And could we all keep in mind that it is important to some kids to attend an HBCU and Morehouse is very much a dream school for many students. Let’s not judge his choices or make inferences based on them.
Teenagers are not the best at media relations, so perhaps the approach was not ideal, but there really are a lot of kids that see college as something that other people do. They’re not going to relate to the kid who got into every Ivy because they know they don’t have those kind of credentials; however, it is helpful for them to hear that there are a lot of schools that would be happy to have them and that will try to help them get there. @Pizzagirl is absolutely right. The intent here is sincere even if the message and messenger (teen boys people – they swear and take stupid pictures of each other) aren’t perfect.
@Pizzagirl His school has 93% graduation…it does not matter what neighborhood it is when 19/20 kids will be highschool graduates vs national average of 80% and minority average of 71%, he is 3rd gen college edcuated, and he wears plenty of brands and nice clothes.
I see now he qualified for 4800 in pell grant which reaises questions as to how money is spent, no matter tho. He is attending Morehouse while being gapped 38k a year in parent plus loans.
I said congrats to them for the handful of good schools, Hanover, Depaul, Wittenberg… The boy and girl have 40+ school awards and perfect attendance.
I am just saying. It does not look like they have it so hard.
Plenty of higher end label stuff can be had at Goodwill, just saying. If you see someone sporting a Burberry or Polo shirt, don’t assume they paid big bucks for it.
Going to Morehouse or Spelman is a big deal for many African-Amerlcan families. H land I are friends with a family (neighbors at our vacation home) whose D chose to go to Spellman over Wash U and Johns Hopkins. Money wasnt an issue and both of the D’s folks urged her not to go to Spellman. The D graduated two years ago and got a job in NYC before she graduated and is doing well.
You’re focused on acceptance into bling name schools. Not everyone cares to apply to them. Not even elite boarding school students (yes, I read you mentioned u go to an elite CA boarding school). My S1 had a VERY competitive admissions profile and went to an even more elite boarding school than yours. He did not apply to any tippy top colleges at all.
News stories about black kids who get into every Ivy they applied to does not help most poor black kids in underperforming schools, who don’t remotely have the profiles to be competitive for Ivy schools. Most struggling kids read that and think: why even bother, since those schools are unattainable.
What these siblings have demonstrated is that college is attainable.
I noticed from their list they applied to a lot of HBCUs, which is no small feat to get s full ride from Hampton, Morehouse and Howard as they would definitely have to bring their A game to the table. I know plenty of kids who turned down Ivies and other selective schools to attend Morehouse, Hampton, Spelman and the Black Mecca; Howard , especially if they are legacies or have multigenerational roots in the south or simply want a experience that they feel is steeped in tradition.
My niece was one of them I remember when my D got accepted to Dartmouth, Amherst and Williams she got that “you poor thing” look and people straight out told her that they were sorry she could not get into Howard but did a cheer when one of her friends got some major $$s from Spelman
IIRC, the brother is looking to attend Morehouse and the sister is going to play DIv I ball. Full rides at Howard and Morehouse are not easy to come by because they don’t have deep pockets and are used to attract young black student who have similar stats to be viable students at selective schools.
While you don’t have to be impressed by the schools that they decided to apply and get accepted to how is what they did any different from any other parent whose kid puts out a lot of applications to get the best deal they could; it seemed ok when Curmudgeon’s daughter applied to 35, yes 35 schools but all we want to remember is that she turned down Yale to go to Rhodes (where she too was a basketball player) and went to Yale med but not the fact that they were too casted a wide net to get the best possible outcome for their family
@GMTplus7 On point 100% Most kids in this country don’t go to elite colleges. Even kids that have the stats to attend an elite college may choose to go to a lower tier school to accept a full ride. Also my kids of polo, michael kors etc… Every piece of name brand clothes they own come from Ross, Marshalls, TJMaxx or the clearance rack.
@sybbie719 I have no problem with the schools they applied to and applaud them for being so proactive to have affordable options. I also get the HBCU thing. What does not seem smart to me is to work so hard to have so many options, state you want to not burden your single mother with financial debt, yet decide to go to Morehouse, which will require a huge parent plus loan each year and six figure debt. That makes absolutely no sense.
What is incredible is that you don’t hear about kids like this coming from the city of Chicago. So instead of you being so negative try lifting them up for not being like the rest by getting pregnant in high school or joining a gain. That is something they face everyday they walk out their door.
@WorryHurry411 does it matter how the application fees was paid? Did anything come out your pocket towards those fees? Stop trying to put them down and lift them up. This is the best news about a teenager that comes from that city. A lot of kids who apply to college get their application fees waived, so what is the big deal about them.
@SeniorStruggling you sound like a bitter person. All you are doing is trying to find negative things to say about this. You want to dig into the life of a child. You are a grown person who is being negative towards a teenager. He attends Uplift community High School where have the kids his age do not even graduated. Also, kids his age in a city where he comes from are killed before the age of 18. In his city 1,000 shootings as occurred since the start of 2016. Just last night a 16 year old boy got shot. He is a well respected, responsible young man. I can say this because I am his neighbor. He is the one young man the seniors in his neighborhood can count on to help with bring groceries in the house, help take the garbage to the trash and help his family. How many kids his age can say they decide to apply for scholarships so they don’t have to be a burden on his mother. The issue is he is an African American boy and not some white kid from the suburb. That is what the issue is. I am so proud of him and his sister; unlike the rest of the kids from that area the only time you see them is going and coming from school. This is to all you people out there hating on these two awesome, respectable, and well manor kids they are good kids. They are what I hope my children can one day come home and give me this great news.
While Morehouse may be his dream, if it is an unaffordable option he is not going. He can only borrow $5.5k unless he has a fool with a pen to cosign.
Follow up articles state that he has not made a concrete decision. His dream school is Morehouse but he has a full ride to Clark Atlanta ( where he can cross register at Morehouse, which is part of the Atlanta University Center Consortium )
Is the high school a charter school? From some of the post on this thread, it was made to seem that these kids are well off middle-class kids in a great school district. When I google the schools it seems to be a charter school. Does anyone know if it is or not?
I don’t know if it’s a charter school or not, but someone upthread was mistakenly acting as though the kid must be “well off” because supposedly the school has a 93% grad rate. Uptown is certainly not the worst neighborhood in Chicago, but it ain’t the Gold Coast. No one goes there “for the schools.”
And the kid apparently wasn’t dressed in rags either so he must be “well-off.” Really. How small some people are. I’m glad this is the news coming out of Chicago - 2 teenagers who are excited about going to college and have made it a goal - instead of hearing yet another story about teenagers who are doing drugs, shooting at others, committing crimes and having no life plan. Who GAS that it’s not an “elite” school?
I think the poster who said those things may be a high school kid. Sometimes at that age you don’t understand real life stuff. You really only know the bubble you live in until you grow up and get some real life experience.