<p>Watched the TeenNick Halo Awards last night and saw a girl who started a charity, and was being honored told that Tyra Banks would write her a recommendation letter to Harvard! Do you think that this is real? Will she definitely get in to Harvard now?</p>
<p>For sure dude! Isn’t Ms. Banks, a major donor?
:rolleyes:</p>
<p>We know someone who had a recommendation letter from Elton John and this particular student did not get into every college. Then again, EJ didn’t (to my knowledge) make large donations to any of the schools this kid applied to!</p>
<p>Tyra Banks…“Harvard Business School Grad”. What a crock!! One of my favorite quotes about her “schooling” in the Owner/President Management Program.</p>
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<p>Being the “distinguished” alum that she is, I’d imagine a Letter of Rec from her would carry a lot of weight…as long as there’s a 6-figure check attached to it. Good Luck to the prospective Harvard student she’ll be sponsoring. Hopefully she’ll get in on her own merits.</p>
<p>Modeling career aside, Tyra Banks is actually a very astute business person…</p>
<p>That may be, but it’s hardly as though Harvard or any other place is going to say … Oooh, Tyra Banks, gosh, her judgment must be impeccable. I mean, any number of students who have parents in the entertainment industry could get (insert celebrity of choice) to write a recommendation, but so what?</p>
<p>Yes, i would agree she is a savvy businesswoman, and if she had employed & supervised the applicant, then she would be a good person to write a recommendation.</p>
<p>The girl is more likely to be accepted to Harvard because she started a charity that got her all the way to the TeenNick Awards, so I assume it was very successful. That’s an outstanding accomplishment.</p>
<p>Tyra really needs to get over herself.</p>
<p>“Sunday Morning” on CBS television did piece on Tyra back when she was enrolled in the Harvard business executive short course. And Tyra herself really played up the Harvard angle, saying that she chose Harvard because she wanted nothing but the best, the very top. It’s clear she is building her brand. I’m also guessing she is one of those who will proudly display her Harvard certificate in her office while hoping that people squinting from across the room will mistake it for a Harvard diploma.</p>
<p>But in addition to gushing about Harvard a lot in the piece, Tyra also expressed dismay on two points. One was that she was expected to live on campus during the course instead of in a 5-star hotel, and the other was that the material was hard, so hard in fact that she actually had to study a lot and work hard to pass the classes.</p>
<p>She has consistently misrepresented her experience at Harvard. I’m actually surprised that she hasn’t been called out on it, perhaps even by the Harvard Business School itself. It’s not an unintentional slip of the tongue either. Tyra isn’t as vacuous as some of the other “supermodels”, so she knows perfectly well what she’s doing when she makes her claim. She obviously paid attention during the Shameless Self-promotion block of training.</p>
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<p>I can’t imagine that Harvard would ever “call her out.” If asked by a journalist I’m sure Harvard Business School would provide an accurate description of the program Tyra Banks completed, but having a rich, famous celebrity going around telling everyone how wonderful your school is, and how they chose to attend because it’s the very best in world, is not something that most schools would seek to put a stop to.</p>
<p>^True, but there’s a vast difference between saying “I attended classes at Harvard” and “I’m a graduate of the Harvard Business School”, which she has said on numerous occasions. You honestly don’t think Harvard Business School minds someone falsely claiming to have completed their rigorous degree program, regardless of their celebrity status?</p>
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<p>Tyra Banks is as unimportant as a flea to them. They’d look silly if they came out swinging at her – they are much better served by just internally rolling their eyes and moving on. Why dignify a minor celebrity’s words with a response?</p>
<p>Pizzagirl…I think my wife must help run Harvard Business School, as she constantly rolls her eyes at me. I sure hope she doesn’t “move on” though. 
Tyra and I must be very similar…although she probably looks a little better in swimwear.</p>
<p>.>>You honestly don’t think Harvard Business School minds someone falsely claiming to have completed their rigorous degree program, regardless of their celebrity status?<<</p>
<p>I don’t know whether HBS “minds” it or not, but I bet they never call her out on it. What good would it do them? For one thing, the program she attended is very expensive. Perhaps they view Tyra’s tireless promotion of the Harvard program as good publicity to recruit other vain business execs to their small but highly-profitable program.</p>
<p>Back in about 2004, when Disney teen star Hilary Duff grew into young adulthood she went around saying in person and and on her website that she was “going to Harvard” based on taking a couple of correspondence courses from the Harvard Extension, The Crimson wrote an article about it - basically laughing at her (as they later did for Tyra too). But the school itself said nothing about it. If they didn’t call out a celebrity as minor as Hilary Duff, I’m sure they are not going to trash Tyra Banks either.</p>
<p>Here is a video of Tyra offering to write the letter:</p>
<p>[heather</a> morris at the 2012 Halo Awards - YouTube](<a href=“heather morris at the 2012 Halo Awards - YouTube”>heather morris at the 2012 Halo Awards - YouTube)</p>
<p>I think that Tyra is a very impressive woman. She isn’t even faintly “vacuous,” as suggested upthread.</p>
<p>*She isn’t even faintly “vacuous,” as suggested upthread.
*</p>
<p>How many times has she been on “The View?”
;)</p>
<p>Someone I know was on the set with her before, during, and after shooting a series. Everything bad you hear about her is true.</p>