<p>@sally305 You’re comparing scientific breakthroughs to getting accepted into college/GPA/test scores. Not exactly apples to apples. It is socially acceptable for scientific breakthroughs to be announced because they affect everyone. A kid getting a 4.0 GPA/getting into all 8 Ivies? Not so much.</p>
<p>Well, for someone who seems to consider this non-news, you seem to have a lot of interest in discussing it.</p>
<p>I am taking my cue from awnctdb and signing out of this discussion. Carry on.</p>
<p>Elliemom, your WL stats, your running yards, your medals, and the like are public records. Your personal essays, test scores, etc are private records unless YOU decide to release or discuss them. A valedictorian can be recognized without displaying her transcript at the graduation ceremony. </p>
<p>I am not sure how to make my point much clearer about the differences between what is public and not. My point is NOT about what type of accomplishments are applauded or valued. </p>
<p>By the way, stories about athletic awards are also scrutinized when your local news in their typical clueless fashion reports how local athlete just got a full scholarship at … an Ivy League school. In the same way, an athletic valedictorian might be thought that it was the sport who got her in at Stanford and not the … perfect scores. </p>
<p>Bottom line? A bit of publicity is sweet. Privacy is priceless. </p>
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<p>How about height, weight, 40-time, vertical leap, benchpress, wonderlic score? Those seem pretty “private” to me, but if you’re a football recruit all those details are regularly published. Should a recruited athlete refuse to share that information?</p>
<p>How about those all-academic lists that our newspaper compiles with GPA, SAT, quotes from LOR, and lists of college admits? Should a strong student decline to be listed because that information is “private”? </p>
<p>It’s not as cut-and-dry as some would like to make it out to be. </p>
<p>I don’t think smart kids should have to hide their lights under a bushel. Local communities tend to print these types of stories. Why should academics be considered “private” while the local jock gets to be in the paper every week? While I think the overall accomplishment is newsworthy, I agree with @xiggi, though. I wish specific scores and the essay itself would have been withheld. That is what was the disservice. And then there’s the problem of modern media, where a local story gets picked up and takes on a life of its own. </p>
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<p>OK, I’ll play! The athlete should not refuse to share that information with the person who have an interest in such data. And neither should a “mathlete” hesitate to share all pertinent information in … the application. </p>
<p>Again, I am not certain where the debate comes from. I suggested that athletic performances tend to be matters of public record as they happened in competitions. If you want to draw a parralel, you could academic competition as a closer example. The point of sharting what I called intimate details (or private details) are about personal essays and family circumstances. Obviously, I could also add other elements that enter into account in a holistic application such as race and income, but those might prompt the thread to be closed. </p>
<p>If I was not clear enough in the prior posts, I think and this based on examples here and elsewhere that there are a number of people who are more than inclined to discount the achievements of others, especially the successful minorities. In my opinion, it is better for someone to keep most details … private when it comes to share them with members of the media. In almost all cases, the person interviewed finds the story lacking or misleading after editing. </p>
<p>I am not trying to convince anyone that my opinion is the only valid one. Others might see it diffirently, and that is fine by me. I do, however, make sure that what I wrote is quoted correctly and in the right context of this discussion. </p>
<p>"Then, it does beg the question: why did he feel he needed to tell us, the public, since we had nothing to do with it and impressing us is irrelevant to the decisions?</p>
<p>And that I believe is the core of the issue."</p>
<p>Why did you feel the need the tell us, the public, that you, your sons, and umpteen of your relatives got into Ivies?
Oh, that’s “different.” </p>
<p>Plus, that is not “the core of the issue.” The core of the issue is that a lot of folks seem resentful that he dared to share his story with us since we perceive that our/our kids’ stories are more worthy. That, to me, seems to be the core of the issue, and what generated much of the discussion.</p>
<p>Who said he was trying to impress someone? He is just a seventeen year-old kid who was really excited about his school acceptances (as he should be). The media glommed on to his story and the rest is history. Why are people judging this young man based on the media frenzy. Some people are very private and wouldn’t share this story. That is their perogative. My son’s friend, who got into Harvard, didn’t tell anyone but my son until the very end of senior year as he didn’t want to be seen as bragging. Hey, that is his personality and the way he approached his acceptance. This was a big deal in my son’s school where no one had been accepted to HPY in years. My son told his friends about his acceptance. I don’t think that he was trying to impress anyone. People who know him say that he is one of the most humble people whom they know. When I introduced myself to one of the kids in his college a cappella group, his first comment after nice to meet you was that my son was the most modest kid he knows. Does that sound like a kid who runs around bragging? My son was just over-the-moon thrilled to be accepted to his first choice school and wanted to share his excitement with others. Is there really anything wrong with that? Kwasi had that excitement times eight. </p>
<p>Congratulations for him getting in, but the publicity is unnecessary,</p>
<p>Much publicity is unnecessary. A lot of published news is unnecessary. Having sports scores in the newspaper is unnecessary. Having parents of sextuplets show up on The Today Show is unnecessary. I would argue, though, that having “feel-good” stories in the news IS necessary so that the community can share in another person’s joy. I would not want to live in a world where all the news is “necessary”. What a drab, dull place that would be. </p>
<p>Ok Folks, is anyone disturbed by the fact that out of all the qualified applicants this year all of these admission committees were so myopic that the exact same kid fulfilled all of their qualities for admission. There are so many qualified applicants that it would seem that if committees had an open mind than one person would not fit the bill at all theses schools. The committees should be reviewing the candidate selection process because it appears that they are looking at mainly scores and grades. </p>
<p>The essay is good, but not that good.</p>
<p>It was good enough to help get him into 8 Ivies, and who knows what else. Good for him,and I, for one, am glad I got to hear his story.</p>
<p>I agree, the essay was good… However, to be honest when I saw the link, I expected something incredibly more moving.</p>
<p>It doesn’t really matter what we think. The applicant wasn’t solely judged based on the quality of his essay. The admission officers obviously thought that it was good enough for him to be accepted. Who are we to judge?</p>
<p>My music teacher showed my class that article. So proud of someone from the classical community doing so well! I want every school administrator in the country to read it and see just how important music is.</p>
<p>Claramolee, seriously? Buying essays…</p>
<p>Anyways, I only read the first few pages of the comments, but what else did he have going for him? (First generation, low income, ESL). It looks like he has pretty solid stuff, enough to possibly get into 1-2 ivy leagues (in my extremely limited view with very little experience)</p>
<p>heard of affrimative action? NIgerians and high achieving Africans (usually from relatively well off families) are abusing the system to their fullest.
That said, he obviously still was a great applicant who would have been competitive at hese schools regardless and possibly got into some of them regardless (2-6ish). </p>
<p>Varied sentence structure
Controlled and detailed
Organized</p>
<p>Common grammatical errors
Heavy use of cliché
Gushing and repetition</p>
<p>“music is another world for me” “leadership teamwork friendship”</p>
<p>well-written yet not so engaging
congratulations to Enin</p>