<p>Madaboutx, could I ask you to please drop the “robot” metaphor that you used in #12? I object to this because all of the applicants are human beings with human feelings. Use of a mechanistic metaphor tends to set the person so described apart as “other” (even if the person is not any specific individual).</p>
<p>I had same exact stats and a lot better ECs and I didn’t even bother to play crap shoot with elitist schools. I guess that was a quite a narcissistic blow to that little girl. Must have provoked a quite Phallic ***** envy !!</p>
<p>“bleeding heart republican” huh? $700,000 house? Rich, amusing and marketable white girl makes the news? From someone who has lived in a poor neighborhood none of this sounds terribly new or interesting…let’s publish less of this site-traffic fodder and more inspiring stories about kids escaping the pressures of joining a gang to educate themselves at the public library so they can give a better life to their children. Sure its satire. It’s pretty funny too! Nothing against her personally, just the media that advertises this. I’m going to take an intellectual leap and say that anyone who identifies as “bleeding heart” with today’s republicans is definitely out of touch with reality. I hope she becomes a journalist and instead of going overseas for charity like her parents goes to the urban streets. Bout time the media cared about that</p>
<p>Such flexible thinking you guys…if she were the candidate nosering described, you’d all be decrying those perfect SAT scores because in that scenario, perfect SAT scores don’t really count–they’re a “dime a dozen.” Then in this case, the scores are too low. She has respectable scores, not stellar, I’ll grant you, but enough to put her in contention. I have no way of judging her credentials and don’t really care to. I didn’t get the sense that this girl–or her father–were bitter. I wouldn’t have chuckled if I had. I felt that she was poking fun at a process that’s gone mad. </p>
<p>And on that point: Nosering speculates that the 2400 4.0 Asian girl classmate of her daughter’s who’d been taking college level post AP math classes for two years and had all the involvement and (national) recognition to go with her scores was rejected from her top schools because of her lack of science or math-based ECs? She was clearly too humanities based? Umm WHAT? Maybe I’m missing something but if not, I gotta tell you, it leaves me scratching my head. No, no, I’m not suggesting that she was entitled to admission anywhere or that her life is ruined or that she doesn’t have choices that will end up being equally good for her in the end…just that this process has gone completely screwy.</p>
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<p>I think they are saying the SAT scores are too iffy for an unhooked applicant. If 2400’s are denied and whining, the 2120 has what standing to say more? I really do think somebody led her family to believe if she were a Senate Page, she would be a shoo in for anywhere. Not.</p>
<p>Omgosh!! She’s not whining or angry! No one said her family thought she was a shoo in because she was a page. Plenty, plenty of kids with much lower stats toss applications at the ivys. That’s why it’s called a reach, and many people have a couple on their list. That’s why they have tens of thousands of applications. She obviously had a reasonable list as she has some nice choices. Good for her. </p>
<p>This was satire plain and simple. It mirrors her essay writing style. I’m honestly surprised that people are reading so much into this and fail to see the humor intended. Why all the personal negativity and judgement about a girl and family you don’t know?</p>
<p>And truth be told, it has become a crapshoot. There are plenty of rocket scientist applicants with stellar ECs, grade, and hooks that don’t get in-simply because of the sheer volume that apply anymore. It didn’t used to be so; the paradigm has shifted and it is going to be a long time before we forget how it used to be and stop being surprised by how it is. Frankly, why would a child with a solid 3.5, always steady and predictable, a handful of honors courses, and no grade below a B not be a very strong candidate. Such a student is now considered “mediocre” though falling well above national average norms. The process HAS become out of whack. It just has. Taking this letter public at least raises awareness and prompts discourse.</p>
<p>She didn’t need to do anything fake in order to be accepted to college. All they mean when they say, “Be yourself,” is that one should pursue one’s passions. This girl was fortunate enough to have the money necessary to pursue so many different activities. She had connections. All she had to do was use those wonderful resources to make a difference in the world.</p>
<p>Not to be condescending and I know it’s humor, but 2300s are considered stellar, not 2100s. And her attitude is annoying- she lives in a custom designed house and has rich, politically connected parents, but she complains about not having opportunities because she, of all things, is the youngest sister? The U of Michigan is a great school, and she should be happy about getting in. She’s above average, but does not seem like an outstanding candidate.</p>
<p>She wasn’t complaining about not having opportunities because of being the youngest child. Like everything else in her essay this was something to take a grain of truth somewhere and exaggerate for satire. I have three kids. We joke constantly, as do his older brothers, that the youngest gets off easier, and isn’t pushed as hard because his father and I are just blasted tired. That’s not entirely true. He drove to school a year earlier. Yup, easier on me. We let him quit Tae Qwon Do one step below his black belt. He was thirteen. Had been a red belt for some time. His heart wasn’t in it and was there more because two brothers and his dad were going (all black belts). We’d seen the effects of pushing our older boys and the ill or null results. His choice to make. Sure, now he wishes he had finished but not enough to take a year(+/-) going back and finishing. </p>
<p>After a few kids we make parenting decisions different. Sounds like the opportunities were there but she wasn’t pushed. I don’t think she regrets one minute of this. It’s just one more point to exploit for the essay. Really, she’s making fun of the process, and herself. There’s not such deep rooted meaning in it all. She does have a great choice in Michigan and there’s nowhere that indicates she’s not excited to be going. You can smile at the schools that turned you down and say “your loss” while still being excited about your future school. They are not mutually exclusive. </p>
<p>Regarding her SATs, they were not sky high (nor were they inadmissible), but does that mean she’s not allowed to toss a few reach applications out to the ivys? Why the sanctimonious judgement? There’s no cut off of who can apply and dream of ivy acceptance. Kids get accepted with those stats, even unhooked once in a while. There’s a lot of judgement that she wasn’t even worthy to apply, to hope for acceptance. Is there is limit on hope now? (notice I did not say expectation). Not one of us read her entire application package the admissions readers had so there’s no way to judge that.</p>
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<p>We did read her Wall Street Journal op-ed. You’ll notice there’s a significant split in opinion. Some are declaring her a wonderful, funny writer, a spunky spitfire. The other half find her whiny, packaged, and insulting. </p>
<p>And she claims to have written a humorous application essay, about being beaten by an asthmatic girl. Without even touching her SATs and GPA, if the admissions readers were as split on the merits of THAT essay as we are about THIS essay, one need look no further.</p>
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Next term, which begins in October.
