NY Times high school student blogger rejected by 11 schools

<p>“You “parents” do realize that someone, a child, btw, blogging for the NYT’s is probably reading CC? This is just fantastic”</p>

<p>You do realize that anyone blogging is displaying deliberately their work to the public, and should be prepared for all sorts of comments. This particularly would be true for people publishing on a site like the NY Times.</p>

<p>Also, I’ve taught journalism to college students and to high school students who were published in one of the country’s top newspapers. Someone who doesn’t want to have their work seen or critiqued shouldn’t publish their work. </p>

<p>And my older son started publishing his work in a local weekly when he was 9. He knew that some people would like it, some people wouldn’t. He even was able to stand up to criticism of the presidential candidate that he endorsed at age 12. Some of the most pointed criticism came from friends and family (S’s politics were the opposite of H and me and most of the newspaper’s readers).</p>

<p>I went to Medill for grad school. I’m widely published and well-reviewed. I’ve taught college students in journalism and there is a REASON these kids go to school and not straight onto a by-line. For already college educated, experienced writers to go about slamming a kid’s work is like a high school student slamming the paper of someone in Jr. High. :rolleyes: honestly.</p>

<p>"Re your impression about her personality: She’s an adolescent, as all 18-year-olds are. I’m a writer–published in the NY Times as well as a number of other high-falutin places, and a book author–and all my submissions have been edited by “professional editors,” as has everyone else’s. So what’s your point?</p>

<p>Her writing is typical of what you see on a daily basis in any major newspaper, nothing about which to draw definitive critical conclusions."</p>

<p>As I mentioned, I have taught high school journalists, whose work was published in one of the country’s top newspapers. These included people who later became, for instance, editors and managing editors of top student newspapers, and at least one who became an award-winning sports reporter that probably some people here follow.</p>

<p>So, my perspective is of someone who has taught high school journalism students and knows what excellent high school writers are capable of doing. At her age, the top students whom I taught wrote better than what I saw of her writing. It’s not as if I’m a professional writer who has never worked with high school students. </p>

<p>Yes, it’s possible that her work was edited to make it worse, but knowing NY Times editors (and I know several intimately including having seen their work and having taken editing workshops from them), I would doubt that they made her work worse.</p>

<p>Her writing is very good when compared to what most high school students produce, but I don’t think it is good enough to stand out in a pool of writing by applicants to top colleges. She’s ahead of most college applicants in that she can write coherently, but a higher level of expertise would be needed to stand out at the type of colleges that rejected her.</p>

<p>Consequently, I think there’s a good chance that I’m right that a reason she was rejected by so many top colleges was the quality of her writing – which was good enough for most colleges, but wouldn’t be exceptional for top colleges. If her passion is writing, then she would have been competing against students who are passionate about writing and have much stronger skills.</p>

<p>This students not only blogs for the NYT but has blogged about this. Eighteen or not, she has made this public. If someone writes about something publicly then I think expecting privacy is not realistic and that isn’t even something she has asked for. If she was a blogger for the NYT and had the college admissions results that she received and didn’t write about it then I would also say that we should respect her privacy. But she spoke of it publicly and a public discussion may be something she would be happy to see.</p>

<p>I also give her credit for being so forthcoming. So many worthy students are rejected from the top college these days and it might be helpful to them to know they are not alone. I’m with the other posters who did what we did, drew the line about where to apply to colleges by saying that the school had to be worth the extra expense of going a long way from home than the safety school we had close by. So while our potential college list looked pretty ridiculous there was some reasoning behind it.</p>

<p>poetgirl – you’re treating this eighteen year old with kid gloves and I don’t think it is necessary. She has enough presence and self-confidence to blog for the NYT, that tells me that she is not going to wilt in the face of some informed criticism.</p>

<p>At her age for her to blog about such a personal topic, this girl is going places.</p>

<p>Does anybody know how the NYT went about selecting these 6 seniors in the first place?</p>

<p>I would not count on any UC’s as safeties anymore. My D was rejected at all 4 UC’s she applied to --Berkeley and LA were not surprising, but SB and Davis cut WAY back on freshman admissions this year. At least at our school, a very good private prep school, which keeps very good stats, the Davis and SB admissions dropped by half this year from prior years. My D was definitely qualified, instate student, and got into much better public and private schools out of state. Also–don’t count on USC as a backup any more than you would count NYU as a backup. It has become very competitive, and deservedly so, especially for top programs like business, film, etc… (btw, this is not just sour grapes, as my older D is a freshman at UCLA and loves it. She got into all 4 of those same UC’s last year…)</p>

