This is the example that I remember, because it was on the front page of the Berkeley newspaper and it did affect kid’s imagination. Somehow, kids thought that being incarcerated helps in college admission.
I would really appreciate if colleges stop this madness. All girls already know that being pregnant / single mother is a great life story, appreciated and valued by adcoms. If boys would buy an idea that being incarcerated / ganger is valued by Ivys … grrrrr!
What is America doing to the next generation?! Why best colleges propagate the idea that good grades are boring, but “justice-involvement” is cool?! Grrrrrr …
The student in question had gone straight and stayed that way for many years after leaving prison (working honest jobs, attending community college). I.e. showing that he was not one to go back to crime like so many others. >
The student in question (formally incarcerated felon) was admitted and celebrated by Berkeley, despite his poor grades. Many high school students, with much better statistics, are denied admission, because they are flat-boring, in the eyes of adcoms.
When did it happen, that good kids are boring, but felons are cool?
What is next? Affirmative action for “justice-involved”? Outreach programs in prisons? Federal reporting for the number of “justice-involved” students and faculty? Would traffic violations count, or one need to do something significant?
The student was not admitted as a frosh. He was admitted as a transfer student after a good record at community college. Yes, he was a poor high school student (did not graduate, got a GED while in prison) and flunked out of community college twice before (presumably in non-transferable low-remedial courses that were not counted). But he got his act together, stayed out of legal trouble, and did well in community college when it counted. Obviously, he is an exceptional case of someone turning his life around, and it takes very willful or wishful misinterpretation to believe that a felonious record is of help in going to college in the general case.
He would never, ever be admitted to Berkeley with these stats alone. He was admitted only because it is COOL TO BE IN PRISON. Exactly.
Tell it to kids with low GPA/SAT scores! They see that prison term helps, that it is considered to be cool. "Justice-involvement" will soon become a hook.
Actually, for transfer applicants to UCs, only transferable college courses matter in the academic evaluation. So a poor (or non-existent) high school record, or a poor record in non-transferable low-remedial college courses does not matter; top performance in transferable college courses washes that all away. Such an academic profile is probably not that unusual among transfer students to UCs.
Some people grow up. My Dad spent my entire teenage year in state prison, and before that was a deadbeat, and nowadays I’ll go to him long before I go to my Mom or Stepdad. At some point, we need to let people drive to succeed. Otherwise, you’ll just perpetuate the cycle of crime as people realize their life is ruined.
Also, I doubt a significant number of felons would be dorming as opposed to commutjng.
^Kudos to your dad for turning things around. It’s like with anything else, it’s harder to hate when they are right there in front of you than when they are some abstract “other”.
There seems to be a race among colleges to create anti-credentials among applicants. Simple hard work and good results are tedious. Some colleges are budgeting capital projects to support illegal aliens. Even on this website, some of my posts have been obliterated to the ether by uttering the phrase “illegal alien.” It would appear that more often than before our lunatics are running our asylums.
Glad your dad got his life together, @Spaceship, but that said, I’d still not want my child rooming with a convicted felon. It has nothing to do with “hate”. All things considered, I’d just rather minimize any potential problems. In retrospect, maybe they should have lived in a wellness dorm.
Probably not many live in dorms, but is it fair to the roommates of those who do? The issue I see here is that simply serving a sentence in the criminal justice system doesn’t imply that someone has reformed and turned their life around.
The success stories we are hearing about seem to be about people who have proved that they have done so during a long gap prior to college.
We only have to look at the recent Stanford rape situation to see that it’s quite possible someone with a serious conviction could end up evidently unrepentant just a year later on a college campus if not for colleges screening.
Probably, and hopefully not, @ucbalumnus. Understood. Am making a point, and sharing my opinion, that all things considered, a roommate with a felony conviction is not my preference. Nor would I want the affluenza guy.