The last oral arguments for this term are on April 24.</p>
<p>Periwinkle’s Post (#152) - well said! I agree!</p>
<p>Blueiguana’s post perfectly describes my feelings about this girl’s letter and the controversy in response to it. It’s amazing to me how so many posters have taken individual points of this very light hearted, self-depricating high schooler’s take on the whole elite college chase, and twisted her words completely out of context.</p>
<p>She’s obviously bright (in spite of her substandard-in-cc’s-estimation SAT scores) and will probably outperform plenty of Ivy grads once she’s out of school. I can’t believe how many people are so thin-skinned as to be offended by what she’s written but that alone has proven that too many students and parents take themselves far too seriously.</p>
<p>I’m with you Joblue. I saw it very much as a reflection of the process rather than an indictment of the process. For me, the important thing is that my kids go to a school that fits them. if they had fabricated or manipulated the system into a higher tier school, they would likely flame out when they got there.</p>
<p>Put simply, I’d rather my kids get straight As at a tier 2 school than straight Cs at a tier 1 school.</p>
<p>Ms Weiss’s letter, though clearly meant to be a humorous reflection of the admissions process, resonated with our experience. As Blueiguana said, it is satirical and has grains of truth to it. (For example, don’t write about a mission trip. Everyone writes about their mission trip.) And if it gets her some recognition, I don’t begrudge her that. I want my kids to take every advantage they can grab, too. </p>
<p>I didn’t pick up on a whiny vibe at all. But I have to wonder about anyone that did, and I can only imagine that, pardon my French [and my paraphrase], but [they are] so uptight, if you stuck a lump of coal up [their @$$es], in 2 weeks, you’d have a diamond.</p>
<p>The way I see it, she’s white, she’s wealthy, she’s a girl-- 3 strikes right there. But she gets it and is making fun of it. I especially like the bit about that woman and her 1/32 Cherokee heritage. (Funny now, but wait and see what happens in a few years with DNA testing. Reductio ad absurdem.)</p>
<p>One school that my D applied to requested an essay about what kind of diversity she would bring. Her essay explained how she brought none, at least not by their definition of it. (Full dis: It was a safety school, but she did get some nice grant money. I like to think it was because of her essay, but we’ll never know.)</p>
<p>The admissions process does get to be comical. I wonder that a movie hasn’t been made about it before. When I start to fret about what #2 D will write about for her essay, I must remind myself that what they really want is to hear her authentic voice-- that’s what’s important. (We’ve been to SAfrica, not to feed the poor or to do mission work, but on vacation. I wouldn’t change that for the world.)</p>
<p>Congrats to the young lady on getting into my alma mater. She’ll be fine wherever she goes.</p>
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<p>There is also plenty of straw among the critics of … the critics. Some of us have gone to great length to explain what was, in our eyes, WRONG with her approach. Some of us have conceded that it was a borderline funny piece that carried no real value. A teenager tantrum of little to no importance. </p>
<p>There is a lot of difference between claiming she was not worthy of an APPLICATION, and finding the piece offensive. She had every right to apply and every right to expect a better outcome. The numbers were not in her favor, as they are for 90 percent of the applicants who shared her fate. She was measured and not found deserving of an ADMISSION. That is a completely different scenario. </p>
<p>As far as what was wrong with her piece, her approach, and her decision to amuse herself with a public submission, I think it has been (well) said multiple times in this and the other massive thread in the Parents’ forum.</p>
<p>If Cliff’s note are needed. Here they are. All was well in the beginning. As long as people saw this piece as an expression of puerile and misguided humor, there were no problems. It changed when people tried to pass the piece for something that describes admissions correctly and that the “girl” had it right. She does not, and her cynical view of “what it takes to get it” is both wrong and offensive. It is not satirical. It is cheap cynicism and sarcasm. </p>
<p>And, to borrow some her style and make a point … she will indeed do well in Ann Arbor, and fit right in. Satire?</p>
<p>did she say hey im white and wealthy and my daddy is tight with repoblicans and that helped get me the senate page gig? did she write at all about her privileged and safe life gave her a leg up? no she didn’t she just made fun of others </p>
<p>as for the essay, i guess her point was she is such a bad runner even a girl with ashma and an inhaler beat her, as if a person with ashma woulnd or couldnt work harder then she did</p>
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Nice. I suppose that’s your idea of humor? Perhaps you could get published in the Journal as well.</p>
<p>Which brings me to my repeated point: if this article had been printed in a high school newspaper, or in the local gazette, it would have been a non-event. But it was published in the Wall Street Journal, a national publication with a clear point of view. That makes it something other than a funny little piece by a disappointed high-schooler. The fact that the WSJ didn’t edit it to take out the cheap shots is significant.</p>
<p>Hunt, I will add another point here. </p>
<p>Considering that many schools edit their Val speeches, what are the chances that, if Suzy had been the Val, she would have gotten the green light to present those words?</p>