<p>Whether the UC’s are “safeties” or not may depend on the student. They certainly were safeties for my kids, who were also offered merit aid from schools like Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz. My son received a letter from Santa Cruz before he was admitted saying that he was in the top 6% of their applicants and inviting him to apply for a Regents scholarship – we took that as the equivalent of a “likely” letter. Similarly, my daughter got invited to a gathering for honors-level applicants to Santa Barbara, again pre-admission – she met the standards for “eligibility in the local context”, which statistically is a huge pull at most UC campuses. (Some admit 95%+ of ELC students).</p>

<p>The admission process is changing for the coming year, but the UC’s will still guarantee admission to students in the top 9% (either statewide, or based on their rank within their school).</p>

<p>I think that any student who has any chance whatsoever of Ivy admission would probably also have the stats to make the UC system a safety – not necessarily their campus of choice, but certainly safe enough that the student doesn’t need to be researching lesser ranked colleges in other states as backups.</p>

<p>I’d note that my son… who was a National Merit finalist and was easily admitted to Berkeley, ended up a graduate of a CSU – which was a great experience for him in the end. So there are also some other great in-state options for California residents who might not be sure of UC admissions. Though I am very concerned about budget cuts, and I do think these have hit the CSU’s a lot harder than the UC campuses.</p>

<p>Okay, I’m just going to toss in a couple cents to be taken lightly, of course.</p>

<p>Firstly, I know exactly where the blogger (or student, in this case), is coming from. I am a 17-year old junior in high school, preparing to begin my college applications. I have had the opportunity to write for small blogs in the past year and a half and my writing was not always the best, in fact it could even be called mediocre. In return for my writing for this particular media, I received painful criticism that at first I completely ignored due to the hurt that I felt. Though as time went on, I learned to accept it, especially as it is a truly necessary skill in life. I have found this knowledge useful in a plethora of occasions, writing and not. She, the author, will in fact grow from this. It’s just an unfortunate and inconvenient time for her.</p>

<p>Secondly, everyone in this thread seriously needs to calm down. I’m sure that if the author was reading this, they would feel abused (verbally if in person). Constructive criticism, as said before, is indefinitely useful. There’s a time and place for everything, but I don’t believe that it is now for you to criticize her so bluntly. If I were her, I would appreciate any comment. However, the feedback that is perhaps most needed is that which is soft. Soft as in delicate - feedback that will enlighten and encourage her to keep writing, instead of that which will cause her to stop.</p>

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<p>On another note, to the author in question - if you are indeed reading this, as others have suggested, understand that this skill is one of the greatest that you will ever learn.</p>

<p>As far as colleges/universities go, primarily the ones that rejected you, they obviously weren’t good enough for you, realized that, and took measures to prevent you from going to the wrong school - meaning that they rejected you ;). Don’t be disheartened, it’s not worth it. Things will look up… they always do.</p>

<p>calmom – didn’t mean to imply that the student had to be a sure admit to UCLA or UCB. Just coming at it from our perspective here with one major flagship school. Frankly, if we lived in CA, I’m not sure UCLA or UCB would have been the best UCs for my kids anyway.</p>

<p>@Pea…Had there been previous discussion as to her writing? Perhaps this would be an appropriate thread, though I seriously doubt NOW, after she is rejected, is the time for us adults to go around saying things like, “I’m a better writer, which is why she was rejected.” You guys might want to take into account the fact that every KID who has posted on this thread doesn’t think this is the appropriate time for this either. </p>

<p>Next year, maybe you ought to start your “Literary” criticism of the writing of the high school seniors before they are rejected everywhere. Also, fwiw, NSM…keep in mind that those elevated NYTimes editors are the ones who CHOSE this particular writer. What do you think of THEM? Maybe that would be a more appropriate question for the adults in the room, less than a week after rejections were sent out. </p>

<p>I stand by my original post. No kid gloves…sensitivity to how she must be feeling right now. Remember 17 or 18? I do.</p>

<p>^I concur. It is insensitive of you “mature, intellectually sophisticated” adults to be criticizing a despondent teenager’s blog post so soon after rejections. Couldn’t you have commented on the other aspects of her writing, such as her optimistic message of putting this behind us and moving forward? Geeze, I can’t believe the critiques are coming from parents too. I sincerely hope you have more empathy and consideration for your children.</p>

<p>calmom: Ooo, you’re not kidding about the GCs pushing state schools here. It’s very much “Pick your favorite UC, your favorite CSU, and your favorite CC as a backup. Then apply to other UC/CSU schools you like, if you want.” When my son talked about out of state schools, he was told that he shouldn’t bother with more than one or two, and that “of course” he should apply to UCB if he wanted a competitive liberal arts school. (???) Didn’t understand that thinking at all.</p>

<p>That girl has good attitude and a message that people should listen to. I’m sure she will do good in life.</p>

