion and given her parents high level of intelligent probably was capable of scoring extremely high on standardized tests. But she likely didn’t need those for admission.
A sitting president’s child has a 100% admit rate.
I personally am in favor of either a gap year or some kind of national service before heading off to college. Many students are simply not mature enough at the start of college. I know that my relatives in Israel whether in the military or in alternate service have tremendously benefited as has the country.
Given that as recently as 5 years ago in order to be continued on one’s family insurance you had to be a student for the most part, the ability to take a gap year and be covered under a family policy is a big plus of the Affordable Care Act.
I made the mistake of reading a few comments after an article about Malia’s choice. It’s so disheartening. There are so many hateful, awful people in the U.S. spouting horrendous comments about her. Ugh.
^^ I have to agree that her ‘chances’ of getting into any college were just about 100%. I think the challenge for her was picking the right college. I’m sure she’s smart and worked for her grades, but I don’t think her chances of getting into college were the same at the other students at Sidwell.
The gap year is an excellent choice. She’s a young high school grad with a summer birthday. There are going to be a lot of things going on next fall that she may want to be a part of, and gee, why not take advantage of foreign travel opportunities that can NEVER be replicated by a private citizen. Chelsea Clinton got to go down into the pits at Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors while other tourists stay behind the ropes and glass. Go to Rome AND meet the Pope? Why not! Get to participate in all the ‘end of term’ events for her father. She can start in 2017 with no conflicts. When I heard she was doing the gap year, I thought “That’s brilliant.” Even if all she does is sit around the White House for 6 months and then complain about how she has to pack and move, it’s still an experience she’ll never get again.
Attending Harvard didn’t hurt Yo-Yo Ma’s career one iota. I have a family friend whose son went to graduate film school at USC who attended Washington University. He had zero interest in film until he was a senior in college after spending two semesters abroad in London his junior year. Up to that point he was interested in becoming a sportswriter/broadcasterand had interned at a St. Louis radio station on the Cardinals broadcast team. Since grad school he has a day job as a film editor but has two films that he has directed that have won awards at various festivals.
Yes! While there are programs that will package an entire Gap Year experience for you for a price, in my ever so humble opinion I think there is a lot to be said for a kid planning and pursuing their own gap year plans on a budget. And part of what my daughter wanted to experience was independence and getting out of the bubble of privileged young people.To her the packaged programs, even those involving service, felt like an extension of high school rather than something new and different.
There are lots of relatively affordable options, even if kids want to do some traveling (and there is a lot to be said for not traveling but pursuing passions in a deep way, working and/or volunteering locally, reading a lot, etc.). Programs like Student Conservation Association and AmeriCorps provide housing and stipends for young people who provide service. They even provide travel funds to get to the work site plus college scholarship $$! And the placements can be in amazing places. My D spent her fall doing an internship in the Olympic National Forest. While she was basically working full time (and doing her own grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, budgeting, etc.), she had her weekends to hike and explore. And she learned a lot about the region and the National Forest on the job. Even international travel doesn’t need to be expensive. There is WWOOFing and Work Away. Friends of ours have used both programs successfully. Or just plain old working for a while to save up and roughing it while traveling. D spent 6 weeks backpacking in South America this spring for surprisingly little $$ after spending a few months working and saving $$. They carried their tent or stayed in hostels and made their own food . Right now she is staying with relatives who live somewhere remote, learning new skills and helping on their homestead. Again, super cheap but really great opportunity to expand her horizons. She’ll be home soon to reconnect with friends, earn $$ over the summer and get ready for college in the fall.
All in all this year she will have met lots of people different from herself (and in our increasingly tribalized country, that is no small thing!), learned new skills, seen breathtaking scenery in North and South America, and done a lot of growing, at a cost far, far less than a year of tuition or any of the paid programs. We had to be willing to push our boundaries of what we felt comfortable letting her do. We surprised ourselves! But it allowed her to push herself beyond her comfort zone too and that has been tremendous for her.