<p>which is another one of those inspirational, reality check, relieving kind of articles about a kid who got into college on his own merits.</p>
<p>Admittedly, the kid is bright. He lived in high school. He did what he wanted. He never took SAT classes or had tutors or joined clubs to put on his college application. He sounds like somebody I would want to be friends with :)</p>
<p>Anyway, I don’t want to target him specifically, but I was just wondering: how does the New York Times go about choosing who to feature in their articles? I mean, he’s surely not the only kid in the country who did their own thing in school - in fact, most kids get through high school on their own merit - it’s really only the few, elite few who get “help” on the way - and this article could have been written only plenty of kids. So I guess what I’m trying to say is - what makes him special? Did he get recommended for an article? Did the New York Times pick somebody at random? I’ve always wanted to know…</p>
<p>The best papers – like the NY Times – choose features primarily in terms of timeliness. For instance, lots of kids are graduating from h.s. now and headed for college, so this is a good time to do a feature on someone like that.</p>
<p>Who gets featured depends on the luck of the draw. Either the reporter meets or hears about someone who seems worth featuring in an article or the reporter looks for someone to fit the kind of article the reporter wants to do. Clearly, the reporter doesn’t have the ability to screen hundreds of people, so usually the first person who seems to be a good example is the one who gets picked.</p>
<p>When reporters look for people to feature in an article that the reporter plans to do, the reporters do things like: send e-mails out to friends and other reporters asking for suggestions; ask other people for suggestions. For instance, the reporter of the article that you posted may have called teachers or guidance counselors and asked for their suggestions of kids to feature. </p>
<p>The reporter’s deadline, including how quickly people responded and how easy it was to get in contact with the students who were suggested, would influence greatly who got picked. In addition, how verbal the student was would be important. A student who was an even better example of what the reporter wanted, but who answered questions in monosyllables or was so modest that the reporter couldn’t get information from the person would be passed over in favor of someone who was articulate.</p>
<p>I was featured in the NY Sun last year, and how that happened was basically luck. Last summer my mom was sitting in Union Square Park talking to the woman sitting on the bench next to her about her daughter working her way to college and the woman just happened to be a reporter! And then once one paper publishes the story, sometimes other papers want in as well (the New York Post came to my doorstep the day after the article came out!)/.
It’s lots of luck.</p>
<p>I agree about the luck part. Reporters writing stories try and find individuals to write about that illustrate the theme of the article. They will typically network with people who know kids in the college process, and keep looking until they find someone who fits their need. Because our counseling group works with students aiming for Ivies and similar colleges, Dave and Sally are often contacted by reporters with specific needs, like “a student who was waitlisted at an Ivy League school”. They can’t disclose the names of counselees, of course, but if the story sounds serious they may contact a student to see if he/she wants to be interviewed. In many cases, these reporters are probably pursuing multiple leads, hoping to find a good example before deadline.</p>