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<p>Rachel Nichols?</p>

<p>I teach writing as well, on the college level. I don’t find her writing or attitude that weak. She does display some self-reflection. I agree. We should give her a break and not critique her writing.</p>

<p>

As a high school student, I don’t see anything wrong with the criticism. If the writer is indeed feeling despondent, it’s because she bought into the idea of a “dream school” that has been profitably publicized by an unscrupulous media that she has supported herself with her blogging.</p>

<p>I have a slightly different view on this thread. While the girl in question may or may not write well (that in of itself being a subjective evaluation, some people think Hemingway was a great writer, others find him irritating) the fact that she published it on a blog in the NYT means it is going to draw critics and those who like it. That said, though, I frankly don’t know why anyone would go to some of the levels I have seen on here, they write about this girl with the same kind of sneering attitude that certain religious types reserve for atheists, and it doesn’t make much sense to me. Whatever this girl is or isn’t, her writing style or who she is doesn’t affect anyone posting on here nor is her success or failure anything to gloat about. </p>

<p>More importantly, assuming that her writing skills and ‘critical reasoning’ skills were why she didn’t get in is about as suspect as anything I have read recently, it puts out the idea that somehow writing and critical reasoning skills a)are lacking in this girl (they may or may not be) and b)that schools take them as the ultimate test of students, and that is a joke IMO. School admissions are complex, based on a lot of factors, and anyone who has read what admissions people say when interviewed anonymously would probably second the fact that claiming it was weak writing skills or analytical skills is way off base, that so many factors go into the process. Maybe this girl had only decent test scores and grades, maybe she was an overachiever who turned off the admissions people, there are a lot of factors that get you heaved from top programs (want to know kids who get heaved more often then accepted according to what I have read? 4.0 math geeks who seem to offer little except having ground through school and gotten high test scores and grades, but as people seem little more then a test taking machine…)</p>

<p>And when you are talking Ivy level admissions, it gets even more complicated, because they have so many uber achievers applying there that the criteria is even more esoteric then in ‘lesser’ programs. More importantly, there has been a lot written about the fact that a lot of kids in the Ivies and other top programs have poor writing and communication skills (I am leaving out non native english speakers), and that many of them also lack critical reasoning skills. You say that is hearsay, but I have interviewed students from the top Ivies over the years, I am talking Princeton, Harvard, Yale, etc, and frankly many of them had litle critical reasoning skills and their writing wasn’t so great either, even though they went to those schools and had near 4.0 GPA’s. Plus I suspect the schools don’t put all that much weight on the essays and such the students write these days, because they know that a lot of them either are ghostwritten or edited to make them appear like they were written by a genius.</p>

<p>And using a statement that she fell in with the idea that somehow going to an Ivy was better without thinking about it, believe me that isn’t a sign of lack of critical reasoning skills, that is more the reflection of what has become conventional wisdom. These days, with all the pressure we put on kids, and all the hype that is out there, I would bet that if you interviewed people out there, you would find 80% of them would tell you it is true that going to an Ivy is always better then another school (and if the girl is a member of some ethnic groups, especially Asians, there is a cultural factor at work, in Asian cultures and societies, where you go to college is an indicator of what you will do in life; In Japan the big deal is to get into their prestigious public universities, and in getting in there your course is set. In this country, many of those attitudes hold, there is the belief that going to Harvard, Yale, etc is the only road to success. To them this is like other deeply held beliefs, like religious ones, which critical reasoning skills are not going to break all that easily).</p>

<p>Do people have the right to criticize this girl? Of course, it was a public blog; but there is a line between criticism and being vituperative, what amazes me is the tone of the criticism leveled at this girl, that I find to be puzzling and troubling. I could understand it if she had won some major prize for writing, or if based on her writing on the blog she was hired as a writer for a magazine or paper, and other deserving kids were shut out, but that wasn’t true here, what this girl did has like zero impact on anyone reading this thread, yet the level of response made it sound like they were personally insulted or something that people were even talking about this girl.</p>

<p>What’s the big deal here? She didn’t get accepted to the “flagship” public–but then UCLA is essentially the southern California equivalent of Cal Berkeley–and she’s in at UC Irvine with acceptance to the honors college. This still puts her among the top 3%-4% (or probably even top 1%-2%) of all California students;–if she cant be successful based upon this, then there is something terribly wrong wih our whole university system.</p>

<p>P.S. And notice that her reflection upon the “rejection” experience has already been a good learning experience.</p>

<p>Northstarmom:</p>

<p>I thought you were too harsh on the blogger. Many of your assertions are mere speculations (i.e. who edited, how, etc)</p>

<p>She is only 18!</p>

<p>I think the school gave her very little support: hence only 1 waitlist.</p>

<p>musicprnt</p>

<p>right on. excellent reply.</p>