I think the admission people at Harvard did express that the decision to reject Schwarzman was a mistake. That prompted this piece by Lewis.
Did Schwartzman really call the Harvard Dean of Admissions as a kid to say they’d made a mistake?
No. He called to ask them to re-consider his application as he was wait listed by Harvard in his words, he felt like “talking to God”). It was many years later when the dean of admissions wrote to him and said they might’ve been “wrong on this one”. During the Bloomburg interview, he said that he was remembered probably because he was the only kid who actually picked up the phone and called the AO.
I sometimes think that someone like that might have achieved more not going to Harvard, because he felt he had something to prove to them.
As always, the source is better than the descriptions of it in headlines.
It wasn’t exactly as though he lept up to a podium to proclaim this Harvard admissions situation.
There’s an interesting article about him an old NewYorker. Lewis must have read it, because his piece borrows from it.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/02/11/the-birthday-party-2?printable=true
OMG! Too funny. Thx for sharing.
@mathmom I agree with you and was thinking the same thing. Nothing spurs an over-achiever on more than rejection.